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Interesting meta topic on @surface_texture Issue 38 -- what is hardware even? In this article they discuss a food industry product....but in this thread, I rant about word choice for generically manufacturing related disciplines, physical products, etc https://bit.ly/33VeDeS
More than the Pepsi product discussed, this meta topic surrounding the semantics of physical products is wildly interesting. When studying Mechanical Engineering, I disliked Mech Eng being described as a "Making" or "Tinkering" because it sounded hacky and uninformed.
I avoided groups that used that kind of language -- perhaps to my own detriment. But on the flip side, I also had peers who were convinced Mech Eng was entirely just 3D printing random ABS plastic parts at @GTInvention (inc. ones that didn't require any span of MechEng knowledge)
And as I started working, nothing could have been farther from the truth! To be fair, I work in a Mechanical/Materials/Structural type world which requires some foundational knowledge and maybe even intuition on fundamentals of engineering
My education didn't provide much outside of textbook fundamentals or hacky makerspace projects. The company I currently work at essentially throws new hires into a short mechanic training when they join to make up for the skill gap with real materials.
{As an aside: I think this is very consequential of the lack of manufacturing in the U.S. + the lack of value we place on manufacturing culturally in the global west. This is directly causing there to be a lack of Mechanical Engineers w/ any sort of actual mechanical intuition}
So that's why I didn't quite feel the fit for "Maker" world. I similarly disliked the term 'hardware' to describe all physical products. I could see the argument that hardware is inclusive for all types of physical products if you think about the vastness of hardware stores
But modernly, hardware is associated with electronics. That feels complicated to me at times because I'm not sure any OEM would call their product "hardware." Even jobs that say Hardware Engineer often just mean Electrical Engineer.
Culturally, I think that this provides an odd set of expectations of physical world considerations on the mechanical side. I have a mentee who is studying Electrical Engineering and he essentially told me he did Mechanical Engineering b/c he used CAD
Again, could not be farther from my truth. I hold a Mech Eng title and most the CAD work is left to draftsmen. Perhaps this word choice fight differs based on industry but nonetheless, as a Mechanical Engineer, I've felt lost describing the Mechanical/Industrial world.
I've generically used "Manufacturing Related Disciplines" as a way to say I spend my time thinking of physical products that are built in a factory type environment. Are you an engineer that has made it this far on this thread? Feel a similar way about describing your work?
