Dataset Viewer
post_id
string | domain
string | score_ratio
float64 | completion
list | label
bool | prompt
list | image
image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n3nno6
|
askengineers_train
| 7.75 |
[
{
"content": "I'd argue that work to NOT provide you with a phone AND expect you to be reachable via phone...is totally unacceptable/unethical on their part. At that point? Who gives a fuck if it's \"normally\" ethical. They've already proven themselves to be shitstains. No way do I let the office install software on my personal phone. Period. If they want apps installed, they can provide the phone.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "New job does not provide a work cell like my old one. Is it unethical to setup a google voice line to use for work? So my last job was at a big corporate robotics company in a controls engineer position. They provided an iphone to use exclusively for work. It was nice since I could separate my work contacts easily and it made it easy to focus at work so I could just keep my personal phone in my pocket and my work cell on my desk. The other part I liked was the fact that all my work related items were separated from my personal life. That way I could turn off my phone during business hours or prevent some contacts from finding my Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. So this new place is a big corporate company, but I work at a small branch of it. So since I didn't get a work phone I had to install comp portal which essentially \"partitions\" part of my phone and has dedicated work apps and such. Now it's somewhat harder to manage work and personal notifications since the cellular network is still personal and connected to my line. For example, if I visit a BMW plant and I'm there two weeks to help setup the new automation I'll give the shift manager my number to keep in contact if something happens. Now after those two weeks are up, occasionally my number or business card gets posted on a wall or shared around and I've had plenty of night shift guys call me at 3 am even when I haven't been at a plant for months. This is one of the few scenarios I'm trying to prevent.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
2n4x4l
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "Sign up for every Mileage or Hotel loyalty program you can and always add it to your reservations. Reap the extra rewards come vacation time. BTW, RIP any sort of long term relationships.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "I just got my first offer since graduating... it's 2 years of training followed by 3-5 years of field engineering, international travel 100% of the time. Any advice? Is that as bad on the social life as it sounds?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
t5ph8v
|
askengineers_train
| 5 |
[
{
"content": "Well, that's probably an issue, especially since you specifically cite that there are mechanical property requirements. Welding is generally considered to be a special process, since you can't verify the results without destructive testing. Therefore, welding would require the use of a validated process. If your company is certified to AS9100, it would seem to be a major nonconformity (see section 8.5.1.2 of the standard), unless the welds are somehow checked /monitored in other ways. For instance, if they're non-destructively inspected, and there is documented evidence that NDT results prove that the welds meet mechanical property requirements, etc. I would suggest playing dumb (something that always has come naturally to me...) - talk to your Quality department and just ask, for your own education, WHY it's not necessary to use a validated welding procedure since it seems to be an important thing in the aerospace industry/standards.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Engineer who feels betrayed I work as a welding engineer for an aerospace parts manufacturer and have been running across this same issue since I started. When I qualify a weld procedure for weld joint and provide that qualified procedure for operations to weld to, it never is used. I have brought this up all the time with management and our QC department but everyone gives me a cold shoulder as we are strictly concerned about sales. Many of these welded joints are aerospace system critical welds and the purpose of the weld procedure is to establish that the parameters and technique meet the mechanical properties for in service use. I am very passionate about what I do and can’t take my counsel being disregarded as being not a big deal. I have thought about reaching out to the customers or FAA because of the severity of this issue. Any thoughts on how to resolve this with management or am I fighting a battle I cannot win?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
jxn6y4
|
askengineers_train
| 5.090909 |
[
{
"content": "I'm 5 years into my career, a senior engineer, and project manager at this point and I do the same thing. Just keep learning and moving forward. Not a big deal.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Feeling incompetent at internship I just started my first consulting internship a few days ago (civil/structural if relevant at all), am in my last year next year and I feel like I’m fumbling around so much. I’m asking basic questions so often and forgetting things I’ve learnt last year because I’m struggling with adapting to deducing numbers and concepts of an entire model as opposed to uni assignments which basically give you all the equations and numbers. I’ve asked so many dumb questions and I feel like my level of understanding is way below what it should be. It’s stressing me out so much and I feel so incompetent and starting to worry that it’s the wrong degree for me. Is this normal and has anyone else experienced this at the beginning?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
zij22d
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "I'm going to agree with other posters here in that we can't tell from your question, OP, whether the ideal gas law is an appropriate way to solve the problem. I'm going to make some assumptions here; \"high school chemistry teacher\" makes me think that this is a question about the combustion of the gasoline and not the expansion of the working fluid (the combustion products/air mixture) to produce work. For combustion, the ideal gas law doesn't really apply; that's much more purely a chemistry problem: gasoline + oxygen => CO2 + H2O + heat. That's stoichiometry, oxidation, combustion, etc... After this happens you can make reasonable assumptions to switch to another problem; pretend like someone magically injected heat (from the combustion we just worked out), how will that heat get converted to work and expansion of the gas? Here you *could* use the ideal gas law to get to the right order of magnitude answer, but this is really thermodynamics so ideal gas is only going to be a back-of-the-envelope-worthy answer. And this feels too advanced to be a high school question.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Years ago my high school chemistry teacher gave me zero points for using the ideal gas law to solve a problem involving burning of gasoline in an engine, stating that gasoline is a liquid not a gas. I thought gasoline is burned in gaseous form. Which one was right? My approach made the problem way easier and clearly wasn't what the teacher intended.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ha3bd6
|
askengineers_train
| 6.5 |
[
{
"content": "Yes. You'd be marketable in system and controls engineering positions—within the automotive industry—if you directed your studies to high-level languages and algorithms. You could work for a medium engineering team (10-30) consisting of embedded software (firmware and platform), electrical (circuit and PCB design) and system (application) engineers. You'd be designing the applications such as ABS brakes, chassis control (three-dimension stability control), ignition fuel control, throttle control, cooling, etc. Edit: Disclaimer to anyone downvoting for “not coding”, I’d greatly beg to differ.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Mechanical engineer thinking about going back and majoring in comp sci. Does anyone have this combo and have a career using both? Hello, I have work as a mechanical engineer, but I've always had the thought of pursuing a double major in compsci. I settled on mechanical engineering because I was further along in classes and convinced myself it is pointless because I would end up getting a job doing one or the other anyways. But I enjoy coding and enjoy making programs work almost more than mech e right now. And I just want to say, looking at the other posts in this subreddit, I apologize if this comes off as entitled. I feel extremely grateful to not have been furloughed or laid off and I feel for anyone who was put in that situation.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
r4wafj
|
askengineers_train
| 4 |
[
{
"content": "It's not a shart, it's a 2-phase release.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Funny: How has engineering changed your everyday vocabulary? I'm a Mechanical Engineer and I can tell y'all that a lot of engineering terms are a part of my general vocabulary. Like when I'm talking about investments with my engineer friends, we talk about \"entropy\" of investments e.g. cash is low entropy, assets are high entropy. But I noticed a funny piece of engineering vocabulary today. My dad's a chemical engineer and he's currently having some trouble with Sulphur flushing at his power plant. This basically means that filtered Sulphur has solidified and choked something. Today he was driving when I was sitting shotgun and some idiot coming wrong way stuck his car blocking the traffic and my dad was just yelling in the car, \"Fucking Sulphur ass person\" and I was laughing like hell even though it's not funny for anyone who doesn't know how annoying Sulfuric choking is for equipment.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
7sodsw
|
askengineers_train
| 4 |
[
{
"content": "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K Dick Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson. Besides Martian colonization potentially happening in our lifetime, it deals with many ethical side effects of engineering and settling. The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov Borges, On Exactitude in Science (preferably find a collection like Ficciones and read a few. Most are pretty short). Library of Babyk is good too",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What non-engineering books should engineers and engineering students read? I've just started getting active within this sub, but have seen questions about what to do with spare time, how to better network, how to do better on interviews, etc. A few common themes have emerged, such as developing your social skills, or taking an interest in America's great equalizer... professional sports. I responded to a question by /u/sweat-e-sac with the suggestion of reading different books to round out your knowledge base. I've compiled a list of books I've read and organized them by subject matter. I find that even when I don't wish to participate in a conversation with someone else, having knowledge of the discussion topic gives me an incredible leg up. What are your suggestions for non-technical/non-engineering books that should be read? Oh and before I forget, definitely try to learn a second language if you don't have fluency in one yet, it is a great talking point in your interviews. **World Affairs** *Overview* * World Order by Henry Kissinger *US Foreign Policy* * Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 by Stephen E. Ambrose *Middle East* * From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman * Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll * The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights by Michael Sfard *China* * On China by Henry Kissinger * China Goes Global: The Partial Power by David Shambaugh *Economics* * Capital in the Twenty-First Century Paperback by Thomas Piketty * Economic Policy Beyond the Headlines by George P. Shultz, Kenneth W. Dam **United States Domestic Issues** *Civil Rights* * Why We Can't Wait by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. * The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander *Poverty* * Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond * Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance *General Politics and Policy* * Free Speech Beyond Words: The Surprising Reach of the First Amendment by Mark V. Tushnet, Alan K. Chen, Joseph Blocher * Decision Points by George W. Bush * The Federalist Papers **Sports** * Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson **Science/Medicine** * The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee * The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee * Permanent Present Tense: The Unforgettable Life of the Amnesic Patient, H. M. by Suzanne Corkin * Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital by David Oshinsky **Religion/Spirituality** * Love Does by Bob Goff * Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Album * Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis **Business** * Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard * Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Hardcover by Phil Knight",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
