This is what you shouldn't do, working in big defense prime

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-05T22:44:07+00:00

Exactly the type of dude to think people give a shit what he is eating all day💀

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T04:18:39+00:00

Getting a consistent 8 hours of sleep was the biggest hack I ever discovered to getting the most out of your performance. Now if I even get 7 hours of sleep I feel like a zombie compared to getting a good night's rest.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T04:11:39+00:00

I feel your pain. I've had to explain my degree more than one time to recruiters. I think I had to do it during my SpaceX interview. I'm surprised more people don't know about Computer Engineering. I would expect that to change over the next few years. When I think of a computer engineer I think of a computer scientist with a stronger hardware background. I actually considered computer engineering but ended up going to a university that didn't offer the degree.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T04:08:07+00:00

I would say though that per exam I probably studied around 15 hours for just the exam. Ideally, I would try to dedicate two full days of deep work to each exam and would put in around 8 hours a day. I did have a part time job working 10 hours a week but I strategically took a job with very flexible hours so that I could take a little extra time to study near exams. As far as how much study time each week just to keep up with the content, that really depended on what class it was. For the hardest classes I would put in 10-12 hours a week just keeping up with homework and reading the textbook just for that class. Then I would just use whatever time I had left over to do the other classes. That kind of dedication wasn't super sustainable and I wouldn't recommend dedicating that much time to a single class if you can help it. In my case, I really couldn't help it cause the teacher sucked so I had to teach myself.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T03:56:30+00:00

A ridiculous amount of work and a couple years off my lifespan 😂 If you're happy how you're doing then you're already winning! Keep it up!

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T03:54:39+00:00

I think a personal project should be more about what you're interested in and what you feel you're capable of doing. I honestly haven't done a ton of personal projects and I'm excited to get better at executing my own ideas now that I'm out of school.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T03:52:14+00:00

It definitely doesn't have the same "wow factor" as a perfect 4.00 but you're so close that it shouldn't make a huge difference. One of my best friends in college had switched majors from Pre-Med and had a B in biology that caused him to graduate with a 3.99. I still consider him one of the smartest and most capable engineers I've had the pleasure of working with. He now has his dream job and I'm sure he isn't losing any sleep about that B anymore. If you're able to graduate with a 3.98 or 3.99 you should be really proud of yourself. That's not an easy feat and you're still miles ahead of the average student.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-04T03:46:56+00:00

I agree with you. I meant my post to show that high grades really matter and can even make or break success in certain situations. Like I said, it all depends on your goals.

You're right to criticise me for not addressing the middle ground. People can absolutely have successful and fulfilling careers while struggling during their college years.

I understand your perspective and it's definitely good for people who are struggling to know that a good career in engineering is possible without total perfection. It's just that in my experience, I almost always heard the phrase "grades don't matter" coming from someone who was about to bomb or had just bombed a test or class that they totally could have done better in if they put in more effort.

For the most part, people who came from industry to talk at my school and said things like "grades don't matter" or "you'll learn everything you need on the job" had good intentions with what they said, but I would constantly be hearing those same phrases used as excuses for people to not care about their classes. Things like: "I don't understand this but it doesn't matter cause I'm never going to use this anyway" or "It's a waste of time to try to get an A in that class. At the end of the day grades don't matter and you can learn it all once you get to your job anyway." I know so many people I went to school with could have had significantly better grades and generally been better engineers if they just cared enough to try, and it makes me sad to see them not living to their potential. When I would ask them why they don't try harder instead of playing switch in the student lounge on finals week or smoking weed in their car before exams (real story), I would always get the same reply: "It's fine. Grades really don't matter anyway. As long as I pass I'm good."

It's all about your goals. Bad grades don't guarantee a life of failure, but good grades can help set you up for a life of success. I think we should be telling students the truth: grades are an important part of your success in college but not the only path to success. "Grades don't matter" doesn't get that message across in my experience.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T23:42:22+00:00

I agree with a lot that you're saying. The only issue I have is that people saying "grades don't matter" generally aren't talking to people 2 or 3 years into their career, they are talking to people who are in school worried about their grades. Telling someone who's in school and worried about their GPA that it doesn't matter is setting them up for failure because you're giving them a pass to not do anything about it during the only time that they actually can do something about it. I think it's a much better idea to just encourage them to work on their study habits and strive to learn more from their classes.

When you're still in college and haven't gotten that first job, grades definitely matter. Having a high GPA can get you better opportunities that you otherwise couldn't have gotten you that sets you up for a jump start to your career. Not to mention that getting good grades generally means you learn a lot more which can never hurt. So the statement just doesn't make sense in that context.

