"genius mad scientist EE" trope

[smashedProton]

Im just curious to how you guys react because this is something that has been happening to me lately.  It is really beginning to piss me off!  People at school take notice of me studying schematics and other electronics related things.  I am treated like a genius/protege and it's getting on my nerves because it seems like people are using it as an excuse for that they are glued into their school issued and community funded giant iphones.  Is there a go-to response that I can use that will be: inclusive to others who may enter electronics, not make me sound like a smartass, is relatively accurate (i dont want to lie by saying "i build computers").  I dont think that it can be done   I'm interested to here what you guys can come up with.  Thanks

[Rerouter]

its a hard subject to make easily relatable, as even the plumbing analogy of it is difficult to make people easily understand (but is a bloody good one)

most of the analogies for electronics are a bit biased on what common knowledge you have at your school, its a plan with each part serving a function to an end goal, and through some basic math and reference designs you can make the circuit do as you please, generally in functional blocks, as in most cases you have taken a functional block or design from somewhere and modified it and re-laid it out for your own purpose, and can equally break it down if they inquire,

the functional blocks method to me says you know a bit about it but its not that hard, and you don't need to sound like some genius to explain what each function contributes towards the end goal for a half switched on person,

[c4757p]

You're lucky, at my school usually their eyes glaze over and they walk off once they realize you're not in the lib arts department...

State schools... 

[houdini]

Just laugh maniacally.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

It's actually a non issue.
The more you delve into the realms of engineering and science the less interested you will become in what most people do and say.
Start ignoring them now.

[c4757p]

Start ignoring them now.

When I was studying CS, it was apparent that even the freshmen had a head start on that one. A good portion of them only spoke when correcting someone, often the professor. EE students seem to be normally social. Don't know about actual, employed EEs, though.

[Nack486]

Even though I go to a school specialized in electronics and programming, most people think that me and my friends are geniuses for knowing something about what we're studying but at the same time they view us as crazy/stupid for talking about tech stuff a lot. I've learned to ignore them and perhaps you should try it too.

[EEVblog]

Im just curious to how you guys react because this is something that has been happening to me lately.  It is really beginning to piss me off!  People at school take notice of me studying schematics and other electronics related things.  I am treated like a genius/protege and it's getting on my nerves

When I was a boy reading schematics and Electronics Australia in the playground, you got beat up for that.
Now you are treated like a genius? 
I grew up in the wrong era 

Dave.

[Spawn]

At school I never had a problem like that, at work now in the office on my right side is a electrics engineer and on my left side electronics engineer both around 60 years old and I am near 40, we are not kids anymore and we are also not on the field so time to time we talk about our hobbies, the rest of the office thinks we are crazy, but whenever someone has something to repair at home the electronics engineer is like genius for them, human mind works like that one moment you are crazy and when they need something from you then you are a genius, get use to it   

[maca_404]

I was in the same nerd boat in high school too Dave,  However despite the societal changes people might think your clever/genius  but ill bet the ability to read a schematic is still not the pantie dropper a six pack and a foot long is so the status quo remains intact   

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

I don't think a stock answer is going to satisfy most of your school mates, just tell them it's a hobby and you probably want to get a job doing it when you finish school.
You may as well follow your own path and if anyone is interested then you can expand more on electronics.
On the other hand you it would be helpful to you, to actually be a bit interested in what your peers do too.

At least electronics is a bit cool, whereas when I was at school I was interested in Dungeons and Dragons, and some of my friends were the biggest 'dags' in the world.

[jucole]

The high school environment can be pretty nasty at times;  I was very lucky at high school in that I was very very handy;  so not one "idiot" kid in the entire school dare say anything rude to me or my "geeky" friends!

My advice is not to get out geeky stuff in front of idiots; save most of your geeky stuff for home and not appear to react too much to negative comments,  also take up boxing rather than your Taekwondo! ;-)

(edit: thinking about it; the more "geeky" you are,  the more fighting systems you need to learn to stop yourself getting beat-up in the playground!  but if you were really really really "geeky" you'd probably have to learn stuff like,  the legend of the five fists technique and other stuff like that! )

[deephaven]

I used to make stuff and sell it to my school mates 

[maca_404]

I used to make stuff and sell it to my school mates 

Stuff ?  Like Meth ?

[Mike Warren]

When I was a boy reading schematics and Electronics Australia in the playground, you got beat up for that.

Same here. I tried to play it down.

[StevenB]

Im just curious to how you guys react because this is something that has been happening to me lately.  It is really beginning to piss me off!  People at school take notice of me studying schematics and other electronics related things.

Well, at least they are taking notice!

 

I am treated like a genius/protege and it's getting on my nerves because it seems like people are using it as an excuse for that they are glued into their school issued and community funded giant iphones. 

I'm not sure what you are saying here.  They are treating you as a genius as an escuse for what again?

