The state of Engineering

[cyberTripping]

A player trying to learn the engine isn't going the want to experiment if the result is so likely to draw the ire of the other engineers.

I can't comment on the current state of engineering due to being very out of practice with the game currently, but this specific statement resonates a lot with my experience when I was playing frequently. The jobs that frequently involve experimentation seem to have a gradient in how hazardous a fuck up is. For something like chef/botany, it's incredibly low risk because the worst that could happen is you waste your own time. Mechanics could theoretically break something, but it's also very low risk. Chemistry and artlab are a bit higher risk because they could set the room on fire / cause an explosion/poison themselves, etc. And then way, way off in the distance is TEG engineering, which has the potential to ruin a one-of-a-kind, unrepairable machine necessary for the station to function and ALSO potentially flood a department/the hallways/etc with scalding toxic fumes. Not the most encouraging environment for winging it!