Engineers are a special kind of people.

They play a vital role in building our disruptive, digital world. They design systems, solve complex problems, automate processes, and occasionally explain why something “should work” while everybody is looking at a broken screen.

Engineers also have their own way of communicating.

Over time, I noticed that what engineers say and what they actually mean are not always the same thing. So, as a small public service, I translated a few common engineering phrases.

Feel free to add yours in the comments.

1. “I can fix this.”

What they really mean:
I have no idea how to fix this, but I like the challenge.

2. “That is a challenge.”

What they really mean:
I cannot fix this. I have no idea where to start. But Google is my friend, and even if you give me a lot of time, I am still not sure whether I will be able to build a workable solution.

3. “That is not possible.”

What they really mean:
It is possible, but I do not feel like building it, and it will probably take months to complete.

4. “We need to refactor this.”

What they really mean:
Someone else built this, and it works. I have no idea how it works. So I am going to spend a lot of time rewriting it into something I understand.

5. “This works, but it has some workarounds.”

What they really mean:
I fixed it in a horrible way. I am fairly sure it will break again soon, and I am not sure I will be able to fix it next time.

6. “We have a problem.”

What they really mean:
You have a problem, and I am going home now.

7. “That is weird.”

What they really mean:
I now realise I did not properly test this feature. It is causing a massive problem, so I will act surprised.

8. “I have not touched that part of the code in weeks.”

What they really mean:
I vaguely remember changing something there recently and probably forgot to test it properly.

9. “This framework does not support this feature.”

What they really mean:
I do not know how to build that in this programming language.

10. “I am almost finished. I am just adding some unit tests.”

What they really mean:
I have just started to understand what needs to be built. I am now writing the code and getting all kinds of strange error messages.

11. “I am putting this on my backlog, but with a lower priority.”

What they really mean:
This is not something I like doing. And if nobody mentions it again, we can quietly forget about it altogether.

12. “I think I can build this.”

What they really mean:
I have no idea whether I can build this. I love a challenge, so I am going to spend long hours puzzling out how it might work. Preferably with no planning and no guarantees.

13. “I think I fixed it.”

What they really mean:
The problem disappeared without me making any meaningful changes. I have no idea what caused it or what made it go away.

14. “Knowing this technology is very beneficial for our company.”

What they really mean:
I think this technology is extremely cool, and I have no idea how we are going to make money with it.

15. “This library is broken.”

What they really mean:
I have no intention or motivation to fix this.

16. “I have raised an issue with the DevOps team to resolve this.”

What they really mean:
I have no intention of putting more effort into this issue, and I do not really think anyone else will be able to resolve it either.

17. “The API definition has changed. Now I have to refactor.”

What they really mean:
I have not started working on this. I have not read the documentation yet. But I am starting now.

18. “We have merge conflicts to resolve.”

What they really mean:
We do not know how to collaborate properly, and all my changes have been overwritten by a fellow team member.

19. “That is not how it was designed to work.”

What they really mean:
It was probably in the design, but I did not spend much time reading it. I coded something else and have no intention of changing it.

20. “We need to re-evaluate the architecture for this new feature.”

What they really mean:
At some point in the past, I made a fundamental design decision. I have now discovered that it was probably a very bad decision.

21. “I have not yet received a ticket for this request.”

What they really mean:
I do not like you and have no intention of helping you unless I really have to.

22. “We need active and daily end-user involvement.”

What they really mean:
I need someone who can bring me coffee.

23. “Done. It is in the next build.”

What they really mean:
I have fixed and tested it. The solution is being delivered as we speak. No need to worry.

Yes, this one sometimes actually means what it says. Engineers are full of surprises.

Do you recognise yourself in this? Feel free to tag someone or add your own engineering translations in the comments.

Happy coding.