I worked closely with many different types of engineers for years in the construction industry, and have few friends that went down that mathematical rabbit hole getting their degrees too. Quite honestly... i seriously considered that career path while in high school and found advanced math intriguing..... But earning a living, avoiding the draft, and getting married way to young, put a serious wrinkle in my college pursuits. But i did get a few years of Community college in trade school that was valuable. The Architectural design, and drafting i learned in college i used for many years as a general contractor. Even after everything went to Auto Cad dwgs, i still drafted my own by hand using real pencils...
Most my interactions were with structural engineers early in my construction career. then as i moved into supervising and building larger commercial structures and large projects that required land development, it opened the doors to a whole different breed of engineers. Geo-Tech's, mechanical, and electrical engineers entered the arena.... It was challenging taking the architects design factors, and watching how the structural engineers battled with the other engineers trying to get all the mechanical and electrical, and plumbing routed without jeopardizing structural integrity...... But you know who was always right in the center of it, with a pencil behind his ear ? Yup.... The lead carpenter explaining why all this engineering wasn't going to work.
You see these photos of construction sites with all the owners, architects, and engineers , and superintendents standing around a table listening to the carpenter that has to build this monstrosity. Yup...I was the guy in the center for years. Common sense, and experience trumps math sometimes. i wasn't popular in the engineering community....
Topic: virtualbow (Read 2875 times)
