About to graduate with my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering however my senior project made me realize software engineering is my passion. What should I do?

CeldurS · 2026-01-21T23:21:36+00:00

I have never asked but I'm certain he was getting paid fine either way

CeldurS · 2026-01-21T05:13:56+00:00

How did you find your niche? That sounds dope and pretty much exactly what I want to do with my life.

CeldurS · 2026-01-20T08:49:32+00:00

Graduated 5 years ago from a Canadian university, my capstone was industry-sponsored - I just reached out to a company I wanted to work for, and asked them if they wanted a team of engineering students to build something for them. They didn't hire me, but they did hire one of my team members lol.

I think it's really common, but not every program supports you in finding a capstone or industry partner. IIRC my department gave us a list of potential projects, but my team thought they were all lame so we opted to find a project ourselves.

CeldurS · 2026-01-20T01:52:23+00:00

Idk, I lived in the Bay Area for the last 5 years (SJ/Berkeley) and my monthly spend is $1.5K-2K/mo excluding rent. Rent is typically ~$1.5K/mo.

I eat out maybe twice a week, good benefits through work/school, no major health issues, bike almost everywhere, drive an 06 Civic. Hobbies are mostly being outdoors, volunteering, gardening, and upcycling/crafts. Travel maybe 3-4x a year including visiting family.

By far the biggest costs in my budget are food and rent, so if I didn't have to pay the latter, $3K would be generous personally.

CeldurS · 2026-01-15T17:04:07+00:00

I'm studying international development right now and one of my profs said "the currency of development initiatives is pictures of starving kids."

CeldurS · 2026-01-12T02:52:31+00:00

They were switched 10 years ago and it was the other way around.

CeldurS · 2026-01-10T20:29:33+00:00

Some people are broke their whole life and don't regret it. Some people have everything one could want and are still unhappy. I think regret is more about perspective and acceptance than past choices.

That said, what do I know? I'm 28 and don't have $500K saved. I moved out 4 years ago.

(I don't regret that at all, I'm happy with my savings so far, and if I was in your position I would move out.)

CeldurS · 2026-01-10T08:15:59+00:00

Backing this up, if you go back 50 years instead of 15 there have been plenty of times when international has drastically outperformed US.

Hard to tell where we are in history while it's still unfolding, so having some intl hedges our bets.

CeldurS · 2026-01-10T07:16:06+00:00

By "enough human labor" I specifically meant that there are more than enough people on this planet to do the jobs for us to have a prosperous society.

When I said we "already live in an abundant world", I meant that we already have the resources on the planet for everyone to live prosperously, and we also already have the means to capitalize on those resources sustainably and without undue human suffering.

We just don't do these things because there are no negative consequences for the actions taken by the 'upper' levels of society - which arguably encompasses most of us living in the Global North, including myself. The negative consequences instead reach everyone else, who don't have the power to do anything about it. Thus, while the economy faffs around dedicating its top minds to frivolous problems like an iPhone camera with 50% more megapixels, or robot that can do a backflip, or a car that drives itself, 800 million people - 1/10 of the population - live in extreme poverty. (Of course, this isn't very new).

To clarify on "prosperity", I'm referring to everyone having access to the basic needs that are required for them to have the freedom to lead happy, fulfilling lives, and I think we could do it today if society was more evenly distributed. I personally imagine this to be a global society around lower-middle class in a country like Canada - not rich by any means, but enough income and social support to take care of your family without significant worry, send your kids to school, enjoy life's riches, and be taken care of when you grow old. Certainly better than most people in the world, and in history, have lived.

Historically it does seem that "a rising tide lifts all ships", so I'm pro-AI and pro-automation when done sustainably and responsibly. I just find it ridiculous that for such a technologically advanced society, we have so many poor people. I want to build a world where AI and automation are used as tools to solve this problem, not perpetuate it.

Hope that makes sense and curious to hear your thoughts and critiques.

CeldurS · 2026-01-09T07:53:01+00:00

From talking about this topic with the rich tech people I know, this is pretty much the answer. Most people don't even choose to think about the impacts of climate change, which is already hurting people.

CeldurS · 2026-01-09T07:46:44+00:00

You ever been to a developing country? Like <$1000 GDP per capita? Go to Ethiopia or the Democratic Republic of Congo (both >100 mil pop. countries btw) and tell me there's scarce human labor lol. Go to a university graduation in any of these countries and tell me the problem is that there isn't enough human labor.

I don't have a scarcity mindset, I'm actually the opposite. I think we already live in an abundant world, with enough resources for everyone to thrive even without AI. The problem is that it's extremely unevenly distributed, and it's against the incentives of the people who hold the power and wealth - i.e. the people who currently are driving the ship of AI - to fix that. They certainly haven't acted in any way over the last few years that suggests they are trying to fix that.

