Best course of action is usually to just stick to the interpersonal details in my experience. People don't really want to hear about how a system file got corrupted and we had to spend all day trying to figure out the security breach, but once I tell them my coworker's wife just had a baby, they're all ears LOL
Whether it's deserved or not is irrelevant, but many people perceive engineering types to be quite elitist and prone to esoteric conversations. Listen to the words you use when talking to them. You might be surprised to hear a few buzzwords or acronyms in there that non-engineers wouldn't know or care about. My wife tells me this all the time. I have to adjust from work-mode to home-mode every night or I drive her nuts :)
Why ask if they don't like the answer? LOL
Ah yes, I have a few of the "automation is ruining lives" types too. I try to change the subject as fast as possible.
Everybody hates what they don't understand. Isn't that pretty much the shape of things?
Best course of action is usually to just stick to the interpersonal details in my experience. People don't really want to hear about how a system file got corrupted and we had to spend all day trying to figure out the security breach, but once I tell them my coworker's wife just had a baby, they're all ears LOL
Whether it's deserved or not is irrelevant, but many people perceive engineering types to be quite elitist and prone to esoteric conversations. Listen to the words you use when talking to them. You might be surprised to hear a few buzzwords or acronyms in there that non-engineers wouldn't know or care about. My wife tells me this all the time. I have to adjust from work-mode to home-mode every night or I drive her nuts :)