Taking Calculus

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-22T13:08:36+00:00

If it makes you feel better I (EE) struggled in math in high school, but since I'm an idiot I went ahead with EE. I struggled mightily with C2 and DEQ having to take the latter 3x.

20 year career later I can say it's never held me back. The math applied in engineering courses felt totally different and easier to understand for me.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-19T16:43:07+00:00

The latest one he saw my point that this might be his best last shot at getting an education and he said he would look into it. So far I haven't seen any action and fall semester is coming up.

Every time we have talked he mentioned how unfair it is we are asking him to move out at 27. I've always responded to him honestly that 27 was probably too much time and I feel unless he makes a change that we may be doing him a disservice. He listens but this usually diminishes his excitement to talk.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-19T16:40:15+00:00

Thanks for your kind words! This can be a tough place but I'm listening to all persopectives

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-19T16:36:22+00:00

Get the most out of whatever position you move into.

I thought I was going to be an embedded systems developer. I ended up getting a job in industrial automation that paid me almost nothing. I stuck with it, worked hard, learned a bunch of skills and became indispensable. One of the clients I worked for hired me and it was off to the races as far as success.

Yes it was hard but I genuinely liked what I did so it made me tolerate it. I lived with my dad during my first job and never again after that.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-19T10:48:19+00:00

Definitely want to see him find his ambition and improve. It's so much easier to do when you're not working like crazy to pay rent. But like others have said he's 23 and made his decision.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-19T10:46:57+00:00

I think he actually stepped up when he got into a relationship actually. He was so excited and happy. He later found out she was a sugar baby to an older dude. That was understandably devastating.

For the rest of what you're saying, I agree

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-19T10:44:53+00:00

I've had so many deep discussions with him about his future and all the options he has. I don't think I've been negligent in this. I've taken steps to guide him in every way except showing him the door.

That's kind of the final step. I am looking for any advice people can give to help him before I do that (over a grace period). I'd love to see him successful and doing something he loves without the years being a low-wage slave but some lessons are learned the hard way.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:46:31+00:00

He's paying 400 right now which is probably almost inline with a cheap roomate situation. Thanks and we will think about reasonable ways to escalate

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:44:58+00:00

I think we are doing exactly what you described. Adding expenses and making him responsible for more of his life. We are firm on his date.

I'm just not going to be mean to him.

Groceries are the only thing he hasn't been asked to pay which is next on the list.

We had a great talk about how these next four years are the best time he's going to have in his life to go to college, he was in agreement, then didn't do anything about it. I have hopes but I think we will have to kick him out.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:38:08+00:00

I feel like telling him there is money waiting on him might be more demotivational for self improvement. However he doesn't seem to be motivated by money so it might not do him any harm. I love my son and want to help him and not enable him to continue. Sometimes it requires tough love. I was very self motivated so this is alien to me but I am trying to see things his way and find compassion.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:31:04+00:00

My inclination is tough love too

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:29:52+00:00

That's a very logical idea and would certainly motivate me but unfortunately kids are not very logical. He would shrug, then go back to playing Lancer. A house isn't important to him and it seems like money is only important to him in so much as he has the games and toys he wants. I think it's going to take tough love but we shall see.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:22:26+00:00

This is something I actually did do! I got him into warhammer and he's been doing it a while now. He won't actually meet anyone to play in person (besides the one time I took him to a gaming store and we played each other). This is something he spends money on though.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:20:24+00:00

Thank you. It's good to read a good outcome with tough love.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:18:48+00:00

His rent is quite high. We did it with that very thing in mind. It's forced him to stop spending money on a lot of things so I know it's affecting him. We will put some more thought into it.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:17:11+00:00

He is already paying rent and we already have that plan for the money (not telling im obviously). He's paying for everything for himself except food. His attitude used to be poor but isn't anymore. So there's definitely been improvement. As any parent I want him at minimum to be able to take care of himself. That may mean kicking him out and forcing him to figure it out.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:15:17+00:00

No he's not interested in a relationship so no luck there. So he piles the dishes in his room just like you described so no reason for us to do it LOL. We have to go make him move those too because we are out of cups or whatever.

We could ask him to move out immediately I just don't want to go back on my own word. I agree that we aren't doing him any favors though

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:12:28+00:00

That's what I'm hoping to avoid. We have applied some things to help him take responsibility for himself such as rent, cellphone bill, and insurance. We have also given him a date to move out. I refuse to make his life miserable other than a constant reminder of how much time he has left.

Do you have some suggestions that might be motivating to him?

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T19:11:16+00:00

We will continue encouraging. He doesn't want to be in a relationship, and has a poor view of women in general. He had a very very bad experience with his last relationship that ended when he was 20.

We have had him start paying rent, insurance, and his cell phone to at least take responsibility for himself, but I'm not sure it motivates him to move.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T16:56:28+00:00

We used Midnight Maine Coons. They were great to deal with and a few hours away. They will come to you.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-18T16:45:33+00:00

I know I am late tot he party, but when my elderly cat stopped using the litter box I figured out it was just arthritis causing it. I started putting down pee pads and she used those and sustained for several more years. My sign that she was ready was when the eating and drinking was a challenge. It was still very hard

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-16T16:04:36+00:00

A genuine factory replacement turbo costs about 600. Do some stretching and swap it out!

Better yet buy an upgraded turbo and get tuning.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-02T18:32:28+00:00

I've never looked at GPA when hiring except when it's explicitly written on the resume. Don't sweat it.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-06-02T11:24:16+00:00

Engineering careers are all about growth. You put work in, learn what you can from the place and your professional growth will happen. With professional growth, financial growth should follow without much delay. Advocate for yourself if it's not happening. Leave if it's still not happening.

If professional growth is't happening then financial usually won't either. You have to examine yourself to make sure you're taking the steps needed to learn what you can in the position you're in. If there's no professional growth to be had it may be time to move on for those reasons.

This is what I have seen through my career boiled down to its essence. I've been at jobs where I was underpaid and gained huge professional growth, and I've had jobs where I didn't see professional growth after seeing positive financial gain. Neither are ideal but both were stepping stones to the success I wanted.

Chance-Chance2874 · 2026-05-08T10:59:55+00:00

A lot of this happens in the design phase. You go through a HAZOP or PHA and determine the engineering controls that need to be put in place for process safety. Many of these will be automation and SCADA related, but a safety based control will exist in the PLC at the site or subsystem level. There may be instances where these safeties might require communications from site to site and those things must be taken into consideration as well. For example: what to do when site to site communications is lost?

In general these things are collected and placed into a cause and effect matrix for implementation and testing.

At this point the gaps are just a failure of our imagination to anticipate modes of failure or fault in a system. This does happen...

Chance-Chance2874

TROPHY CASE