Like many other bloggers, I check my logs frequently. I love seeing what articles people find interesting, what search terms they used to find me, and of course, did they find me interesting enough to read another post. I have two posts that always make me feel concern for the people reading them.

When I see someone reading my post on Ramsay Hunt, I know that they or a loved one is experiencing excruciating pain. My heart goes out to those people. I’ve been there and know just how much it hurts. Those people have my deepest sympathies.

I have another post that suggests someone’s life is about to undergo a major change. When I see someone reading “How Do I Know If an Engineer Loves Me“, I wonder if they understand what sharing their life with an engineer will mean.  Those people have my wife’s deepest sympathies. She was definitely not prepared.

In defense of my Engineering brothers and sisters, we make great catches. We have high earning potential, we tend to be very good at fixing things around the house and you seldom have to worry about computer issues. There’s just a few, almost minor, issues you need to be aware of.

Just so you understand, I’m somewhere in the middle of the scale where engineering personalities are concerned. There are engineers that run much closer to the norm and there are engineers that make me look like a party animal. In this post, I’ll try to stay with the common issues you’re likely to encounter.

Problem solving is one of our major weaknesses. I’ve already talked about engineers and problems. If you happen to mention a problem to us, we lose track of the conversation and start solving the problem.  Trying to work out your problems by discussing them with us is a waste of time.

We may seem to be incredibly intuitive but it’s only that we make it a practice of tying seemingly unrelated facts together to form logical conclusions.  My wife has almost canceled Christmas because my guesses tend to be eerily correct.

When arguing we tend to use logic over emotion. It’s not that we have no emotions but as we really don’t understand emotions, we find it difficult to use them in an argument. Logic, however, is second nature to us. You will quickly find out you hate this trait.

We are easily distracted by small details.  I can be looking at a television remote thinking about the design choices, the processes used to make the buttons and how they decided on using two LEDs. Meanwhile my wife thinks I can’t find the off switch and is trying to show me.

When it comes to technology we tend to over-complicate.  When I set up our entertainment center, I had at least three different ways to select a movie. To me it was obvious which mode to select and when. My wife seemed to disagree.

The rumors are true, our social skills are lacking. I don’t understand the concept of fashionably late. I don’t do small talk well. I still have no idea who the Kardashians are or why they seem to be a social icon. Yes, there are a few of us that can dance. Sadly, I’m not one of those.

Should you tie your life to an engineer, you will soon find out that one of your duties is fashion coordinator. It’s not that we don’t have a sense of fashion but our fashion sense is usually slightly out of sync with mainstream style.

Demonstrating the correct amount of affection is difficult for us. It’s not that your engineer doesn’t love you but affection is one of those emotion things. An axiom among engineers is that it’s not real if you can’t measure it. In spite of all the poets that ever lived, they’ve never come up with a way to measure love that engineers understand.

We truly appreciate all the affection that you give us. We want to make you feel loved, we’re just not sure of the right measure. You will have to help us.

Don’t let me discourage you. I want your engineer to be happy but you need to be prepared for the experience. I assure you, with the proper amount of care and patience, Engineers can make excellent lifelong companions.

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