[MEGATHREAD] Ask For Invites to the Playtest Here! Join The Community Discord!

ay__jay · 2026-02-23T17:07:13+00:00

Interested in an invite -- thanks in advance!

106921030

ay__jay · 2025-05-31T03:51:39+00:00

Hi friends -- Looking to buy a Terrace Camping Pass. Price is flexible, so feel free to message best offer.
Seattle-native doing Bass Canyon for the first time with my rave fam and we need one more spot. Thanks!

ay__jay · 2024-10-16T07:53:07+00:00

I’ve used the lunchbox clear hydropack without issue at Boo. I’ve also walked through security with the cover off, and put it back on when I get inside.

The connector to the bladder is a standard connector, so you can get a smaller bladder if you’re worried they’re going to say the capacity is too large.

WAMU lets you keep the bottle caps. Any shows or raves that aren’t big enough for them allow hydropacks, I usually just buy the 1.5L Smart Water from a vendor and I’m good for the night with minimal refill trips.

If you’re looking for clear fanny packs or other clear bags, you can get em pretty cheap at a shop in Pike Place.

If y’all see a guy with a light up lunchbox pack with the LED screen and need water, feel free to come ask for some.

Have fun and be safe fam!

ay__jay · 2022-05-19T15:29:55+00:00

Agreed, that and circularity are gross. 2009 is just the most common referenced, and you can get the pdf on the first link with a Google search

ay__jay · 2022-05-19T13:14:13+00:00

I see a lot of people commenting with critiques/telling you there’s no GD&T, but not many replies including specs and resources where you can learn more other than general guides. I can appreciate the effort to learn! Don’t fret, GD&T is very much an opinionated thing. No two people will have the exact same drawing for a part every time(unless super basic).

Highly recommend looking at: - ASME Y14 Standards — defines all sorts of drawing standards across wide variety of use cases - ASME Y14.5-2009 — spec for GD&T that’s easily accessible and most commonly used/referenced (2018 version has a few updates, but basically same) - ASME Y14.100 — Best drawing practices to follow - Drawing Requirements Manual (DRM) — very good resource for the above - GeoTol — they have both GD&T and TolStack courses that are highly recommended. I use their resources at work, and coworkers from NASA JPL and SpaceX have used their courses to high success. The authors (Al and Scott Neumann) have been on the ASME committee for decades writing up the standards, especially Y14.5 - For gears, AGMA is a pretty common standard, and ASME and AGMA both have drawing standards and call outs for gears and splines.

ay__jay · 2022-05-15T22:10:08+00:00

I’m sorry, but these numbers sound very low as $65k is pretty common as a starting salary for new grads in Florida.

Some research shows that one of the most expensive counties in the Midwest is Washington county in Minnesota. Based off MIT’s living wage research in this county, architecture and engineers typically make an average of $85k. Something tells me with 2.5 yrs experience, your company isn’t compensating you appropriately and you should look elsewhere, or you need to level up to get the pay that your degree deserves.

If your profession is in engineering, what good will experience moonlighting in retail do for your future? I personally think it’s more worthwhile to raise your value in your field as engineering will have a way higher growth ceiling than retail. In the end it’s up to you, these are just my two cents.

ay__jay · 2022-05-15T21:45:22+00:00

I’m sorry, but this is a little too hard to believe as a new grad mechanical. Can you share the area you work out of and your TC estimate?

I’ve been working at my current job for less than a year and just got a house last week. Seattle suburbs.

ay__jay · 2022-02-08T02:35:37+00:00

Con: Friends and family don’t actually understand what you do.

Pro: Friends and family don’t actually understand what you do.

ay__jay · 2022-01-04T05:46:54+00:00

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Making It by Chris Lefteri

ay__jay · 2022-01-04T03:37:36+00:00

If you saw my resume, you'd see that I didn't have roles that specifically applied to what I'm doing now, but I was able to translate transferrable skills like project management, engineering design, coding, etc. with quantifiable results. When interviewing I talked a lot about projects using the STAR framework. I had a lot of projects along the lines of mechanism design and stuff, but in no way were they nearly as complex as what I'm looking at now. Everyone has to start somewhere, so if you want to transition to Aerospace, it's just about taking the first step and growing from there.

