How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
4
EngineerTex (Mechanical)
(OP)
I work in a large, multinational corporation, the name of which has been heard by most every human who owns a television. We have loads of engineering departments all over the world and I have had the opportunity to meet a great number of engineers.
I, myself, am an engineer, so please do not take this as a sleight to the entire profession -- it needs to be said. We engineers have a natural tendency to suffer from social ineptitude. If we're excellent at interpersonal relationships, we often get shuffled off to sales or put into management.
That being said, I would like to offer a suggestion that in your dealings with your co-workers, colleagues, fellow industry professionals, bosses, underlings, secretaries and the general public, put on your happy face and be polite. Your rewards may be few or none for doing the right thing, but YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN FOR BEING A JERK.
My reason for posting today arises from a post in another forum on this website. The OP was a newbie and his first ever post was basically nothing more than an advertisement for his rather small company in an extremely small industry. He posted his advertisement for something that is probably a fine product and included his website in the post. The replies were the expected replies, calling him out on the fact that eng-tips.com doesn't allow advertisements/spam and that he shouldn't be surprised if his post is removed in short order.
And then something extraordinary happened. The original poster wrote:
Which prompted me to post in this forum. The bigger problem is that this individual decided to use what is almost certainly his real first name along with the name of his company when he posted his shocking reply. I am not shocked because I have delicate sensibilities -- I don't. I am shocked because it is a display of a shortcoming that I see far too often amongst many members of the engineering community. In the case of this individual, he should ask himself a few questions.
Will anyone reading my response ever use my company's products?
Is it likely that my boss reads these forums?
Have I done something in public that can identify myself to others through my professional career?
Is it likely that my co-workers read these forums?
Have I harmed my company's name by my actions?
Be polite. Always. Being a jerk will never be forgotten.
I, myself, am an engineer, so please do not take this as a sleight to the entire profession -- it needs to be said. We engineers have a natural tendency to suffer from social ineptitude. If we're excellent at interpersonal relationships, we often get shuffled off to sales or put into management.
That being said, I would like to offer a suggestion that in your dealings with your co-workers, colleagues, fellow industry professionals, bosses, underlings, secretaries and the general public, put on your happy face and be polite. Your rewards may be few or none for doing the right thing, but YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN FOR BEING A JERK.
My reason for posting today arises from a post in another forum on this website. The OP was a newbie and his first ever post was basically nothing more than an advertisement for his rather small company in an extremely small industry. He posted his advertisement for something that is probably a fine product and included his website in the post. The replies were the expected replies, calling him out on the fact that eng-tips.com doesn't allow advertisements/spam and that he shouldn't be surprised if his post is removed in short order.
And then something extraordinary happened. The original poster wrote:
Quote (OP):
Okay, this website is garbage. I'm taking my "informative spam" along with my long list of prestigious followers (Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman) to another website.
Which prompted me to post in this forum. The bigger problem is that this individual decided to use what is almost certainly his real first name along with the name of his company when he posted his shocking reply. I am not shocked because I have delicate sensibilities -- I don't. I am shocked because it is a display of a shortcoming that I see far too often amongst many members of the engineering community. In the case of this individual, he should ask himself a few questions.
Will anyone reading my response ever use my company's products?
Is it likely that my boss reads these forums?
Have I done something in public that can identify myself to others through my professional career?
Is it likely that my co-workers read these forums?
Have I harmed my company's name by my actions?
Be polite. Always. Being a jerk will never be forgotten.
Engineering is not the science behind building. It is the science behind not building.





RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
I don't think he needs to worry about the boss, because I think he's it.
But, yes, he's a jerk, and I'll be sure to not give him any business, commercial or otherwise. If nothing else, he's demonstrated a complete lack of graciousness.
It's not that different than an occasion where a salesman took me out to lunch one time, and reveled in taking a handicap parking spot because he had arranged to get a placard for a bogus condition. Naturally, the raised the issue of his ethics, and no business for him either.
TTFN
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RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Good luck,
Latexman
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
TTFN
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RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Judging by this forum, most display a degree of professionalism that I haven't found on any other public forum.
Engineers tend to be good at logic, and there was only one logical outcome for that thread and the OP's outburst.
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
TTFN
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RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Okay, this website is garbage. I'm taking my "informative spam" along with my long list of prestigious followers (Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman) to another website."
Prestigious followers? Wow, that is an arrogant statment. I work for one of these companies (and other big defense companies in my carreer) and trust me they do not follow anybody and Eng-Tips (or any other professional board)is not on their radar to infiltrate and garner business. We have lobbyist for that job LOL.
I guess lesson learned here is don't drop names in negative contex. That will get you in the dog house real fast.
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
So, very true.
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Great thread, thank you.
I missed that post from the 'other OP'. I have zero patience for idiots like that. There is a good chance he is still within Eng-Tips as a different name.
Twoballcane,
You are correct. I also had worked with/for some of those companies, they do not have any relations/followings of websites.
Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
I've seen/heard the same thing in the context of mountaineering and caving. Maybe experience there comes from surviving your initial (foul)ups.
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Civil Development Group, LLC
Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading
http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com
http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com/blog
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
It's mostly the case with the "I'm so special" Generation Y kiddies, but I doubt the offender referenced in this thread's OP is that young. I suspect what happens is what little social graces someone might have managed to develop through the school of hard knocks in real life, that all evaporates when instead of talking to someone's face, it's just you and the computer and your unmet expectations.
Hg
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RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
drawn to design, designed to draw
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
It's no different that when you SO asks, "Do these pants make my butt look big?"
Everybody needs to be an actor at some point in time...
TTFN
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RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Joe Hasik,
CSWP/SMTL/MTLS
SW 10 x64, SP 3.0
Dell T3400
Intel Core2 Quad
Q6700 2.66 GHz
3.93 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
- Steve
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance.
-A R Dykes
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Joe Hasik,
CSWP/SMTL/MTLS
SW 10 x64, SP 3.0
Dell T3400
Intel Core2 Quad
Q6700 2.66 GHz
3.93 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
I suggested he drive it on weekends - not while trying to sell insurance to a group of very hard working and not so wealthy clients.
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Truer words were never spoken. The humble engineer engineer is the one who keeps quiet unless they know exactly what they are saying. The humble person is the one who lays all their doubts on the table and invites others to doubt them. In a non-engineering context, only saying things that you are immovably certain about is anything but humble.
Pardon me as print that quote off and frame it...
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
That's not in dispute. You have to diagnose the problem before you can treat it...
RE: How Not to Get Ahead in Your Work
Actually, I wish I could find some of Somting's engineers that only open their mouth to speak truth. I don't think I've met one yet. I've met good engineers (and bad), but like all people engineers have a range of personality - bluff & bluster or lack thereof is not a required trait of the profession.
One of the most skilled engineers I've met was prone to put forth his opinion on any design topic as proven fact without any evidence to back it up. If it was in his (fairly large) range of expertise I never knew him to be found wrong... problem is he didn't always stop at putting forth opinion as fact beyond his areas of expertise, and if you didn't know him you wouldn't be able to tell when he was talking outside his knowledge.