Re: them engineers

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

"Edwin Skau" <eddy_skau -at- mailcity -dot- com> wrote:

>Respect cannot be one of the terms of employment. It has to be a personal achievement. Remember >that you must be respected as an individual first, and then let that spill over into your >profession. 

Well-said. When I was a university instructor, my mother-in-law
was shocked that I would encourage students to call me by my
first name. I told her that if I couldn't win their respect by my
behaviour, then I couldn't do it by insisting on the trappings of
respect, either.

Personally, after dealing with first year university and college
students, I don't find engineers very hard (come to think of it,
they're often the same people these days).

"Speak softly and carry a big stick" always seems a good idea. Be
cooperative and friendly at first, then get more insistent if
necessary. 

I prefer not to make official complaints about people, but I
have:

- blockaded a cubicle entrance until I got my answers (this works
with doctors on their hospital rounds, too, by the way, if you
need to find out about a family member's condition).

- circulated review copies with "this section incomplete courtesy
of [programmer's name]."

However, these are extreme cases. In most cases, showing an
intelligent interest in learning is usually enough to get
cooperation. I doubt there's a geek or a non-geek alive who can't
be rendered helpful by asking them to talk about what they're
doing.

-- 
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
"The Open Road" column, Maximum Linux
3015 Aries Place, Burnaby, BC V3J 7E8, Canada
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7189

"I should have known it from the start,
It's not the truth that really matters,
The real world tramples on such things,
Leaves your mental state in tatters."
-James Keelaghan, "Small Rebellions"