sha8bx
|
askengineers_train
| 6.025 |
[
{
"content": "Bezos is an electrical engineer.....",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Who is the richest engineer you know, and what do they do?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
fzvsv2
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "The test has a 70% pass rate and a 30% failure rate for first time takers. It's doable but you should study a bit for sure. The exam gives you a detailed list of topics that will be asked about. Be sure you know exactly what to study so you don't waste time!",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How hard is the FE exam? (Texas, USA if it matters). Be the time I'm ready to take the FE, I will have been an engineering student for about 6 years (not because I failed classes, but because I've been trying to protect my GPA: 3.59). I know the FE exam is 6+ hours, but I wanted to ask you guys what your personal hardest questions were (so I can plan studying? I'm a ME engineer, but if the exam is different for different sectors of engineering, please put your experiances too!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
p5pwzg
|
askengineers_train
| 7.8 |
[
{
"content": "Do you like to travel to uninteresting places? Applications or field engineer.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Any job that doesn't require you to stare at the computer all day? I am getting migraine by staring at the computer all day for my current job, reliability engineer. My background is mechanical engineering. Is there any job that doesn't require me to work on the computer all day?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
3hxizh
|
askengineers_train
| 3.333333 |
[
{
"content": "I graduated with the lowest gpa in my class (2.52, which is .02 above eligible), because I was foolishly concerned more about my social life and gaming than education. It was not easy finding a job, and I almost wound up at Radio Shack. Instead, two days before I was supposed to start there, I received a position with a small consulting firm that was a DBE working on a huge rail SCADA project as a sub contractor. I still didn't learn my lesson and begin working hard, nor was I especially knowledgeable, but I had unique knowledge as a young person in software and microprocessor interfaces because the office I worked at was comprised of almost solely older engineers (I believe of the sub, prime and clients in the field office the youngest was 40 at the time). I monopolized and focused on that tidbit of specialized knowledge, and came off being a lot more well learned than I was. I was also, well, very good at being social and making the client happy by constantly talking with them, listening to their needs and finding answers/solutions when most critically needed. The engineering manager of the client (a huge public agency) eventually encouraged me to interview with the agency and I got in. I in fact fit right in with the bad, stereotypical portion of the public employee world and went through the motions for a couple of years in signal engineering design; learning in an unenthusiastic manner, doing not an ounce more than I needed to at a snails pace and complaining about my salary/lack of promotion opportunity. Then, something happened: I received an interview for a dream job, but didn't get the position. It sparked something fierce in me, and I began to work harder than ever. I also studied and got my PE license, and I went back to school to get my Masters, graduating with a 3.85 while working full time. I still got no promotions (because public sector job), so I sought out opportunity elsewhere. The PE empowered that more than anything in the public sector, as well as the flexibility I offered to relocate across the country. I've nearly doubled my salary by taking two positions two years apart in different states, and hugely expanded my industry contacts since. I am regarded as one of the hardest working and knowledgeable employees now, rather than a wise ass slacker, and truly feel fortunate and successful. TLDR: It was a rough start due to my immaturity and poor work ethic (which continued even after graduating with a poor gpa), but I focused on customer service and touting of unique skills at first. As I got older I started working harder, got my PE, sought out opportunity across the US, and ultimately became what I consider to be successful. Edit: formatting, grammar",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "To those who gained their degree while doing the bare minimum to pass/ near bottom of their class, how has your career turned out? How much do you regret not working harder? I might graduate next year with likely either a high 2:2 or scraping a 2:1 by the skin of my teeth (plz god). I have been worried about how much this could devalue my degree as I haven't worked nearly as hard for this as most of the others in my year, and its very demoralising. I hate the technical aspects of engineering, and have never achieved a particularly high grade in a module which requires a lot of understanding of maths/physics, and anything I have learn't I have already forgot. It feels like I'm not making the most of this degree and I dunno how that will impact me when I start a job hunt...",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
jipepy
|
askengineers_train
| 3.666667 |
[
{
"content": "Heavy deadlifts and throw in some squats while you're at it.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Does anyone have any proposals on fixes to the human back? I could really use an upgrade",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
8qds34
|
askengineers_train
| 5.8 |
[
{
"content": "Personally the degree pushed me and taught me to think a certain way that helps me problem solve. That and the fundamental knowledge it gives you certainly make things easier.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Do you think you could do your job (and what is it) without the degree required and just some job training?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
su98g1
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "A laptop better than you need to do the job and all the software you need already installed and ready to go.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What would you like to get when you start with a new company? I’m working in our onboarding experience program. Is there any branded swag you’ve gotten that left an impression, or some procedure you think every company should follow when bringing on a new engineer?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
sq8q3z
|
askengineers_train
| 7.307692 |
[
{
"content": "Not mercury",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "If cost wasn't a consideration, what would he the best metal to make a car from?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ppcis3
|
askengineers_train
| 3.75 |
[
{
"content": "Have you held a tape measure or ruler out to eyeball out a cubic foot? A cubic foot is actually pretty big. Or measured what appears to be a small moving box. Also, I've noticed in myself that my impression of a milk jug was made when I was a kid and things were a lot bigger. There's also the weight-volume cubic scaling thing. Something that is double the length in all directions is going to have 8x the volume. It could be you're perceiving that a foot is only like double as long as a milk jug so then the factor of 2 is what registers to your sense of estimation, rather than needing something closer to 8.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Has anyone ever proven the cubic feet to gallon conversion? I hate this conversion. Generally, every other conversion I use makes sense. I can picture 3.78 L in one gallon, 200ish feet per side for a square acre, etc. Then there's this b\\*stard. You're telling me in one cubic foot, I can fit almost 7.5 gallons? Obviously the easiest reference is to a milk jug and I understand a milk jug is slightly larger than a gallon and not a cube. Even if I was generous and knew no better, I would say MAYBE 4 gallons. What I really want to do is build a 1 cubic foot container and actually prove it. I mean, I know it's correct, but I still somehow don't believe it. I can't find a video or picture anywhere. Can anyone help put this behind me? It bothers me much, much more than it should.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
xmuhev
|
askengineers_train
| 7.714286 |
[
{
"content": "I think there are a couple problems here from an overall perspective: 1) the refrigerator isn't always on so the heating will come in bursts 2) the energy going to the floor mat still end up in the room - so you aren't solving that AC problem. 3) Refrigerators just don't output that much power. Most are like 1/3 the heat output of a space heater. Also, this system would be very complex to install. If you circulated some fluid to the heating mat (from the fridge's condenser) then you would risk destroying all the food in your fridge if the lines ever got damage. I can't see another practical way to really move that heat other than a pumped fluid.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Would it be reasonable to create a system where the waste heat from a refrigerator is run into either a floor mat or connected to a heated floor system to make better use of that energy? Refrigerators require a way to vent off all the heat it generates/moves. It seems to me that it would be better to make use of that heat by transferring it somewhere that it’s wanted then to just vent it into the air in the kitchen and then running ac to then cool the air. Meanwhile my wife’s feet are always freezing.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
eh691t
|
askengineers_train
| 4.695652 |
[
{
"content": "Have you considered 3D printing as a hobby?",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Being bored out of my head My friends in electrical engineering are always doing these fun projects at home with arduinos and what not. My friends in computer science are writing amazing, functional programs to kill time. I as a mechanical engineering student have nothing I can do (at least that comes to mind). Every interesting project needs a lot of money. So help, can I as a mechanical engineering student kill time with fun, relevant projects? If so, like what?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
cn2rjb
|
askengineers_train
| 5.068182 |
[
{
"content": "It's not a protected term and it makes them sound important.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Why do \"audio engineers\" get to be called engineers? I never understood this. To me, this makes as much sense as calling a duck a grilled cheese sandwich.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
rud14e
|
askengineers_train
| 3.363636 |
[
{
"content": "My last job I was a \"project engineer\" at a large paper products company. I was under the impression that I would be scoping out capital projects to improve the line / facilities. It turns out they were really looking for a maintenance engineer and just ended up baby sitting contractors to complete maintenance work on plant outages. There was no real \"engineering\" to be done. Half the contractors just thought I was the plant safety person because all I did was do the pre job safety assessment with the contractors before work began and basically just watched them complete the work. I ultimately quit because I wasn't learning anything, I worked lots of weekends and holidays, and was on call and got sick of being woke up Saturday at 3 am after working all week just because a machine broke and they needed contract labor to come fix it. Pay was good, but work life balance was trash. I also was not a fan of working with the typical blue collar worker type. No offense to them, but I got tired of hearing about their trucks, hunting, fishing, and watching them destroy their bodies with monster energy drinks, alcohol, and hearing about their \"crazy ex wives\" that they have to send child support money to every month. It was not a culture I liked being around and really wasn't doing engineering. It's a shame because it was a good company, but completely trash role to hire an engineer for.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Why did you leave your last job?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
gkz0db
|
askengineers_train
| 3.5 |
[
{
