Are you an engineer?

[DC Dawg]

After starting my college career as a music education major at the University of Georgia, I change majors in my first spring quarter after taking a class in FORTRAN and IBM 360 assembly language on punch cards. There aren't too many people younger than me who remember punch cards! If you know about punch cards, let's see if you can tell me about 96 column cards!

 

After college, I started my career as a Software Engineer. Then I became a systems engineer. At some point, I did network engineering. Somewhere along the line I became a hacker, systems programmer, systems administrator, and systems architect. When I got tired of the nuts and bolts, I became an analyst--basically telling other engineers what to do before getting into information security.

 

After going back to school at 40 for my masters from Carnegie Mellon University, I've been doing information security compliance and management while continuing to be an analyst telling other computer and systems engineers what to do--and government oversight where to go!

 

Scott

[HiHoAudio]

I took drafting in college.

I've dumped garbage cans as a sanitation engineer.

I think most physicists are out of touch with real life.

I know how to use a slide rule, CAD program, and The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.

I've operated various locomotives.

 

Can I be an honorary engineer?

 

I should probably have mentioned that you don't need an engineering degree to call yourself one, at least in my opinion. All of my engineering knowledge came from on the job experience and older engineers willing to answer my rookie questions.

 

Now I am the older engineer being asked "Can I ask you something?"

 

This turned into a pretty good thread, lots of interesting people here...

 

[PerryHall]

I took drafting in college.

I've dumped garbage cans as a sanitation engineer.

I think most physicists are out of touch with real life.

I know how to use a slide rule, CAD program, and The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.

I've operated various locomotives.

 

Can I be an honorary engineer?

 

I should probably have mentioned that you don't need an engineering degree to call yourself one, at least in my opinion. All of my engineering knowledge came from on the job experience and older engineers willing to answer my rookie questions.

 

Now I am the older engineer being asked "Can I ask you something?"

 

This turned into a pretty good thread, lots of interesting people here...

 

To legally call yourself an engineer, you need to have a Profesional Engineer License issued by your state. The PE license is not easy to get.

 

 

 

 

[L1ncolnF4n]

After starting my college career as a music education major at the University of Georgia, I change majors in my first spring quarter after taking a class in FORTRAN and IBM 360 assembly language on punch cards. There aren't too many people younger than me who remember punch cards! If you know about punch cards, let's see if you can tell me about 96 column cards!

 

After college, I started my career as a Software Engineer. Then I became a systems engineer. At some point, I did network engineering. Somewhere along the line I became a hacker, systems programmer, systems administrator, and systems architect. When I got tired of the nuts and bolts, I became an analyst--basically telling other engineers what to do before getting into information security.

 

After going back to school at 40 for my masters from Carnegie Mellon University, I've been doing information security compliance and management while continuing to be an analyst telling other computer and systems engineers what to do--and government oversight where to go!

 

Scott

 

Yea, my dad always tells me stories about how he used some of the first computers at the University of Illinois, with the big cards...I laugh and turn back to answer my cell phone...oh how the world has changed!\

 

Cheers!

[Revenant]

To legally call yourself an engineer, you need to have a Profesional Engineer License issued by your state. The PE license is not easy to get.

 

Very true, on all points. I'm hoping to take advantage of having next semester mostly to myself in order to study for and take the FE as the next step in the process. I'm hoping to do well with the first pass because they charge you ~$150 to take that test these days.

[cladking]

 

I should probably have mentioned that you don't need an engineering degree to call yourself one, at least in my opinion.

 

 

It might still be a bit of a stretch to call me an engineer but I have done a lot of related tasks over the years.

 

I already answered "no" though and can't* change my answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* I know who to call who probably could though.

[Desert Gold]

I am also an engineer (an electrical engineer to be more precise). For anyone who is trying to figure out what to major in at college, this is great profession if you like math and physics.

[gbsten]

I am also an engineer (an electrical engineer to be more precise). For anyone who is trying to figure out what to major in at college, this is great profession if you like math and physics.

 

Hated that math! Thevinize (sp) a circuit...terrible!!!!

[Tradedollarnut]

For anyone who is trying to figure out what to major in at college, this is great profession if you like math and physics, wear a pocket protector and/or birth control glasses and have no social skills whatsoever.