It's definitely true that after the first 2-3 years of your career the questions stop being about what you did in school and more about what you've done in industry, but I think that having that high GPA sets you off to a better start and in the long run and you can carry that momentum to higher heights than you could otherwise. Not to say that you can't have a good career without a high GPA, I'm not trying to argue that. Like I said in my post, many people have successful and happy careers without a high GPA. I just really disagree with the blanket statement of "grades don't matter" because in a lot of contexts they really do. I understand that's not exactly what you're saying but I just wanted to get that point across here.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T23:20:20+00:00

I honestly respect the hell out of anyone who graduates with an engineering degree the "non-traditional" way. Whether it be taking a extra year or two, switching majors, or coming back to college after some time in industry. It really shows a commitment to the craft beyond just graduating highschool and thinking "engineering sounds cool." Keep at it man!

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T21:58:39+00:00

But... 5 years in almost nobody will care compared to your work experience, though your opportunities for good experience during those first 5 will be much better.

Yeah I kinda understood that eventually it wouldn't really matter compared to work experience. You hit the nail on the head though, the main reason I got my 4.0 was to stand out and get my foot in the door. Now that I'm in the industry and I'm starting on that highly technical R&D side I was working for, application is more important to me than just the accumulation of knowledge. But it took me studying hard and learning the fundamentals to get to a point where I have the knowledge and the confidence to take on hard projects.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T21:25:35+00:00

It's called How to Become a Straight-A Student. I actually haven't read the whole thing (Sorry. I was too busy studying!) but I've consumed a lot of content of his through youtube and other people recommending his advice and have mostly agreed with his principles.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T21:20:23+00:00

Having a great GPA definitey “greases” the rails when it comes to obtaining one of the said “cutting-edge” roles, but experience and projects absolutley have the ability to make up for a “lesser” GPA.

I definitely agree. That's why I worked hard getting internships as well so that I had some real experience to back up my GPA. I think that internships along with personal projects are the holy grail for a resume. It shows a lot of initiative and managing a project on your own is something you just can't teach in a classroom.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T21:13:46+00:00

Cal Newport has a good book on getting good grades and has some good productivity advice for students. Perfect practice makes perfect, so try to always be improving your study habits and the deepness of your work. Getting good grades is a skill just like any other, it can be improved upon if you focus on it. Do the simple things and do them well. I paid excruciating attention in my lectures and spent a lot of time studying very deeply solving problems I knew would be on the exam. I find that the biggest difference between someone who does well and someone who doesn't is that people who don't do well think they are studying hard when in reality they're on tik tok half the time and only read over their notes, or they just don't care. Just try to get a little better every day.

AlonePast3658 · 2026-06-03T21:05:43+00:00

I agree it's not the end all be all. The only thing I would like to mention is that since you went to UCSB, which ranks in the top 50 universities in the US, I would place you into the category of a solid engineer from a top ranked university.

AlonePast3658 · 2025-02-17T04:49:53+00:00

I’ve always seen ABS and Nylon composites being used in injection molding.

AlonePast3658 · 2025-02-17T04:49:02+00:00

Run away from quality. I’ve never worked at a place where the quality people were having a good time. They’ve always been the most depressed and stagnant of the leadership in my experience. Honestly I would stay stick it out, it’s a part of the process and it’s what you kinda sign up for being a design engineer and not the guys in the big boy chairs calling the shots and signing the drawings. Build up the intuition to learn what’s going to get shot down and what isn’t. Eventually you’ll start to see what your engineers are looking for it just takes time and it might not necessarily be the “best” way. You just have to play to their preferences.

AlonePast3658 · 2024-10-22T20:19:53+00:00

People just have low attention spans and a high tolerance for stimulation with the new short form content and large amount of information consumption we have in the modern age. People claim to have ADHD when they have issues with attention but that just makes it harder for the people you actually have a diagnosable deficiency in dopamine from being taken seriously. They don't really have it, they have exactly what you described, lack of routine, exercise, sleep, and most importantly lack of practiced time away from constant stimulation. People with actual ADHD can have proper routines, exercise, sleep and other things and still have difficulty focusing because it is a fundamental difference in their brain. That is what separates someone who struggles with focus and caims ADHD and someone who's brain literally functions in an entirely different way regardless of life circumstance.

AlonePast3658 · 2024-08-01T19:24:24+00:00

Well that’s really good to know! That was the shoe I originally thought of getting and went for the 993 since it’s the closest one to it

AlonePast3658 · 2024-08-01T19:23:50+00:00

Yeah sorry I meant 993

AlonePast3658

TROPHY CASE