u/candidengineer

I work at a small-mid tier boomer-filled defense firm working on PDUs and Actuator Control Modules. I've been an EE for +9 years.

And holy hell, some of these older engineers seem like absolute schmucks. Like a bunch of hard working schmucks in a bubble that have no sense what the job market is like for the rest of the 99% of Americans.

They show up to work at 8 AM in their khakis, tucked-in button downs, carrying a lunch box and a wearing a backpack like they just got a kiss from their mother as they head to grade school.

Then they go into a gray building to sit in a gray box and proceed to do ABSOLUTE BLACK MAGIC at a level of analytical rigor that is utterly imperceptible to the average well-qualified white collar workers.

And what do they get for it after +20 years of being an EE? A measly $120K and stock/retirement benefits that only began vesting after being there for at least a year.

I mean seriously, how are y'all okay with this? Especially when not too long ago project managers in IT companies were able to roll out of bed at 9 AM, completely hungover, log onto their PCs, be present for a bunch of useless Zoom meetings and then get paid nearly double the amount you do plus WAY more vacation days and stock benefits.

Is that fair? Does that seem fair to you?

That you're in there breaking your back in the lab with a failing central AC unit, turning knobs on a scope, getting your piece of crap National Instruments equipment sync'd up with LabView, going back to your desk to re-run MATHCAD calculations and reading boring ass de-rating guidelines.

And for what? FOR WHAT?!

So that on your deathbed you can tell the world you worked on the "JYRO-XYZ-47392" or whatever dumb made-up internal project name they gave to a heavy ass Phase-Array Unit.

You are the epitome of the good little boy or good little girl our corrupt education system uses to manufacture indentured servitude. You are the kid that presents the cure to cancer at a science fair right before the CIA takes you to a hidden empty room to reems you up the ass before putting a bullet in you.

You EEs are extremely hard-working, creative and have a work ethic of rigorous caliber that would make the average American shake in their boots.

STOP PUTTING UP WITH SHIT PAY 🫵

also, go to the gym.

Hello, I want to host my first BBQ this Friday at some park close to Edison.

I don't know if it's too late to reserve something, but do the open groves in any of these parks have grills we can just use on first come first serve?

Or do they always require a permit or pass to use? I'm reading that some groves require permits on weekends, is this true?

Please no trolling. Thank you.

M33 here (+8 years in analog/power electronics)

I often feel like a lazy idiot because anytime I want to learn a new circuit or converter topology and I Google it - I just run into heavy and dense IEEE articles packed with a ton of graphs, equations, and fat paragraphs that walk you from the fundamentals all the way to a design example. But getting through the first page is such a slog and the writing is so damn dry and I don't even care about what I'm reading anymore.

I often suspect I have ADHD or something.

What has worked for me these past years as an engineer has been to just simulate and/or build the thing to get it somewhat functional. And play with component values, timings, and observing the waveforms until I am able to make an intuitive sense of what is happening.

It always doesn't work as planned. Waveforms don't line up with the theory. But the more missteps I run into, the more MOTIVATED I get to look back at the fundamentals I initially skipped over, and then VOILA! It finally makes sense.

I always find myself wanting to know the point of why something is the way it is or why is the circuit systematically useful first. It's what gives me the motivation to dive deeper and get into the nitty gritty.

Does anyone else function in this way? Or do you guys prefer reading up on fundamentals first and slowly increase the complexity, and then afterwards get to simulating and prototyping?

A Muslim who does every sin but is proud about avoiding pork is analogous to a person patting themselves on the back for getting an A on an exam paper that was already blank to begin with.

There's a lot of buzz on social media about Muslims who commit every sin known to man but will refuse a Haribo gummy due to its gelatin content.

I would just like to shed some light as to why that is and the reason isn't discussed as often as I hope.

Some of the major sins that Muslims commit such as pre-marital sex, drinking, smoking weed, partying, mixing/hanging with the same sex can be associated with some sort of human need:

Pre-marital sex/dating: Human sex drive/bonding

Drinking/Drugs: Self-soothing and/or self-medicating

Partying: Socializing/the drive for human connection or bonding

None of the reasoning or needs are actually wrong or evil in of themselves.They're natural and come with the human condition.

But PORK, is not tied to anything. We also have the conditioning growing up that it is tied to filth; not just in our culture but many cultures. We also eat chicken and/or beef - so you can't say the drive comes from a need to consume a form of meat.

So to my point, the ONLY REAL reason Muslims refuse to eat pork - is unfortunately - because it takes literally zero effort or steadfastness to avoid it. It is the one thing they can boost their ego about and feel GOOD about themselves for not doing - but in reality there was never any inclination towards.

It must be really easy to avoid a thing you never had any care in the world for and/or are disgusted by.