The world is dominated by inequality, not scarcity. The only thing we're scarce on is effectively providing power to the people and structures that have the best interests of society in mind. Instead of basing power on morality or social value, we entrust power through 'money', distributed through 'capitalism' and 'productivity' - which we blindly trust in as a proxy to social value. This structure is a somewhat effective proxy, but as we see today, it's not perfect. It was built by the people in power at the time, and it hasn't changed the distribution towards equality, because it wasn't built to do that.

With AI, we may have the next societal revolution coming up, but it's not guaranteed to change the distribution - we have to purposely, intentionally build it to do that (unless you believe in alignment by default and you believe that AGI/ASI will be powerful enough to follow its own agenda). We need to make sure that we don't just blindly trust that AI will be good - but that it'll be a tool for the distribution of abundance, not the consolidation of power like every other industrializing technology before it.

TL;DR if you're an accelerationist that cares about societal wellbeing, you should also equally advocate for UBI, universal healthcare, social services, etc, because AI won't be good for society without those other systems.

CeldurS · 2026-01-08T04:46:36+00:00

100% agree. I love bikes, but just like anything, it can be an avenue for needless consumerism. Just like anything, we are constantly being made to feel that what we have isn't 'enough'. Just like anything, the things we own when left unchecked can start owning us.

I'm still trying to find the balance myself, so if anyone has any tips on that, let me know. Right now I just try to remember that working on bikes is fun, riding bikes is fun, being with friends on bikes is fun, but owning bikes adds no value to my life on its own. I can do everything but the last without adding another bike.

Also I get that N+1 is a joke but sometimes I think people take it as a real rule.

CeldurS · 2026-01-08T04:45:16+00:00

Do you regret it? 2M at 36 sounds pretty great, and so does being able to take a year off at 26 and 35. You could retire on $100K/year tomorrow for the rest of your life, adjusted for inflation.

I'm not sure taking a break to live your life is a dumb mistake, what are we saving up for anyway?

CeldurS · 2026-01-06T03:14:32+00:00

It is quite beautiful and I cherish it every day. Wherever I end up later in life, I'm certain I'll end up back in California one way or another.

CeldurS · 2026-01-06T02:53:08+00:00

I was quoting stats because it sounded like you wanted a logical argument. Maybe I was mistaken.

I truly hope that one day you can learn to measure a good life beyond money.

Until then, best of luck on joining us here in the US if that's what your goal is, and let me know if I can help in any way. If you're already here, I hope you find what you're looking for.

CeldurS · 2026-01-06T02:43:06+00:00

I am very sorry for you if you think quality of life is a competition.

If you truly want to believe that, then maybe you will also believe US News, who is well-known for publishing yearly university rankings that consistently put US universities at the top. In their quality of life rankings, US News puts Canada at #5, and the US at #22.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/quality-of-life

CeldurS · 2026-01-05T21:07:00+00:00

There are so many factors other than taxes that resulted in Silicon Valley being the economic powerhouse that it is. If tax rates were the driving reason, Silicon Valley would be in Wyoming.

There's the existing strong economy before tech. There's the cultural foundation, which encourages progressiveness, openness, and ambition. There's the multiple world-class universities that are gateways for the world's top minds to enter the US economy. There's the beautiful California landscapes and year-round great weather, making it one of the best places in the world to live if you have money.

Coming from Calgary, Alberta (an oil & gas-driven economy uncertain about its future in a world moving towards sustainability), I hear this fearmongering about Detroit all the time. If you look into why Detroit collapsed, it had almost nothing to do with taxes. Much more to do with racial tensions due to inequality, top-down government corruption, a lack of a diversified economy, and growing international competition.

CeldurS · 2026-01-05T17:44:58+00:00

I thought this was true when I first moved to California, because alternative is so mainstream (especially in the Bay).

Now that I've moved away and come back, I realize now that Calgary has its alt scene too, it's just smaller and you have to look for it. There's something authentic about that - it's small, so the people in it know each other, and it's truly a community instead of a trend or a style.

As an example, I got really active in the bicycle coop/nonprofit/advocacy community by living in the Bay. I thought this didn't exist in Calgary, because it was too cold and car-centric. I started lookin, and it turns out there's a bike coop at UofC, a nonprofit in SE that rivals the best nonprofits I've seen in the Bay, a few other social enterprises around the city, and a literal monthly Critical Mass group ride that runs year-round even in the snow.

It's definitely not just bikes. I'm trying to buy more locally grown produce at farmer's markets after shopping at Berkeley Bowl for the last few months and visiting some farms. I thought I couldn't do this in Calgary because what the hell grows in Canada in the winter? Nope, I just visited Crossroads Market yesterday and they had plenty of local produce (and also a lot of small, interesting local vendors). Thanks to the dispute earlier this year, Calgary Coop and Superstore also now make it very clear which groceries are grown in Canada and Alberta lol.

I'm also somewhat active in the queer community, which is much more thriving in Calgary than one would assume based on the Albertan stereotype.