 

[Revenant]

For anyone who is trying to figure out what to major in at college, this is great profession if you like math and physics, wear a pocket protector and/or birth control glasses and have no social skills whatsoever.

 

 

[cpm9ball]

After starting my college career as a music education major at the University of Georgia, I change majors in my first spring quarter after taking a class in FORTRAN and IBM 360 assembly language on punch cards. There aren't too many people younger than me who remember punch cards! If you know about punch cards, let's see if you can tell me about 96 column cards!

 

After college, I started my career as a Software Engineer. Then I became a systems engineer. At some point, I did network engineering. Somewhere along the line I became a hacker, systems programmer, systems administrator, and systems architect. When I got tired of the nuts and bolts, I became an analyst--basically telling other engineers what to do before getting into information security.

 

After going back to school at 40 for my masters from Carnegie Mellon University, I've been doing information security compliance and management while continuing to be an analyst telling other computer and systems engineers what to do--and government oversight where to go!

 

Scott

 

Yea, my dad always tells me stories about how he used some of the first computers at the University of Illinois, with the big cards...I laugh and turn back to answer my cell phone...oh how the world has changed!\

 

Cheers!

 

My Mom worked for a number of government agencies during and after WWII and on into the early 70's. One of her early positions was at David Taylor Model Basin in Carderock, MD. It was a test facility for military ships and subs. The computer room was about 4,000 square feet, and they had to keep the room temperature at 56 degrees.

 

Chris

[Storm Shadow]

I thought about becoming an electrical engineer but didn`t have the math marks to go straight into university. Screwed around in college, got the boot, went to trade school and ended up becoming an electrician.

[TomB]

I don't know how old you are Scott, but I also used those punch cards and our frickin' typewriter style cardpunchers never had any display to let you know if you typed the card correctly. This meant that when you dropped off the rubber band bound stack of 800 or 1,000 cards in the job box and came back the next day or two that you might receive a printout showing "Invalid Command" and have no feedback or results for the program that was written. I learned FORTRAN, PASCAL and COBOL my freshman year as a ChemE major.

 

However, I am not an engineer and I blame this on the combination of an unfortunate choice of calculus instructor for honors calculus and my age. I was just 18 years old and had never had calculus in high school, yet placed in the honors program because of my test scores and this meant that there were no other calculus sections for me to transfer to in the event that I did not like my schedule or professor. This also meant that my calculus professor, who had just arrived from South Korea and spoke virtually no English and could not communicate with or teach his students, left anyone without a solid calculus background from high school in deep trouble. Fortunately for all the other students, but unfortunately for me, I was the only one in our section who had not had calculus in high school. I was too young to realize that I should have complained that I was not able to learn anything from a Korean speaking professor, so I stayed in the section and struggled mightily to obtain a C. Not only was the C damaging to my GPA, but it also left me woefully underprepared for the next semester of calculus and left me behind in all my science and engineering classes. I never recovered and after two years of struggle changed my major to chemistry.

[Desert Gold]

It's amazing how big of a difference a bad or good teacher can make one ones life. I was fortunate enough to have some really good teachers. However, my son, who just started college, hasn't been so lucky his first semester.

[RWB]

That's what it says on my work business cards - but the last bridge I built was made out of sticks and wet sand.

[WoodenJefferson]

That's what it says on my work business cards - but the last bridge I built was made out of sticks and wet sand.

 

That's nothing, in Asian countries, they are still making scaffolding out of bamboo.

[PerryHall]

When IBM first developed their computer cards, they decided to copy the dimensions of the currency which was the large sized notes at the time. It was felt that since people were used to handling paper money, they would be comfortable handling computer cards.

[RWB]

Bamboo makes more resilient and adaptable scaffolding than steel. It is also lighter, cheaper, can be easily attached to large buildings and will support nearly as much weight as steel. It is not as durable but because of it low cost, it is more economical and productive than western scaffolding.

[ldhair]

I wish I had stayed in school. I have ticked off many engineers over the years.

 

 

[DC Dawg]

I don't know how old you are Scott, but I also used those punch cards and our frickin' typewriter style cardpunchers never had any display to let you know if you typed the card correctly. This meant that when you dropped off the rubber band bound stack of 800 or 1,000 cards in the job box and came back the next day or two that you might receive a printout showing "Invalid Command" and have no feedback or results for the program that was written. I learned FORTRAN, PASCAL and COBOL my freshman year as a ChemE major.