You can live your entire life not wondering what pork tastes like and die happy.

So ultimately, it's an ego boost. It's a false virtue to disguise or blanket everything else they're doing. It's patting yourself on the back for getting an A on an exam paper that was already blank to begin with.

When the film initially released and made waves across the world, there were people who left the theater going, "damn son, b****es be crazy", or "damn Bear, pass the controller!", or "LOL average dating a Latina experience".

And the online universe quickly responded that these people (usually men) did not understand the true meaning of the film. Which is true.

Bear's cowardice led to the event that unfolded. Bear inadvertently roped Nikki into being obsessed with him. He removed all autonomy from her and used it to his advantage. When given a moment to think about ending her torment, he instead asked to alter it.

So final verdict: Bear was the true villain of the film.

PHEW. Now that we got that out of the way. Can we go back to addressing how wonderfully the film mimics what a torturous experience it is being with someone who is anxiously attached?

I mean seriously, I could name like 20 things fake Nikki does that realistically portrays behavior I've witnessed in my relationship and in other relationships I know.

Leaving the theater:

Me: "Damn, that was a great portrayal of what anxious attachment and a lack of emotional accountability looks like, except dialed to 9000"

My partner: "BUT YOU DONT GET THE FILM, BEAR IS THE VILLAIN, HE DID ALL OF THIS"

Me: Yes dear, I understand Bear is a piece of shit. That's concluded, and the world agrees. But why do some women (and men) behave like Nikki without a One-Wish-Willow involved?

That's a more alarming topic to ponder and I hope that those who watched the film and share similar traits to fake Nikki got utterly humbled and humiliated. That you first hand witnessed what you look like in the relationship, and that that mode of being is used in a HORROR film.

I'm coming up on nine years of working as an EE in the corporate world - a mix of defense and semiconductors industry, focusing mainly on analog/mixed-signals and SMPS design.

My evidence is entirely anecdotal and therefore highly offensive.

I'm gonna get straight to it. Have you f***ing seen how insane (and sorry, asperger's) real EEs are and how they work?

I take a look at a lot of my former ECE friends who immediately pivoted to IT, Finance or Business upon graduating, and I CANNOT fathom even a SINGLE one of them being willing to stare into an oscilloscope all day while adjusting the lag network to optimize the switching loss of ZVS LLC converter - let alone inspect datasheets after datasheets to find the right inductor that balances operating frequency margins and max saturation current. And then getting all horny and excited when they learn Coilcraft or Wurth's marketing engineers are stopping by their office to showcase the latest MLCCs and ferrite they've added to their 2026 product catalog. Now imagine doing this for DECADES - that's an EE.

Do you really think 20 year old Elijah, who represents the millions of Gen-Zers who don't give a f*** about coding but who went into computer science anyways to secure a juicy FAANG position, then realized him and his cohorts are cooked in this market - are suddenly going to start marching into EE teams filled with boomer-brained dinosaurs and socially inept neurotics and somehow manage to survive, let alone care enough to?

My friends who are in IT, Software, Business and Finance do not give a FLYING F*** about the content of their job. It's all about compensation, RSU, debating between using Gemini or Claude, and various manuvuers on how to climb to the next position, the next salary, or the next job hop.

While EEs do care about those things, they for the most part do enjoy the content of the work they do. It's not a grift. They enjoy it like how a D&D fan loves playing D&D.

This field is not going to get saturated because those trying to pivot here will end up leaving anyways. And it's not because they're not smart, it's not because they aren't hard working, it's primarily because their dicks don't get hard over the fact they were able to lower the NSD of the latest PLL chip.

So personally I'm not worried about the EE market getting saturated. We don't have to do anything - just keep on truckin'. Those who care to be a real EE, and put in the work because they're insane and enjoy circuits - will get the job, and they will stay.

If you aren't like that, you won't survive here, nor will you want to be here. You'll look into a onsite lab filled with scopes, heavy expensive equipment, and ESD coats and go "ew" and quit in two weeks.

Anyways. That's my unconventional opinion on why this field is never going to saturate - BECAUSE YOU EEs are all insane!

Happy Friday you nords! ✌️

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A non-Muslim invents the microphone/speaker system. We install it in the masjids and mosques to lead prayer daily. And that gives sermons that clearly imply that people like this inventor are going to hell for not being Muslim or the people of the book. Because ultimately he is just a NPC in the prophetic/end of times narrative.

Was anyone else generally taught that all the non-muslims in the world, from China to Australia to Mexico to the West were all essentially NPCs (non-playable characters) on Earth and that all the Muslims were the true chosen people with the correct faith and we should treat others with respect but pay no mind and no appreciation towards their humanity because they were likely destined for hell anyways?