alternatives to engineering?

[acidthunder]

hi!

i'm new here. i thought i could find some rare minds of my classification and solicit insight therefrom.

i am prepared to go back to school to get a new degree and/or training to get myself an actual trade in an actual line of work. my resume is a hodgepodge of random crap. i am leaning heavily toward engineering- probably in electronics- but i do not feel i have nearly enough alternatives in mind to make an educated choice.

if you'd like, you can skip my lengthy description of myself and see my basic criteria for an occupation:

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1. conducive, ultimately, to self-employment, in due course of time (preferably soon).

2. uses a creative, inventive, technically-adept mind of high intelligence. thus a field where creativity and abstract thought are resources, not hindrances.

3. more technical than social. deal with machines more than people.

* * * * *
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my most important earth goals:

1. make a lot of weird music with synthesizers by myself. seriously, i cannot stress enough how important this is to me. i am not kidding. i have to remind myself that the >* and my close family and friends really are more important. creative output is an indispensable kingpin to my way of life. i need it in order to sense that my life has any meaning or is worth carrying out at all. i do like other artforms and projects too, besides electronic music. mostly "maker movement" kinds of projects, plus modding cars and wrenching.

2. become self-employed. this is, for me at least, essential to life as a free person. it doesn't have to be right away though. first, get good at something. also, when i briefly ran my own business, i became confident and outgoing because i was selling my own idea of my own design.

3. lord willing, get into a position where i can continue living my frugal lifestyle while making a healthy living, so as to douse others in need wth money and resources at will, as i may see fit.

4. i wish for the years immediately preceding my retirement to be spent as an inventor.

other lengthy details about myself that you might not want to bother reading:

edit <snip> tl;dr relief effort

 

[Cognisant]

What kind of fabrication capacity do you have?
Can you program?
Do you already know how to make electronics?

 

[acidthunder]

1. very little, basically just general DIY creative skills, no formal training. would love to learn CAD, 3D printing, CNC, all that stuff.
2. no, have to learn, would love to also.
3. no, have to learn, understand basic circuits but not like all the synth-DIY and other hacker people that i admire.

edited my first post cause it was way too long and tedious

 

[Sapphire Harp]

I think Cognisant has a good idea with the programming. Picking up a few programming languages will be very helpful. You might use them for modeling technical details, or you might use them in an internet based career. There are several of those to consider; web designer, database manager, etc.

Now, there's something very important to remember about becoming self-employed. People don't go out of their way to find you and convince you to do their projects. The more reliant upon your self-employed profession, the more likely you are to have to be constantly out in the world meeting people, making contacts, becoming friends and gaining trust. The business will not generate itself. It will be almost entirely on you and your social connections.​

 

[Cognisant]

There are several of those to consider; web designer, database manager, etc.

Nah that bubble burst years ago, there's noting you can do that a DIY web design/hosting service can do or a guy in India won't do for a pittance.

1. very little, basically just general DIY creative skills, no formal training. would love to learn CAD, 3D printing, CNC, all that stuff.
2. no, have to learn, would love to also.
3. no, have to learn, understand basic circuits but not like all the synth-DIY and other hacker people that i admire.

Well I can direct you towards resources I've learnt from but the real question here is what are you trying to do? What do you want to make?

 

[Sapphire Harp]

Nah that bubble burst years ago, there's noting you can do that a DIY web design/hosting service can do or a guy in India won't do for a pittance.

Not so. I know at least two people who are independent, self-employed, and making middle class incomes doing this very work.

But it is true that the ridiculously easy riches are gone from these fields.​

 

[acidthunder]

Well I can direct you towards resources I've learnt from but the real question here is what are you trying to do? What do you want to make?

a pretty good summary is that i am trying to find a vocation that engages my creative mind in a technical capacity.

i came here to find other alternatives that i hadn't thought of for a person like me. i am goofy, artistic, inventive, and shy, with a high IQ. i don't fit in or find happiness in any common circle of people, so in considering engineering, i thought i might as well get some of the skills i personally desire for myself, while upgrading from the horrible entry-level crap jobs i've been stuck doing.

what i want to make is another good question. basically i'm interested in designing clever machines. to give you a better idea, here are some people i want to be like and things i admire:

ladyada/adafruit industries / wiki

olivier gillet/mutable instruments / bio

make: magazine / mark frauenfelder / the happy mutant handbook

i'm looking seriously at engineering because i covet the skills involved in it. i personally desire the ability to design circuits and fabricate unique mechanical inventions. i also think programming is super excellent, but have never learned it.

i am afraid of going through years of difficult schooling to, if i'm lucky, get a desk job crunching calculations all day and writing stupid reports in a cubicle.

it seems to me that the engineering trade offers enough diversity, though, that i'm not automatically stuck doing that.

thank you for your consideration and input thus far. this is important to me!

 

[Sapphire Harp]

I can make a suggestion that I expect you have not thought of, but I am loathe to do so. It was my previous chosen career that I have since abandoned - and there was very good reason to do so. Hence, not really suggestible.

