Yes, there is some bit of an inside joke to the original statement from smilingcat, so please engineers...don't take it personally.

I am an engineer as well (BSEE & MSEE), but a year and a half ago, I took a role in HR. Now I run our college program, so I am a constant link between academia, engineers and the rest of the world. I can tell you that even though there are a large % of engineers that do have good social skills, there is a very, very distinct difference in the way engineers communicate and the way say marketing or HR people communicate. And this is coming from a high tech engineering based company!

As a recruiter, I will say that universities these days ARE listening to industry and engineers are absolutely getting a more well-rounded educational experience than even a decade ago. Graduates are expected to have good written and verbal communication skills and they are expected to work well in group situations. That said, those groups are with other engineers, so it's not quite the same as asking an engineer to explain a product to some end-users.

While yes, it is a stereotype, there is absolutely some truth to it. If there weren't, Big Bang Theory wouldn't be winning Emmy's!