I'll turn 50 next year, so I was at the end of the punch card era. However, I had the "pleasure" of programming a PDP-8 with paper tape!!

 

As for the cards, the keypunch machines were programmable, if you knew how to do it. I learned how to program those machine to automatically add numbers to the cards after I dropped over 500 cards. After that, I learned how to run a job that would read the cards, sort the numbers, and print out a new deck in order. That saved my butt many times!

 

Scott

[DC Dawg]

When IBM first developed their computer cards, they decided to copy the dimensions of the currency which was the large sized notes at the time. It was felt that since people were used to handling paper money, they would be comfortable handling computer cards.

Herman Hollerith invented the electro-mechanical punch card system in 1880 and filed his firs patent in 1884 while he was working for the Census. The first cards were 45 column cards. The patent was granted in 1889 and was used for the 1890 decennial count. At the time, the Census took 8 years to reconcile, with Hollerith's tabulation machine cut that time to 8 months! By 1897, Hollerith moved to Buffalo and started Hollerith Tabulating Machine Corp.

 

Hollerith was not a good business man. When the Census, his largest customer, wanted improvements and wanted cost reductions in 1905, Hollerith refused. The Census did not renew Hollerith's contract and he lost his largest client. After other business problems, Hollerith sold the company to the Computer-Tabulating Recording Company in 1917. CTR was the company formed by the 1911 merger of he International Time Recording Company, The Tabulating Machine Company, and the Computing Scale Company. By late 1914, Thomas J. Waston, Sr. joined the company as a general manager. By 1924, Watson had become the company president and renamed the company International Business Machines.

 

Early in 1928, Remington Rand UNIVAC redesigned the Hollerith 45 column card to allow for two letters per column, effectively turning the card into a 90-column card. In response, IBM redesigned the Hollerith card to 80-columns, 12 rows, to expand the number of character that could be encoded on the card. IBM did not change the size of the holes, which dictated the size of the card. IBM created 80-column cards because the engineering that was required to change the tabulation machines and the card punch machines was less expensive than if they changed the cards to 90-columns. UNIVAC updated the card in 1930 to a full 90-columns with round holes and to be better encoded than IBM's zone-based system.

 

The size of the cards has nothing to do with the size of currency. It is a function of the electro-mechanical limitations that existed in 1928. Besides, in 1928 the BEP changed the format of the currency from the large size notes to the small notes. While the claim that the cards were design with large currency in mind is quaint and plausible, but it is not true. Sorry!

 

Scott

 

SOURCES:

http://www.officemuseum.com/data_processing_machines.htm

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/builders/builders_hollerith.html

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1928.html

http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/hollerith.html

http://www.museumwaalsdorp.nl/computer/en/Remington_punchcards/index.html

[kbsig106]

Nope - I'm a Growth Management Planner (Government Consultant/Lobbiest). I married a Polymer Engineer though, so I guess that 1/2 counts.

 

 

[RWB]

Nice background info, Scott!

[RareSov]

Does Team Fortress 2 count

[Revenant]

Does Team Fortress 2 count

 

No.

[RareSov]

I am not an engineer

[TJ'S Coins]

My daughter is studying to be a ceramic engineer at Missouri S&T but I am not an engineer, nor married to one.

Tim, I don't think you ever told me that - I went there for two years ! Very tough school, and she will have no problems at all finding good employment with that degree. I seem to remember they are consistently ranked with the top ten or so engineering schools in the country.

 

She's a freshman and is finishing an easy for her first semester. Next semester she has Calculus Two and Physics. She expects to face a much tougher challenge. She's an intelligent young woman, does very well in math and realizes it will become more difficult the further she advances. The prospects for good employment keeps her focused.

 

James, so where did you receive your engineering degrees?

[Oldtrader3]

I had one of those also ( a Calculus Prof. who spoke no English). Worked as an Automation Engineer for 25 years. Never finished engineering school got a BSBA and MBA.

[AYA3]

Many of those I work with are engineers, although I am a hydrogeologist. MS in environmental geology.

 

Andy

[zrlevin]

I just finished my first semester as a double major ChemE and History. I'd like to go to law school, I'm not terribly fond of engineering.