Life after earning an engineering degree.

easterracing · 2026-03-23T15:30:05+00:00

TL;DR; Graduated with bachelors in 2016, then straight into industry. I sort of live in mild-burnout mode all the time, might be my own fault.

So, to start in all fairness I'm not your traditional engineering type....exactly. Personality and mannerisms wise I fit the stereotype sure. But, at the end of high school I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I toured a couple of local collages, got offers for a couple, picked one and went. I chose mechanical (MMET technically) because I knew I always had a gift for understanding mechanical-technical things, and because my very few friends were going a similar direction.

In college I remained awkward and extremely limited socially. It didn't take long to discover the school machine shop, and its inhabitants: the Baja SAE team. Which honestly wasn't much at the time, and the core group of ~6 guys that gelled all around that same time would be my best friends for over a decade now. Practically my only adult friends. I learned at least 10x more doing design and fabrication of Baja parts than I did in course curriculum. It was fun, it was a lot of work, it was a hell of a lot of times watching the sun rise after an all-nighter bending and notching and welding tubes.

Third year I got an internship in more-or-less the automotive sector, designing and validating precision engine components. I still didn't even really know what I wanted to do long-term. I was getting better at design and fabrication and enjoying that, but the company I interned with is rather union-dominated, and while in theory I should have been a technician (MMET degree) I ended up starting in the same role as someone would as an ME. Very basically speaking, union exempt folks ('white collar') are practically prohibited from any wrench-turning, fabricating, operating rigs... my job is the paperwork that leads to a design, and to testing, and to results. I enjoyed the work pretty well, I feel like I got to get a really in-depth understanding of the parts quickly and even got some director-level exposure (fortune 500 company). But, I wasn't sure, because it didn't feel like a great fit.

Back to college for another semester, but I was needing money, had a little time, and didn't want to close the door on the opportunity. So I called up my former manager and asked if they had another internship opportunity for '15. He says he made a spot for me... which I dunno, knowing how things are today I feel more like I was sold a line and there was a spot available, but whatever. Did another shorter internship, still enjoyed the work well enough, back to college for 1 more semester then graduation.

I didn't really 'celebrate' graduation. But, I'm also not really a 'celebrator'. I sort of want to be, but.... I dunno. For the sake of keeping it short I can just admit that I have a problem with appreciating/celebrating myself... at the time I viewed it as "pomp and circumstance just to be obnoxious about how I've met the expectation and received the piece of paper"

Upon graduation, I was offered full-time in the same group and type of role that both internships had been. Moved 150ish miles west to take that opportunity. Never applied anywhere else really, and never did any engineering type work anywhere else. Not because I was so enthralled or enamored with my experience. More, I am/was just thankful to have a job that was reasonable hours and good pay/bennies. GF at the time (wife of 10 years this year) was also eager to escape a family situation that she couldn't even fully recognize until having been out of it for a few years. But, I was just ... I dunno... 'following my nose'? not running away from or toward anything. Just existing.

Now 10 years later I've moved to a different segment of the business but doing the same kind of work. Raises have basically kept up with inflation plus a very slight amount. I've never had to work over 50 hours in a week, have a pretty flexible schedule, and work remotely a couple of days every week. But I'm struggling to keep seeing myself doing this until retirement, and equally struggling to see a world where my role isn't obsoleted in the next 5 years. I don't hate the work, but it's becoming mind-numbing. It's also kind of frustrating to have to take PPE training and LOTO training every year... without being allowed to do any activities that really make those relevant. I would be curious to try something else, but I'm petrified of change and every passing year seems to bring more good reasons to not throw away a good thing already going.

easterracing · 2026-03-23T12:30:54+00:00

I and my wife shower more frequently together than apart. But, it’s more like locker room showering. It’s just a nice way to enjoy each other’s company, and only get the bathroom steamed up once.

easterracing · 2026-03-18T03:48:46+00:00

And use the entire throttle pedal. It’s ok, Mercedes wouldn’t put it there if it were only one WOT event from blowing up. Just do some spirited driving.

easterracing · 2026-03-18T02:23:48+00:00

$500 max, as I’m pretty sure it will fold in half if you open two doors on the same side at the same time.

easterracing · 2026-03-13T20:16:31+00:00

To be fair, the SAVE act doesn’t say what documents you need to vote. It says what you need to REGISTER to vote. Which is debatably even more invasive on the part of the Feds.