Regardless, I'm talking about technical theatre, particularly the scenery and properties departments. It's one of the remaining bastions of craftsmen you can find, as every show is produced from scratch.

The great problem is that it's a very risky and chaotic field, with theaters going out of business frequently, sometimes suddenly. It's very rare to find employment that can actually give you a livelihood for a long period of time. Even when you do, it can disappear quickly.

So - why even bring it up? Because it matches the challenges you want pretty well. You learn to design while meeting artistic, technical, and practical challenges while under budget and running out of time. Every production has drastically unique demands.

A few of the challenges I've seen tackled:

Hydraulic systems of all kinds. Moving platforms with stops, limits, reversals, rotations, tight clearances, passengers, etc. Doors opening, windows slamming.

Facsimile helicopters flying in, facsimile Rolls Royces driving across.

Roll a victrola out to the middle of a stage and have it start playing, without ever plugging it in or having a wire or anything trailing from it.

Having a giant doorway rise out of the floor in the middle of the stage, while undetectable before.

Character's name is 'Burning Girl'. Her on stage time consists entirely of running across the stage while actually on fire.

And that's just off the top of my head here. But - like I said before - there are very real constraints to trying to make your career in it.​

 

[Cognisant]

i am goofy, artistic, inventive, and shy, with a high IQ.

Nobody cares.

what i want to make is another good question. basically i'm interested in designing clever machines. to give you a better idea, here are some people i want to be like and things i admire:

Nobody cares.

I know I'm being mean but if you want to make money you should be thanking me for it because the cold hard truth is you've got no skills and no idea what you want to do, now I can tell you where I'd get the skills and what I'd do with them but the crux of the problem hasn't been solved, you're looking for a easy way to success and believe me if there was an easy way I'd already have taken it.

How to learn engineering: Find things like the thing you want to make and find out how they were made, there's no point reinventing the wheel unless you're improving upon the already established design.

How to learn programming: Google it, watch youtube tutorials, just do it.

Finally you're going to end up as either an inventor or an artisan, if you want to be an inventor then come up with something you can at least afford to prototype and that has a reasonable chance of actually selling, I don't care how cool you think something is if it's not something you honestly wouldn't buy from someone else then you're just wasting your time.

As for being an artisan that's all about skill and advertising, don't expect success immediately, also consider how much your time is worth to you, sure you could spend a month hand crafting a beautiful wooden model ship but you may only be able to sell it for a couple of hundred bucks, instead you'd be far better off making doorknobs and selling them on ebay.

 

[acidthunder]

cognisant: it's not that you're being mean (you are); it's that you have an inaccurate picture of me and thus your post is as irrelevant and unhelpful as it is unencouraging. therefore i request that you no longer post on this thread.

sapphire harp: fascinating idea that i will look into. thank you for your input. i wonder how one would even enter that field...

it is exactly the sort of thing i could be good at and enjoy. i agree that it sounds risky and unstable though!

anyone else?

 

[Absurdity]

i am afraid of going through years of difficult schooling to, if i'm lucky, get a desk job crunching calculations all day and writing stupid reports in a cubicle.

Uhh if this is where you end up I think it would be wrong to blame the degree itself.

IMO, degrees are more important for the status they convey rather than the knowledge one acquires in the process of earning them. I got a degree from a very good school and it is already paying off (ex: at my last job I got paid more than double what others in my position made solely because I went to a top school).

If you can't afford to go back to school for four years then look at accelerated programs or even trade schools. Control systems engineering, automation, and PLC programming might be some things to look into.

 

[acidthunder]

i'll look at all those. see, i don't even know what you're talking about in that last sentence, so that's great because i knew there had to be viable fields i didn't even know existed. thanks for posting.

i believe i can afford to go back to school, through some recent blessings and windfalls. big commitment though. i'll do better if i know i'm making the right decision!

 

[Absurdity]

i'll look at all those. see, i don't even know what you're talking about in that last sentence, so that's great because i knew there had to be viable fields i didn't even know existed. thanks for posting.

You're welcome. I come from a family of engineers, and that's what most of them work on. I'm the black sheep that studied law and business.

I think more than anything you should get involved now, in whatever way you can, in the fields that you are interested in. Conventions, forums, sites like Github, even people on Twitter you can follow who are doing cool things and will get you immersed.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Analyzer]

If you have any interest in finance, business, engineering, or general freedom take a look at cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The blockchain technology is the one of the most ground breaking inventions in history and its implications have just scratched the surface. The current paradigm of business, law, and ultimately government will be revolutionized. Of course this might just be another one step in the current exponential growth of the digital age but it is pretty disruptive. It is comparable to the Internet in early 90s with even more potential as the Internet decentralized communications, cryptocurrencies will decentralize financial services. Keep in mind that financial services in particular currencies, is the center of economic activity which is the foundation of civilization.

Regardless, we are entering into an era of decentralization so a lot of the political dogmas(democracy,the state) and business models(corporations,financial services) that we have been under will be irrelevant in the near future.

Looks like they are trying to use genetic and DNA data using blockhain - http://www.coindesk.com/israels-dna-bits-moves-beyond-currency-with-genes-blockchain/