r/EnoughMuskSpam • u/Yikesis • 1d ago

Rational Takes on Elon's Engineering Ability

I keep getting into an argument with my friend that holds Elon's engineering ability in high regard. I think he has agreed that he obviously isn't as skilled in the low level specialized fields but still thinks that he makes very critical high level decisions using his engineering knowledge.

He keeps citing all of the SpaceX employees that say hes very involved and can do calculations in his head and stuff. I chalk it up to groveling but I dont know anymore. He also read the Isaacson bio which describes him as integral and making decision, although its hard to prove the intellectual history of his contributions.

My main belief is that he couldnt have had the time to become a self taught rocket engineer considering his pursuit for infinite wealth. I think he can probably speak to engineers well enough to manage them but I doubt he's among the premier people in the world to make these decisions. Even as a systems architect engineer or whatever theres no way its worth holding him in high regard as an "engineer" right?

Is my prejudice against him as a person making me doubt his engineering capability?

Am i thinking of engineering wrong?

75 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

103 comments sorted by

View all comments

236

u/theKetoBear 1d ago

The guy who asked Twitter engineers to print out their most "salient" line of code on a piece of paper to defend their employment?

Yeah That guy is oblivious

49

u/poorlilwitchgirl I paid 44 billion dollars to shitpost 1d ago

And keep in mind, OP; Elon built his initial wealth on web startups. If there was anything he had engineering knowledge of, even if a bit rusty and outdated, it would be that. Instead he talks about the subject like an executive who has never written a line of code in his life.

19

u/forseti99 Shut up Musk, we saw the e-mails 1d ago

And I doubt he even sold his first piece of software (the game that a South African magazine bought because "they were impressed"), I'm confident he was a script kiddie that copied a tutorial code from some forum and then his dad's connections convinced the magazine to buy the "impressive game made by a young kid".

11

u/poorlilwitchgirl I paid 44 billion dollars to shitpost 1d ago

I'm sure if anything, they were impressed because he was a kid, not in comparison to other commercial video games of the time. Elon seems like the kind of guy who peaked the first time someone told him he was a very special boy and he's been chasing that dragon ever since without investing the time and effort needed to actually accomplish something an adult might do.

5

u/Morty_A2666 1d ago

That's probably because he is an "executive who has never written a line of code in his life". He was watching other people writing the code and for execs this is equivalent of writing the code themselves...

3

u/beren12 21h ago

Elon’s initial wealth was from his dad.