1. A mother to his son studying in third year of Electronics Engineering - “Beta, please fix the tubelight in the kitchen. It is not working since three days”. Son replies saying he doesn’t know how to fix it as he isn’t an electrician. His mum, literally, destroys all the three years of assignments, submissions and month long exams and says, “Then what did you do in three years of engineering?”
2. A commerce student calls up his Computer Engineering friend, “Yaar,  my CPU has suddenty started beeping since morning. Please fix, no”.
3. A frustrated dad tells his Civil Engineer kid, “Son, why don’t you do something about the potholes?”

These are the usual perceptions family members, friends and all other people have about engineers, because everyone thinks engineers do nothing but fix things.

So, my piece is about engineers from different people’s view point :-

Father - I'm kind of tension free now. If my son does well then a good job is on his way; if he doesn’t, my ‘business’ is always there as a backup. Oh, and if he does not plan to join me, then my first statement is null void.

Mother - I'm elated that my son/duagher is finally into engineering. For a daughter: I've planned that once she completes her course, she'll do a job for a year or so and then get married as soon as possible. (Sadly, this is still prevalent!).

For a son: I've tremendous expectations from him. I'm sure he'll be the topper in each and every semester. He'll get into Google/Siemens/Microsoft which gives the best pay package and buy a wonderful saree from the first salary he gets. Oh, wait! What if he wants to go abroad?

Relatives - If someone joins a reputed college, “Uski life toh set hai, accha karega yeh ladka”, and then yelling at their own kid, “Tu bhi aisa hi kuch karna”. Unfortunately, if someone does not make it to a good college, “Woh toh tha hi aisa, tu doctor hi bann jaana”

Other Friends - So, I've an engineer friend. In short, he can repair my gadgets, help me when my car is broke down or if my stubborn desktop just refuses to start. I've a mechanic/electrician for life. Yay! I  believe s/he can fix things.

Teachers - God! We've another annoying batch.

What We Actually Are - The four years we spend in an engineering college are, inarguably, the best years of our lives. We learn new technologies. We manage (read enjoy) our festivals, too. We build up our professional and social lives. We lend a helping hand to make other's task easier which, most often, lead to chaos. And then, there are, of course, hordes of people who do engineering for the sake of doing it. 

So, yes, we are engineers, but we do not fix things. We just design a better future (atleast it sounds good).

Image Credits - www.thehelpfulengineer.com