Engineers are trained and probably preconditioned to focus on data that they can lay out on a table and work with - not the peripheral "noise" that other people might bring into consideration.
They also tend to over evaluate their own field of work and over simplify things outside of their realm. (I had a very respected associate once who ran for public office - couldn't fathom why people laughed at his campaign speeches because they were all so rational to him)
Conversely, today's engineering grads have been taught to trust computer programs written by others who are themselves programmers - it is often pointless to ask for confirmation of a finding because no one agrees on how the thing works and no one can do it on paper.
None of those attributes are "bad" but neither do they help in dealing with the less objective world; where it may be easiest to go for the absolutism that terrorists and socialism/fascism require.
None of those attributes are “bad” but neither do they help in dealing with the less objective world; where it may be easiest to go for the absolutism that terrorists and socialism/fascism require.
The other thing I forgot to add is that engineers tend to see things in black and white, where as people in other fields tend to see shades of gray. We can argue about the value of a current engineering degree, but I contend that you have to put up with a lot more complexity than in other (easier) disciplines. In many cases, engineers can problem solve and think around technical hurdles that might stump others. And, yes, I am an engineer.