So an engineering degree is a degree in story problems.

They start you out teaching you the math you need to work the story problems, then they teach you the different types of problems that are typically associated with different stories. Then you graduate to only hearing the stories and attempting to figure out what problems go with them, then eventually they decide you have a broad enough knowledge of stories, their problems and the ways to solve them that they let you loose unto the world.

It's a viable method because as with most things, the majority of it is routine and the minority of it is puzzling. The thing about an engineering career is that you have a specialized experience and body of knowledge about a particular set of problems.

I have no idea what you know about right now. Let's assume you've built a gaming PC or two, you have assembled at least one piece of Ikea furniture and you're a passable cook. Maybe your friends come to you asking advice on whether or not to go Socket 2011 or not - you have the basis of knowledge to give them an informed answer. That's engineering. Maybe you know to double-check the numbers, cruise by the spare parts bin and have a cracked beer before you assemble yet another Billy, which you've done enough that you don't need the instructions anymore. That's engineering. Maybe you feel like making chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast because you have the chocolate chips and you've made pancakes a few times. That's engineering.

The difference is the problems are more specialized. Maybe you know that an IAC sound trap will work better than ductliner because you've worked with this brand of air handler before and it's got a nasty peak at 315 Hz. Maybe you don't want to use an LPG-powered flame for your palm oil catalyzer because you had condensation issues with the tank last time. Maybe you know that SCR is better for power control than PWM in this implementation because the duty cycle is high. That's engineering.

Every now and then you get a puzzler - How do you water-cool a Xeon processor in a case that will be inverted? What parts will you need to scavenge out of the bin so that your shelf rolls? We're out of eggs - can we use mayonnaise instead? That's engineering.

And sometimes you'll get a WTF problem. Maybe you've found a haunted office. Maybe your solution would require more liquid helium than currently exists on the planet. Maybe you need to reissue a product but the chips you used last weren't RoHS-compliant so you need to redesign the D/A section without adding anything to the cost.

That's engineering.

A job is a job is a job. Some of them suck, some of them rule. You can find yourself a truly ghastly gig in engineering - I'm one of the few people from my graduating class that didn't end up picking parts out of a Grainger catalog at Genie Lifts or being the fourth, fifth or sixth set of eyes on some mind-numbingly tedious component at Boeing. Me? I ended up using calculus on a monthly basis and doing some pretty cool shit... but it was still a job. I know a guy, on the other hand, who manages the propulsion team at SpaceX. To me, that sounds like a supadope job. To him? Hard to say.

Old engineering joke. They give this dude the gold watch after 50 years and he retires. Then they call him back to the plant - the frammazamma is on the fritz! He looks at the mechanism, hems and haws, then draws a chalk mark on the rear panel and says "add 40 quatluus of ballast to the Nagus Valve. That'll be a thousand dollars." His old boss screeches in pain - I mean, WTF? All he did was make a chalk mark! I dare you to itemize that bill, you codger...

- 1 chalk mark: $1 - Knowing where to put the chalk mark: $999

That's engineering. The overwhelming majority of it could be done by anyone, but the tiny minority of it would unravel the universe if done by amateurs and the only people who know the difference are the ones with the training. Same with anything really - the whole gig is about knowing when to overthink it and when to buy something out of the Grainger catalog.

Hope that helped.