When I was just getting started in
practice with my shiny new P.E. certificate,
I was at lunch with a group of
engineers. The conversation turned to
war stories of errors and jobs that
went sour. I was kind of shocked and
said so. One of the older engineers
just looked quietly at me for a long
pause and then sighed. Without a
word, he eloquently said, "You'll
learn, kid."
And learn I did, even though I've
been pretty lucky over the years. Like
most engineers, I do make a conscientious
effort to do careful work, but
the low incidence of serious problems
is really due as much to luck as to my
own efforts. There's no