I’m a mechanical engineer. well, by education anyways, and I’m unemployed at the moment. I’ve literally zero specialty and I pretty much don’t know shit and while I’ve got time to endlessly masturbate in my parent’s house and read, I might as well get some inspiration on what fields I should pursue.

Right now I’m reading this Molten Salt and Thorium reactor textbook

https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=3443A53C8E110C4700A45CBC34CE3328

  • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 months ago

    The RNA world! It's a theory that before there were proteins or DNA, there was what is commonly thought of as the intermediary stage between the two - RNA. It's a theory of abiogenisis by which life came about in a primordial soup animated by lightning strikes until an organic molecule occurred. Then, by time one molecule began to replicate itself, it was the most likely to occur over time and the rest is history. I'm always very thankful that I took a detour in my degree in MKUltra-ing to take a virology class. I learned about RNA in depth before I got exposed to people talking about mRNA in the context of being anti-vaxx like they know shit about fuck.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_world

  • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Read about Plan 9 from Bell Labs

    https://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/4th_edition/papers/

    https://doc.cat-v.org/plan_9/4th_edition/papers/9

    https://9front.org/

    Plan 9 continues Unix

    Communism is soviet power plus the connection of the whole country via the social operating system

  • Poogona [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    ANTS

    ALL LEFTIES SHOULD LEARN THE WAYS OF THE ANT

    Unironically, they make for an incredible model of societies and their moving parts, even down to how they recruit one another for group tasks and how labor is divided up (most of them don't do shit most of the time and it's a good thing)

    AntWiki has the full text of EO Wilson's famous book, good place to dip your toes in https://antwiki.org/wiki/The_Ants

  • GaveUp [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Learn about some real math (proofs) instead of pi ~= 3 ~= e

    Here are some 101 courses from schools

    https://richardhammack.github.io/BookOfProof/

    https://docslib.org/doc/3920024/language-and-proofs-in-algebra-an-introduction-version-1-0

  • sisatici [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Hello fellow mechanical engineer. You can search jobs about power distribution equipment. Relatively niche job market but also comes with benefits of being a niche market. It's not petroleum product, it's not weapon so that is good. An interesting subject I can think of is super conductors. Did you know they have absolute 0 ohm resistance? Not 1/10000000000 ohm or something but perfect 0. Such examples of perfect 0 is quite rare in engineering.

    • gueybana [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 months ago

      I mean I’d do it and it sounds interesting but I wish it were as simple as just applying for a job

      • sisatici [he/him]
        ·
        2 months ago

        It sucks yea. If you ever get into interview act like you won't change jobs, I think this will be their most important criteria

    • 2Password2Remember [he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      how to do this without a job and therefore an enterprise account? unironically. i'm in the same situation as OP

      Death to America

      • tombruzzo [none/use name]
        ·
        2 months ago

        I've figured out. Lie on your resume about having Power BI experience. Lie on your resume about having this certification.

        When you have an interview, go on StackExchange and read through questions to come up with interview answers.

        Once you're in you'll have like 2 weeks where you aren't doing anything. Learn everything Power BI you can in that time. Microsoft has their own tutorials and my work's online learn portal has 14 hour courses on Power BI.

        You should know how to use it then before you're thrown an actual problem. In reality, you'll probably just be running reports the person before you set up.

    • gueybana [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 months ago

      I pretty much already know PowerBI, i just don’t know people or can get a job

      • tombruzzo [none/use name]
        ·
        2 months ago

        It's coming tothe end of the month so get in touch with a bunch of recruiters.They'll want to maximise their commission so they'll put you up for any interview

  • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    All short form content but here: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/kawaii.6474/

    https://computer.rip/2024-07-20-minuteman-missile-communications.html

    https://roitman.io/blog/91

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Biological wastewater treatment is interesting, and not just cause I went to school for it. I remember reading and doing a report on this peer reviewed paper on methods of abbaitor waste treatment. Fascinating stuff.

    • gueybana [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      Oh lord, civil engineering was what Inwanted to study insteadnof mechanical and biological wastewater treatment was exactly why. Thank you for reminding me.

      Any good textbooks/resources?

      • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
        ·
        2 months ago

        Honestly, consult your city/state website. They tend to have snacky reads for people studying for their licenses (at least in Wisconsin). Otherwise a used book on introductory wastewater studies is more than sufficient. I know that sounds lazy, but I haven't found a bad book on the subject. Even some of the old and outdated ones are still reliable on most metrics.

        • gueybana [any]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 months ago

          Could you give me a quick link, for one of the state Wisconsin for example? Just so I know what I’m looking for.

          Sorry for making you do this work, I’m really interested

          • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
            ·
            2 months ago

            No worries, I was kinda lazy myself. https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/opcert/muniWaterworks.html But I'm also not kidding when I say the reading materials really skew excellent. I can't help but think it's that it's hard to politicize in a way that skews away from cleaning up human waste. Every other waste is a different story.