Strange, in my observation 3 things define the best engineers I know (of few hundred I have met): 1 Excellent/encyclopedic memory - at least for engineering stuff, may not be able to remember their friends names or where they put their keys. 2 Good at mental calculation (assess what-ifs quickly). 3 Powerful work ethic.
Raw smarts help too. On 23 May 2013 23:05, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > Craig <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> . . . it doesn't surprise me >> >> that someone with a poor memory can also be an excellent engineer. The >> two traits go together. With me, for instance, it's because I have a >> hard time remembering, that I have become an excellent problem solver. >> When I look at code that I've written, just a few months earlier; it's >> like looking at new code which I've never seen before. I then have to >> reconstruct the solutions to the problems -- again -- from scratch. >> > > That is an interesting observation. I have the same kind of mind. I too > see programs afresh the next day. > > That is helpful for jobs that require you to do the same thing over and > over, year after year, such as teaching 5th grade. I imagine you would be > bored to tears doing that if you could not find the same old historylesson > interesting the 10th time around. > > I suppose Yul Brynner must have had this quality since he was able to > perform "The King And I" on stage 4,625 (!) times. I guess that is a good > thing. > > I think that the ability to forget is essential to many formsof > creativity. There are people who do not forget things. They have prodigious > memories and they can remember details from years or decades ago. If this > ability gave us an evolutionary advantage everyone would have it. Since > most of us tend to forget things I assume that promotes survival in natural > circumstances. > > - Jed > >
