RANT TIME!!!!!!
In my 17 + years working as an engineer in both the private sector (big and small) and state government, I have observed a certain pecking order. It is evidenced in many ways, but on my mind at the moment, primarily by SALARY and RESPECT:
The Natural Order:
1. The "A-student", most skilled and knowledgable engineers and environmental professionals own engineering or environmental consulting businesses. They are smart, confident, go-getters who make the wheels of commerce turn. If only they could be in charge of this country, everything would be just fine. (sarcasm is difficult to convey on-line. trust me, it's dripping here) They don't actually do anything, but they make their money by relying on the efforts of:
2. The "B-students", slightly less skilled and knowledgeable engineers and environmental professionals working for the A students in their private firm or consultint business. They are smart, hard workers who generally know more than their bosses, but just don't have the guts to move out on their own yet. On the surface, they appear to be "experts", but their knowledge is generally shallower than they would lead you to believe, primarily because the A-students will not allow them to work on anything long enough to gain true proficiency.
3. The "C-student", totally averagely skilled and knowledgable engineers and environmental professionals work for the federal government in a non-regulatory position (Corps of Engineers, NAVFAC, USDA, etc.) They are non-threatening paper-pushers who administer the grants that fund the A and B students, and generally will not question the work of the B-students, as they believe themselves to be inferior at technical tasks, and believe that the sheer volume of work produced by the B-students make them superior.
4. The "D-student", below-average and not terribly knowledgable or creative engineers and environmental professionals work for federal regulatory agencies - USEPA, USFWS, etc. The D-students often, unwittingly perform much of the work for the B-students. They may be extremely knowledgable about one or more narrow subjects, yet have cannot be trusted with important decisions that may affect commerce. That is why the command structure of the federal agencies removes any single person from any level of useful authority, or even knowledge of how the whole thing fits together. Large, important decisions may only be made by politically appointed administrators, who generally do not even read the reports of their technical staff.
5. The "F-students", the bottom of the barrel, most unskilled, unknowledgable, least creative engineers and environmental professionals work for State government. They are the last stop for any B-student who is designing a project or applying for a permit. A true A-student will never have any interface with them. Contact is only for junior-level B-students, or their assistants. The F-students are but a speedbump, yet an incredibly unpleasant one. They are often even more knowledgable and skilled than their federal counterparts. In actuality, many of them are/were true "A students" in the academic sense of the word, but are viewed as mere licensing clerks. They would probably garner more respect if they wore brown uniforms with "McGreasy's" emdroidered above their name tags. And you better believe that they would be spitting on the burgers, if they did. Similar to the D-students working for the federal government, the F-students down at the State Capitol actually perform even more of the B-students work for them, but this is never acknowledged. To become friendly with an F-student is to risk demotion from B to C status.
This, of course is absolute bullshit. But it is the structure that my favorite consluttant seems to believe in, and when it gets turned on its head
, it's time for him to step in and remind everyone of the Natural Order, and attempt to restructure it to his liking.
:smileyballs: :unitedstates:
(yeah, I feel better now)
In my 17 + years working as an engineer in both the private sector (big and small) and state government, I have observed a certain pecking order. It is evidenced in many ways, but on my mind at the moment, primarily by SALARY and RESPECT:
The Natural Order:
1. The "A-student", most skilled and knowledgable engineers and environmental professionals own engineering or environmental consulting businesses. They are smart, confident, go-getters who make the wheels of commerce turn. If only they could be in charge of this country, everything would be just fine. (sarcasm is difficult to convey on-line. trust me, it's dripping here) They don't actually do anything, but they make their money by relying on the efforts of:
2. The "B-students", slightly less skilled and knowledgeable engineers and environmental professionals working for the A students in their private firm or consultint business. They are smart, hard workers who generally know more than their bosses, but just don't have the guts to move out on their own yet. On the surface, they appear to be "experts", but their knowledge is generally shallower than they would lead you to believe, primarily because the A-students will not allow them to work on anything long enough to gain true proficiency.
3. The "C-student", totally averagely skilled and knowledgable engineers and environmental professionals work for the federal government in a non-regulatory position (Corps of Engineers, NAVFAC, USDA, etc.) They are non-threatening paper-pushers who administer the grants that fund the A and B students, and generally will not question the work of the B-students, as they believe themselves to be inferior at technical tasks, and believe that the sheer volume of work produced by the B-students make them superior.
4. The "D-student", below-average and not terribly knowledgable or creative engineers and environmental professionals work for federal regulatory agencies - USEPA, USFWS, etc. The D-students often, unwittingly perform much of the work for the B-students. They may be extremely knowledgable about one or more narrow subjects, yet have cannot be trusted with important decisions that may affect commerce. That is why the command structure of the federal agencies removes any single person from any level of useful authority, or even knowledge of how the whole thing fits together. Large, important decisions may only be made by politically appointed administrators, who generally do not even read the reports of their technical staff.
5. The "F-students", the bottom of the barrel, most unskilled, unknowledgable, least creative engineers and environmental professionals work for State government. They are the last stop for any B-student who is designing a project or applying for a permit. A true A-student will never have any interface with them. Contact is only for junior-level B-students, or their assistants. The F-students are but a speedbump, yet an incredibly unpleasant one. They are often even more knowledgable and skilled than their federal counterparts. In actuality, many of them are/were true "A students" in the academic sense of the word, but are viewed as mere licensing clerks. They would probably garner more respect if they wore brown uniforms with "McGreasy's" emdroidered above their name tags. And you better believe that they would be spitting on the burgers, if they did. Similar to the D-students working for the federal government, the F-students down at the State Capitol actually perform even more of the B-students work for them, but this is never acknowledged. To become friendly with an F-student is to risk demotion from B to C status.
This, of course is absolute bullshit. But it is the structure that my favorite consluttant seems to believe in, and when it gets turned on its head
, it's time for him to step in and remind everyone of the Natural Order, and attempt to restructure it to his liking.:smileyballs: :unitedstates:
(yeah, I feel better now)
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