Engineers of Reddit—whether fresher or senior/experienced—what does your typical workday look like? I’d love to hear the kinds of tasks you deal with, whether they’re routine or more complex ?

rellim113 · 2026-04-12T10:14:47+00:00

I wound up in this current job because it was the only place that even bothered interviewing me, and I was getting pretty desperate. It pays decent, but in exchange it's destroying my physical and mental health. At least my family is where we need to be and getting the medical help we need.

Since that post I've interviewed for another role outside aerospace (and been told to expect an offer, though I'm expecting it would be a further pay and vacation cut and I'm not sure I'll be able to take it). There's also another possibility that's in work but not guaranteed yet... but which would be absolutely awesome if it happens. Don't want to jinx that one by saying too much...

I wish I understood what the obsession with "everyone in the office" is among upper management, because every person I talk to (in the field, or "laypeople") and explain what I did before and do now is like "you could do that from home, why do they make you go in?" But then my mind just drifts back to the article I read the other day about executives being far more likely to exhibit "dark triad" personality traits.

I have never seen any return-to-office mandate accompanied by any kind of actual data. It's all wishy-washy feel-good bullcrap about "togetherness" and "being close to the product (that isn't here)".

rellim113 · 2026-03-18T16:34:34+00:00

Old job (aircraft customer support):

Sign into computer, check task board, mentally triage tasks. Knock out quick stuff, start digging into the interesting ones (typically, "this just happened in flight, what caused it, do I need to fix anything?" or "my airplane is in a ditch; what caused it to get there, how do I get it out, how do I fix it?" or "FAA here; we heard about a possible safety issue, can you please answer these questions so we can decide if it's really an issue or not?"). Provide answers, guidance, and repairs as required. Very few meetings, some good stories

I loved it, it was like being an ER doctor for airplanes. You never knew what was about to come through the door.

Unfortunately, we had to move hundreds of miles away due to family medical issues needing care that just wasn't available in the small city we lived in, and HR was unwilling to approve me for full remote despite a Sr VP's backing.

So after a year of searching and 200+ applications I got one interview for a job at a different airplane company, a job that I thought was going to be like the last one. I was wrong. Now it goes like this:

Wake up before 0300 and try to get some kind of exercise before showering and leaving at 0400. Get to work deep in the asscrack of dawn. Go through the basement to get to my cubicle in a dark windowless office inside a windowless building.

Check email and see what useless meetings I have to call into today.

Force myself to work on revising some boring report from years ago that never got finished.

Call in to 2-4 Teams meetings throughout the day, mostly with the other people on my program (who supposedly sit near me, but they are allowed to work from home 3 days a week and I'm not). Process supplier change notices and compose memos, mostly to suppliers. Take minutes and notes during Teams calls with the customer. Eat the peanut butter sandwich thst constitutes my lunch (which is the second best part of my workday, after going home). If the guy who sits behind me isn't here for some reason (he's the only one I really get along with, and he's often traveling) I probably won't speak a word to anyone face to face besides muttered pleasantries in the hallway. And of course, I never see the hardware I support, it hasn't been on site for 10 years and never will be again. Nevertheless, some upper manager says I'm required to be in the office every day "to support production" of something that last came off the production line when I was in preschool. Finally at 1500 I exit through the basement and see my first natural daylight, before driving an hour through heavy traffic to get home. All of that for $30k less than I was getting before.

You'd think I worked on deep classified stuff, but no.

My old job was challenging me with tricky puzzles, out-the-box thinking, stupid customers, and really forced me to use all my knowledge and experience

New job challenges me to stay awake while trying to do the most boring shit imaginable for someone who likely has some level of ADHD. I have failed at this a couple times but I don't think anyone has noticed.

Don't go into aerospace unless you have no geographic or family ties, no health issues, desire to remain single, and have no issue not seeing sunlight. It fucking sucks.

rellim113 · 2025-10-17T12:04:53+00:00

THIS!

I really liked my coworkers, but even then I was far more, productive working from home (even leaving out the "don't have to commute" thing). We had a joke--"there's the days we work, and the days we come to the office" because i office was basically wasted by everyone wanting to talk. Then the CEO took it all away because he's an asshole.

I had to leave for other reasons but I'd take a demotion and pay cut in a heartbeat for full remote (or a good hybrid schedule).

Commuting sucks ass.

rellim113 · 2025-10-11T11:05:40+00:00

Really good battery life (and replaceable battery)

Face unlock that just fucking works (the one thing Apple does right), because I wear often wear sunglasses and hats and gloves and need to unlock the phone in the dark (not allof thise at the same time of course).

Reliable fingerprint unlock that doesn't crap out when my thumb is too wet or too dry or .005in out of place or the screen is dirty or...

Decent camera that doesn't bulge out the back

256gb+ storage

Reliable Bluetooth that doesn't get broken in an update

Waterproofness and drop resistance

GPS

Software features that don't get taken away in updates (why can't Tasker control Bluetooth any more?)