 

Is there a go-to response that I can use that will be: inclusive to others who may enter electronics, not make me sound like a smartass, is relatively accurate (i dont want to lie by saying "i build computers").  I dont think that it can be done   I'm interested to here what you guys can come up with.  Thanks

Usually if someone is asking me what I do or what project I'm working on, etc., I can figure out quickly if they really want to know or they are trying to make conversation.  If they really want to know, I try to talk in as plain of words as I can.  If they are trying to make conversation, I'll probably make a joke of it and then change the topic.

I learned a long time ago, most non-technical people just don't want to talk technical.  It's best to just talk about the weather.

[ZOMGVTEK]

Say you build computers, people appear to understand that they don't care when you say that.

People somehow think I'm an electrician that wants to help them replace a light switch.

[Anquietas]

You are lucky that your classmates are actually interested in what you are doing or at least respect you for it. My experiences were similar to Dave's, with the difference that I was almost exclusively bullied by the girls, since the guys didn't have the balls for it - I would hit back. But with girls it was different, since I wouldn't beat back. Shit got quite serious when I was 15/16 with me leaving the school and isolating myself socially in my room for about a year. Having dropped out at the end of middle school (age group 14-17 here) I had no finished education to speak of and I can just thank my mother that she put me into a private school were I could skip middle school education and get into the last two years of high school directly.

That said, be happy that your peer is relatively nice and yes, limit their exposure to your non-curricular hobbies. You don't do yourself any favor whatsoever by following up on your hobbies at school. Use that time to do actual schoolwork, it's more efficient because you'll have more time in the afternoon for what's truly important.

You have already distinguished yourself by actually successfully following up on a formal topic as a hobby. I wish I had the ability to do that back then. I was basically just an absent-minded weirdo with too many scientific interests (none of which involved schoolwork) and zero guidance. So I didn't achieve anything at all, I couldn't find a proper way to navigate through my interests and getting things done. I was depressed like shit and I am still barely recovering.

So, yeah, be happy and don't over-think your situation. There is a time and place for everything. 

[Anquietas]

I'm not sure what you are saying here.  They are treating you as a genius as an escuse for what again?

It goes somewhat like this I suppose,

SmashedProton: "I like electronics."
Classmates: "We like electronics, too, which is why we flaunt our iPhones!!!"

And yes, that is absolutely a non-issue.

Is there a go-to response that I can use that will be: inclusive to others who may enter electronics, not make me sound like a smartass, is relatively accurate (i dont want to lie by saying "i build computers").  I dont think that it can be done   I'm interested to here what you guys can come up with.  Thanks

Usually if someone is asking me what I do or what project I'm working on, etc., I can figure out quickly if they really want to know or they are trying to make conversation.  If they really want to know, I try to talk in as plain of words as I can.  If they are trying to make conversation, I'll probably make a joke of it and then change the topic.

This, and it would be quite socially inapt to actually answer to "What are you doing/working on?" with the rational response of explaining what you are doing. People aren't that rational. You basically just caught their attention by doing what you do and that's totally it. They want to learn about you, not about what you are doing.

I learned a long time ago, most non-technical people just don't want to talk technical.  It's best to just talk about the weather.

Or about people.

[deephaven]

I used to make stuff and sell it to my school mates 

Stuff ?  Like Meth ?

  I was far too innocent for that! Things with transistorators in mostly.

[dfnr2]

It's actually a non issue.
The more you delve into the realms of engineering and science the less interested you will become in what most people do and say.
Start ignoring them now.

+1
And a tip: skipping your daily hygeine-related activities not only makes this easier by reducing unwanted intrusions, but also gives you more time to do what you love.

[Anquietas]

It's actually a non issue.
The more you delve into the realms of engineering and science the less interested you will become in what most people do and say.
Start ignoring them now.

+1
And a tip: skipping your daily hygeine-related activities not only makes this easier by reducing unwanted intrusions, but also gives you more time to do what you love.

... you're kidding, right? Right.

In case you are not: This is really bad advice. Since you don't want to become a hermit and you especially want to live a long, healthy and productive life, the worst thing you could do long-term would be to drop your bodily hygiene. In any case, even if you ignore "normal people", there are still tons of engineers and scientists you'll probably like having to deal with, so it's best, for example, not to let your teeth rot away.

[StevenB]

I'm sure they were kidding. 

You defintitely won't live a "productive" life with that method, if you know what I mean.

[smashedProton]

You defintitely won't live a "productive" life with that method, if you know what I mean.

We definitely do 

[c4757p]

It's actually a non issue.
The more you delve into the realms of engineering and science the less interested you will become in what most people do and say.
Start ignoring them now.

+1
And a tip: skipping your daily hygeine-related activities not only makes this easier by reducing unwanted intrusions, but also gives you more time to do what you love.

... you're kidding, right? Right.

In case you are not

One of my big pet peeves as a former math student is inexactness and excessive generalization. Given that, I feel secure in saying there is absolutely zero chance that he is not kidding.