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I don't know about entitlement, but I do know that 'engineers' tend to get really annoyed whenever someone has the title engineer but did not specifically go to a school of engineering.
I was promoted in a previous job from system admin to system engineer and my engineering school grad friends had a small fit over it -- stating that titles are thrown around left and right and how these people are not REAL engineer, blah blah.
My argument is that engineer, in some instances, is more of a definition of your role and the work you do; not whether your diploma specifically says college of engineering. Anyone can get a piece of paper, I'd rather trust someone who has 'engineered' things through practice.
Sorry, I know this rant was slightly off topic.
Anyone can get a piece of paper? Have you attempted to take a 300 - 400 level engineering course at an ABET accredited college or university? It might make you think twice about calling the degree "a piece of paper."
And the capstone senior design project is "engineering things through practice."
I am an engineer, and engineers are not "entitled" at all. In fact, I, unfortunately, notice the opposite. Most of my colleagues are doormats who allow management to abuse us, and that makes it difficult for people like myself who want engineers to actually be treated as human beings. It, unfortunately, forces people like myself into a race to the bottom.
I stayed home during a major blizzard in 2010, when there was a state of emergency, and everyone was asked to say off of the road unless they were an emergency vehicle. I had nothing urgent going on at work that day that couldn't wait for the next day. There was a state of emergency, roads were unplowed, there were utility poles knocked down and blocking roads, traffic signals not functioning, etc. And I used a vacation day to stay home. Yet I was reprimanded for doing so. And I was told by my colleagues, who just cheerfully ignored the state of emergency, and put their lives and other lives at risk, that "If you want benefits, you went into the wrong profession". As if staying home (and burning a vacation day!) to avoid putting my life at risk and others at risk during a state of emergency is a "benefit". But it is because of this doormat attitude of my colleagues that management can get away with it.
Also, society has no respect for engineers. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how teachers have the hardest job in the world and the most important job in the world. But how would teachers be able to get to work without engineers who design the roads that they use? Obviously teachers do have a very important job, but we all depend on each other. Why don't engineers get the respect that other professions get?
Back to the 2010 blizzard: at least where I live, teachers got a free day off (they are allowed 3 snow days that don't have to be made up), yet I was reprimanded for burning a vacation day. When I questioned my colleagues as to why is a teacher's life worth more than an engineer's life, their response was "because it is". Ridiculous!
Finally, I think "entitled" is one of the most overused and meaningless buzzwords on this forum.
I'm not an engineer, but I have worked with around 50-60 of them. They are hard workers, work long hours and most are paid low wages. They are not entitled at all. They went through some very tough courses in college and are generally professional.
They are punctual almost 100% of the time, which means most of their social skills lack. I have meet only a few really down to Earth ones that I had no problem grabbing a beer with after work.
I hold a couple of EE degrees and manage a team of 25 engineers and contractors. I don't think there's much entitlement going on that I've seen. I do agree with the previous post that there's some mild, unstated resentment, not when someone didn't go to engineering school, but when someone is called an engineer and their fundamentals and decision making is out of whack with sound engineering principles. If being asked "why" causes you to cower with fear and BS me, then you may even end up feeling that managers are walking all over you.
The word entitled is thrown around too much anyway. Pretty much everyone I know who is an engineer enjoys their work, enjoys their pay, and outside of the folks on the average spectrum on the software side, isn't worried about outsourcing. Most of my contacts in engineering are systems folks in telecom, with minimal room for outsourcing. Keeps the resentment down too.
That's what I get from this board and other forums as well. How many of you on here think that many engineers have a sense of entitlement and should absolutely grateful that their jobs are either being outsourced or being taken by people imported from the third-world? For those that do, would you rather American students stop studying STEM entirely and we import everyone to do all of our engineering/scientific/technical work in the country?
As someone who has an engineering background. I find your mentality the most obnoxious and backward thinking. Majority of those who get into STEM is not for the money but to be a part of the advancement of technology and help our society.
What is wrong with society today is this collective notion that engineers are only about having it easy to a well paying job. It is not at all well paying consider the amount of work, study, and involvement it takes just to put in all these free tech info on Google for some uninformed person to search up.
Companies that outsources their R&D eventually become noncompetitive because their advantages are constantly being stolen and sold down the street. Any companies that does heavy web eCommerce must treat their techies well. Go to India and find 500 workers and they still can't get the job done compared to 50 quality American engineers and many of their productivity can't be measured when it comes to giving them ownership of the technology.
What would happen if this country outsources all of it's tech? There'll be no relevant data to search on Google, people in other countries that work in out sourcing firms do not share free info on Google. Most things that comes up on Google searchs are all marketing crap inserted by Amazon. If you need real info, you'll have to pay someone.
Go ahead and out-source this economy. It doesn't stop at tech, any job that does not require constant learning and staying relevant can be outsourced. Even companies that do outsourcing is outsourcing many of their own internal services.
OP who just joined in May and has only 7 posts, you spelled "lawyer" really wrong! I am an engineer (choo choo) and I think quite a few engineers get pretty steamed up when the topic of lawyers comes around the corner, here she comes. "Parasites on society" / "Too much pay for too little meaningful work" / "Lawyers on both sides running up the bill" / "Patent trolls!"
Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of the trades folk have beefs (often legitimate) about we poindexter engineers.
Re: the watering down of the engineer title, I hear there is a field call "menu engineering" which actually has "menu engineers" - I mean food menus not software UI menus. Sure language evolves, engineers used to work on engines (choo choo!) but that's a bit much.
Would lawyers qualify for "ultimate" sense of entitlement?
(when deflector shields are invented, engineers will be entitled to the credit)
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Let me guess...pizza delivery?
