Why Engineers Make the Best Developers (and Occasionally the Funniest Bugs)

Author: Kristoffer Dave Tabong | July 16, 2025

A humorous confession of bolts, code, and caffeine.

When engineers turn to software development, something interesting happens. The mindset that once calculated bridge loads or circuit tolerances starts writing Python scripts and React components. The result? Some of the most stable code and the most overbuilt bugs you'll ever see.

Here’s what happens when two worlds collide:

1. Engineers Love Overengineering (and That’s Not Always Bad)
   What could be a five-line function becomes a multi-tiered system with fallback protocols, redundancy checks, and probably a cooling fan.
   But it never crashes.
2. Structural Calculations Prepare You for… Unit Tests?
   If you've ever spent an afternoon manually calculating beam deflection, writing a 50-line test suite suddenly feels like light cardio.
3. Both Worlds Live by the Motto: “It Worked on Paper”
   Bridge engineer: “It worked on paper.”
   Software dev: “It worked on my machine.”
   Same optimism. Same chaos.
4. Coffee Isn’t Optional. It’s a Structural Element.
   Without caffeine, neither the code nor the concrete would hold.
   Pour-over is just another kind of build tool.
5. Tolerances Matter—But in Software, We Just Call It a Bug
   In civil engineering: 2mm deviation? Redesign.
   In dev: 2px misaligned? Ship it.
   Precision is a spectrum.
6. CAD or IDE? Both Are Fancy Boxes with Layers of Regret
   Zoom. Pan. Snap. Break.
   Scroll. Debug. Refactor. Cry.
   Different software. Same emotional spiral.
7. Disaster Simulations vs. Production Deployments
   Structural engineers test for earthquakes.
   Developers test for Fridays.
   Either way, you’re hoping the whole thing doesn’t collapse under pressure.
8. Client Requests Are Equally Vague in Both Fields
   Architect: “Make it modern but timeless.”
   Dev: “Make it simple but feature-rich.”
   Deadline? Monday.
9. “Minimum Viable Product” Is Engineer Speak for “It Won’t Fall Over (Yet)”
   Whether it’s scaffolding or a mobile app, MVP means: good enough for today.
   Tomorrow is a new sprint.
10. Code and Construction: Same DNA, Different Tools
    Underneath it all, both worlds solve problems with logic, planning, and coffee.
    One wears a hard hat. The other wears dark mode.

Engineering and software development share more than people realize. Both require thinking in systems, solving for edge cases, and bracing for what users (or gravity) might do. Whether you're pouring concrete or writing scripts, it's still about building things that work and don’t fall apart the moment someone leans on them. If you’ve ever squinted at a line of code the same way you once squinted at a load calculation, congratulations: you’ve joined a long tradition of engineers who just swapped one kind of debugging for another.