Engineers?

[Emerson00]

No, it cannot.
Once again, a feature of a genius (not simply a talented person) is to find solutions that no one could think of, often to a problem most people didn't know existed.
This cannot be achieved just by "hard work" - you may be born with it or not. You may never know if you are born with this capability or not, too.
Formal education is quintessential for a "genius" - otherwise he/she would be "reinventing the wheel" at best.

Edit: I felt like I need to clear one point - I am nowhere close to the "genius" category; however, I had a fortune to work with a few people not too far from it. I was always blown away by their ability to relate things that seemed completely unconnected, and make very important decisions quickly and correctly.

Nevermind... We do disagree. You say one on hand "you and Emerson seem to confuse academic excellence with brilliance in engineering," and then that academic genius is "quintessential for a 'genius'..."

Huh? Formal education only tells you ONLY how to reinvent the wheel - Academics teaches you the "box" and the physical rules we are supposed to follow... by definition, does not give you creativity... natural born creativity is what makes a brilliant engineer because only THAT person, with creativity, is prone to finding new ways to solve old problems.

I can - did - study the academic theories and learn them well... but they do NOT tell me how to be creative, nor do they impart brilliance or genius.

So what kind of engineer are you?

 

[p m]

Nevermind... We do disagree. You say one on hand "you and Emerson seem to confuse academic excellence with brilliance in engineering," and then that academic genius is "quintessential for a 'genius'..."

I never said a person has to demostrate academic excellence.

Huh? Formal education only tells you ONLY how to reinvent the wheel - Academics teaches you the "box" and the physical rules we are supposed to follow... by definition, does not give you creativity... natural born creativity is what makes a brilliant engineer because only THAT person, with creativity, is prone to finding new ways to solve old problems.

Absolutely not. It tells you what has been done, and how it was done, and how could you do something should you come across something you can relate to.
Creativity is something you are born with, or not.
One of my (very revered) teachers in college repeatedly told me that our common goal was to learn to learn whatever's necessary. There are always textbooks and references to hone the fine details.

So what kind of engineer are you?

I'll leave it to you to decide.

 

[Nantahala]

As for the remark on Nuclear engineers, there still isn't much of a demand. There hasn't been a nuclear power plant built in a couple decades. The ones they are planning on building are already drawn up and everything. The plans for these facilities have been filed away and are finally coming back out since regulations against nuclear is starting to ease a little.

Max, do you really think this is true? The industry is just going to pull some 1970's plans off the shelf and build them? Take a look at the Charlotte papers for nuclear and nuclear-related engineering openings... not the small job opening type stuff - the full-page ad type.

Search for Charlotte here:

http://www.recruitingsite.com/csbsites/shawinternet/careers.asp

There's always Bechtel:

http://careers.bechtel.com/search.aspx

GE is also comitted to a lot of nuclear in Wilmington and are getting geared up for equipment supply.

Here is an article on Charlotte losing the Westinghouse nuclear center - take a look at the nuclear jobs that's going to provide:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06340/743843-28.stm

Of course Duke Energy is in Charlotte also. Charlotte and NC (and the southeast to an extent) are becoming a respectable nuclear center for the new plants. My firm has done work on 12 of the 19 COL packages that are in the works now. Nuclear and nuclear-related engineers are going to be in demand. The big firms are scrambling to get ready.

Here is a good blog/article:

http://blogs.payscale.com/salarystories/2007/11/nuclear-enginee.html

Good luck with finals. Keep in mind that that you will probably use only 10% of what you learn in the real world (if you stay in engineering). But you are learning how to learn, and a basic understanding of the theory behind it.

M-

 

[LR Max]

M,

I was referring to the design of nuclear facilities and the actual nuclear reactor. The quest for better turbines and generators is always on.

And yes, they are using old plans. Why? Because those old plans have already been approved by the government. Heck, down in Gaffney, SC there is a foundation (half of the reactor case) has already been poured. It was poured about 3 decades ago. Duke Energy is going to build a new nuke plant soon. They are hinting that is where they'll construct it, which makes sense.

They'll probably update the controls of the plant (i.e. computer controls) and possibly the generators, turbines, etc. But these things are regular maintenance and upgrades for power generating facilities so its no big deal. BTW, I get all my info from peoples that work at a Duke powerplant.

For the big debate on "natural smarts" or whatever ya'll want to call it. I can tell you that those peoples are the ones that get the good engineering jobs straight out of college because their GPA is 4.0 but that doesn't mean they are actually "good" at what they do. Despite this, about 5 years out of college all engineers get paid about the same. Unless you somehow land a super awesome gig or somehow doing something badass.