The mindset between engineers looking at new ideas and resolving old ones are different. A good engineer with foresight can see when an idea or proposal is good but at the same time he's thinking of the challenges it poses. I know I do this daily and the linked post is actually pretty hard hitting for me.

When I was looking for new work everywhere I applied I looked at how beneficial it was for me but that was always balanced with questions about how it will shape my career and if it will take me to a place I want to see myself in 5 years or will it put me 5 years behind my ultimate career goals? No matter what company or person I talked to I managed to find the reasons why it might not be beneficial to me.

I spoke with my girlfriend a lot during this search. At one point she got fed up with me and said to "shut up and stop being so negative". It sort of offended me because in a sense I didn't feel that I was being negative but rather "just looking at it from all angles". The coder mindset reaches into our daily lives where we start weighing the pros and cons of every decision to figure if it is worth the effort instead of just enjoying things.

Of course, I may not be typical. I live in an area with very few hackers and engineers so its hard to compare myself outside of these forums.