I am an engineer, and have interviewed, hired, mentored, and trained 100’s. I use to help with recruitment for one of the largest engineering companies in Huntsville and there is a lot of truth in this thread and also a lot of fallacies as well. I will say that engineers atleast the good ones design to the specification given often cost and reliability being one of those. Look at modern cars they routinely run for 200,000 miles yes they are a PIA to work on but tell me how many need major repair in that time? This is a result of engineering well that and better manufacturing tolerances. I will say that hands on skills are diminishing at an alarming pace in engineers as few actual do anything hands on in their youth. I grew up on a farm mechaniced on wore out tractors, trailers, vehicles, and everything else in between, and then went on to work in a mobile home plant my first few years in college to building and remodeling house to pay for my degree. All of this taught me to be a better engineer. The ones you get today rarely have this kind of experience, but I will take a poor kid who grew up on a farm with a 2.5gpa to a kid with a 4.0 and no experience 3 to 1.