I worked with computers before there was such a discipline as computer science so I do not have a degree in computer science. I have designed computers, programmed computers and developed systems for computers. When I designed computers we were given rules of thumb such as devote 10% of the circuitry to error checking. Now there is such a discipline as computer science those who design computers, program computers and develop systems know far more than I ever knew.

There were great engineers in the past without a degree in engineering as I worked on computers without a degree in computer science. However, engineering in the present is much better since it has developed into a discipline with the awarding of a degree once one has demonstrated success in learning what is required. One area that has developed since the day of Isambard Kingdom Brunel is safety. I am sure the death and injury rate on his projects were horrendous. Protective gear and other safety developments have been furthered since the days of Brunel. A worker engaged on an engineering project currently has a much better chance of survival than a worker on one of Brunel’s projects.

Intelligence is not a constant. Exercising one’s mind can increase it. The mental discipline involved in study and learning develops our mind. Study allows us the full expression of our rational nature. In appreciating philosophical or scientific truths and incorporating them in our own knowledge, we are reaching the peak of what it is to be human.

David,

A very interesting post; the only thing that I really know about early computers is their sheer size, what once filled a large room can now be carried in one's pocket.
A friend of mine many years ago was the computer man for the then Bank of NSW and their computer filled a fairly large room.

What you might find interesting/amusing was that when they were setting it up they had an intermittent problem where the computer would go haywire then have to be sorted out, the problem was traced to the service lift which passed up and down on the other side of one wall!!
How they overcame the problem I know not.

Is Mise,

They got a Lift Engineer to fix the problem.

Tighten a few screws here, a little bit of oil in bearings over there, and a few yanks with the shifting spanner, and whammo! no more problems.

The Lift Engineer got a bit of grease on his overalls but nothing a good wash couldn't take care of.

The lift and the computer were as good as new all thanks to the engineer.

The moral of the story: We need our lift engineers just as much as we need our computers. It's a symbiosis.

A Certificate (Degree) is confirmation that a person has satisfied others that they understand the basics of a particular field. I recall talking with a TAFE lecturer who was obliged to pass every student in his Coxwain class. When I asked him if one of them were to run a boat onto a reef & spill the passengers into the sea, would this reflect on the lecturer & make him responsible to pass that student because a Govt official told him he had to pass him ?
He replied "That's why we deem them competent at the time of the exam".
I have worked alongside & with Engineers & I have lost count how many times the Tradies & labourers had to find solutions to make things work. Just as we had engineers who had everything worked out before the work began and, it all worked !
There are people who have spent years remembering what someone has taught them & there are people who think of a solution on the spot.

pseudo-individual,

Spot on! That's just how the world works.

My engineering degree is useless when it comes to doing the job. I've probably used less than 5% of the stuff I was taught. Absolute waste of time studying for an engineering degree.

The real skills are learnt on the job and for that reason a person without a degree in engineering can become an engineer through practice.

The famous engineers of the industrial revolution became engineers through practice. James Watt, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford never had a degree in engineering.

I worked once with a guy who had Bachelor, Masters and PhD in engineering but in the workplace he just couldn't match the engineers and draftsmen who acquired their skills through practice. Last I heard he ended up spending the rest of his life in a lab testing how strong bricks are. I suppose it was that or picking fly sh!t out of pepper for a living.

Troubleshooting engines and processes and people are specialist skills. Many people- even those that should know better- try to solve the problem before understanding it and establishing a baseline.

Hasbeen seems to understand that you get capabilities by engaging in interesting projects and working with interesting "doers"- I like his philosophy.