I come across the same thing often.

They look down on you as they have no understanding of what you are actually doing.

Ignorance is something you must take away. I dont tell what i do in great detail but tell how gratifying such a job is, its creative. You make something move/work/operate it makes you give that happy feeling inside. Just like an artist looking at its masterpiece, you look to your robot/openGL aquarium/blinking leds with the same satisfaction.

Just let them talk about engineering being uncreative, we know better :-)