I think the term we are all looking for is “cargo cult engineer”. A sort of engineering mindset that imitates but doesn’t really grasp engineering. As if the idea of what an engineer is comes from reading early Dilbert strips instead of actually trying to understand how to build something.
I am also reminded of how engineers are different from scientists in many definitions: the “scientist” is all about discovering, the “engineer” is about applying that which was already discovered. Few are only one or the other, the trap lies in being an “engineer” and loudly proclaiming oneself a scientist.
As for the rich, privileged white guy who ended up purchasing Twitter because he shot off his mouth, his role-playing at being an engineer is more play-acting than cargo cult, but his idea of engineering is nonetheless a cargo cult understanding not only of how a platform like Twitter works, but also a cargo cult understanding of how finance and buying companies actually work, which is what got his stumblebum ass in this predicament in the first place.
