Memes

I can't speak for how network engineers are born, but I can tell you how electronic engineers are chosen.

It all starts when the young child discovers a screwdriver set either located in the garage or the drawer-o-stuff™. They then realise their favourite toys and electronics around the house have screws the screwdriver fits into.

Once this realisation has occurred, a new voice speaks in their head for the first time "Open me, see what's inside". No matter how much they resist or what the parents do to hide the tools and tape over the screws, the voice still calls "Open me, see what's inside".

Eventually the child opens the device and sees the PCB. A green plate populated with what look like perfectly rectangular tiny stones, black squares dotted around, tic-taks with coloured banding, very small grey doughnuts with an orange thread wrapped around, and a few black cylinders that look like small batteries.

They flip the PCB over and see a network of metallic straight and angled lines running between circles where little metal points protrude from tiny mounds of shiny silver blobs. With screw driver in hand, the child prods these small silver blobs. Nothing happens. They keep poking around until they bridge two blobs on the underside of the biggest black cylinders.

Suddenly there's a bright flash, a bang, the child jumps back and yells in surprise. They take a moment before slowly approaching the PCB and see a trail of magic smoke that wafts from the now burnt cylinder.

They know not, but the child's fate has been sealed. A gift and a curse has now been bestowed upon them

A parent walks in hearing the yelp, and sees their prized electronic possession in a state of chaotic dissasembly. They scold the child and sends them away to their room.

That voice still persists and the parent eventually gifts the child a small electronics kit, lest they continue to break the parent's possessions.

The child begins in earnest on their first project, staying up well past bedtime and into the night to complete it. When the last piece is placed, the child leans back and appreciates their handiwork. They prepare to tentatively throw the ON switch, leaning back and squinting with one eye closed.

The kit springs to life much to the child's surprise and delight, it's working!

It is at this moment the gift and curse is revealed:

The Knack.