Is your child 'different'? Do they see connections in unconnected things? Do they have Dyslexia? Were they born with "The Knack"? Are they interested in Math and/or Science? If they have one or more of these 'problems', then it may be their destiny to become an Engineer.I was born with "The Knack" as Dilbert's Pediatrician/Garbage Man explained it to Dilbert's mother in the first episode of the TV series.
Location Doctor Office. Dilbert in background, in diapers, fixing "out-of-order" X-Ray Machine. Dilbert's Mother and Dilbert's Doctor in foreground, having discussion.
Mom: Whats wrong with him?
Dr.(Garbage Man): He was born with 'The Knack'.
Mom: Oh-My! Can it be cured?
Dr.: I'm afraid not.
Mom: What does it mean?
Dr.: He'll grow up to be an engineer.
*ZAP* as room lights up with X-Rays, and Mom breaks down into tears.
There is a variation of this skit on YouTube.
My own mother says I took apart my dad's lunch box, by undoing the long interlocked hinge, in the time before I can remember. Took her and grandpa hours to put it back-together. Next time they left it in my reach they said I did it again, in seconds. They never figured out how. They got me my own lunch box, with metal welded hinge, after that. I've been possessed with the 'The Knack' ever since...
An other sign that your child suffers from 'The Knack' is them having Apophenia.
Apophenia: Which is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.
The best designers intuitively solve problems by seeing the connections in diverse and normally unconnected things and events. I've also noticed that the best people I've ever worked with in technical endeavors 'suffer' from Dyslexia.
Some call 'The Knack' a curse. In a sense it is, as working in the field makes Dilbert seem like a documentary rather than a cartoon on many a day; I had a manager take out cement block walls "to improve communications in the department". What was even worse, was his manager let him do it. It is also a curse in the fact that those with 'The Knack' are making all of the money for others rather than themselves. It is down right disgusting that the average CEO makes hundreds of times what the average working person makes. However those with 'The Knack' are having far more fun, and learning more than any CEO ever will, because they where not born with 'The Knack'...
Dilbert is the property of United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