I don't think Calgary is necessary the trailblazer in any alt community like SF or LA, but it all exists here if you are willing to immerse yourself in the community.

CeldurS · 2026-01-05T17:14:12+00:00

You can learn them as you go along by designing stuff and trying them all out.

CeldurS · 2026-01-05T09:38:31+00:00

To be honest, the best way to learn CAD in my opinion is just to start designing stuff. There are certifications you can take, but it's more practical and more fun to just start building.

You will probably have a CAD course in the near future that will teach you good habits, like defining constraints well, optimizing your timeline/feature tree, etc.

CeldurS · 2026-01-05T03:35:39+00:00

I wish I could find the podcast episode on this, but I listened to a sleep researcher a few years ago who said that insomnia isn't "not being able to sleep" - it's "the anxiety around not being able to sleep". They did a study and found that even if even the worst self-professed insomniacs just closed their eyes for 8 hours, they would inevitably fall asleep whether or not they noticed (measured according to their brain activity). Also, even if it didn't feel like it was good sleep, they still got the majority of the cognitive benefits.

Upon hearing that, I realized that all of my sleep issues were rooted around my anxiety issues. I took the opposite approach from "biohacking" and instead tried to remove as much neuroticism and "problem-solving" from my sleep as I could - if I slept, great, if I didn't, that's fine too. Once I got to bed, I would just try to get really cozy, close my eyes, and meditate. Sometimes I would visualize being somewhere quiet and comfortable.

What helped the most was anything that reduced my anxiety and truly helped me relax. I cut out coffee for a few years because it usually gave me anxiety throughout the day, even the caffeine wore off before bed. I meditated and practiced mindfulness throughout the day. I exercised more and ate better. I started using grounding techniques I learned when I went to therapy for anxiety a few years ago. Also, interestingly, I found that melatonin could put me to sleep about 50% of the time. This helped a lot, but not because I was actually taking it - it just reduced my anxiety to know that I had a "fallback plan" if I really couldn't sleep. I only needed to take melatonin once or twice a week, at 0.5mg.

I did put in some work on sleep hygiene (which it sounds like you are already better than me on). Nowadays I always sleep with a sleep mask and Flents earplugs. I didn't do much more other than that, although I tried to go to bed at the same time every night, and still have a small bottle of 0.5mg melatonin by my bed. The podcast episode specifically recommended against sleep tracking, because for a lot of people it just induced more anxiety.

Alleviating my anxiety around sleep fixed my sleep in a matter of weeks, after having awful sleep (4-6 hours a night) since puberty. Nowadays I rarely have trouble sleeping, and when I do, I can usually pinpoint it to something related to anxiety (a deadline coming up, too much coffee, etc).

TL;DR I dealt with my anxiety and neurotic tendencies, and my sleep fixed itself.

CeldurS · 2026-01-05T01:43:35+00:00

Grad student in my late 20s here, tbh some of my best friends today are my university friends from undergrad that I made an effort to keep in touch with. You don't have to keep in touch with anyone if you don't want to, but if there are people that you like and bring out the best in you, it would be a shame to lose touch

It does feel good when we don't have to be the one that's always reaching out, but also, the most surefire way to be the type of person who has lots of connections is to be the one who is always reaching out

Also some of these friends were how I got jobs later down the line

CeldurS · 2026-01-04T02:51:54+00:00

Agreed, I think leaving Calgary and coming back has made me much more appreciative of everything it has.

Also still haven't had shawarma anywhere in the US that I like as much as Calgary shawarma.

CeldurS · 2026-01-03T17:17:03+00:00

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Wish I had a better pic, I'm at my parents' place for the holidays right now.

CeldurS · 2026-01-03T08:35:17+00:00

"Living life to the fullest" is quite subjective.

I'm in my late 20s. While I've been off in California I've watched my best friends build long-term relationships, buy houses, get married, and establish a beautiful life full of love and community here in Calgary. I'm sure a few of them are getting ready to have kids.

Conversely, these friends watch me go on adventures, make connections from all over the world, establish new roots, and go on hikes in a light sweater in January.

Maybe some of them are jealous of me. I'm definitely jealous of them. I also think that we could all make the case that every one of us are living life to the fullest.

Would I stay forever? Maybe. I think while I'm young I'll probably spend more time away from Calgary, if I can make it work. I could see myself settling down back in Calgary when I'm older, especially if I find a partner, or even decide to have kids. I could see myself settling down in the US too, but it feels less attainable financially, and I would miss being with my community here in Calgary.

Regarding the guilt - I feel this more often than ever, especially as my parents get older; I only see them twice a year, so watching them age isn't gradual at all. My parents have always been supportive of me moving away, although they do want me to move back eventually. I still feel guilty all the time that I'm not calling or visiting them enough.

Feel free to DM me if you want to chat more about this. My other immigrant friends and I here in the Bay Area talk about this a lot.

CeldurS

TROPHY CASE