"content": "I may be in the minority, but I view the two very differently. I am biased as well since I have an MS. An MS is nearly required if you want to do any high level R&D. I was actually in the minority with \"only\" an MS and not a PhD at my job. In my on-site interview, I had to present a trimmed down version of my thesis to the entire engineering group. An ME will provide you with more specialized knowledge that can open more doors than a BS, but will not provide you with the tools to conduct research. The MS gives you the experience of diving into journal articles and bleeding edge research while creating something new and presenting it as your thesis. If you work as an RA, you'll have even better exposure to more experiments and knowledge. **TLDR**: If you want to get a job doing typical engineering in a specialized or advanced field, go with the ME. If you want to go into research, go with the MS. And don't get me started on the universities offering coursework only graduate degrees as an MS. A guy I work with got his MS totally online doing homework, whereas I busted my ass for two years to invent a whole new manufacturing method, write a paper, and present my thesis. Not a comparable experience!",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Should I get a Master's of Science (MS) in mechanical engineering or a Master's of Engineering (ME) in mechanical engineering? I recently graduated with a Bachelor's in biomedical engineering and I was planning to go straight into industry, but I'm looking at graduate school options now due to the current job market/not being able to find a job. I did two co-ops in the medical device industry, and that is something I would like to go back to. I'm not really interested in a PhD or working in higher education. Since I want to go into industry, how do employers view an MS vs an ME? Additional Program Info: My undergrad school is offering a 55% grad school tuition scholarship to all of the school's 2020 graduates due to the current job market. I'm stuck between a Master's of Science (MS) in mechanical engineering and a Master's of Engineering (ME) in mechanical engineering. Both take the same two fundamentals classes and have the same electives/focus area classes available, but the Master's of Science (MS) does a thesis and takes fewer focus courses while the Master's of Engineering (ME) takes a few more focus courses and a project or internship instead of a thesis.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
oyey6i
|
askengineers_train
| 4.344828 |
[
{
"content": "Do what you’re interested in. I don’t see why electrical would have better options. Mechanical is needed in every industry.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Girls in Mechanical Engineering? im a rising senior in high school, interested in majoring in mechanical engineering but my dad says the job market is bad and its really hard for a girl to get a job in mechanical engineering... he told me \"you're going to work really hard for a four year bachelor's, and then you're not even going to get a good pay.\" instead he suggested me to go to electrical engineering but i think mechanical engineering is 1000x cooler personally. i thought there were lots of mechanical engineering job opportunities near me because i live in long island which is near nyc. what can i say to convince him?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
446vvr
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "Here's a list.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Train engines are basically diesel generators with electric motors, is this design used in other vehicles as well? Basically the above, I'm specifically wondering whether the huge earth movers at mines are ever built this way and I'm also riding in a bus to work atm wondering if city buses are ever built that way?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
tlw4gz
|
askengineers_train
| 6.5 |
[
{
"content": "Monel - for oxygen rich environments AL7075-T73511 - for space grade AL that needs to be stronger than 6061",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What material X is typically or best used in Y application? Hi /AskEngineers, I'm looking to expand my materials knowledge and was just wondering based on your field and experience, what have you come to know as a material X that's typically used in Y situation? It can be a specific application or general, but common situation. For example you use it often for prototyping before production or it's the best material against a certain chemical. Off the top of my head the materials I can think of (in no particular order) are: - Aluminum 6061: Common grade for use as structural parts, jigs, quick prototypes, molds, etc. Probably one of my most commonly used materials. - Aluminum 5052: Common grade for parts that need to be bent or formed, but balanced for structure. - Stainless 304: Common general purpose stainless steel. This grade can work harden, so there are similar grades that are better for machining. - Stainless 316: Higher corrosion resistant stainless for marine type applications. - High Speed Steel: Common low cost material for machining. - Carbide: Common high performance material for machining. - Polycarbonate: Common plastic used in many applications such as windows, IP/NEMA enclosures, product enclosures/casings, etc. Easily machined. - Delrin/acetal: Common high strength/low friction plastic that's easy to machine. - PVC: Common material for tubing of various applications. Can be flexible or rigid. - PTFE: Common low friction, high temperature resistant, chemical resistant plastic. - Polyimide: Plastic suited for extreme temperature/strength applications. Probably most commonly seen as that gold film/tape Kapton. Not cheap. - Acrylic/PMMA: Common optical plastic for lenses and optical fiber. - Silicone: Common high temperature rubber suitable for sealing and thermal padding. - Buna-N: Common general purpose rubber for sealing. - Borosilicate glass: Common general purpose, thermally stable glass material for lab equipment where silica is not needed. - BK7 glass: Common optical glass typically used when fused silica isn't need. - Silica/quartz glass: Common superior optical and thermally stable material. Can take significant thermal shock. Material also has incredibly low thermal expansion coefficient.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
fp9oog
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "Not necessarily a fidget, but I keep my shame on my desk lol. Broken eye bolt, that cost a $60k shop error (no injuries thank god). Broken fin from an electric motor, because what it was rotating interfered with it. A shaft that a wire rope almost cut clean through on a hoist, when the rope left the sheave. Reminds me to think about alllllllllll of the what if’s I can.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What are your favorite engineering-related fidgets? I love having an assortment of good fidgets on my desk, especially for all my virtual meetings now. When I worked at a nuclear power designer I was given a super small pneumatic piston that made a perfect fidget (I sadly donated it to a co-worker when I left.) Now I've got a few machined stainless spinners and an infinity cube. I'm usually a sucker for over-engineered kinetic toys. What's on your desk?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
7x7o6f
|
askengineers_train
| 3.5 |
[
{
"content": "I think a few people have mentioned it but Site Engineers and Project Engineers for Contractors. You are out on site for a good portion of your time managing the actual construction efforts and providing advice. I'm a Site Engineer and I spend all of my time out on site managing quality, program as well as some commercial stuff. I provide guidance for the constructions issues on site that may occur as well. I will admit though what I do as an engineer is definitely low on the technical side of things.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What type of engineers work outside of an office?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
mzxsg1
|
askengineers_train
| 3.6 |
[
{
"content": "Drawings https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_drawing",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "For major projects like a skyscraper or a nuclear power plant that require huge crews of construction workers that may not have the same education background, how do engineers explain what to do?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ritnn8
|
askengineers_train
| 8 |
[
{
"content": "My company computer camera is disabled. It's a whole procedure to turn it on.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Interviewer not turning on camera for zoom interview Would you find it odd if the person interviewing you doesn’t turn on their camera? The last two rounds of interviews at a company I’ve had the interviewer not turn on their camera. I personally find it a bit weird",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
d80gkq
|
askengineers_train
| 5.5 |
[
{
"content": ">Old engineers are bored and might want something to flex their engineering muscles on. Is this is a thing? My fellow older engineers are always learning/tinkering on something.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How About a Monthly r/AskEngineers Challenge ? Young engineers need more experience. Old engineers are bored and might want something to flex their engineering muscles on. We all need more interdisciplinary experience. So here is the idea: - First week of each month is the proposal period. - Anyone can propose a challenge by making a post starting with 'CHALLENGE'. - The first challenge post that gets past 100 (subject to change) upvotes is the official challenge for that month. No need to wait the end of the week. - The challenge can be field specific or interdisciplinary. I suppose interdisciplinary could be more fun in general. - The challenges must be sized in such a way that tangible results must be available at the end of the month. No space shuttles pls. - Anyone can contribute. - OP is the main person responsible for following trough. He/she is responsible with setting up the collaboration environment and collating the results. - Contributors post updates as they make them. - At the end of the month OP and the collaborators post final result.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
oprqx1
|
askengineers_train
| 5.692308 |
[
{
"content": "I reviewed a few bridge inspection reports that were reviews of someone else’s bridge inspections haha! Bridge Engineer - Manager",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "In a single sentence, describe what you accomplished at work today In layman's terms, the work you actually did today (or the last day you worked). Not a general description of your job, and obviously nothing confidential or identifying. Please list your discipline and industry. My job satisfaction has been low recently, and I think it's because I have a hard time finding a tangible answer to this question. I'm curious to see what other engineers are doing. Thanks!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
w5jvxm
|
askengineers_train
| 5.333333 |
[
{
"content": "This doesn't even sound like a true Project Engineer or Project Manager job in my opinion. Do you have a Budget, Schedule, and Work Breakdown Schedule for each Project? Do you have a Scope of Work for each project? Do you have frequent meetings for each Project? Are your projects truly projects or are they just tasks that pop up wheneve things break? Your job sounds more like a Maintenance Supervisor position than a Project Engineer or Project Manager position. Maintenance Supervisor is not a bad job, but it sounds like that's not what you were expecting this role to be. Maintenance Supervisors may be given small-scale projects, but that's generally not their main focus. Mainly they work on getting daily maintenance repairs done by organizing labor hours and parts usage of a team of craftsmen, and give some technical support to their crews. If you want to be more hands-on, a position like Instrumentation or Controls Engineer would work for you. These are usually located at factories/plants, so the hours would still kind of suck. If you want to do design, you should into working for an EPC firm. You can also do true Project Management work at an EPC firm, but it seems like you're more interested in the hands-on stuff.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Is all manufacturing engineering the same? I graduated from college just over a year ago with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering technology and found myself working in a steel mill. I show up and they tell me I am going to be a project manager. 6 months in and I'm managing about 7 electricians. Not a bad gig but my issue with that is that what I do daily is so mind-numbingly boring, I can't do any work on things in the field due to it being a strong union environment, most of the people I manage have a holier-than-thou attitude and don't appreciate, to put it lightly, when I tag along to see how certain tasks get done, and I can't program PLCs (I minored in industrial controls so programming PLCs is kind of my thing). Not to mention the extreme amount of hours I am obligated to work. 40-45 is normal (I'm not complaining about that) but some months it's 50-60 (this is an issue IMO). They do pay for hours worked over in that case but id honestly rather have the time off. Suffice to say I feel that I'm not allowed to be involved in the process and am just thrown a small project that doesn't feel meaningful like \"install some radar sensors\" that requires me to go to an electrician and tell him that we want to install them and let him figure it out how he wants to mount everything. My question boils down to this: if I begin looking for different opportunities at another factory/plant should I expect a similar experience? Am I being ungrateful? I don't want to fall prey to the \"I got an engineering degree and I'm not doing any engineering\" trope but I got an EET degree to get my hands dirty but instead I find myself watching other people get dirty. TLDR: Are all EE jobs in manufacturing exclusively about project management or can I actually help solve problems with active involvement?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
6mmice
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "It's not at all what I thought it would be like while in school, but thank the lord it's not. I'm up into management now, and it's been an interesting new challenge. I miss the ability to jump into the weeds and get dirty on projects as an engineer, but it's a lot of fun being the guy steering the ship. I really didn't enjoy the school part of college, but I'm glad I stuck it out.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "How satisfied are you with your engineering career and is it what you expected it to be when you first started?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
rof1rr
|
askengineers_train
| 4.666667 |
[
{
"content": "I started a junk removal business, an event photo booth, and am becoming a notary soon to cover the gaps. I hate being an engineer though, so this amalgamation is just a way to escape my regular job hopefully this summer.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Do you work a side job? So 2021 was a funky year for me. I changed jobs, only to be laid off, and my new job came about 10 days later but it’s a fair drop in salary. I like the workplace and what we’re doing so I’d like to give them at least a year or two of service, but the money isn’t where it needs to be. I also have a big expense coming up this year (my wedding) so I’d like to earn some money on the side in the short term. Ideally it would be contract work and I can pick my own hours (or at least some flexibility so I can actually do my day job). Does anyone work work any side work? I’m in Canada, ME with my stamp in my province, but that’s not really useful outside of where I live. Doesn’t have to be engineering work, but I’m curious to know if anyone has a side gig? Before anyone goes on an antiwork tirade - I like the environment, they have a reasonable amount of flexibility and I’ve had a few job changes lately so I’d personally like to put in a few years as long as the relationship works. I plan on pushing in my yearly review for more pay, but “just change jobs” isn’t something I’m interested in at this moment.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
fld4tn
|
askengineers_train
| 3.909091 |
[
{
"content": "Concidering an sitting in a toilet browsing Reddit? Not bad",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Be honest. How productive has WFH been for you? What kind of work did you do? Are you finding it easier to get things done? Harder? Depends on the task? If/when things go back to normal, do you think you'd work from home more than before?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
xhaw4e
|
askengineers_train
| 4.5 |
[
{
"content": "Also - radiative sky cooling! Fascinating concept - take your return feed to the chiller (basically warm water). Run it through a pipe, like a solar thermal panel. Coat the surface of the panel in special nano magic that shifts the output wavelength to the far ends of the infrared spectrum. Tailored to avoid the absorption gap of molecules in the air. That means you are radiating heat from your chiller return directly into space. Which is a way colder heat sink than the atmosphere! Effectively this is sidestepping the laws of thermodynamics using quantum physics and nano tech, and getting all those buzz words into a sentence definitely gets me bonus points. But the science actually checks out, the tech is being commercially tested at present. Not sure if it will pan out but I really hope it does.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What do you see as the next significant shift in energy efficiency? I will say that led lighting was shocking to me. Do you see another impactful consumer product? Is there anything on the grid level that will save energy? I have alway had a gamie interest in UHVDC retrofits for power transmission. Is there anything on the thermal energy side that is interesting? Heat pumps have been getting a little attention. Adjacently, would you make predictions in energy storage that may avoid or eliminate the need for peaker plants? Are we at the end of the rope for thermal power plant efficiency?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
eur33m
|
askengineers_train
| 3.176471 |
[
{
"content": "Surprise telephone interview with well-known training company, pulled over to side of road and talked for an hour. They were interested. I was interested. All great until we get into how payment works. It scales with the difficulty of the class. Teach entry level certifications, get $30 an hour. Mid-grade, $40 an hour. Senior certifications similar to P.E. preparation classes, $60 an hour. You're a contractor, and you'll get notified a week or two out if anything is available. As long as you take most of them, relationship continues. Would be a great job for a retiree who wants extra cash, can pass a P.E. exam equivalent certification in their sleep and wants 20-35 weeks per year of easy work. Not great if you're starting a family and want to guarantee over $50k a year.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Have you ever felt that the company was the one that failed the interview? I've seen lots of posts here about interviews where the candidate felt that that the interview went badly, they did X or Y wrong, and wanted feedback on how to improve in the future. How about the opposite? Has anyone had an interview where they felt the employer was the one that completely blew it? If so, why? I'll start. I am a senior staff scientist at my current employer, and a subject matter expert in a couple of specific areas in my field. A few years ago I got an email from the owner of another local company, who said they saw my resume online and they had an opening they thought would be a great fit, and would I be interested in talking? I visited their website and saw that several of their business areas indeed lined up with my particular skills. I wrote back and said sure, and an interview was set up for a week later. I showed up on time, expecting that I would be meeting with the owner and their chief engineer to discuss their business areas, my background, and the position. Instead, I was met by a middle manager, who took me to a small conference room. We sat down, and he said \"ok, so this is the position\" and described a job where I would sit in a shared space with 6 other people taking data outputted from some simulation and making powerpoint slides. I asked that there might have been some mistake, maybe HR had mixed me up with a junior candidate, and I said I had been contacted by the owner to discuss a position that was a good fit for my skill set. He said no, and reached into a folder and handed me a copy of my resume. I realized immediately that this was some sort of body shop, they just wanted seats filled to charge contract dollars. I told they guy that I was currently a senior staff scientist, the position was completely inappropriate for someone of my background, and that I didn't appreciate them having deceived me and wasting my time. I got up and walked out. I was there less than five minutes.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
9w4mch
|
askengineers_train
| 4.25 |
[
{
"content": "A mud pump from an oil rig.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "If I needed to pump 12 gpm of water mixed with a LOT of rocky sediment directly upwards for more than half a mile, what equipment would be best suited for the task? So imagine that I'm pumping water that has a large amount of rocky sediment mixed into it, and I need to get it up a very tall building. What sort of equipment would best be suited for the purpose? And what type of pipe or hose would be best? I'm looking for a bit of math behind what force would be required to pump 12 gallons per minute of water straight upwards against gravity?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
3k0r6h
|
askengineers_train
| 3.142857 |
[
{
"content": "About 8 years ago, working for a media company (a TV channel featuring user-submitted but heavily \"curated\" content, owned by someone who may have gotten elected president but the electoral college went the other way) trying to make a social site that would be so big, it would reach \"MySpace-scale\".... So the original site's proof-of-concept was implemented by this guy who was pretty defensive about his prototype, and bewildered at the 10-person development team that had grown around him very quickly. Whenever someone would threaten this guy, he would actually sneak into their code & break it, and then ask management to fire the putz. He was able to do this because he had convinced a fantastically technically illiterate management that his code was \"too fluid\" for any change-control, so there would be no record of when things were modified or who authored them. Management, of course, always sided with him regardless of evidence, because they thought he was the secret sauce. So they brought in this guy to be the chief architect & try to supervise the little rogue shit. Being a heavily \"democratic\" company, and very vested in renewable energy, since our fearless leader practically invented the term \"Global Warming\", I thought they would be delighted when I made arrangements with Amazon to partner in the very new (Beta) Amazon S3 cloud - I showed that we could reduce the carbon footprint of our operation by over 70%, and run the entire site for pennies on the dollar when compared to buying & coloing our own hardware. Turned out this chief architect they had brought in had made some big promises to vendor friends, and as soon as the powers that be heard about (and liked) my plan, my responsibilities were very quickly shifted around so he could fire me saying I had not met my newly assigned goals before they were assigned. Literally, walked out of the building by Pinkertons so this guy could protect his dirty vendors.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What are the worst office politics you've encountered as an engineer? Comic, tragic, convoluted...(what was the issue, who were the perps, what were the stakes :). Thanks!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
kl1xv1
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "I'd look at acid etching or scarification. This is a pdf that goes into the pros and cons of various methods of creating a non-slip surface on concrete: https://www.concreteconstruction.net/_view-object?id=00000153-8b70-dbf3-a177-9f7990b70000 My first choice would acid etching, there is muratic acid and some new plant based and citric formulas that don't have the nasty fumes. You could do a small test patch and see how you like it, just a little roughness can turn a smooth surface into non-slip. You might need to strip the surface if the concrete has a sealer. I'd use a paint roller and plastic tray for the acid. The pdf I linked suggests using sawdust mixed with hydrochloric acid. \"Rust-Oleum 238475 Concrete Etch, 1 Pack - Epoxy Concretes - Amazon.com\" https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-238475-Concrete-Etch-Pack/dp/B0012YIZ28 There is a machine called a concrete scarifier. They are available for rent at equipment rental places. There are flooring companies that have these machines for preparing concrete for painting, tile, etc. The machines can use different types of tooling for the amount of cleaning and surface roughness required. Call a contractor and get quotes for roughing the surface. My second choice would be a tennis court surface, extremely durable and there are usually many available contractors. A tennis court contractor may also have a scarifier to quote roughing as well. Coatings on concrete are expensive and prone to failure even when done by professionals. I work in a massive pharmaceutical factory where the floors are refinished regularly, we use top contractors and the labor required to properly prepare and coat the floor is massive. \"What is a scarifier and when is it a good choice for surface prep? - Substrate Technology, Inc.\" https://www.substratetechnology.com/index.php/faq-articles/75-what-is-a-scarifier-and-when-is-it-a-good-choice-for-surface-prep Best of luck.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What is the most cost effective method to make concrete slip resistant when wet? The motive behind this question is to reduce the number of injuries occurring beside the pool. Using anything different than concrete is impossible for several reasons. So I am bound to find a way to make concrete slip resistant when wet. The area I'm trying to cover next to the pool is not that big (about 20mx30m) but it gets really wet and extremely high traffic. I found on Google \"Aqua tapes\" but I'm not sure about these. What do you guys think?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
b46l2e
|
askengineers_train
| 5 |
[
{
"content": "Many different ways, but in your case it’s dependent on the fact the two parts have a gasket and the pan is not responsible for much of any load.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "How do engineers determine torque values for fasteners? For example, I have to torque my oil pan fasteners to 70 inch pounds. How do they determine this value?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
revcjd
|
askengineers_train
| 3.4 |
[
{
"content": "Yea, 9-5 is for the birds. I can’t even fathom how people can go through their entire lives as such. But the all mighty dollar dictates a great deal…",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What positions require engineers to work in shifts? Soon to be Mechanical (Automotive) Engineer. I find the 9-5 routine to be horrendous, so I am looking for potential alternatives. A quick Google doesn't tell me anything conclusive, apart from Quora telling me about manufacturing engineers that work as supervisors, and a similar question asked on this subreddit in 2016 but I find it too specific. Mostly they are talking about their jobs, not as \"XYZ Engineer can work in shifts in ABC conditions\" As such, what positions are there for a Mechanical Engineer who has to work in shifts, not necessarily 3 shifts, 2 are also plenty. Thank you, and sorry if the question is obtrusive :)",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
whr0fr
|
askengineers_train
| 5.378378 |
[
{
"content": "Well in the town I'm working, when I piss in a urinal it actually makes the water more clear.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "The US is criticized for the poor state of its road, bridge, and rail infrastructure. How are we doing in terms of water mains and our electrical grid?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
twk6m3
|
askengineers_train
| 3.5 |
[
{
"content": "Don't work for free. Don't normalize this shitty behavior. ​ Have a nice day :)",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How do we feel about technical presentations/take home assignments in the engineering job interview process? I've noticed these becoming increasingly popular for mid/senior level engineering positions that I have been interviewing for and I'm personally not a fan. I feel that an impromptu technical exercise during an interview is fair game. And jobs at say a product design firm that require a portfolio up front are fine. But anything that requires a candidate to do significant prep work between interviews (eg. slide deck, take home case study) is pushing it. Have you noticed this becoming more common?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
2uv827
|
askengineers_train
| 5.5 |
[
{
"content": "Especially with mcmaster carr listing deraillers in their catalog.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Why do we not see a large number of train derailments or delays from simple pranks or accidents? https://i.imgur.com/xehGkTQ.jpg I saw that on /r/OSHA , it was a joke BTW, but it raised a question I've thought of before \"Isn't it really easy to cause an accident to damage trains?\". I mean a simple metal saw could cut up the track and cause a derailment. You have trees falling on tracks in some areas. I don't understand why we don't see a plethora of terrorist attacks or pranks gone wrong that are really damaging trains.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
mras2x
|
askengineers_train
| 4.4 |
[
{
"content": "Tell him you want a refund.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How difficult is it going to be for a \"Corona batch\" pass out to get a job and earn respect from their peers? The Dean of my college straight up said that our batch will probably be at the bottom of preference list for most recruiters cause passing exams etc is so much easier online (Google search), and pursuing civil engineering, the lack of hands-on practical experience will hurt us real bad.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
a4ojts
|
askengineers_train
| 3.333333 |
[
{
"content": "Yup. Any lift tool I design needs a minimum FS of 5:1. I do a write up, list my assumptions, FBD, material properyies, and then equations. Then they're checked by another engineer. Usually I don't have a problem of meeting the FS.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Engineers, do you ever actually draw free body diagrams at work? If so, what for?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
x3gxx5
|
askengineers_train
| 3.75 |
[
{
"content": "Q-bits and quantum computing. That's shits nuts.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What do you think of engineering/science that is the closest to magic? I'm trying to determine what is the most unexplainable, confusing pheneomons out there that we know of yet are unexplainable in the fields of engineering/science. What is the most shrouded in mysteries waiting to be discovered or realized. Stuff like that. I've read around a bit and I'm thinking along the lines of magnets, radios, electricity, etc. Or space and astronomy. Or Maybe the ocean and what lives under it. AI? Biotechnology? Biochemistry? Psychology or neuroscience? Thereotical mathematics? There's so much! Bonus: What field of study is it under? Trying to determine what to study.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
bauf7z
|
askengineers_train
| 4.5 |
[
{
"content": "Bend some paper clips into L shapes. Attach them to the bottom of two meter sticks so that they are pointing outward from the skinny non printed edge. Use your skinny scoops to grab your phone.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Followup: I dropped my phone into a deep place. Hi Reddit! CONTEXT: Posted this about a week ago and I've been trying to get it out since then. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/b74l6i/solutions_to_retrieving_objects_stuck_in_a_deep/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share My phone fell into this deep narrow space. It's 1.5m deep, 30cm across and about 1cm wide. There are walls on the sides so it's similar to a box. One of the walls is angled so as it goes deeper down, it gets narrower. Here's a picture to reference: http://imgur.com/gallery/r7rNXiV Things I've tried: 1. Tried to hook up my phone as it has a small loop of string attached to it, but it was really hard to as there's hardly any light going down into it. Shining a torchlight into another phone doesn't work either, though I miraculously managed to get a photo. 2. Tried to use two wider tape measures to try to pull it up (Due to the L shape), but I found out about the angled wall. Here are some suggestions you guys suggested, but I ran into a bit of trouble. 1. Many of you guys suggested to use wire hangers and I do have them, but have no idea how to use them to retrieve my phone. :-( Also the depth is pretty deep at 1.5m, so that's a problem. 2. Some also suggested to use string to loop over the phone and pull it up but it's really hard to do given the lack of light. 3. About using tape and dragging it up against the wall: Tried this, but tape kept getting itself stuck onto the surface of the walls. 4. I don't have mercury. (LOL) I know this may be a very lengthy post and I really do hope that I don't come off as being too demanding or anything. I really thank all of you for having given me valuable input! I'll be able to try and get it out again next week so any advice before then is gladly welcome! Thanks in advance!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
txmx36
|
askengineers_train
| 3.333333 |
[
{
"content": "No. Two things: First, automation is garbage for a lot of manual labor. It's use case is actually pretty narrow and is often only supplementary within a larger manual labor process. Second, you always need to support automation with staff for monitoring, repair, design, programming, etc. There's also generally someone there loading raw materials, watching the machine and quality of output, and to handle the finished output. Automation is always supplemental. Can it reduce total staffing requirements? Sure, but the loss is generally shifted into more skilled roles. This is also why higher education is becoming more mandatory.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Do you think mass unemployment due to automation and AI is going to be a problem, and, if so, what should we as a society do about it? Will people be able to train for new jobs as quickly as they lose their old jobs? Will their new jobs then be lost? Is just providing cash such as a Universal Basic Income a good idea, iyo, or would providing actual housing, food, and healthcare be better or just leave people to find their own new solution?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
as8q5g
|
askengineers_train
| 5.4 |
[
{
"content": "In addition to what others have said, I think another good aspect is being able to see the bigger picture and strategic goals of the business, and taking that into consideration to what you are doing.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What does it mean to be a “good” engineer, and how do you develop yourself to become one? I am currently a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, and I am wondering how to develop myself to become a “good” engineer; what does it take to do so, or what type of mindset is necessary to do well as an engineer?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
87y3qy
|
askengineers_train
| 7.8 |
[
{
"content": "Automotive engineer here. I travel a lot.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What type of engineers travel the most?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
w2jt9f
|
askengineers_train
| 3.555556 |
[
{
"content": "I have two side gigs, I moonlight on the local ambulance, and am a volunteer fire fighter. Both give me the satisfaction of helping people, and the ambulance reminds me that I can't make the income I want without working my desk job, and keeps me from going as crazy working a desk job. And the ambulance still stimulates the engineering/problem solving part of my brain.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Does anyone have a job they feel actually helps people or contributes significant good to the world? If so, what do you do?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
zij22d
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "Neither. But it depends.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Years ago my high school chemistry teacher gave me zero points for using the ideal gas law to solve a problem involving burning of gasoline in an engine, stating that gasoline is a liquid not a gas. I thought gasoline is burned in gaseous form. Which one was right? My approach made the problem way easier and clearly wasn't what the teacher intended.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
mlg51k
|
askengineers_train
| 3.329032 |
[
{
"content": "Not every problem can be solved by reversing the polarity.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What engineering stereotypes in movies and TV do you hate? I hate when they have an engineer is just an encyclopedia of tech specs. I was watching some show and they were trying to get into a car, the engineer character says \"the 2008 dodge..... Has a mechanism 2.5 inches under the door handle. Jam the screwdriver thru the panel there.\" Just off the top of his head. Unless he designed that he has no idea. And this is not a stand alone incident. That guy knew everything about everything made by humans. This carries over to real life. People ask me all sorts of highly specific questions about design intention or tech specs that nobody but the designer would know. And they are shocked when I don't know.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
otycly
|
askengineers_train
| 3.166667 |
[
{
"content": "I honestly wouldn't do anything differently. A few years working in an aerospace machine shop, and doing the FSAE program, were great. If there's a deficiency I often see in new engineers (including myself) it's being able to communicate clearly and concisely. But, that's not really a job offer hangup.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "If you were to go back to college, what skills would you learn to give you an advantage in landing a job?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
4vtfei
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "what kinds of making are in your skill set, or are things you'd like to learn? woodworking, welding, machining, sewing, electronics, knitting, baking, ...",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What is a good DIY, relatively inexpensive, bday gift for an engineer? One of my closest friends is a civil engineer and is having a bday soon! I want to be able to make her something really awesome, but do not have many ideas. Just thought some of you would have some good input on what I could make that an engineer would like for their birthday. Please let me know your thoughts and thanks for your help! :)",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ejzugo
|
askengineers_train
| 3.8 |
[
{
"content": "IMO the top three are 1. Modern object-oriented programming with intros to data structures, data analysis, and machine learning. Not simply hacking together frankencode for whatever MATLAB homework you happen to be doing, which is what most students today probably end up doing. 1. Statistics — usually optional for a math minor, I feel a lot of engineering applications benefit from statistical analyses, yet never do them. 1. Calculus-based microeconomics, possibly with an intro of behavioral econ — foundation for how project budgets and resource planning works. --- Going against the grain here: the opinion that humanities and other gen. ed. classes are worthless for engineers isn't unpopular — if anything it's largely prevalent among engineering students and fresh grads. This attitude is part of the whole STEM elitism / gatekeeping mentality, and frankly it's immature and short-sighted. Learning about fields outside your own helps round out the engineering mentality within all of us, the one that is sometimes overly logical, not as creative as we want, and uninterested in anything outside of engineering and our passion hobbies. You aren't an engineer. You're a human being who happens to be in the profession of engineering. Engineering is how we make a living 40-60 hours a week or whatever. The rest of the time we do other things that also matter, like vote, raise kids, volunteer, or however you decide to make some good in the world. There will always people that are engineering prodigies and it might be their entire being, but for the rest of us there's value to be found outside of our stated profession. --- /u/openresult3 /u/oogliebooglie93 /u/ilikep0tatoes",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Engineers, what other subjects should be taught in school to engineers that isn’t an engineering course? What engineering subjects are over emphasized? When looking back to your college education and or seeing what your future college education withholds, what courses/subjects do you think should be add or removed that arent traditional in engineering and maybe are important in other fields? Something thats not explained in school and is only learned from experience in industry is how engineering depends on various other fields (marketing, management, sales, HR, etc). For example, I believe engineers, and really every major, should have to take a business marketing and or self marketing course. Countless graduates come out of school confused on how to sell themselves to a company whose hiring and many engineers have great ideas/inventions they don’t know how to market to the public. I feel marketing could greatly help individuals. On the other hand, what classes/courses do you think are almost useless or overvalued? I don’t have a great example but thats just me, Im curious if anyone else has a good example. (Im an ME grad from Penn State by the way)",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
bhkq7n
|
askengineers_train
| 3.5 |
[
{
"content": "After 4 years' experience, I leave it off. I'd rather have another line or two to show off my experience or skills in my resume. I only list my degree and school, but even that might not be optimal.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "How important is your GPA after graduation? I'm about 3 semesters away from graduation (BSEE). My GPA has slowly been slipping away. I started with a 3.67 and it has fallen to a 3.08. I expect it to fall a little more after finals next week. I don't think I'm stupid I'm just not a good student. My wife and I moved overseas almost 5 years ago. I wasn't able to find work without a degree so I eventually applied to ASU's online EE program. During my time in school we've had a baby girl (who's 3 now) and traveled the world. We're now living in Japan and with graduation nearing we are thinking about moving back to New Mexico. I'm wondering what this will look like to potential employers. I'll be in my early 30s when I start looking for a real job. Being abroad has also made internships impossible. If anybody has had a similar experience or advice I'd love to hear it. Thanks",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
972w7o
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "Supersoakers filled with acid, sprayed from the bottom up. Or thermite, over the whole thing. Or, build a crib at the base, then dig a 200 foot hole underneath, fire the explosive bolts on the crib, drop the tower straight down, fill the dirt back in. You'll end up with roughly 1 tower's worth of displaced dirt to dispose of.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How to drop a 200' radio tower? Interesting project here. Looking at clever ways to demo a 200' tall radio tower... aside from bringing in a taller crane and dismantling. Typically one might use a gin pole to dismantle section by section and lower but there is some question about the integrity of the tower. Guy wires run about 140' out in three directions. Clear field around tower is about 150' in any direction and beyond that is wooded area... so completely dropping the tower doesn't seem like a good route and is just such a crude approach anyhow. In what clever ways could we do this? Could we erect a smaller tower as a standoff gin pole and lower the main tower? Perhaps sever it at the half-height point and allow it to drop into itself so that any resulting collapse or felling would only require 100' clearance? Even if using a crane, you'd have guys climbing the tower to dismantle, which is questionable with the integrity of the tower. Sounds fun, no?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
psfz4w
|
askengineers_train
| 5.642857 |
[
{
"content": "ITT: 5-10yr experienced engineers lurking that need to ask for a raise.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "I'm curious about the percentage of people that are 25 years of age and what is your career looking like at this age. Salary, work location and years of experience wise.... Doesn't have to be 25 years of age! I'm just curious because I'm 25 myself and I'm moving out to Austin next month for a new job. Other inputs welcomed.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
d2f5z8
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "You probably want to use Paint.net",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How much MS Paint do you use at your job? Just curious. Yes I know Visio, Lucidchart, etc. exist. They also cost money. For myself, as a mechanical engineer, I occasionally do small interconnection diagrams for prototypes in Paint as well as occasional explainers (e.g. taking a screenshot from Solidworks and circling a feature and so on, or dirty sketches to explain ideas). I have also considered using it for cable drawings but ended up hand drawing and scanning those, and then feeding them into GIMP (which is more powerful than Paint but much worse at actually making lines and stuff)",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
nppfev
|
askengineers_train
| 6.814815 |
[
{
"content": "This has already happened with the Nissan Leaf more than doubling battery capacity since the car was introduced in 2011. The price of a new car has increased, but it hasn't doubled, so the older cars with smaller batteries are somewhat devalued. However, check out that timeline: 10 year old cars have lost most of their value anyway, especially cheaper cars like Nissan.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Will Electric Vehicles hold their value? I'm not in the automotive industry so I'm happy to be corrected on this but won't EV's depreciate in value faster than your conventionally powered vehicle? When looking for a car I consider what the resale value will be in a couple of years and certain models are more sought after on the second hand market. Would an EV such as a Tesla hold its value when the industry is advancing so rapidly? As I see it, it would be like trying to sell a smartphone from 2011. The phone might function perfectly well (considering when it was made), however when compared to modern phones it is totally obsolete and therefore holds little to no resale value. Is this line of thinking applicable to EV's?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
bt3mz6
|
askengineers_train
| 3.666667 |
[
{
"content": "if you added a redundant solar panel, you would drive up the cost and size of each sat. failure of the panel is probably most likely to happen during launch or deployment, when wires/connectors are being shaken/unfolded. so maybe because you have no panel redundancy, some launches will only succeed for 59/60 sats. well, if you added a 2nd panel, then you would probably make the sat so big/heavy that you would only be able to launch, say, 50 sats. what's better, 59/60 or 50/50? even if a sat fails later due to the panel, it will likely be cheaper to build the redundancy into the constellation rather than each one.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "SpaceX just tweeted “Starlink satellites are equipped with one solar array instead of two, minimizing potential points of failure”. How is that more beneficial than using 2 arrays in case one of them fails?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
12uzde
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "The Civil Engineers i worked for had really full mornings with many projects on the go, followed by a card game at lunch, and either some surveys or meetings in the afternoon. about half the time they would still be working for some time after i punched out. *EDIT*: No idea why anyone downvoted this, people don't like Civil Engineers? Not a fan of lunchtime card games?",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What is your average day like as an engineer? Where has college taken you as far as jobs as an engineer? What does your average day consist of in your field of engineering? I'm an engineering student in a technical high school. I've taken Introduction to Engineering Design, Robotics w/ BOE bot, Analog electronics, Digital electronics, Civil Engineering and Architecture, Aerospace, POE, and EDD.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
asqh5s
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "people are people.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "In your career, is working on an engineering team as bad as group projects in school? I feel that no matter the circumstances, I have always ran into bad teammates in group projects while in school. I was wondering if in your experience, once you transition into a career with an engineering company, do you still run into group/team projects that are frustrating to work with the people? Or are the engineers usually better on meeting deadlines, using common sense, and providing useful insight to the project than they were in school?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
w0j2ko
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "if the primary goal is a digital backup, then there are many good document scanners available on your phone. they re-project and flatten the photo, and are also becoming quite competent at converting hand written text, numbers, equations to concrete digital encodings, as well. if you're looking for features to improve your productivity, there are equation solvers like wolfram alpha and microsoft math solver. probably other stuff depending on your domain. again, it's possible that the conversion to digital from paper works well for this, as well. but if this were my primary goal, i'd probably go with a computer. windows tablets are an option here in addition to apple.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "I am an engineer. I always go with large notebooks because I constantly draw something. Should I buy an ipad to create drawings, solve various problems? Tell me, is it convenient to use the ipad? And what applications are there for creating drawings, solving math problems, etc.?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
gbefix
|
askengineers_train
| 3.142857 |
[
{
"content": "In IT, we have RFC 1149 and a number of related updated standards as an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) document. It was originally created as an April Fool’s joke.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What is the weirdest standard you have encountered that made absolutely no sense? Basically what it says on the tin, what is the absolute weirdest thing you have seen make it into a standard? My favourite one is a military standard, or MILSPEC (can't remember which one) that stipulated a specific bolt rated to a certain grade with a specific margin of acceptance ± the specs. Was that grade another published, easily accessible standard? No. It was an internal standard for a company that no longer existed. So if you had to match that bolt, you had to know what standard that company used. Oh, and most bolts were either under or over by just beyond the acceptance margin. Equipment to that standard was very rarely replaced. I have also seen specific dyes stipulated for clothing made by companies that went out of business or were bought out, in fact, the whole MILSPEC thing is riddled with issues. Maybe that's a topic on its own?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
eosecc
|
askengineers_train
| 4.5 |
[
{
"content": "An actual data point for you. I accepted 3 different job offers coming out of school. The first was senor year at winter break. The job was okay but it was a job. Accepted. Got a better offer around spring break. Accepted that one and backed out of the first. Got a better offer closer to graduation. Accepted that one and backed out of the second. That was 10 years ago and it has not impacted my career in the slightest.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "I was given a job offer by my internship but I have 2 companies that want to talk closer to graduation The title says most of it. But I will be graduating in May and I received a job offer from my internship. Should I cut my job search short and accept this offer when I already have 2 companies that said they are impressed and would like to talk again closer to graduation? The offer I received is a fairly good one. I like the salary, I wish it was a bit more but I don't have much movability after taking to HR and being a new hire. The benefits aren't great but I like the company the possibilities and my coworkers. I like where I work at and see potential but I'm concerned that if I accept this job offer something better with come down the pipe later on. I was told I can take time to consider it but nothing is guaranteed the longer I wait. Being an aerospace related company the Boeing layoffs and such may affect us and I could get affected by a hiring freeze the longer I wait. Should I accept the offer? Should I reach out to the other companies to see if they could expedite the hiring process? Should I just wait? Other opinions?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
g70ot3
|
askengineers_train
| 5.2 |
[
{
"content": "Yes. I absolutely hated school. I hated high school, and college sucked too. Once I hit my junior year and started having to suffer through real engineering classes, it was a struggle not to give up and change majors. I had zero interest in learning. All I cared about was the degree. I thought, surely I can make a comparable living with less educational suffering (and that would have been the truth). But I managed to swindle my way through, somehow. And now I have a pretty neat job in the petrochemical industry that I mostly enjoy. I get to tinker around with some really awesome industrial equipment and electronics, and spend humongous amounts of other peoples money. Frankly, I didn't learn a damn thing in engineering school. But I've learned quite a bit working as an engineer, and it's actually enjoyable. Now I learn things because I HAVE TO in order to SOLVE A PROBLEM. When I learn things, that knowledge serves a purpose. In college, the only reason you \"learn\" things is to get an overvalued piece of paper that says *engineer* on it. I put the word \"learn\" in quotes since it doesn't matter one ounce whether or not you actually learned anything. As long as you manage to pass the class, you're set. Whether you scrape by and get a C+, cheat your way to a B+, or spend countless hours pouring your heart and soul into getting an A+ and actually understanding the material, you get the same exact credit hours.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Did any of you hate engineering school but now enjoy working as an engineer?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
c4g179
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "Wearable medical devices.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What project can a Mechanical Engineer, a Biomedical Engineer, and a Computer Engineer do together?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
jvumhe
|
askengineers_train
| 3.666667 |
[
{
"content": "Two immediately come to mind: “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society” by Jared Diamond. (It takes on a whole new meaning now.) **This if I had to pick one. “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni. (A bit overused in teamwork sessions, but an easy read with lessons that stick.)",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "What’s your favorite non-fiction book? Whether it’s programming, electronics, mechanics, physics, math, or something non technical like leadership/management - as an engineer, what’s the one book you’re most thankful for having read?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ddwsyk
|
askengineers_train
| 3.666667 |
[
{
"content": "They likely recommended a hemisphere or bulbous shape because it's used on ships. But that's due to efficiency. It would work as a roof, but the extra construction difficulty wouldn't be justified. A traditional gable roof would work fine. There might be an increased use of metal roofing matl and the overhangs would be larger to protect window/doors openings. Erosion around the house foundation would be a bigger problem.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Which shape would be able to withstand the largest amount of force when dropped top-first into water? I’m not an engineer and only took one semester of physics at uni, but I’m trying to design some basic roofing for a writing project taking place in a world where rain falls all at once (in flat sheets). My hunch is that a tall cone or pyramid (supported in the centre) might work best, as the tip could break the surface tension and the steep angle would allow the impact to be spread out more, but it was recently suggested to me by an actual physics student that a hemisphere might work better, although I’m not sure why. What might the logic behind this be? Is there another shape (maybe one of those weird origami-like things) that might be able to take some more brunt?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
cy6myd
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "My husband is a software engineer; he does come home and talk about his job to decompress sometimes and I just listen because that’s what he needs, I don’t always have to fully understand what he is talking about (bless him though, he tries).",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Engineers who are in a (happy) relationship/marriage, do you talk to your SO about your job? Especially if they are not in a technical field? Besides talking about work dynamics and giving high level explanations, do you get into (some) details about what you do? I can understand giving a brief explanation to someone you just met and making it relatable but in a long term relationship how (if) do you manage to communicate what you do especially since you spend a huge chunk of your day at your job? Just looking for tips/experiences and preferably not too memey answers (I appreciate some but please don't fill the thread with them :))",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
tzdzl7
|
askengineers_train
| 4 |
[
{
"content": "I had something similar. A huge group of people were all interviewing all day long. (Latge automotive OEM, college recruitment) It was a series of scenarios. One scenario was that I had to get a wind tunnel test scheduled by a certain date. But the tunnel manager was all booked up. Basically, the interviewer was told to reject every suggestion or idea I had. At the time, everyone interviewing thought you had to schedule the test to \"pass\", and the tunnel manager wouldn't let anyone succeed. It was just a test to see what you would do under stress. I was shocked to learn that some interviewees cracked and started yelling and screaming at the interviewers. Instant fail. It's like the old - who would win in a fight, superman or batman? The answer doesn't matter. Clearly explaining your thought process is important.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Is this normal for an engineering interview? I am a senior Industrial Engineering student (graduating in the Summer) and I made it to the second round of interviews with a small-ish privately held company. In the first round, I was asked about my experience and general background. I was prepared for the second round to go into more detail on past projects and experiences. I've also interviewed with a few other companies and felt pretty prepared. The second interview was not what I expected and probably could not have gone any worse haha. I was told to grab a mechanical pencil from my desk and describe as many internal and external components as I could. Next, I was told to take the pencil apart and describe the purpose of each component. Then I was told to describe how the pencil would be manufactured. Then to describe, if I had a theoretical plant that produced pencils, how many pencils I could output a day, how many employees I had, etc. This went on for almost an hour and I did not study for this... It was very stressful and something I was completely unprepared for. I was left with a quick rejection email and a broken pencil lol. Obviously did not get the job- but is this usual (especially for smaller companies)? Maybe this is more of a mechanical type interview but given I am an IE student applying for an entry-level IE job, I felt that it was an intense amount to expect.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
nasu8f
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "/r/AskEngineers Is this.... some form of question?",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "I want to shout this from the rooftops, to all the professional subs: applying to jobs and grad school is not like applying to college. You are not one of a zillion high school seniors applying for one of many indistinguishable freshman slots. There is no Common App. The things you did in High School to differentiate yourself from other similar kids are not necessarily the same things you should do in college. Hiring managers want to see a candidate who can do the job well, has worked in a professional environment before, and will fit in with the team. Make sure your resume reflects this, not that you spend every waking moment trying to rack up certifications or get “bonus points” by doing side projects.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
pjb9l7
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "Buy a corkscrew from Walmart and then return it.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Need help removing an object from a tight space. Hello smart people. I need help removing an object from a tight space. I searched on Google for an answer and saw some similar posts from this subreddit, so I hope this is ok. My girlfriend accidently inserted the foot of a stand into the wrong side of the stand and now the foot is flush within the tube. The tube is hollow and about 3ft long, but the open side that we have access to is the small side where you would normally screw the foot into. There is not really any space between the foot of the stand and the tube, so I'm not really sure what to do. I have tried running the end where the foot piece is stuck under hot water, but that didn't work. I'm also unsure of what I could possibly try sticking down the other side of it to push it out. Thanks, Pictures attached. The type of foot piece next to the stand tube that has the stuck foot piece inside Top down view of the stuck foot piece inside of the stand tube. Same top down view of the same style but empty tube. Bottom up view of the same style but empty tube.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
rs7d2b
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "Way more stressed in school. Work is a walk in the park by comparison (mechanical engineering degree to mechanical design & project engineer).",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "On a scale of 1 to 10, how stressed are you at work and how stressed were you in engineering school? It obviously depends on the day but on average how do you feel?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
9vlexj
|
askengineers_train
| 4.586207 |
[
{
"content": "I'll answer blimps. Dirigibles. With today's lightweight materials, using other inert gases, and overall tons of improvements in the aerospace industry, blimps could easily make a comeback for local or commuter public travel. I'm my opinion. Maybe this answer isn't what you are looking for, but it was mostly the public opinion and media that was their demise. So a fast change in a technology that most people understood as the norm at the time. edit: Also binary logic. Computers don't have to work in base two, but was a result of the easy access to vacuum tubes, and other choices that were necessary to use what technology they had at the time.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Similar to AC/DC power, what industry-wide choices did we have to make? What would things be like today if we had gone the other way?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
v6rw65
|
askengineers_train
| 5.625 |
[
{
"content": "Is it a swamp cooler?",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Is this invention really feasible? AirDisc claims include being able to cool a room from 32°C to 16°C in about an hour and using only about 10% (150W) of the usual aircon unit power demand (which she gives as about 1500W). Several interviews with the inventor are available on the internet. Here is a recent one: https://youtu.be/sgx3KzS_a1A Here are my back-of-the-envelope calculations. Please feel free to point out any errors in my logic. The COP for a Carnot cycle operating between 32°C and 16°C is as about 18.072. COP[Carnot] = Tc / (Th - Tc) = 18.072 COP = cooling effect / power input Her claim is that her AirDisc unit demands only 10% of the usual power input. She places the number as 150W for her AirDisc unit vs about 1500W for the average aircon unit. The COP for a typical air conditioning unit ranges between about 2 to 4. (Google search) If the AirDisc unit is able to perform an equivalent amount of cooling effect as an average aircon unit, but at only 1/10th the power input required, that would give a COP of about 20 to 40. And 20 to 40 is way above the Carnot COP of 18.072, implying that the claims are ridiculous. I'm very open to being wrong. Any HVAC people who would like to weigh in?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ih9zcr
|
askengineers_train
| 5.444444 |
[
{
