For me, I found out yesterday from my grandfather (who is a production engineer) that on his mother side, engineering has been in my family since 1850, a whopping 163 years. And im the first electrical

What about you?

 

It starts with me. I'm the first person in my direct tree to even attend college. I have a couple of cousins that have degrees in this or that and there may be a Master's degree in there somewhere. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only PhD anywhere in my family tree. Now my challenge and goal is to encourage my daughter to embrace education as she finds her own path in the world. But if she honestly chooses a field that doesn't need a degree, I will support her on that road, too.

 

I'd be first. In my family the men are usually Chefs or CPA's. Women are 90% nurses.

 

In mine neither. I 'm the first official engineer, even though my dad is an excellent craftsman.

 

Farmers, all of them, except my father. He was a, "jack of all trades". Called himself , "The Fixit Man". He was a mix of brilliant and ignorant. In fact, I am not an engineer, either. (Another mix of brilliant and ignorant.) I have worked as an electronic design engineer, paycheck and everything, but I only have a 2 year degree and never took an engineering course, unless you want to count calculus, that I forgot most of.

I'm another jack of all trades. Still no engineers in my family.

I'm the first in my family to take a college level course, but one in the next generation has a BS in something that involves psychology. Good fit for her. Talk all day and get paid for it. I don't even understand what she does. Seems fair. She looks at what I do and holds up a crucifix to ward it off

 

Farmers, all of them, except my father. He was a, "jack of all trades". Called himself , "The Fixit Man". He was a mix of brilliant and ignorant. In fact, I am not an engineer, either. (Another mix of brilliant and ignorant.) I have worked as an electronic design engineer, paycheck and everything, but I only have a 2 year degree and never took an engineering course, unless you want to count calculus, that I forgot most of.

I'm another jack of all trades. Still no engineers in my family.

I'm the first in my family to take a college level course, but one in the next generation has a BS in something that involves psychology. Good fit for her. Talk all day and get paid for it. I don't even understand what she does. Seems fair. She looks at what I do and holds up a crucifix to ward it off

I hear that country song! My gramps was the same way.

 

One aspect that will doubtless come out in this thread is the definition of 'engineer'.
Here in the UK, the word 'engineer' tends to be used generically for almost anyone involved in anything 'technical'...so that would include car mechanics, TV techs, lab assistants, civil engineers, designers, etc etc..... all tend to be known as 'engineers' over here.
I remember a business visit to the US, in the early 1980s, where I quickly discovered how the concept of a graduate 'engineer' was properly addressed there, with the appropriate respect accorded.
It would have been a shock for a US engineering graduate coming to the UK at that time (or even today?..)
'Engineer'?....that means blue overalls and an oily rag! UK graduate engineers do not get the professional respect they deserve, IMHO.
In this country, you need to go into law or medicine... or possibly accountancy?.. to be able to jump the golf club members waiting list!

Having said all of that... my family have 3 generations of 'almost' engineers... careers wrecked by war.
My grandfather was an apprentice mechanical engineer before the Great War. Served in France in the army..... awarded the DCM... came home to a country with no work for engineers, and spent the rest of his life as a furnace man in a laundry.
20 years later, my own father started training as a radio engineer in the 1930s. WW2 came, and he served as a soldier...after the war, there were lots of military trained radio engineers... so no point in returning to training. He became a bookseller.

Me?... I have been lucky enough to work for over 30 years in electronics design... but without an engineering degree... so maybe I still don't actually count as an 'engineer'?.....

So, 3 family generations aspiring to be 'engineers'... I got to be the closest so far!

 

I'm the first engineer, though my grandfather did do some work in the metalworking trade. Not sure if that's considering a form of engineering.

I'm definitely the first electronics engineer in my family though. My mother was scared to death of electricity. She thought touching the terminals of a AAA battery could kill you. She never went near it. My father attended a sort of college, though it was more like a technical program for automotive repair. The school was not actually classified as a college or university.

My sister went into film, my older brother into automotive repair, though he's been talking about going back to college in an English major (he's a yet unpublished writer, though he's very good), and my younger older brother went into graphic design. I'm the first engineer. I was always the black sheep of the family--everything about me was so different from everyone else, I often wondered if I was adopted, even though I wasn't. I've grown to accept it, and even enjoy it. Being a completely different person from everyone else is a blessing, not a curse. I have really grown to enjoy it.

My $0.02.

Matt

 

@max I don't listen to country music, except by accident. I don't know what song you're talking about.

@rogs I remember a time, probably in the 1960's, when people started playing around with titles like, "Maintenance Engineer" for High School drop-out, operates a mop and bucket, minimum wage, Janitor. Most Americans were so derisive of that falsehood that the fad stopped rather quickly.

@D8 You remind me, I had an uncle that did sheet metal for Northwest Orient Airlines in Minneapolis. He was probably a God at what he did, but that is still only Tradesman or Craftsman in my book.

 

I'm the first and last.

 

I hear that country song! My gramps was the same way.

I'm a shade tree fixit man.
I don't need any helping hand.
I'm a jack of all trades when I'm working in the shade.
I'm a share tree fixit man!

 

I guess I'm still glad I don't listen to country music

Half of my family lives in Kentucky. I've seen Kentucky Engineering all my life. I would hate to be compared to that.
But you would be amazed at what they can do with a pocket knife and a stick or an empty beer can.

 

Applician engineering and country music are proud traditions.

 

Appalachian engineering and country music are proud traditions.

And some of those Kentuckians actually don't mind if you stop their air conditioner rattling by jamming a stick in the broken fan motor bracket, but it's only a good repair if you take care to whittle the bark off the stick.

 

Well of course. Who would use the stick method without whittling the bark?

They may seem like hicks (OK, they are) but mountain people are some of the most inventive, crative and self-sufficient people you'll ever meet. I can always learn something when I spend time in the mountains.

 

I'm the first one in my family to read...DILBERT.

Split Infinity

 

mountain people are some of the most inventive, creative and self-sufficient people you'll ever meet.

True. My nephew grew up there. Once upon a time, somebody was complaining about being left somewhere that was not a city and he replied, "What's the problem? I have a pocket knife and a BIC lighter."

Most Kentuckians wouldn't need the BIC lighter.

 

There was an e-mail circulating around a decade or so ago all about hillbilly inventions. Most were funny, but a few were aboslutely brilliant. My favorite was a guy who took the axels off his Airstream trailer and affixed it to a river barge. Instant house boat!

 

A distant cousin Mary Miller was married to Edison. Great Grandfather, (another Miller not related to Mary) had a number of patents. Father was Chem Engineering Major until USA (Army that is) decided he would be better as a finance officer during the biggie. I'm not an Engineer, I took a basic electricity course in Hi School, when I enlisted the service felt I could be a Electronics Tech, as I could read schematics and knew the resistor color code. Seems to have worked out ok. Only took me 15 or so yrs before I fixed more than I destroyed