This evening, I went to a meeting of the local chapter of INCOSE, basically the professional organization for systems engineers. The meeting was held at my company’s headquarters, but the attendants were from all over the Twin Cities — even from our traditional rival. The main purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum for a presentation by one of my company’s Human Factors professionals.

The guy, a PhD psychologist, started the presentation with a slide showing an indeterminate object. It harkened of a Rorschach “ink blot,” but was not of that group (incidentally, follow that link; it might be handy someday). The presenter asked us in the audience what we thought the blob was. I looked at it for a few seconds before I saw a figure emerge. What I perceived made me chuckle: I saw a Klingon Bird of Prey! I kept that to myself, but it didn’t matter; a few seconds later, one of the other attendees shouted out “It’s a Bird of Prey!” The room shared a good laugh. No doubt many others in attendance saw the same. It turned out that the blob was really an off-angle view of Popeye. If any doubt had been left in my mind, that incident would have proved that I was in a room with a bunch of engineers.

Speaking of which, I am lucky to be working in a company stuffed with smart people. Damn smart people. I was lucky to go through high school and college with many smart people, so it’s great that I can begin my career surrounded by intelligence. Even more important than raw IQ, these people (and indeed, nearly everybody I associated with in school) are personable, sociable, creative, and upbeat. I hope to learn and improve myself by working in such an environment.