Brain Damage

A bit of a follow up between my What is the Final Point post and Engineer Engineer post.  Again, only tangentially aligned to EVE, and not as much elitist-jerk as my previous engineering post.

I have a couple rivals at my IRL job; not for the point of anything malicious, but as a benchmark to check myself against.  In most respects, we are largely equal: similar responsibilities, similar time on the job, similar backgrounds. The thing that bothers/concerns me about my cohorts is they seem to lack something I think is absolutely required for all who call themselves engineers: Brain damage.

Part of what makes an engineer an engineer is the creative spark and an all-consuming thirst for learning.  As is said so succinctly, "I solve problems".  Without a fire in your belly, you aren't going to make it to the title of engineer, you're going to take a path of less resistance.  Only a fool would take the hard way.

So us fools need some way to feed the fire burning within.  I personally spend my creative energy here on the blog and writing Prosper.  One of my bosses restores pinball machines (seriously, he has the best damned man-cave ever).  I have an online friend who makes lightpacks and controls to be the envy of the block come Christmas time.

This isn't to say that creative madness is reserved to engineers, only that I believe most engineers should possess it.  It distresses me when new-graduate engineers completely lack the verve to save the world.  I get it that engineer money is good, but it isn't good enough for the work alone.