@thechaosledger Friend @BioengineerGM makes the brilliant point that "engineers are peer-reviewed by reality."

@rorysutherland And enginners are judged by whether the product works rather than a peer group awards ceremony.

@rorysutherland This is why we love you, Rory…!

Signed,
An Engineer

@rorysutherland Yes, it is a mistake to judge someone by their toolkit or the discipline they use.

There are many creative accountants and too many derivative artists.

Creativity comes from the willingness to explore, not what degree you studied.

@rorysutherland Startling ✅️
Imaginative ✅️
Engineering 👌🏻

@rorysutherland I have a persistent feeling that nowadays cars are designed by advertising and marketing creatives, and that their design would be much more elegant if they would leave the design to the engineers.

@rorysutherland Engineers are differently imaginative. My arts teacher used to despair with me.
Drawing precise fantastical perspective imagery was easy as pie. Drawing something considered "artistic" was beyond my capabilities and imagination.

@rorysutherland the only difference between an engineer and an artist is that the former focuses on what's useful

and tends to use more math

@rorysutherland The most creative idea in the history of man.

@rorysutherland True you can't create GPUs (Jensen), stunning hoovers (Dyson), or the Starship (Musk) without being imaginative. FWIW, Dyson was an arts major

@rorysutherland The single biggest components of UK Gov "creative industry" stats is: IT services.
It amuses me every time a self-identified 'creative' wibbles on about their contribution to the economy, as if the data is about alternative theatre.
But I guess they don't really do numbers.

@rorysutherland I see engineering as painting on the universe.

@rorysutherland second that. people now are reaching for is another decade of one function winning. the hire that actually works has one sharp edge and enough range to argue with the other side.

@rorysutherland How often are they at their best?

@rorysutherland Even amateur engineers building something at home are very creative.

@rorysutherland Australia’s favourite playwright - David Williamson - is an engineering lecturer by profession.

@rorysutherland Engineers are creatives. They do for a £ what any eejit can do for £100.

@rorysutherland @paulg wrote book on this thesis Hackers and Painters !

@rorysutherland Engine and Engineer come from "ingenium" in latin (wit, ingenuity...)

@rorysutherland Except for the current ridiculous over engineering factors they impose for keeping their liability insurance premiums low.

@rorysutherland I think he’s referring to the people on the Hitchhiker’s Guide B Ark.

@rorysutherland I became an engineer to build interesting things, not because I was good at maths (but being good at maths was a prerequisite, of course).

@rorysutherland The only “problem” with engineers is a tendency to A-Team a solution out of what they have, rather than blue sky stuff. So you get a forklift that fires CO2 powered cabbages not a tank. Unless you press them and give them permission to do otherwise.

@rorysutherland Engineers and computer scientists
get the most patents.
John Hanson once told his engineers in a meeting,
"In one year, half of you will be gone".
One of them, Ron Holland, invented a hitch, Winnebago patented it and never paid him for it.
(John Hansen founded Winnebago).

@rorysutherland But not always in ways which are helpful.

@rorysutherland Only someone who isn’t an engineer thinks engineers aren’t creative/imaginative.

Architects often do this to the civil/structural guys.

@rorysutherland My favourite example of this is John Frank Stevens, who built the Panama Canal (after multiple previous attempts by others and thousands of deaths). The others had made the mistake of copying the Suez design (despite v different topography). He redefined the problem 1/2

@rorysutherland An engineering degree is historically the most common college degree found among educated violent extremists and terrorist groups.

For good or bad engineers tend towards being action oriented.

@rorysutherland Never met an engineer who wasn’t creative. People think the math & physics are what you need to get in. That’s wrong. The math and physics keeps out the riff raff. It’s 100% creativity after you get your seat. The creativity of engineering isn’t visible so people misunderstand it

@rorysutherland every great performance marketer i've known was either a creative who learned math, or one who partnered with top creatives to blend the stats with the story. ai just removed the disguise.

@rorysutherland Engineering is creativity mapped to a finite requirements space. Or it was.

Now it's creativity, unbounded. Engineers have been unleashed, not displaced.

@rorysutherland Creatives make your work look pretty. Engineers make sure your work gets done quickly. Make it work, make it right, make it fast, refine the UI so it doesn't waste your time, then make it pretty.