Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

there's an interesting article on the decreasing number of engineers in the states. this article, while personal, does point out a huge problem in academia especially with regards to engineering: the elitist mentality. the interesting part is that this person claims to have been quite competent at math and science so entering into this field was shocking as he couldn't cope. the problem was communication and environment. but let me put things into blunter terms: engineers/scientists are assholes. okay not all of course. but on average, to have the ability to enter in this field, you have to have a penchant for indescribable weirdness and lacking something that makes one more human (look at Dana Sculley from the X-files). i work in IT and i find the average person to suck. they're missing a human element; it generally is communication. but that same missing element also makes them more competitive. more selfish. the googles and M$ arise in this world from these types who are willing to sacrifice normality for some other belief system. now to turn the tables how does someone like myself fit into this picture? well, honestly, i don't really compare. my motivation in IT has been that i enjoy building things. it happens that i'm just good enough as a programmer where i can do the same thing for my profession. honestly though i dislike many of the personalities involved in this profession because they end up being very difficult. given a choice between having nothing but smart people for my team who are jerks and some average joes that are nice, guess which one i'd pick?