Have you ever looked at someone and wondered, “How in the world is someone like that interested in that?” You never meant it in a bad way, but the stereotypes surrounding a type of person presented in TV shows, the news, and the general media has molded your perception (along with most other people) and created a checklist in your mind. So once you meet someone who checks off one thing on that rigid checklist, they automatically check everything else off. You meet them and they’re immediately an archetype to you.
If you’ve ever watched a movie, or read a book, you’d know the typical character tropes present: the nerd, the bad boy, the weirdo, the outcast, and so many others. The first time I ever saw a character trope was probably when I was three, watching a Disney movie. “Oh my God, it’s the damsel in distress, and oh there’s the reluctant hero, oh and that’s the maniacal villain.” I didn’t just perceive these tropes as ideas, they were paired with visual elements; real life actors or animated images. Either way, I subconsciously associated those images (or actors) with the traits, behaviour, and appearance of their characters. So when I see a guy with glasses and freckles, holding his book right up to chest, pushing his glasses up every now and then, and with a set of nice, shiny braces, my mind goes, “There goes the nerd, YOU GO NERD!” and it’s actually just a nervous guy who has nothing to do with nerdiness and is actually the star quarterback on the varsity team (he had to get braces because he broke a tooth in one of his games). And that makes me reflect, “Why did I think that about him?” And it’s all of those societal standards that come flooding back, and I think, “Hmm, that’s unfortunate.”
The point is, stereotypes are all around us, and they can be good, or bad, or neutral, but most of the time they’re unfairly grouping people in a manner that doesn’t suit them, or isn’t even representative of them. That’s where engineering stereotypes come in.
Engineers are notoriously known for being nerdy (most of the time this is true, otherwise why are you in engineering?), smelly (not true, I hope), and socially inept (actually super not true). And once you meet an engineer who doesn’t fit that standard, your brain does backflips. For example, many engineers in the esteemed University of Waterloo right now are actually on varsity teams as well! So BOOM, not every jock has beans for brains!
Also, a lot of them are socially capable! In fact, engineers work a lot with others and need to be very socially capable to make sure projects get done like they should. So BOOM, not every engineer is twiddling their thumbs and looking at the ground when giving a presentation. And not every engineer is always smart in every single thing they ever do. Most of them are actually just as clueless as you! (Please don’t ask us to fix your microwave, we don’t know!)
I’m not saying all of them aren’t cocky, or awkward, or nerdy, I’m just saying that engineers are cool most of the time, and they are nice, and friendly, and grouping them into these concepts and personality types is not accurate. This is also dangerous because forming such concrete ideas about others will lead you to trap yourself in these ideas as well. “Oh I shouldn’t become an engineer, I’m not smart enough, and I don’t wear glasses.” NO!! Engineers are just people who work really hard, that doesn’t mean they were all born smart! And most engineers don’t even wear glasses! Engineers are nerds, but they’re so many other things too! You may believe you have a specific trait, but that doesn’t take away from all the other traits you possess! Don’t stereotype yourself because you may stereotype others, who knows how many opportunities you could be missing out on just because you don’t fit this made-up mold!
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