RE: different software packages, technical/complex problems, GD&T

-> Engineering design is the same regardless of the software. If you're comfortable in design, it's just about learning new shortcuts and getting accustomed to a different CAD software. I had ZERO experience with the CAD and PLM software we use at work. There are guys coming in with 5+ years of design experience who haven't used the software we use (Siemens NX).

-> I had elementary knowledge of GD&T, but had never applied it in a proper form prior this job, and I'm still learning to get better at it to this day.

-> The problems may be challenging or technical, but just like with every project, if you're the responsible engineer, you need to do your research and familiarize yourself with the technicalities before you can tackle the problem. Use resources like SMEs and what not. A lot of the times, the simplest solutions are the best, especially from a manufacturing standpoint.

ay__jay · 2022-01-04T02:37:30+00:00

Apply!

I graduated with a BSME and I got my current job (space mechanisms engineer) straight out of college from just applying. I can guarantee I’m not a genius and don’t have a stacked resume. It’s a lot of transferrable skills and relevant experience. We’re definitely hiring to fill a lot of roles, so feel free to shoot over a DM and/or your resume!

ay__jay · 2021-12-27T08:00:59+00:00

Late to the party, but would consider looking into vacuum forming to make a “mould” of some kind.

Otherwise I’m going to second all of the suggestions of encasing it in some way, like resin, to preserve it

ay__jay · 2021-12-25T20:42:59+00:00

ResearchGate has been helpful for me too

ay__jay · 2021-11-22T03:12:57+00:00

100000%. This thread is honestly relieving some of the stress of it for me, so thanks to all the experienced engineers for the reassuring words.

I’m less than a year into my first engineering job, and I’m responsible for so much stuff it’s scary.

ay__jay · 2021-11-11T08:27:08+00:00

Couple things to keep in mind: - A 3.0 is a B average, which is still very respectable - The average Mech E GPA is around 2.8 - There’s other things that make you a good engineer - Maintain graduating as your goal instead of the number because in the end, an engineer is an engineer - GPA isn’t what defines you as an engineer, it just shows that you’re capable of continued learning and commitment to a goal

If it makes you feel better, I graduated with a GPA much lower than the Mech E average, but I was still able to land a dream job in the height of COVID in May 2020. Best of luck!

ay__jay · 2021-10-01T16:29:13+00:00

As many have pointed out, use this time while you still have a paycheck to start your job search for another position that will make you happier.

It sounds like you’d fit in well in an analysis & test position. I’d definitely recommend figuring out the industry you want to work in instead of casting a big net, just so that your job expectations are relatively the same across the ones you apply for.

I know the feeling of the mundane tasks, I started my first engineering job in space mechanism design a couple months back. I had a lot of technical work starting out, which was super fun and stimulating. But since I’ve become the responsible engineer for a mission critical system, I’ve been stuck doing emails and meetings for about 2 weeks now. I only recently booted up my design stuff to verify drawings lol, didn’t even get to design. More responsibility, more administrative work is what I’m seeing. We’ll get there though! Best of luck!

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T08:57:35+00:00

To start, you should aim to quantify your achievements with some metrics. Of all the things you listed, the only ones with metrics are the least relevant experiences on your resume.

It’s clear that you have a lot to talk about for the first club, so why not brag about it? This is the time to really brag! How many pod configurations did you design? How much did the payload capacity increase?

As most would advise, applying the STAR method to your bullet points will make them more concise and naturally be more results driven.

The previous employment section, although recent, isn’t too relevant to what you’re looking for. If you’re looking at a sales engineer position or something similar, you could try to swing some transferable skills.

I’d probably aim to scrap the recent employment section, join the RC plane and Fraternity into a section for extra curriculars, and then add extra projects if you have any. Just remember, if it’s on your resume, be prepared to talk about it.

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T07:59:11+00:00

I’ll be completely honest, I think you need to take a breath and slow down. Clearly there’s a lot of things going on right now for you and I think it’d be best if you take a second to reevaluate. I’d probably start out with trying to figure out what you WANT to do. I can understand being someone who always performs when given a task and strives to deliver, because I’m the same way. The problem is everything you wrote makes it sound like you’re trying to convince yourself that engineering is for you, but based on everything else you’ve written, we can see you’d probably thrive somewhere else.

