Gays/bi in engineering???

[pablo6989]

Hey

I am working as an engineer (control engineering sector).
But in my opinion engineering community is very conservative heterosexual male community.

I do not feel confortable there. I think that in art industry for example tolerance for bi/gay males is stronger. I feel very different in such community.

Wht do you think? Are you engineers or know some gays work in engineering?

Greets

 

[sid6p8]

Yeah, I wonder the same thing. I actually am an engineer (computer engineer, currently working as a hardware developer), too. I find it hard to say, how the community reacts towards gay. I'm quite sure that there are several colleges who couldn't care less, but with others I don't know.

My office-mate for example. He is actually a bit homophobic. But only because he doesn't know any better. The only gay characters he knows are those portrayed on TV or in movies, and those are usually rather flaming.

Problem with engineers is, most aren't very outgoing or communicative. I think I saw a thread a while ago where some said they were engineers, too.

Also, there are like 600 guys in my company. There must be some gays. But I totally suck at "seeing" if anyone is gay. When I guess, I usually guess wrong.
But no, I don't think we're alone

 

[derelictdarrel]

My job title is 'Jr Engineer' but in the sense of the word, i'm more of a maintanence guy.

So far, I get along pretty well with my co workers. Most of the time they don't care if a gay is around one way or another.

After all you're there to work, not cirlce-jerk.

 

[paatreides]

Civil engineering here... I've certainly met my share of homophobes throughout the engineering community and it's disheartening to think that educated people can still be so dumb!
They are [typically] a very boring bunch and have no artistic sense about them at all. If it can't be solved by a mathematical formula they have no interest in it.
I was pleasantly surprised when the last company I worked for (got laid off 18 months ago!) had already recognized same-sex partners for benefits - and that was before 2000! There are more than a few openly gay employees...
Don't give up hope. It'll just take time.

 

[Callum]

Engineers interested in the arts = totally hot.

But I don't know any, so I can't really offer any advice/input.

 

[thermodynamics]

Mechanical Engineering here. I haven't worked in a traditional "engineering firm". But it's definitely a sausage fest. There are some homophobes and some who are extremely liberal and everywhere in between. I will agree that we're generally not that communicative.

I think the homophobia is more that they don't know anything different. Just as someone ^^^ said.

 

[GiacomoPisani]

the boyfriend of a friend of mine is an mechanical engineer and he has told me that where he works is pretty much a macho environment.

i'm histotechnologist and thanks goodness that the majority of my co-workers are females so i've never encountered any homophobia not even from my male co-workers.

 

[Esquire0399]

I have an engineering degree and am in grad school for it so I guess you could say I'm an engineer. From what I've seen, there are very few gays in this field, which I'm actually kind of indifferent to. That said, I did graduate with another gay guy and I don't remember either of us facing any sort of homophobia.

It's a fact that gays have a stronger tendency towards the arts, which I've always found fascinating. Hell, despite my likely professional future, photography, graphic design, and fashion will always remain my true passions. I just don't have the balls to be a starving artist. : The fact that, like paatreides said, engineers tend not to have very artistic minds and are often very dry individuals with limited/awkward senses of humor (at least in my experience) makes me very reluctant to pursue this field beyond finishing my Master's.

 

[hotdog1846]

Software engineer here.

There have been gay guys in every company I've worked. Most are pretty low-key; you wouldn't know they're gay until you get to know them. It's not really a social pressure thing, since they tend to be low-key by nature.

I don't know where you're coming from in saying engineers aren't artistic, though. Many I know are into music. Seems like mathematical ability and musical ability go hand-in-hand.

I think the newer branches of engineering, such as software engineering and graphics, attract more offbeat people than the older and more established branches, such as civil and mechanical engineering. Maybe there's a component of a pioneering spirit at work.

 

[pablo6989]

Hey

Thank you for interest.

Yes it is not always true that engineers are boring and only math topic oriented.

But for example in my company (dominated by male workers) mostly guys are into that macho - thing and they talk all the time about football and so.

so I dont feel well in that community.....

