>Engineers are builders - not cost cutters.

that's too much of a blanket statement.

as bushbaba said in a sibling comment, (paraphrasing), engineers can be both builders and cost cutters. and engineering is about tradeoffs of various kinds, even if they don't involve cost cutting.

ever heard of:

- value engineering

or

- frugal engineering

?

google them.

my dad was an engineer. not a software one, but a mechanical and electrical engineer. he did a double degree, from a well known US university. and worked for a few years in the US. then he came back to India and work for a single US multinational for the rest of his career.

once when I was a teenager, I saw him reading a book titled "value engineering". a us publication.

i think he mentioned it to me and said it was a good book.

I also read parts of it and found it interesting.

edited for grammar.

Yes I wasn't specific enough and contradicted myself.

I said anyone can be a cost cutter, and that includes engineers.

Where engineers are unique is in their ability and training to be efficiency and value creators. They are productivity increasers.

Their value comes from productivity increases - not their ability to cut budgets. Cutting a budget might be a side effect of a productivity increase, but the profitability increases that finance first leaders push for is often at the expense of long term productivity rather than because of it.

Hope that makes more sense!

Engineers are cost cutters. Half of engineering is making decisions on how to build within budget. Building within tolerances and not overly engineering things