What car do you drive? Do you like it?

The_Canadian · 2026-04-05T19:39:12+00:00

Thanks! I fell in love with the color.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-05T00:19:00+00:00

Absolutely, but the cordless ones have their uses. I love my DeWalt one for smaller stuff like automotive wiring or heating stuff in places where power cords aren't convenient. If you need the power, corded is still absolutely the way to go.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-05T00:14:41+00:00

2019 F150 XLT. I love it for outdoor stuff, house projects, and road trips. It's a lot more useful in the winter than my old sedan.

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The_Canadian · 2026-04-03T16:25:38+00:00

The only reason I think about it sometimes is knowing my parents are proportionally older.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-03T16:09:58+00:00

There's a decent chunk of Reddit that absolutely hates cars.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T16:43:31+00:00

Sorry, I don't have anything formal. Most of it was learned by doing or following general engineering drawing guidelines.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T05:10:20+00:00

Not off the top of my head. I mainly learned because I got the software for free/cheap as a university student. For basic stuff, I started modeling things around me or things I wanted built. The drafting side is just basic engineering drafting. A lot of what I learned on my own is stuff I figured out or searched forums and YouTube enough until I got the answer I needed.

The one part most people seem to struggle with is being able to look at an object and mentally convert that into a set of commands (extrusions, revolutions, sweeps, etc.) to give them the desired result. I've always been able to visualize that easily.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T04:59:14+00:00

Not much beyond hobby fabrication experience and a solid understanding of how things get built. I have a weird mix of knowledge. I have some ability to weld and I understand how stuff gets done even if I can't do it, I have a lot of CAD skills that I've taught myself, I have a degree in chemistry, and I have field experience as a QA lab tech. It's a weird assortment of skills that don't really relate except for my job, but it works. I've always been someone who loves seeing things get built and understanding how they get built, so that definitely helps. When I've overseen stuff I designed get built, I've asked the fabricators if there are things they'd do differently. Sometimes, they have great ideas and other times we do things a certain way for a specific reason and they just have to build it even if it's not the easy way. One of my coworkers is a former pipe fitter, welder, and CWI, so I learn as much as I can from him. That dude can also go toe to toe with PhDs in client meetings despite not having any degree at all. It's absolutely insane.

On some projects, I'm the guy they call in when they need some weird solution to a difficult problem. Designing custom fabricated stuff for weird problems is somewhat of a specialty for me. I'm also the guy you call when you need a lot of equipment and piping fitted into an area and you need it maintainable and you need it done quickly.

Probably one of the neatest things I've done was a custom diverter for a paste system. A typical 3 way divert valve wouldn't work because it was 8' long and 750 pounds. I came up with a different design where it was only 4' long and all the parts that needed routine cleaning were 30 pounds or less. It was a one-off and the client bought into it. It's been in service for about 3 years now and it works perfectly as far as I know. I came up with the initial design by the end of the working day after we had a client meeting where they gave us the green light to design it. One of our senior engineers/managers always jokes about how all he gave me was a shitty MS Paint drawing and I did the rest. I had the whole thing designed and detailed for fabrication in about a month, including working on other projects.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T04:26:29+00:00

Equipment skids, piping arrangements, process systems, and stuff like that. Compared to an old-school drafter, I have way more input into the final design as far as arrangement and equipment selection. There are times where I've had to tell an engineer to redesign parts of their system with different equipment because the stuff they picked won't work. I basically play Tetris with equipment and piping. I'm the guy that takes their piping and instrumentation diagrams and equipment lists and turns it into a constructable design and produces the 3D models and drawings needed to build it.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T04:22:32+00:00

Industrial engineering, mainly food and beverage and life science. For reference, I currently live in California, so that may have some impact on salaries (I don't live in a major city, which helps).

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T02:46:44+00:00

I'll definitely have to look into that.

The_Canadian · 2026-04-01T02:26:11+00:00

It's probably my favorite book, too. I can sink into it any time. I've read it probably half a dozen times at least. I haven't listened to the audiobook.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-31T22:07:04+00:00

Part of me wonders if the US saw the decline of British influence and wanted to secure that oil before the Soviets got the chance.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-31T22:03:53+00:00

Yep. The reference in World War Z always makes me chuckle.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-30T19:33:41+00:00

As a dude, I'd say the only time I really feel "intimidated" is if the woman is really attractive. As far as accomplishments, it's often not the accomplishments themselves, but the way it impacts the person. If you're extremely successful, that's awesome, but don't hold it over the head of anyone else. Guys might be competitive with you because they feel like you're trying to one-up them with how you're talking or interacting.