 

[pablo6989]

For me its interesting that gay guys occupation is often related to arts/media, advert buisness and rather rare to engineering disciplines like mechanical, civil or electrical.

Don't wanna fall into stereotypes but things are going like this.

Also fact that in these classical engineering disciplines women are also minority.

So maybe the thing is in gays brain construction and their direction into "softer" disciplines?

I also went to engineering studies because was afraid of perspective unemplyed artist...

And for example comparing my brain to my brother's (who is 100% engineer and hetero) I think that our mind's processing is performed differently

Greets

 

[rjmrjm21]

Hey

I am working as an engineer (control engineering sector).
But in my opinion engineering community is very conservative heterosexual male community.

I do not feel confortable there. I think that in art industry for example tolerance for bi/gay males is stronger. I feel very different in such community.

Wht do you think? Are you engineers or know some gays work in engineering?

Greets

I totally agree. Just as it's rare for gay men to enjoy or participate in football, rugby, boxing, and hockey. Not that it doesn't happen just that we prefer to not get our nails dirty, so to speak.

 

[oakpope]

software engineer here

macho environment , few "homophobes" (clearly more from mis information than truely phobia), most don't care.

 

[pablo6989]

I totally agree. Just as it's rare for gay men to enjoy or participate in football, rugby, boxing, and hockey. Not that it doesn't happen just that we prefer to not get our nails dirty, so to speak.

From my observation and reading this forum I can't say that gay men interest are strongly biased against typical male activities. On the other hand occupation is somehow dependant on the sexual orientation.

I think many users here work in customer services, sales, marketing, advert, entertainment , art industry and so.
I think gays are rare in typical conservative male jobs (like civil engineering).

software engineer here

macho environment , few "homophobes" (clearly more from mis information than truely phobia), most don't care.

I think that software engineering community is more gay friendly than, that mentioned before, conservative male engineering communities. In my university acomputer science was less masculine than mechanical or electrical. Also work environment is different. I work with males only (electrical engineering branch) and there is a high macho attitude. In software engineering there are more women involved and I think its not that macho...

Greets

 

[AlmondMilk]

I personally know a bunch of female engineers. I only know one male engineer who's gay. We're not really that close, though.

 

[TheFireGod]

I talked to a few engineers in chat rooms, if that counts, all were gay.

 

[rjmrjm21]

From my observation and reading this forum I can't say that gay men interest are strongly biased against typical male activities. On the other hand occupation is somehow dependant on the sexual orientation.

That's what I said, it's not very common to find gay professional boxers, football players, and hockey players. There are probably more gay engineers than the ones I listed.

 

[hotdog1846]

I think that software engineering community is more gay friendly than, that mentioned before, conservative male engineering communities. In my university acomputer science was less masculine than mechanical or electrical. Also work environment is different. I work with males only (electrical engineering branch) and there is a high macho attitude. In software engineering there are more women involved and I think its not that macho...

Greets

Yes, I think that's an accurate evaluation. I've worked in environments closer to hardware design as well as pure application development. The hardware-oriented environments do tend to be more traditional, with fewer women and the men interested in traditionally guy-type things. However, the pure software development and application development environments have about 1/3 women and men who are somewhat more interested in things like cooking, decorating, and so on.

Total generalizations, and your experience may vary. And, I haven't really found the hardware-oriented environments to be less accepting of gays. In the end, both the hardware and software engineers really just care whether you're good. If you're not a good engineer, neither environment will accept you.

The whole software engineering discipline is quite new, and there's a lot of rapid change in it, so its practitioners have to be continually inventing new ways of doing things and breaking new ground. Forging our own destiny, so to speak. Much like members of the gay community, all of whom have to forge their own identify and create their own future for themselves. The scripted social forms won't work for us. We have to make our own way. Much like software engineers.

 

[Puzuzzu]

Chemical Engineer here (Getting my bachelors), and I'm out at my university

 

[pat grimshaw]

I love engineers!
They're so practical! We rely on them.