I am an engineer, and I am not handy.
If you are the accountant in your family, you probably get financial questions from your friends and family members – particularly around tax season. If you are the doctor in the family, you are probably inundated with medical questions from aging parents or in-laws, hoping to save themselves a trip to the clinic. Although talking shop when not at work can be annoying, it is nice to be able to help family and friends by sharing your expertise with them.
If you are an engineer, you may receive a call from time to time from a friend when something of theirs breaks. Engineers like to talk shop; unlike the doctor or accountant, engineers are excited that someone has taken an interest in what they do.
The thing is, not all engineers are endowed with practical abilities.
There are two sides to engineering: theory and practice. Most of University is spent acquiring theoretical knowledge. Mechanical engineers, for example, take many math, mechanics, thermodynamics, and fluids courses. Very little time is spent educating engineers on how to apply their knowledge in a “hands-on” kind of way. They may do projects in heat transfer where they design the optimal spacing of a double window pane for a given winter climate, but they will not be required to install the window.
