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Seven Engineers Suspended After $2.3M Bridge Includes 90-Degree Turn

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171 points _sbl_ | 4 comments | 10 Jul 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0.694s | source
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threatofrain ◴[10 Jul 25 16:25 UTC] No.44522729[source]▶
Bad engineering or impossible constraints?
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rsynnott ◴[10 Jul 25 16:42 UTC] No.44522892[source]▶
Potentially both. If there are impossible constraints, then at a certain point you do _not_ build the impossible bridge, you say no instead.
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1. ajross ◴[10 Jul 25 16:52 UTC] No.44522996[source]▶
"Seven Engineers fired for refusing to design bridge"

Unemployment is a different constraint, but still a very real one. Doesn't matter now principled you are, there's always someone who'll take the money that isn't. Maybe these seven were the scabs and the heroes who said "no" are just forgotten.

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2. rsynnott ◴[10 Jul 25 17:25 UTC] No.44523303[source]▶
It's still bad engineering. "They made me do it" isn't an excuse.
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3. ajross ◴[10 Jul 25 18:09 UTC] No.44523839[source]▶
That it's bad engineering isn't in dispute though. My point was that framing this as an "engineering decision" at all relies on context not included in the story. Someone who followed your Sound Engineering advice to the letter might be starving in the background of that photo. The problem is elsewhere.
4. cruffle_duffle ◴[10 Jul 25 18:15 UTC] No.44523908[source]▶
I mean say no, get fired, and somebody else will sign off on it. The broken bridge will get built regardless of you bravely taking a stand and destroying your career.

You think the corrupt politicians didn’t know about the design of this bridge? It doesn’t take a genius engineer to see it’s fucked.

That engineering signoff is a rubber stamp on a corrupt project. Fire the politicians not the person who has to rubber stamp it (because again, they’ll find somebody to signoff on it… the signoff is a mere formality on a project like this)