I think this can go either way. Most engineers I know are lib / left. I know an engineer who is a socialist and one who is a communist. I'm sure that it can depend on many factors.
Really depends. Very broad field. Also, in general not very "small businessy," The super businessy engineers who end up abandoning actual engineering for management to do sales or management are almost guaranteed to be completely irredeemable though.
Nearly all aerospace people suck. I have seen one nonwhite aerospace guy. My friend was looking for a roommate at the aerospace school he is going to- literally went through 20 people trying to find someone that wasn't painfully Republican. He wasn't even looking for based or lib, just non political.
Aerospace people fall into pretty much three categories:
People who genuinely thinks planes are cool and just wants to work on them - may have decent politics.
People who want to work for NASA or SpaceX and may genuinely love science - Probably has decent politics if they're not totally drinking Elon Musk flavored Kool-Aid.
People who understand that they're going to end up working for the MIC and build drones to bomb brown children, or work next door to the office that does that. - Absolutely 0% chance of being a decent human being.
Category 1 and 2 will end up in category 3 after they realize what the career actually looks like.
I actually created an account to chime in on this as a fairly recent aerospace grad.
When I started my degree I'd say I was a mix of type 1&2; progressive on LGBT+ issues as someone figuring out my non-het sexuality, and an "unaware" reactionary centrist probably from being privileged enough to consider politics boring.
The type-3 aero engineers, and exposure to new people from many different walks of life helped push me left. Almost as if I was reacting to the reactionaries. The further left I went, the more I was disgusted by those types of people. The kind who openly talk about military and missile tech as if it is the best thing humans produce. I'm still excited by advances in rocketry, I still love to watch Space X's launches because I've detached the technical side from the capitalist dystopia aspect. Behind those successful launches is the hard work of thousands of engineers like me, exploited by Musk.
Eventually, I became so repulsed by the nonchalance that even the moderate socdems displayed towards the military industrial complex that I decided not to pursue anything aerospace related whatsoever. Even if you work on a civil airliner, any amazing advancement you make will go right onto the next military jet whether you like it or not.
It was incredibly difficult during covid to find a job not in aerospace with my degree, but eventually got a paid research project on AI recycling sorting, before moving onto high speed rail systems.
I remember reading posters for military R&D research jobs in aerospace in uni. Found it sickening and there's your first filter. Anyone who goes for it will need to do a whole lot of reflection to get out, and it will be a psychologically painful process
Hey, if you want some advice navigating trying STEM trying to find some non-shitty careers feel free to DM me. I know some sectors willing to take people with pretty different experience.
I don't understand the assumption that you'll be able to work for like NASA or spacex by a lot of grads. Like isn't that like assuming that you'll be in an ivy league school cause you did well on the act/sat?
I just got a gig doing telecom permitting/design and I've had multiple converations with co-workers about the USSR and socialism already. Got a few Russian and former SSR engineers there so they can give some good perspective.
Also, nothing makes you a socialist faster than spending 8 hours/day looking in detail at America's crumbling communications and electrical infrastructure.
My Moldovan co-worker made a joke about how "it's still probably better than Moldova" and then I pulled up the state GIS database in Moldova and some images of transmission lines there and he immediately changed his mind lmao.
engineering
engineers in general seem super reactionary, they have serious STEM :brainworms:
I think this can go either way. Most engineers I know are lib / left. I know an engineer who is a socialist and one who is a communist. I'm sure that it can depend on many factors.
IMO the more hands-on / spatial the work is, the less reactionary it is. Mech and chemE seemed okay to me.
Compsci tho, :xi-plz:
Really depends. Very broad field. Also, in general not very "small businessy," The super businessy engineers who end up abandoning actual engineering for management to do sales or management are almost guaranteed to be completely irredeemable though.
Nearly all aerospace people suck. I have seen one nonwhite aerospace guy. My friend was looking for a roommate at the aerospace school he is going to- literally went through 20 people trying to find someone that wasn't painfully Republican. He wasn't even looking for based or lib, just non political.
Aerospace people fall into pretty much three categories:
People who genuinely thinks planes are cool and just wants to work on them - may have decent politics.
People who want to work for NASA or SpaceX and may genuinely love science - Probably has decent politics if they're not totally drinking Elon Musk flavored Kool-Aid.
People who understand that they're going to end up working for the MIC and build drones to bomb brown children, or work next door to the office that does that. - Absolutely 0% chance of being a decent human being.
Category 1 and 2 will end up in category 3 after they realize what the career actually looks like.
I actually created an account to chime in on this as a fairly recent aerospace grad.
When I started my degree I'd say I was a mix of type 1&2; progressive on LGBT+ issues as someone figuring out my non-het sexuality, and an "unaware" reactionary centrist probably from being privileged enough to consider politics boring.
The type-3 aero engineers, and exposure to new people from many different walks of life helped push me left. Almost as if I was reacting to the reactionaries. The further left I went, the more I was disgusted by those types of people. The kind who openly talk about military and missile tech as if it is the best thing humans produce. I'm still excited by advances in rocketry, I still love to watch Space X's launches because I've detached the technical side from the capitalist dystopia aspect. Behind those successful launches is the hard work of thousands of engineers like me, exploited by Musk.
Eventually, I became so repulsed by the nonchalance that even the moderate socdems displayed towards the military industrial complex that I decided not to pursue anything aerospace related whatsoever. Even if you work on a civil airliner, any amazing advancement you make will go right onto the next military jet whether you like it or not.
It was incredibly difficult during covid to find a job not in aerospace with my degree, but eventually got a paid research project on AI recycling sorting, before moving onto high speed rail systems.
I remember reading posters for military R&D research jobs in aerospace in uni. Found it sickening and there's your first filter. Anyone who goes for it will need to do a whole lot of reflection to get out, and it will be a psychologically painful process
Category 4 - Wants to build robots because of Japanese animes. Ends up in category 3, feels bad about it and becomes BFF's with Solid Snake.
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Hey, if you want some advice navigating trying STEM trying to find some non-shitty careers feel free to DM me. I know some sectors willing to take people with pretty different experience.
Do civil
This is disillusioned failson erasure.
I don't understand the assumption that you'll be able to work for like NASA or spacex by a lot of grads. Like isn't that like assuming that you'll be in an ivy league school cause you did well on the act/sat?
People with engineering degrees and an MBA will be sent down to the countryside
Counterpoint: :rocz-yes:
Civil engineers are the one exception
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I just got a gig doing telecom permitting/design and I've had multiple converations with co-workers about the USSR and socialism already. Got a few Russian and former SSR engineers there so they can give some good perspective.
Also, nothing makes you a socialist faster than spending 8 hours/day looking in detail at America's crumbling communications and electrical infrastructure.
My Moldovan co-worker made a joke about how "it's still probably better than Moldova" and then I pulled up the state GIS database in Moldova and some images of transmission lines there and he immediately changed his mind lmao.
Well shit how are we gonna build shit under socialism when all engineers suck
justin rocz just gets to build everything
me, following him around and pointing at random structural bits: "make it more rigid"