u/ti-gui10

Hi everyone,

I’m a hydraulic technician and I’ve been wondering if being specialized in hydraulics is still really worth more in today’s job market.

A bit of background, after a work accident I became permanently disabled. Workers’ comp sent me back to school for drafting, and after graduating I got hired by a large engineering company as a hydraulic specialist technician.

Before my accident I was a mechanic specializing in hydraulics. I rebuilt pumps, motors, valves, pretty much everything except cylinders because there were already a lot of cylinder repair shops where I lived.

During the interview they told me the salary was between X and Y, and that people with experience could easily make more.

On my first day they told me they normally don’t expect new hires to send projects to production for about a year because hydraulics is something you really learn by doing, not just in school.

But after my first week I was already sending projects to production. They didn’t really have to teach me hydraulics, they mostly showed me how to use their software and internal procedures.

After my probation, they offered me the lowest salary in the range. They said it was only fair for the other employees.

Now, only two months later, I’m already catching mistakes and correcting hydraulic component choices, placement, and calculations from people much higher than me in the company.

I’m not saying I know everything, I definitely don’t. I still have a lot to learn, especially on the engineering side. But I do feel like my years of hands-on hydraulic experience are bringing a lot of value, and it’s hard not to feel underappreciated.

So I’m curious, is hydraulic specialization still considered valuable? Is this normal when moving from the trades into engineering? Would you stick around and prove yourself, or would you start looking somewhere else?

I’d really like to hear your opinions.

I (33M) am being blamed by my best friend for a situation that escalated after I called the police for a wellness check, and I’m wondering if I was wrong.
My best friend is going through a separation from the mother of his daughter.

Last Friday, something happened involving their daughter while she was at his mother’s house, and it affected him deeply.

He called me crying and explaining the situation. I told him I was there for him and even offered to take the day off work so we could spend time together and get his mind off things.

During our conversation, he seemed completely consumed by anger and distress. He told me he needed to make some calls and would get back to me.

A couple of hours later, I started receiving calls and messages from mutual friends and his mother. Multiple people were telling me he was not doing well, that he was saying very dark things, and that they didn’t recognize the person they were talking to.

I called him back and again offered to go see him or take him somewhere. He refused.

As more people contacted me expressing concern, I became increasingly worried. I eventually asked his mother if she thought we had reached the point where someone should request a wellness check. She said yes, but she couldn’t bring herself to make the call.

So I did.

The police located him, and social workers spent several hours speaking with him. We were later told that they would follow up with him the following week.

It was also known that he had firearms in the house.
Then, on Monday afternoon, I received a call telling me police were back at his house. He was arrested for reasons that are still unclear to me, although we know it was connected to concerns raised through the social workers’ involvement.

He ended up spending four days in jail before being released. As far as I know, there has been no clear explanation given to us regarding what evidence or information led to that outcome.

He called me today. He is exhausted, angry, and his life is now significantly more complicated. Child protective services are involved, and he currently cannot communicate with either the mother of his daughter or his daughter herself.

He told me that he considers me, his mother, and another friend responsible for everything that has happened. In his view, if we had not intervened, none of this would have occurred.

From my perspective, I acted because multiple people who knew him well believed he was in a serious mental health crisis, his own mother agreed that a wellness check was necessary, and I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened and I had done nothing.

AITA?