Do civil engineers need to be able to personally manufacture prestressed concrete? Or do they need to know the properties of materials and how to test their designs?

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lesostep 18 hours ago | parent | next [-]

As a past civil engineer, I can't manufacture concrete.

But I still could calculate and write an electrical design project and draw all necessary plans and schemes without touching PC once – if I have a ruler, few pens and enough time (I would have to reference standards, but I did have most standards in print version)

I doubt your metaphor really fit. Was manufacturing ever an engineer job?

	▲	panarky 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Many specialties contribute to the manufacture of prestressed concrete. Materials scientists, chemical engineers, metallurgical engineers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers, tooling engineers to design casting beds, quality control engineers, etc. But in the early days of prestressed concrete (1920, 1930), a single civil engineer performed all of these functions. The point is that the role of the modern civil engineer has changed and specialized over the decades. You can be a very competent civil engineer without having the knowledge or experience needed to perform every specialty. Just because our ancestors in the 1940s handwrote binary sequences, and in the 1950s they handwrote assembly, and in the 1960s they handwrote FORTRAN, doesn't mean that today's software engineers need to be able to do any of that.

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archagon a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Do you think that programming is analogous to pouring concrete???

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Gud a day ago | parent [-]

Manufacturing concrete is not the same as pouring it.

	▲	archagon a day ago \| parent [-]
		A distinction without a difference.