No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no genitalia or mammary glands are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness.
Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function.
Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer like children who will have high-paying jobs long before losing their virginity. Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Longer if it's a warm day. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth.