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The faster this tech bubble bursts and people stop flocking to engineering the better.
> Part of me is tired of spending so much of my life in front of a computer. I left my job 2022 February to not sit in meetings and mostly be a preventer of bad engineering rather than a builder of good stuff. On a good day, I told people how they were wrong - on a bad day, I told them how they were wrong, again. If you have the option of taking a sabbatical, I would recommend taking one out of your own choice rather…
You sound like a great guy to work with with all this modesty and open mindedness.
If I had $1m lying around now I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research. Who cares about making improvements to gadgets if we're all going to die in a few decades. The faster this tech bubble bursts and people stop flocking to engineering the better.
I got YouTube Premium, unsubscribed from all the "funny stuff" and subscribed to makers, builders, creators, electronic, aviation, etc. channels only. I am AMAZED at what you can build right now in your own home. I am building an electromagnetic jet engine from scratch. It sounds crazy when you say it out loud but it's the 2023 equivalent of assembling model gliders from balsa wood decades ago.
Here are a few channels that inspired and helped me the most:
Fantastic explanation of how electricity/circuits/elements work:
https://www.youtube.com/@ELECTRONOOBS
https://www.youtube.com/@greatscottlab
These guys are into aviation and actually iterate on their projects:
https://www.youtube.com/@rctestflight
https://www.youtube.com/@TomStantonEngineering
These two are wizards of explaining physics and engineering:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheActionLab
https://www.youtube.com/@Nighthawkinlight
I can't even comprehend the level of engineering this guy does in his garage:
https://www.youtube.com/@StuffMadeHere
PS. If you're getting into electronics from programming it's really, I mean really easy, to do the programming bits which most makers struggle with (because they are pros in circuits and other things). A lot of the learning curve is stuff like "what is a compiler" or "how to install an IDE" which you got covered.
Go to work for a Fortune 100 company. In my experience, the salary isn’t as good, the food and massages aren’t free, but the work life balance is much better. I never feel stress. I enjoy the work. I like my coworkers. I’m the complete opposite of burned out.
If the cause of burnout is disillusionment - aka, you are such a small cog and your work doesn't seem to matter, despite how hard you actually worked - then moving to a different, but still big company, will not change that. Startups, imho, is where to move to, in order to feel impacts.
If the cause of burnout is project-based - aka, you just don't enjoy or feel the project is worthwhile - switching companies might work (a different project).
There's many other causes of burnout, and each will require individual solutions - there's no one size fits all.
You list complex systems research. What about looking for marine research adjacent jobs? They are trying to understand complex interconnected systems and need help integrating so many different projects across many universities. Not sure if MBARI or UCSC have something interesting where you could go on a boat out to sea but back in the late 90s there some really cool jobs relating to that that would have recharged me. Improve the world's knowledge, on a boat out at sea, and maybe a little scuba. Heck yeah!
If I had $1m lying around now I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research. Who cares about making improvements to gadgets if we're all going to die in a few decades. The faster this tech bubble bursts and people stop flocking to engineering the better.
if you are not someone who is already trained at this field, it's inefficient to start on your own. You'd be giving up your expertise and productivity in tech, in return for mediocre output in the research.
Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longetivity research.
If I had $1m lying around now I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research. Who cares about making improvements to gadgets if we're all going to die in a few decades. The faster this tech bubble bursts and people stop flocking to engineering the better.
> I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research if you are not someone who is already trained at this field, it's inefficient to start on your own. You'd be giving up your expertise and productivity in tech, in return for mediocre output in the research. Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longeti…