What does it take to be a good engineer?

[jpetito]

How many engineers do you know who can design and math you under the table, but can't wrench their way out of a wet paper bag? Or design elegant stuff that can't be built?

The practical application aspect of what we've labeled Engineering is hugely overlooked in the current environment. The theory, the academic, the theoretical must be hitched to experience with the Real Stuff in order to Make Things Work, and those we put on the design pedestal have to earn their keep so the welders and wrenchers and electricians and pneumaticists can build gear fitting their vision.