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Pretty much true. My dad was an engineer. Music was not a "thing" for him, even though his mother was a fine pianist and singer.

True dat.

My wife is an engineer. She likes to be hugged!

My brother is an engineer.

Me: Engineers are weird
Him: Tuba players are weird

Me and Him: Let's go drink some beer. You won't talk about your science stuff and I won't talk about music stuff.

PS... You can still talk about driving trains.

I am a tuba player.

I am also an engineer.

There is no cognitive dissonance in the above two statements.

Rick “depends on who is doing the hugging” Denney

You are a special type of engineer, because your engineering involves - to a large extent - understanding and predicting human behavior.
ie. “How can we design this to minimize the chaos which will be caused/generated by typical/predictable human behavior?“

Rick Denney wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:30 am I am a tuba player.

I am also an engineer.

There is no cognitive dissonance in the above two statements.

Rick “depends on who is doing the hugging” Denney

All that means is I paid attention in statistics class and have tools for understanding a stochastic world. That confers no ability or willingness to share that understanding to others, or to find simplicities and patterns in chaos to facilitate that sharing. The many thousands of citizen complaints calls I handled personally mean more to me than knowing the definition of heteroskedasticity.

Engineering analysis is just a box of tools that require education, training, and understanding to use effectively. I’ve met plenty of people who depend on boxes of tools that few others understand, and have observed that some are interested in explaining their tools in ways others understand, and some hoard the magic of those tools and become snobbish and cynical about their exclusivity. The latter often justify that as protecting themselves from competition.

Plenty of both types among engineers, plumbers, car mechanics, doctors, lawyers (not so much litigators but corporate/government types), electricians, software developers, Best Buy employees—you name it.

Musicians and other artists succeed by their ability to communicate something of value to others. Lots of people in lots of professions are musicians or music lovers. I find it means they are more likely to be explainers than hoarders.

Is the music a cause of that or a reflection of it? Don’t know.

Rick “a musician before becoming an engineer” Denney

With music, specifically, the finest musicians all reveal all of their secrets to others when playing, if others would simply just pay complete attention.

With most professions/skill sets, choosing the right things at the right times - and doing so with consistency and accuracy – render positive results.

I believe there is an incorrect/unjustified stereotype that many engineers are slightly autistic, but I also suspect that the same stereotype applies to remarkable musicians.