Channeling the Inner Geek

‘You know you’re an engineer when...’ winners named

Published: Thursday, March 24, 2016 - 15:21

Sandia’s Engineering Sciences Center helped mark National Engineers Week with a contest, asking Sandians to complete the following sentence: “You know you’re an engineer when… .” The contest drew dozens of endings for the sentence, and Sandians voted on which they liked best.

Barbara Lewis won bragging rights—as well as a pocket protector stocked with new pens—for her winning entry, “…you’re lying in the hospital bed asking the nurse how the light on your finger is measuring the oxygen level (and then you hold your breath to test it).”

“It actually happened, and that’s when I realized engineers can annoy non-engineers without even trying,” says Lewis, who also received a Star Wars mug and a restaurant gift certificate as prizes.

Second place went to Jerome Cap for, “…your kids say, ‘Dad, I don’t want to know the theory, all I want is the answer.’”

The other runners-up were:
• Third place: Michael Shaw, “…you log the time it takes to get to your building’s parking lot by weekday and the time you arrived at the Southern and Eubank intersection street light (the point where no backup has occurred yet due to the security gate authorization), then plot the data to determine the latest possible arrival at the intersection to get to the parking lot by 7:45 a.m. at the latest. However, you remove any outliers during weeks related to holiday weekends due to vacations and of course, school holidays when parents might have to take the day off. You determine the latest time to arrive at Southern and Eubank on average for Monday through Thursday is 7:15 a.m., but Fridays are as late as 7:40.”
• Fourth place: Taye Esho, “…you create a spreadsheet to evaluate dating prospects.”
• Fifth place: Keith Kozlowski, “…your spouse/significant other won’t let you dress yourself.”

About The Author

Sandia National Laboratories

Since 1949, Sandia National Laboratories has developed science-based technologies that support our national security. Through science and technology, people, infrastructure, and partnerships, Sandia’s mission is to meet national needs in five key areas: nuclear weapons; energy, climate, and infrastructure security; nonproliferation; defense systems and assessments; and homeland security and defense. Sandia is a government-owned/contractor operated (GOCO) facility. Sandia Corp., a Lockheed Martin company, manages Sandia for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.