[sdiy] Can your *really* teach "Engineering"?

[Dave Manley]

Paul Perry wrote:

> Whenever I have been stuck and needed a 'real' engineer - my 
> qualifications are unfortunately in political science - I have found 
> that the ONLY people who were any use to me, were people who had a 
> history of DIY (in any field) before the went to university.

Indeed, I've found when interviewing potential engineering hires that an 
outside technical interest, whether current or in their past, is one of 
the best indicators of talent.  This could be someone with a ham radio 
past, or someone who builds their own computers and tunes their linux 
kernel.  I can also say honestly, that a few of the best engineers I've 
known did not have college degrees, but were self taught.  When looking 
at resumes, those with hobbies, projects, etc will get more attention, 
than those without.  For a while it seemed these DIY activities were on 
the wane, but with the new "Make" subculture hopefully it is on the rise 
again.

 From the other side of the coin, the best professors I had in college 
were those who had worked in industry at some point, or had some sort of 
tie to hobby/project/product development.

-Dave