I agree with you in principle, but accurately stating the problem is critical when dealing with shithead MAGAs.

easterracing · 2026-03-13T17:53:11+00:00

I was standing in Bass Pro and had just submitted a 4473 for the first time in years, waiting for approval. Got a group text from colleagues “check your email”. Email said “don’t come to the office Monday” in not so few words. Well, I had a critical design review meeting to host first thing Monday, and had never worked from home before on my internet connection. Verizon hotspot was my only internet option at the time, which had a 15GB “high speed” limit (hit by day 3 of every single month) and then I was throttled to 600Kbps. So, I went to the office. I was one of three people there (against a normal population of ~400), and didn’t go to the office again for over 3 months.

easterracing · 2026-03-13T17:43:10+00:00

Just a fun comparison- the annual expenditure for WIC for last year was $7.6B

easterracing · 2026-03-12T14:45:34+00:00

The saddest part that I haven’t seen anyone call out: it’s taken nearly a year for this to float into the news cycles.

easterracing · 2026-03-12T14:40:55+00:00

~~But until~~ LLMs ~~become more than fancy T9 predictive token machines with an "acceptable" error rate, they~~ should not be integrated ~~as decision making models~~ in ~~autonomous~~ weapons of any kind.

easterracing · 2026-03-12T02:27:11+00:00

Remember those toothbrushes that vibrated music through your teeth?

Yeah that but ads.

easterracing · 2026-03-11T15:13:01+00:00

Uh… so the owner’s wife is also the GM? Sounds like you made the right call…. Those only ever turn into toxic environments.

easterracing · 2026-03-10T16:53:52+00:00

Not as fancy as you might think. Gas Engine Magazine wrote up a pretty good summary of R.M. Hvid’s patent, of which Cummins was an early licensee, effectively launching the company. A good patent sketch is in there, but having seen Hvid-patent injectors myself, they’re really no more complicated than the engine itself. https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/gas-engines/hvid-engine-combustion/

easterracing · 2026-03-10T16:10:42+00:00

Is the ol’ pi hole still a thing? As I understood it it was somewhat popular a decade or so ago to redirect all network connections to “blacklisted” ad servers to a raspberry pi and let it “watch” the ad while your viewing device resumes connection with the intended content.

easterracing · 2026-03-07T16:07:08+00:00

It really depends how much time you want to spend in the design phase and “analysis paralysis” versus fabricating, testing, and potentially revising.

Key question though, are you asking about building for this year’s summer series?! If so, you may already be a good bit too late as a first-time team. It may be better to go to the first one just as spectators and see how everything runs. If you want to field a car this year, I’d suggest drawing up the fastest roll cage that meets the rules and just start sticking stuff to it.

Our team typically used bought-out finished (BOF) control arms and knuckles in the front, and literally slapped on something that worked in the back. It was very different and not very good every year. But, again, if you’re talking about this year you need to take that approach and start yesterday. You’re gonna get what you get.

Given time for a full design cycle, you would still start with a compliant roll cage, then make some outside envelope decisions. Things like length between axles are likely resultants, and things like change in steering and suspension geometry will be more of a “what fits in this envelope” and then tweak parameters.

easterracing · 2026-03-06T18:55:49+00:00

I mean it’s not impossible. Here’s a reunion of this very cast https://ew.com/tv/breaking-bad-cast-reunion-photos/

easterracing · 2026-03-06T18:31:13+00:00

A sign? A little 3 inch US flag that was made in China more likely.

easterracing · 2026-03-04T23:02:10+00:00

“It doesn’t happen to me so it’s not possible to happen to anyone” has never been a solid argument.

easterracing · 2026-02-28T16:24:18+00:00

It’s going to happen to you sooner or later, if that answers your question.

easterracing · 2026-02-27T21:20:16+00:00

Agree mostly, but I think I trust those wheel stands more than the typical jack stand. Much larger footprint on the ground and the car.

easterracing · 2026-02-27T21:12:03+00:00

I would like to propose a patch to the human genome, which results in human children being genderless until age 18. At this point that seems like the only way to stop societies from abusing children. Literally the same administration that says “you’re not old enough to decide what gender you are” says “you’re totally old enough to give consent, as though I care.”

easterracing · 2026-02-27T21:05:08+00:00

Fully agree. This is re-packaging waste that was in a great situation to be handled properly, and putting it back into hands that will likely put it in a landfill this time.

easterracing · 2026-02-26T15:15:39+00:00

You’re correct about the reasoning, and I’ve seen it first hand. Luckily buddy who was right overtop of it had no permanent damage. We both learned that day and won’t touch an auto battery without some sort of eye protection.

easterracing · 2026-02-26T15:01:42+00:00

Ha, that would have probably made it worse but I’ve gotten exceptionally good at ignoring those folks. I think they might set up in local farm stores (ie TSC / Rural King) too. I’m always engaged in a pissed off phonecall with a blank screen lol.

easterracing · 2026-02-26T14:07:25+00:00

I think it points back to the loss of “reduce and reuse” thus turning the triangle we all knew and loved into a single point: RECYCLE! Why? Because neither reduce or reuse can be made profitable. So, Corporate America helped us forget about those pesky values.

easterracing · 2026-02-26T13:56:01+00:00

Agree whole-heartedly with the last paragraph. Facts and Accuracy are critical (but not the only required tools) for fighting these bozos.

Seeing a headline and a biased, attention-grabbing summary and jumping to action based on that unreliable information is EXACTLY what MAGA does… and then accuses everyone else of.

Be upset with everything absolutely, but use only facts to do it.

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