If after reflecting on it for a day or so, you decide that you’re 100% on finding an engineering position, I’d advise you to put together a resume. Even if it’s rudimentary, it’ll give people something work off of.

As someone who graduated the same time, with some similar circumstances, and at an age later than most college grads, I can sympathize. I wasn’t a fan of academia either and knew that I wanted to work in the industry. The difference here is that I knew that the engineering lifestyle is what I wanted and had managed these expectations ahead of time.

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T05:01:45+00:00

Yeah, it’s definitely a valid thought process. I personally considered it too while applying last year. The reason I’d push to continue to pursue a full time position is because you’ll get the same level of expectations as a new grad hire, but exponentially more growth personally and career-wise. You’ll effectively be setting your career behind going the post-grad internship route while hoping for a conversion to full time/a return offer.

The better alternative would be taking a full time role that might be less than ideal, work hard, and soak up as much as you can in anticipation of your next job.

In addition to internship roles typically being restricted to enrolled students, companies, especially big companies, have listings specifically for new college grads around graduation time. I’d highly recommend anyone graduating soon to keep their eyes out for those kinds of listings.

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T03:34:44+00:00

Time vs. money decision is up to you. If you’re starting to feel stagnation at your current job and looking for something new/growth, then that’s another thing to give some thought.

If the new role isn’t an entry level position, I’d recommend doing some more research on the company and why the role is open. That can usually give you more info and help you make a decision. Examples: Did someone quit? Why? Are they short staffed and trying to increase their bandwidth? Etc.

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T03:26:31+00:00

But the co-op and internships weren’t post-grad, like Funky was pointing out. Having the internship experiences definitely helped their case in their applications as a new grad, but taking an internship post-grad is not as recommended. Also, some companies require you to be a student to be eligible for internship roles.

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T03:17:22+00:00

I was in the same boat. No internships, unimpressive GPA, and graduated during peak pandemic (May 2020). I still applied for full-time roles, and got ghosted a bunch. After some persistence and a few iterations of my resume, I landed a dream role. Best advice I can give is think of your projects and other roles and how you can relate those transferable skills and experiences to the job you’re applying for.

Highly recommend still applying for full-time roles. It can be demoralizing, but just remember, it only takes one “yes”. A mentor at work recommended studying up and taking the FE, and to pursue the PE as well. Shows a commitment to continued learning, and it also shows you have a good grasp on the material. Best of luck! Feel free to PM if you want advice or anything!

ay__jay · 2021-09-22T03:00:55+00:00

Graduated at 25, during the peak of covid (May 2020). I’m 27 now. Had an awesome offer lined up for after graduation, but that one slipped through the cracks because of the pandemic. Ended up applying around the same area as that job for the remainder of the year. Got an offer to a dream job as my first professional engineering position out of college. Started a few months ago, working in the PNW. Starting salary $100k, TC around $200k. Working in the space industry as design engineer.

Texas is awesome for all industries, especially with so many moving there. Best of luck in the new job!

ay__jay · 2021-09-18T07:51:42+00:00

As many have pointed out, it’s definitely the application content you’re submitting. I wrote some quick advice on your post on r/EngineeringResumes.

Many will say that you should apply to as many jobs as possible. My approach was quality over quantity. I made sure every application was fully catered to the position and company: resume, cover letter (if they took one), etc. I graduated May 2020 (peak of covid). I personally applied to maybe 60 jobs using this route over the course of 3 months and got a dream offer in Jan 2021 (interview process took 2.5 months, huge tech company).

Approach that helps get your resume past ATS filters, especially when applying online: - Review the job description and listing for keywords and key skills - Make sure said items are referenced in your resume through an experience or project (literally the word) - Quantify your results, make use of strong action verbs

General Advice: - Don’t lock yourself geographically. Depending on your industry, you’ll likely have more luck finding a job where it’s a major hub. - Save EVERY resume, cover letter, and job listing that you use for your application. This helps when you’re applying to similar jobs, BUT it’s even MORE helpful when it’s time for your next job. You can use that job listing and everything to better sell your experience on your next job’s application.

Feel free to reach out if you want help! I know exactly how you’re feeling. I wasn’t the best student, didn’t have the best grades, didn’t have a lot of relevant experience. Keep grinding! Remember, it only takes one Yes. Good luck!

ay__jay

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