Engineering
Anyone who works in any discipline of engineering has made expensive mistakes. You only get experience just after you need it.

I have this quote on my desk.

"It is a great profession. There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privelege.
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope that the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny that he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned. That is the phantasmagoria that haunts his nights and dogs his days. He comes from the job at the end of the day resolved to calculate it again. He wakes in the night in a cold sweat and puts something on paper that looks silly in the morning. All day he shivers at the thought of the bugs which will inevitably appear to jolt his smooth consummation.
On the other hand, unlike the doctor his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort and hope.
No doubt as years go by people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts his name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other peoples money with which to finance it. But the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of goodness that flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants."
- Herbert Hoover
The Profession of Engineering
(inflateable, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 22:06, 5 replies)

Yes
I agree. Having trained and qualified as a Mechanical Engineer, I can say the profession wastes more money than Imelda Marcos, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton put together.
(scentless_apprentice takes two bottles into the shower!, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 22:15, closed)

Nice.
Yes, between building prototypes and having to tweak said prototypes due to flaws we overlooked, engineering can get extremely expensive.

Fortunately I have not made any truly expensive mistakes so far. But I don't know how long my luck's gonna hold...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 22:26, closed)

thanks
i've plenty to look forward to.
that is to say, i've only just begun.
(fisherOfApples123 -=destroyer of toilets=-, Fri 26 Oct 2007, 1:41, closed)

Cool!
What a splendiferous quote. I think I might appropriate that for myself, too!
(pitarou, Sat 27 Oct 2007, 1:59, closed)

awesome quote!!!
Wow. As an engineer designing machinery and testing it to destruction, who regularly throws away cabinets FULL of spare parts, and is under orders to see cost as "no issue"... I Agree.

That quote is a stunner: I've never heard my job so well romaticised. (Is that a word?)
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Sun 28 Oct 2007, 17:07, closed)