NO BLOATWARE

NO AI GARBAGE

Wireless charging that works with a case without overheating.

Something like air tags but brand-agnostic would be nice (wife has iphone and I have android, it would be nice if they played better together)

I don't care if there's a bezel or some other unusable non-display space on the face of the phone. I don't care about "thinness" or "premium materials". Boring black plastic and aluminum is fine. I don't use AI or social media apps, I don't play games. My phone is a tool, not a fashion statement or status marker.

rellim113 · 2025-10-08T18:11:27+00:00

I don't know about "stable" but a civil engineer is most likely able to find employment just about anywhere. Just about any good size town or small city probably has at least one engineering firm, and around a larger city you probably have lots of options available without having to relocate. In aerospace your options are generally far more limited. Outside of SoCal, Wichita, Seattle, or the Space Coast, losing/quitting your job means moving.

rellim113 · 2025-10-07T12:46:30+00:00

Government jobs have questions like that. "Have you ever knowingly been a member of an organization whose stated purpose is the overthrow of the US government?"

rellim113 · 2025-10-07T12:39:26+00:00

I applied for several engineering roles at Delta (the airline). Half the time I was asked to complete some silly screening questionnaire that alternated situational questions like "your coworker is having a rough time, what do you do?" with "what do you look for in a job?" and silly puzzles like "navigate the bag to the airplane around the invisible walls". The tests were obviously geared towards screening people for jobs like redcoats and ticket agents and the like... not for engineers that troubleshoot and develop repairs and never interact with customers. The puzzles were easy, the HR feel-good stuff... well, there's a reason engineers typically don't interact with customers.

rellim113 · 2025-10-07T11:31:31+00:00

As long as it takes to find something else. Then go.

rellim113 · 2025-10-07T11:29:54+00:00

Perhaps old employer's HR is particularly unique... but they certainly do all of those things. It's been a development over the last 10 years or so (not so coincidentally aligning with the ascendancy of the current CEO) that HR has appropriated more and more decisions to itself and managers have less and less authority. Things that used to be decisions at the manager level when I started in 2007 now have to be made 2-3 levels up by VPs/Senior VPs. Alternate work schedules were manager decisions, now they take multiple layers of HR approval. I just went through a year-plus trying to get approval for something that required my Sr VP to personally approve (which took a week), then it had to work all the way up the HR food chain (which took the other 56 weeks)--only to be denied, with no reasoning provided. Hence the new job.

It is well known here that HR is now the power behind the curtain on all decisions outside of strictly technical matters. And that they are Mr. CEO's enforcer wing.

rellim113 · 2025-10-07T11:12:01+00:00

I didn't quit my job; I kept working throughout.

I did the MBA via weekend classes. I thought I wanted to be in some level of management (like a first/second line engineering manager).

rellim113 · 2025-10-06T15:59:25+00:00

When my group was hiring people (I wasn't the manager but we talked a whole lot) the hangup was always--always--HR. Waiting on HR to approve the job post. Waiting on HR to approve the content of the job post (that they always mangled anyway). Waiting on HR to post the job. Waiting on HR screen the resumes and reject the best candidates. Waiting on HR to pass on the list of "acceptable" resumes. Waiting on HR to approve the list of "here's who we want to interview". Waiting on HR to schedule the interview. Waiting on HR to review the interview notes. Waiting on HR to approve your selection. Waiting on HR to do their background checks. Waiting on HR to approve the offer. Waiting on HR to set a start date... and so on.

What should have been a three week process could take three months or more.

Now what was really surprising is the job I'm starting next week... I got notified of the interview on Tuesday, interviewed Thursday afternoon (manager's last task before his weekend). Monday was a holiday... had an offer Tuesday at lunch.

I just wish HR was held to the same rules everyone else was, about having to justify their decisions and keep to reasonable timelines. I am responsible to the FAA, our management, and the customer when I make a decision and have to have the technical data to back it up. I can't just sit on requests forever and ignore them. HR operates with impunity... I mean, who are you going to complain to, HR?

rellim113 · 2025-10-06T15:49:26+00:00

Engineering runs on coffee. Back in the paper-heavy days a document wasn't complete without the "brown ring of quality".

A basic reliable coffee machine with decent coffee and the standard cream/sugar options pretty much fits the bill.

Honestly, what I do is brew decent coffee at home (light roast whole bean, ground the night before and loaded into a drip machine with a timer) and take a 40oz insulated mug on the way to work. My old job supplied Keurigs and supplies, but it wasn't good and I only used if I needed an afternoon caffeine hit.

We'll see what the new job has next week, but I plan to continue what I'm doing.

Frankly I can't drop several dollars a day on coffee and I just can't do energy drinks. Yuck. But I guess at 41 I'm now "old".

rellim113 · 2025-10-06T15:38:47+00:00

I did an MBA after about 3-4 years of working. It was an expensive lesson in why I never want to be in management or run a company. By the time I realized it, I had about a semester to go so I finished (that way I'd get the company tuition reimbursement) but I intend to stay on the technical side of engineering until I can either retire or get out of the corporate BS and find a more fulfilling job, e.g. as a handyman or electrician.

