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Do engineers really make better spouses?
31–40 of 129 posts
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#32Divorce rates are also linked to income. Engineering is typically a more stable and better paying career than something like dance (given as the counterexample in the article). How much of the difference in divorce rates is attributable to that?
I wonder if a small part of the dancer/bartender vs engineer situation is that engineers (statistically usually male) often are working mostly with other men. My sister is married to a ballet dancer (who just retired to start studying to become a nurse) and he obviously was in pretty close contact with the opposite sex.
I don't see anything in that article indicating that it applies only to men.
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#33"The article also purports that the higher level of communication inherent in engineering jobs may be vital. A healthy communication in a marriage is vital for its survival." Yeah, us software engineers are renowned for our communication skills.
Fwiw, i feel like that is the key to my relationship. I'm a (mediocre) software engineer, and by far the driving force of the communication in the relationship.
Now, my SO and I are both a bit "broken" individuals, so it's not like we're perfect by any stretch of the imagination.. but i'm certain that without a constant push for communication and a lack of "letting things stew" that we would be in a far worse state at best - and at worst, broken up.
Disclaimer: I'm not trying trying to say that my relationship is somehow more thanks to my efforts.. sometimes i feel like my push for communication can be a fault.
Regardless, it's one of the things i obsess about - being clear and open with each other.. and it's the things i obsess about that i define myself by. I wouldn't be surprised if this personality trait (obsessing about rules/structure/"healthy"-behavior) was more common in engineers. Though, the data seems impossible to meaningfully correlate.
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#34"The article also purports that the higher level of communication inherent in engineering jobs may be vital. A healthy communication in a marriage is vital for its survival." Yeah, us software engineers are renowned for our communication skills.
Many engineers I know take their communication skills for granted, without realizing areas where improvement is needed...especially when it comes to discussing emotions or other areas vital to a relationship.
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#35If you look at the Myers-Briggs personality types listed at TypeLogic, you'll see for the INTJ type (most often associated with engineering types) as being said to often "Work at" a relationship. This is, I know, a weak argument at best, but I would toss out as something to ponder that perhaps there's a higher incidence of analytic types to dissect and improve their relationship. ...or simply inclined to remain with…
If you look at the Zodiac, most engineers are earth signs, and you know how hard it is to get along with them.
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#36"The article also purports that the higher level of communication inherent in engineering jobs may be vital. A healthy communication in a marriage is vital for its survival." Yeah, us software engineers are renowned for our communication skills.
If I had to guess I would say it's the cause of 2 factors: 1.Certain professions attract certain personality types so you won't see a lot of extroverted social people choosing engineering as their profession Extroverts social as they are will always have more options and are less likely to stick around if things get sour. 2.Financial stability means that even if the woman is unhappy in the relationship she is more li…
their != they're
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#37"The article also purports that the higher level of communication inherent in engineering jobs may be vital. A healthy communication in a marriage is vital for its survival." Yeah, us software engineers are renowned for our communication skills.
A large part of engineering involves problem-solving and designing systems with lots of unknowns, as well as finding patterns and fixing problems (debugging). Persistence is also key - you won't last long in engineering if you give up the first time your design doesn't work!
Perhaps these same skills translate into relationship stability? If something isn't working, try tweaking things.
Or maybe our attention to detail just makes us better in the sack. :D
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#38There is age bias. Engineer often change profession once he gets older.
Have any sources for this? My experiences say the complete opposite.
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I had to guess I would say it's the cause of 2 factors: 1.Certain professions attract certain personality types so you won't see a lot of extroverted social people choosing engineering as their profession Extroverts social as they are will always have more options and are less likely to stick around if things get sour. 2.Financial stability means that even if the woman is unhappy in the relationship she is more li…
> 2.Financial stability means that even if the woman is unhappy in the relationship she is more likely to stick around because it offers stability. There's so many assumptions made in that sentence... 1) Women care about money more than happiness 2) Engineers are awash with money 3) Women aren't engineers 4) Men are engineers.
Also... there's a huge assumption that more money equals less financial problems. One thing I've learned from the experience of my own finances is that the times in my life when I've been flat broke, I had less financial problems than in times when I've been flush with cash.
The higher your income, the higher your debt load - and this is caused by easy access to credit, social conditioning to chasing the dream, climbing the ladder, bigger house, more expensive cars - because you deserve it! You work hard, you deserve to play hard too and who cares your income doesn't stretch to that, here's a credit card, you can have as much money as you need... as long as you can afford the minimum payment for the rest of your life. Society conditions you towards using your financial abilities to get into more debt than you can afford to repay and the illusion that because you have a high income, you can afford to repay it every month in full... and then as long as I pay most of it... and then at least keep up the minimum payments... and then well, this one's not due until the end of the month, so I'll live on this card and I'll pay the minimum payment and keep this card for emergencies... and then an emergency crops up and hey, I'll just pay my hydro bill with this card instead of paying cash and I'll use the cash to pay my credit card off and the cycle escalates until you lose your house.
Just because you're an engineer and just because you have a high gross income doesn't mean you have the financial wherewithal to maintain a stable financial life.
So yes, none of the assumptions here stand up to scrutiny.
Re: Do engineers really make better spouses?
#40"The article also purports that the higher level of communication inherent in engineering jobs may be vital. A healthy communication in a marriage is vital for its survival." Yeah, us software engineers are renowned for our communication skills.
I suppose engineers do tend to be direct and to the point. I can't think of any engineers that are manipulative in social situations.