Awards in engineering, seriously... 2

[DWHA]

I recently applied for an award for an excellence in structural engineering. Unfortunately I was not nominated as a finalist. I was fine with the notification that the structure I designed was not selected (actually, I applied for the award expecting a merit award and nothing better). With that being said, I kept a close eye on the outcome of the awards. I was interested to see what the judges selected as the best structures of those submitted.

I was seriously disappointed to see what the top two submittals were. They should have been architectural awards, not structural engineering awards.

Has anyone else had something like this happen to them? Who are the judges? I find it hard to believe that they truly understand the field of engineering, and what actually is a complex design.

 

[FeX32]

This happens all the time in many different types of competitions.
"politics" is a key word
Don't sweat it.


Fe

 

[KENAT]

Any place with 'merit' based pay or advancement has similar.

They guy that goes jogging with the VP a couple times a week (or whatever activity is relevant) often gets more reward than the guy so busy churning out work that he rarely catches the VP's eye.

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
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[ctopher]

I agree with FeX32 and KENAT. It's unfortunate it's this way.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP3.1
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[btrueblood]

If the judges are not skilled structural engineers, it would be difficult for them to award for technical merit vs. the "prettiest" design. Sounds like the juding committee was a group of MBA's... or their SO's.

 

[apsix]

It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Bling.

 

[btrueblood]

...doo-whop doo-whop doo-whop.


Dang you apsix, now that's gonna be rattling around in my head for the next five hours...

 

[FeX32]

BLING ! BLING ! BLING !



Fe

 

[mauricestoker]

I was seriously disappointed when a former colleague of mine didn't get the Darwin Award.

 

[moltenmetal]

Your former colleague would need to be your late colleague to truly qualify for a Darwin award, wouldn't they?!

 

[mauricestoker]

I said I was disappointed.