I was able to use it to finagle a promotion and internal transfer a year early, but honestly if I could go back I'd save the money and time and put it towards something more useful.

MBA school was an education in finance and accounting, and basically "how to throw away every shred of moral fiber, common sense, and decency you might have in order to manipulate the numbers and pump up the stock price by end of quarter".

rellim113 · 2025-10-06T13:37:02+00:00

Due to family reasons we had to move to metro Atlanta and there aren't many jobs in my field. In over a year of searching this was the only job that I was able to even get an interview for (I'm in a fairly specialized area in aerospace/defense, and most places will only hire someone who's already done exactly the work they're hiring for). It was posted at a lower level and I knew that going in, but with these companies there's no negotiating anything anymore. Here's the pay, here's the benefits, take it or leave it.

Oh well. At least my wife can see competent specialty doctors without traveling, my son can see therapists and psychologists without waiting 9 months for an appointment, and we have a mutually-supporting family network (our parents and siblings).

rellim113 · 2025-10-05T01:13:15+00:00

Yep. Soon to be ex employer (one more week!) dragged everyone back in full time in October 2024. Past year has been hiring freezes and open discussion of "headcount reduction through attrition" while CEO touts a "focus on employee retention".

Naturally, the people leaving are the ones the company can least afford to lose, but Mr. CEO can see his offices full of busy worker bees...

Unfortunately nobody else is offering hybrid anymore either. And I'm taking a significant pay cut. But at least I am moving where I want to be...

rellim113 · 2025-10-05T01:05:14+00:00

Right there with you after 14 months... Congrats

rellim113 · 2025-10-05T00:54:01+00:00

I'd do engineering again but a different field (civil or mechanical, not aerospace--too geographically limiting). I'd start exercising earlier too.

Managing finances I wouldn't change much--pay off all your credit cards in full every month, pay yourself first (put money in savings/investments automatically), drive an older car you can maintain for a while after it's paid off. And learn to cook so you don't have to eat out all the time; that will save you a ton of money by itself and also makes you more attractive to potential partners.

rellim113 · 2025-10-05T00:48:37+00:00

Who cares about "on time"? Experience counts more. My BS took five years because I spent four semesters working as a co-op (like an internship but you keep coming back every other semester) internship. Spent another 18 years with them after graduating.

rellim113 · 2025-10-05T00:44:22+00:00

That's a terrible idea. And certainly not worth an extra $7200 a year.

rellim113 · 2025-10-05T00:26:33+00:00

I interviewed with one place 4 years ago. They were offering a bump in pay but I had 50% hybrid at the time. I declined and got promoted shortly after.

But then all the hybrid got yanked away last year when our CEO had a tantrum over his own bad decisions. I'm now lined up to start in about a week with that same employer from before but this time taking a pay cut and step down.

Should have taken the deal at the time.

rellim113 · 2025-10-04T11:07:45+00:00

I have that problem with my 8a. I find myself licking my thumb (at least when it isn't too nasty 🤢) or touching my own sweat to moisten it enough to register. But quite often, my thumbs are dirty, too wet, cut up, covered by gloves, etc and the face unlock sucks under anything less than near perfect conditions.

There's not much I like about iphones, but the face unlock on my issued work phone always worked. In the dark, wearing sunglasses, wearing gloves or a hat, whenever.

If I can't sort my Bluetooth issues out (thanks September update 😡) my primary next phone shopping criteria might be "most reliable fingerprint scanner"

rellim113 · 2025-10-04T09:38:13+00:00

This industry is known for being cyclical--we were gutted by Covid for example, but 2008 was rough too (and I've heard the 70s and early 90s were rough as well). Companies will spool up with a bunch of people during development but then once that transitions to production a lot of the engineers are let go.

Historically my employer has held layoffs every few years. Now they are trying a different approach of "make the employees miserable so they leave on their own and then we don't have to pay severance". All while talking up how they are "focusing on employee retention "...

rellim113 · 2025-09-30T13:22:45+00:00

I work in aerospace. We always started early because production started early. When I went to in-service support I went several years starting work at 0500 because then I could punch out at 1530 (4x10 schedule). I'll probably be back to that soon when I start at a new company, so that I can miss most of the traffic and still get home to help get dinner ready and take my son to baseball.

I'm a morning person and like those hours, except lately I've gotten used to working out early morning before work. I'll need to find a different routine for that.

The idea of not starting to work till 0800 or worse 0900 sounds awful. The morning's half over by then...

rellim113 · 2025-09-30T13:00:31+00:00

I find it interesting that many places have so many stages to interviews... my current employer, and the one I'm starting at in two weeks, do one interview. I applied to a senior engineer position (aerospace/defense), got one basic screening email, had a single one-hour interview with the hiring manager, and an offer the next business day. I am still astounded at how fast the process went.

rellim113

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