[AussieWog93]

Even if he doesn't do the hands-on design work himself, he's clearly good at both recognising engineering talent and evaluating information that's presented to him. You couldn't have either of these skills without some engineering knowledge.

[delecti]

I edited my comment a while ago, I'm not sure your reply is really relevant to the updated version.

But what you described is just being a CTO. That's an important job, but is still separate from being chief engineer.

[_hyn3]

“He’s obviously skilled at all those different functions, but certainly what really drives him and where his passion really is, is his role as CTO,” or chief technology officer, Reisman said. “Basically his role as chief designer and chief engineer. That’s the part of the job that really plays to his strengths."

From that Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...

[andi999]

So when will his engineers tell him that hyperloop won't work (assuming he honestly doesn't know).

[_hyn3]

Why won't it? It's just scaling up bank air tubes. But that's almost irrelevant to my larger point:

Where would we be right now if [pick any inventor] had listened when the experts said, "it won't work"?

An inventor's job is to have a big imagination. A successful inventor usually has enough of an engineering background to test their hypothesis and refine as needed. Most of them also know how to gather highly educated minds to help them.

Many successful inventors do not have deep academic backgrounds, because often those educational backgrounds tell them only what is impossible, not what is possible.

[Dah00n]

Sure, but having engineering knowledge doesn't make you an engineer just like having medical knowledge doesn't make you a doctor.