The reaction to engineers is the typical reaction I’ve always seen for utility classes like this. Lots of people make them because they have the “omg look at all the cool stuff they can do” initial reaction. Then later on after they’ve played it for a while they have the follow-up “omg all the stuff I can do is gimp compared to the other classes” reaction. Then lots of kitten and moaning about how they can’t do damage, heal, or tank like the classes that specialize in those things.
Then there are the people who like the versatility and aren’t worried about being the primary option for something. The engineer won’t excel at anything except versatility and button pushing, but you can do plenty of things well enough. If you’re a good player, you figure out how to make it work.