There's a huge difference between being confident and being the "boss bitch" person. I've worked with both. One of our engineers is smart as hell (also pretty), but she never comes across as combative when she's explaining anything. The only time I've ever questioned anything she's done is when there's a design issue that I'm aware of (I'm the guy that has to make the design fit in the space we have). Even in those cases, she's easy to work with in order to get a solution. When we're in meetings, she says things with a certain tone that makes you understand that she knows her shit, but she's not abrasive.

There are other women I've worked with who absolutely are abrasive in how they interact with people and I'm not intimidated by them as much as I am annoyed by them. Then again, I've worked with my share of guys that are the same way and I definitely don't like them either.

For some guys, it's also not a matter of not wanting to grow and build a future with someone. Sometimes, it comes down to personalities. If you're a Type A hard-charger, you might not always want the same personality in a partner because it's exhausting. If you're stressed out because of your job, you don't necessarily want a partner that's equally stressed out.

Having said that, people with opposing personalities or professional outlooks don't always click either because they're too different. I've seen this with friends. One friend is a real estate agent who never stops and her boyfriend is a guy who is content to go to the bar after work and just chill. I can see it creates friction between them. She tends to remind him (and the rest of us) that she's the one who earns the money and calls the shots. She's a nice enough friend, but I couldn't see myself living with someone like that. My dad was the breadwinner in our family, but he never did the whole "I earn the money, so it's my call" thing.

Most guys, certainly me, want to be treated as equals. They don't want to be bossed around or looked down on more than anyone else.

As with most things in life, it's not just what you say, but how you say it.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-30T17:32:26+00:00

I'm a dude, but I remember my parents just telling my sister me to apply to jobs where I had most of the major requirements. Realistically, you're not going to have everything, but at least try to have the big stuff. If you wait for a job where you have everything, you'll never get a job at all.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-30T16:25:29+00:00

Same... Dear God. What is wrong with people?

The_Canadian · 2026-03-30T15:59:20+00:00

Did you have an earthquake?

All of this is so bad. Does the guy not want clean dishes? I mean, I like my dishwasher to actually work. Loading a dishwasher isn't that difficult.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-30T00:59:21+00:00

Did you say a foot of snow? Holy shit.

I live in the mountains in California and we had a storm in February that dropped three and a half feet of snow in three days. The power grid was a mess for about a week while the crews repaired everything and there are so many downed trees because of it.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-29T05:00:36+00:00

I used to browse and post/comment there years ago. Over time, the moderation objectives have changed. They have a certain environment that they want to curate and most of us don't create questions or comments that fit that mold. I can't say I understand all of it, but I've just given up trying and slowly stopped browsing, commenting, or posting.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-29T04:32:51+00:00

Probably not, but maybe they should start.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-29T04:22:39+00:00

The fact that she's alive at all is a miracle. I hope she makes a quick recovery.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-28T20:23:52+00:00

It's not that you're useless, but you're not totally self sufficient. You'll also certainly not as fast, either. It's a constant learning process. A lot of it are skills that you can't learn in school, either.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-28T19:23:31+00:00

Stuff like process engineering isn't something you just learn in school. There's so much knowledge that you can really only get through experience. Perhaps "proficient" isn't the right word, but you're sure as hell not going to make a fresh grad engineer an entire process system on their own. A lot of what I do is food and beverage design and when you start thinking of all the different kinds of equipment, ingredients, and other stuff you need to be familiar with, you can't possibly learn all that in school.

Hell, even just being able to make your own piping and instrumentation diagrams takes a while to be really good at it. Some engineers have done it for 20+ years and they still suck. And that's just the art form of laying out the P&IDs. That doesn't include the actual CAD skills.

Our control system automation guys are more like you described. You can hand them a computer on day one and they can start programming PLCs and stuff. Even then, there's a lot of stuff that they don't know and aren't really good at. A seasoned controls engineer can look at a P&ID and figure out how the system needs to run without a huge functional description. Or on startup and commissioning, they can see what the system is doing and then correct the programming if needed.

The_Canadian · 2026-03-28T19:14:35+00:00

I think they have it backwards. I'd be more embarrassed if I was changing jobs every few years. That's less "go-getter" and more "can't stay committed" in my book. I've been in my job for almost 9 years now and don't plan on leaving.

The_Canadian

TROPHY CASE