I first started reading jesse callahan’s blog in July of 2012 and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve had many of his posts pinned to my bookmarks for weeks now, and they are always a pleasure to read. I don’t know if I could ever say that I’m jesse callahan’s biggest fan, but I truly enjoy his writing style and the insights he provides.
I think that jesse callahan has a way of putting you in a really unique position in his blog. I dont feel like I can easily relate to any of the articles he writes, but they are always interesting. My favorite post so far is “How to be a Better Engineer” in which he discusses how to build a better engineer. Ive been trying to build my engineering muscle lately and would like to emulate his approach.
I also read some of his blogs, so as a new engineer I feel a little like a kid in a candy store. I can’t help but wonder how much my engineering abilities will improve if I read these blogs.
Engineers are a relatively new profession and there are a lot of misconceptions about them. Many people think that engineers are just super smart people who don’t have as much free time as the rest of us and can’t get out of bed. In reality, engineers work on complex systems for a living. They are very much the ones that are working to make the world a better place.
The reality is that engineers work on many things. They have to design, implement, and troubleshoot all sorts of things. A lot of the times they spend the majority of their day in meetings and writing reports. But all of that is done at great cost because if everything goes well, the system is a success, and your job is done. In reality, engineers are just normal people who dont have as much free time and cant get out of bed.
The time they spend doing something that is most people doesnt even realize they are doing. The work they do is usually very physical. It literally takes an engineer all day to get a project done. The engineer will have to take breaks often. They dont have a lot of time to sit around and take a break from their work.
You can’t expect them to have the best ideas. There are always limits, especially to engineering work. There are some things, especially in the early stages of development, you can do that you cant do anywhere else. But even that is not always the best way to go about things. Engineering is a craft, and it’s the work of people who have to work hard and care a lot about their work.
I believe a lot of times, the best engineers Ive ever worked with, for example, the best software engineers Ive worked with, they never took breaks. They just kept going. That is their work ethic. They have to care a lot about their work, and when there is time they want to go out and make a difference, and I think its important to recognize that and respect that.
In jesse’s experience, that seems to be true. He just finished up three weeks of work, and he was just getting ready to go home. That’s very different than people who work 40 hours a week, or who are on the assembly line for hours, or who have only a few days off in a row. I think jesse’s dedication and passion for his craft are very admirable, and he’s earned the time off.
On the other hand, jesse has also been on the assembly line. And the assembly line is not just about doing a repetitive task. It’s about doing something new. When you are on the assembly line, you are learning something new every day.
