Lot of low Intelligence engineers out there FWIW. In many cases it’s simply about effort.
Are you an engineer? If I recall correctly you are one. How does one pass the appropriate coursework to become one with low intelligence?
Any other high-skill fields one can just try hard in? Surgery, physics, various medical specialties, actuarial analysis?
I’m not arguing, but I just don’t believe one of those professions can be achieved with high amounts of effort without higher than average intelligence.
I don’t know many engineers, so I’m biased, but the ones I do know are all intelligent.
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I work with a wide range of Engineers. You’d be surprised. They aren’t all smart, nor do they all make a ton of money.
The money thing I know about. Again, I’m biased. I know a few, and they’re all smart and earn above average.
Mechanical Engineer here. On average engineers have higher than average intelligence, but some seem pretty average and work really hard. Someone who graduates college (all degrees together) has a higher than average intelligence on average (IQ of 110-115 compared to the average of 100 with a standard deviation of 15).
This is true. Especially with the money. Many people think engineers are making 6 figures as a new grads.
One thing true for me and many engineers I know is that we are frugal. I max out my 401K, but drive a car worth approximately $1K (bought it for $1,500 about 3 years ago). I know @Californiagrown is a big saver/investor.
Maybe the fact that many engineers are rich, despite only having good pay (not nearly what most people think our pay is), is the reason many people think engineers get paid so much. I know several millionaire engineers that really only make low 6 figures.
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You’d be surprised. Becoming a Dr is basically just brute memorization, same with lawyers. I don’t personally know any not so bright docters but I do know 2 pretty dumb lawyers haha.
People underestimate the value of working as though failure is not an option. I don’t think that many people have truly put in max effort for a sustained period of time… It’s kind of similar to bodybuilding in that regard, IMO. Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard. A lot of talented people (most imo) don’t work hard, so how hard you are willing to work matters as much or more than how intelligent you are.
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One thing I’ll say is that the probability of finding a lazy engineer that got good grades and has a low IQ is very low.
One of the smartest dudes I know did hardly any studying, made his money playing magic, was high for every class, got expelled from 2 colleges for selling weed, ended up graduating with a 3.8 GPA in Mechanical Engineering.
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Yea, but it was from the University of American Somoa though … I hear their Law School is top notch tho
Nice thing about engineering is it’s the EXACT same undergrad material at Stanford and at University of American Samoa.
And just like lawyers and doctors, you still have to pass the licensing exams. It again, comes down to how hard you are willing to work… And that amount of work and focus may not be worth it when another career may fit and fulfill you better.
Sure, but I’d imagine that standards might differ to the quality of the work - but hey, what do I know, I went to UMass
Not for Mechanical Engineering (for the most part at least, possibly gov’t work requires a PE, maybe others?).
IMO, these licensing test programs serve to make the test makers rich, and don’t add much value. Just my opinion though. I hope ME never lets these tests in.
The guy I mentioned went on to the graduate ME program at the same school we did undergrad in. The graduate program was rated in the top 10 for the US at the time.
If you’re not stamping anything you don’t need the license. How often are you producing actual plans that need a stamp in ME? In civil, managers are stamping plansets daily… And until you get your PE you are an Engineer In Training (assuming you passed your EIT).
i took summer classes at Stanford (because I’m from there and worked in the AD during summers), and material and grading were no different than at my state school. YMMV.
In ME, you typically don’t need to stamp anything. I have designed and done drawings for mechanisms in medical devices, no stamp required. Someone at some point could have decided that some certification was needed to do this work. It hasn’t happened. It seems the degree is enough.
This is not assumed in ME. You can be the highest ranking engineer, and not have a PE. IMO, the PE in ME is a waste of time, unless it is a personal goal of yours. People do it thinking they will get more money. It usually doesn’t pan out, or the reward for the effort is pretty low.
Yeah getting a master’s in civil is a waste, but the PE is needed. Seems the kindof the opposite for ME?
Masters is worth more than a PE, but it seems to have less value as your career goes on. You might make more at your first job, but after you have been in the game, it seems experience / being good at interviewing (bullshitting) is more important.
Every single successful person I know has worked their ass off, with zero exceptions. Not all of them are particularly intelligent.
I’d say consistency of effort is the single most accurate predictor of success in anything.
This is per month???
For 6 months.
Oh. Yeah well I feel you I pay even more because I’m a “young driver”
Hard work is a given if one wants to be exceptional. No one denies this.
My point was there are fields with high income in which inherent ability is necessary. I am not talking about positions that simply require average intelligence, creativity, cleverness and/or hustle, and many of those positions require an exceptional disposition anyway.
My brother had such a position, unionized wine and liquor distribution in Las Vegas, and made more with a GED, workaholism, and a gregarious personality than some people with PhD’s. And such a position is rare anyway and he likely wouldn’t have gotten it outside of a family connection.
And my original point was that ordinary people who are NOT blowing money they don’t have on excursions to Turks and Caicos, Euro cruises, luxury cars, unnecessary renovations, etc., who earn ordinary incomes and don’t choose where they’ll work or even quit! As people know, there are talented people who have considerable autonomy in their jobs and might even be able to tell their bosses and do-workers to go —- themselves and remain employed.
In a functioning society there are ordinary people doing ordinary things earning ordinary incomes. And that’s the way it should be considering the necessary allocation of labor.
And like @TriednTrue said, some people have serious anchors, in some cases their own kids or Relatives being the serious anchors.
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