disagreement

One of the beautiful things about engineering is that there are many, many solutions to each problem. In school, it was comforting to realize that there was a correct answer to every homework problem. I think engineers are stereotypically wired to like a precise, logical, correct answer. A SINGLE answer. But then, I got to graduate school. And suddenly, the problems that I encountered didn’t HAVE an answer. (Yet, at least.) That was scary in itself. And even scarier, was the notion that even if I did find AN answer – it might not be the only one. Which means, my answer might not be the best one. Yowza! Eventually I learned that in the real world, it’s not always about having the best answer. You can almost never prove which answer is best, and even if you could, it’s usually not worth the time it takes. It’s about having […]