"content": "Anything goes with recruiters, especially if you’re not desperate. Just know that if you ask they’re probably going to use it to bait you into getting on a call with them.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "I keep getting LinkedIn messages about job opportunities from recruiters, is it rude to ask how much it pays right away?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
qcrbgl
|
askengineers_train
| 5.5 |
[
{
"content": "I come from a plastic product development background so I've been interested in things different from what I've done in my career. I've been playing the following: Turing Complete: It is a computer science based puzzle game where you start with basic logic circuits and work your way up to building a computer. The Signal State: Build analog synthesizer / signal manipulation puzzle. I also REALLLY like the games from Zachtronics. Specifically: Opus Magnum: Building mechanisms to assemble \"molecules\". Not really based in reality, but very fun. Shenzen I/O: Design circuits/programming puzzles. Other games that are nice creative outlets that have a lot of puzzle solving: * Factorio (I play in peaceful mode) * Satisfactory * Transport Fever 2 * Shapez.IO * Space Engineer",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "“The Incredible Machine” is a classic game. What engineering/puzzle games have you enjoyed? Booting up Sierra’s “The Incredible Machine” as a kid in 1995 is definitely one of the reasons I’m pursuing this field today. For those unfamiliar with the game, it’s based on constructing varying series’ of Rube Goldberg machines to complete levels. Revisiting those memories this morning got me thinking...What are some of the puzzle/engineering games you’ve enjoyed over the years?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
gna76s
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "I was literally a machine builder/assembler for a year and have had two engineering jobs since. Technician work will be fine.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Will taking a technician job pigeonhole me from getting engineering jobs in the future? I'm interviewing for a field engineering job today but the description just sounds like a field technician for HVAC systems. The pay is 23.00 per hour with overtime and bonuses which they say comes out to 48,000 per year. I'm just worried if the work isn't engineering related my skills will atrophy and I'll screw myself. I've been applying to jobs since December now and recently graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. I'm really getting discouraged now because I had some interviews and calls before corona and now I'm getting zero. I don't know if it's my resume that's not allowing me to get calls anymore, corona, or what but I'm getting really anxious about it. I've changed my resume so many times and have kind of stuck with this but have since moved the education under my professional statement. Don't really know what more I can do right now. I thought about doing what someone said on /r/jobs and just messaging different alumni and recruiters on LinkedIn until I get my foot in the door somewhere.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
qoks0m
|
askengineers_train
| 4 |
[
{
"content": "1982-Final year physics project. We climbed up onto the roof of the physics building and installed a hand-built dipole antenna, ran coax down the side of the building into the lab where we built a discrete logic board to capture signals from the UOSAT weather satellite and stored them as DTMF on a casette tape recorder. We then built another logic board to decode those signals - built from 7400 ICs - that displayed weather pictures on a CRT. Absolutely brilliant fun.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What cool short projects did you do during your degree? Keen to hear what cool engineering projects people have done during their degrees or as personal projects. Looking for ideas for short (complete in a few hours or days) projects for engineering students. Ideally aimed at first year students to learn about the engineering process. Things like that classic egg drop or popsicle bridge.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
om87j0
|
askengineers_train
| 5.285714 |
[
{
"content": "Finish the apprenticeship and apply to each and every engineering job that comes across your desk. Work right now is a bit tight, but it is still available. Good luck!",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Should I complete my trade apprenticeship or abandon it for an engineering job? short summary of my situation: - graduated late 2019 w/ BSc Electrical Engineering (not great GPA, no previous engineering experience) - couldn't find work/COVID shutdown forced me to look for work outside of engineering - started an ***electrician*** apprenticeship instead, currently 3000/6000 hours to completing the apprenticeship and receiving my journeyman ticket. Questions: - I feel like with the experience I have now, I could find an engineering job in MEP. If you were in my position, would you stick out the last 2 years of the apprenticeship or abandon it and find an engineering job? - If you are recruiter/hiring person, in your opinion would 2 years (3k hours) be enough experience to outweigh poor grades and no experience while in school? Thanks!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
gy4gbz
|
askengineers_train
| 5.6 |
[
{
"content": "What area of civil engineering do you work in? When I was 3 years into my current job in land development (site servicing and grading) I certainly felt slower than many of my peers. There’s kind of an art to grading a site and it’s the kind of thing that comes with experience. My manager was good at not giving me too large of a task to tackle independently (i.e they give me the basic design and I fill in the gaps). With giving me time and gradually increasing the scope of tasks that built up my confidence to take the lead on larger projects. My advice is if you feel the tasks being assigned are beyond your understanding then you should let your manager know. It’s not reasonable for them to give you brief or no explanation and for you to spend hours doing your own research. It seems like your company is encouraging people to be overly independent, which will result in inconsistent and incorrect work (as you’ve observed with your co worker).",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Engineer working too slow I have been in civil engineering for 3 years. My first company complained that I worked too slow and I need to be more efficient. Now this job, my boss is hinting that I am working too slow. Background: As more I am into engineering, I realized most supervisors will give you tasks and expect you to have some level of personal understandings and will give you a brief explanation or none at all. They expect that you do your own research and have a engineering level of understanding. For me, when I am given a task that I am not sure. I would sit there look over example and research and look at it again but it take me hours and hours to complete my task. I can sense disapproval how long it took me to finish my work. It also has consume my personal time, where I have to place in long hours and weekend to complete my tasks whereas other people don't. However, I noticed one of coworker works really fast but when I look at her work. Half of it is wrong. How can I work more efficiently and bring in good work? I am tired of being judge as working too slow. Sometimes it make feel insecure that I am not cut out to be an engineer if it takes me this much to do my work.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
bblyzj
|
askengineers_train
| 3 |
[
{
"content": "I've used McMaster before and other vendors that have 3d content available. But I usually end up making my own. I almost always end up having to modify it. Internally we have massive feature libraries for our plastic components. Locks, cavities etc. I use them quite a bit, but almost always end up creating my own as they'll add draft to the library component and remove the parameters, or model it poorly.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Engineers, what library do you use for the pieces you need in a cad design or do you make every part?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
r0w4l5
|
askengineers_train
| 4.666667 |
[
{
"content": "Yup. Gotta tell em it's my last day.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "You win the lottery for 200 million dollars tonight, do you report to work tomorrow? Why or why not? Is your passion for engineering enough to keep you going?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
ym7yuz
|
askengineers_train
| 8 |
[
{
"content": "Refrigeration",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Climate Conscious Engineers: where do you work? Just wondering if there are any climate conscious engineers out there and what you do? Myself, a number of my colleagues and friends in engineering highlight climate and water scarcity as key issues moving forward, but work in industries doing little about it. Are you guys in similar situations, or have you found jobs working to help?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
3l4w1z
|
askengineers_train
| 7 |
[
{
"content": "I gave this to my fiance a couple of years ago as a joke",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Any general tips or advice for dating an engineer? This seems like an appropriate place to ask :D Serious answers appreciated but Jokes are also welcome :P",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
bt2g5x
|
askengineers_train
| 3.75 |
[
{
"content": "My school's career fair would not allow you entry. That's part of the deal, they put on this event, find companies to fill the booths, as a service to the tution-paying students of the university. Your mileage may vary.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "For those engineers who recruited: If your company Omly goes to School A's career fair, but not school B, and a student from school B goes to school A's career fair to talk to you. Do you think this would hurt that students chances of a call back, increase them, or nothing? Basically in the title, a company I want to work for doesn't go to my school's career fair. This Fall I plan to go to the schools that they do go to, but I'm hoping this wwouldn't leave a bad taste in this company's mouth.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
wlfyp9
|
askengineers_train
| 4 |
[
{
"content": "It's stupid to never reach the point where you lose respect for managers.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Is it usual to get to a point in your career where you no longer respect management? Hi Everyone. When I was younger I had an intrinsic respect for my managers. I was young and inexperienced and they were experienced and could teach me things. It’s obvious in this scenario why their opinions matter and I should listen to them. As I’ve developed as an engineer I’ve realised that the executives (generally speaking) are actually worse engineers as they’ve focussed on ‘management’ instead of the finer points of the discipline and in general have far less product knowledge. It seems like these people get selected by chance (or because they’re friends with someone) and not because they are the most competent person for the role. Or even worse because they have ‘management’ experience. They then enter a position where they’re no longer answerable and become both arrogant and lazy. In short.. I’m finding it harder and harder to give two shits about what my boss says. I just want to complete my tasks to the best I can. This guy has adhd and tells me to make changes to projects based on spur of the moment thoughts and this almost always results in a worse solution. He has appointed myself and two other ‘team leads’ who are all responsible for 7 people, so he in effect, doesn’t have to do his job. I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with this. If anyone has any advice for dealing with a situation like this I’d love to hear it. Thanks",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
pvtynn
|
askengineers_train
| 7.2 |
[
{
"content": "Yes. C++",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Have you ever missed a job opportunity or ruined a meeting because you didn't know a foreign language? Hello guys. This is a very important question. Where I live people hate learning different languages, I believe this is a stupid idea because if we want to make a living of what we study we need to move to other city or leave the country. so i was wondering if you guys have ever been in need of learning a second language. Or if you think is an important skill or not, and why?.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
41ctcg
|
askengineers_train
| 5.5 |
[
{
"content": "Just a note: \"fail safe\" does not mean safe from failure. It means that when it fails, it defaults to a safe mode. A fastener that is fail safe is kind of an oxymoron.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Does a screw/bolt type that tightens and untightens but doesn't come off without special technique exist? Hey all! I'm currently working on a little compact quadcopter project and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a screw/bolt type(s). I'd used tight clamps to hold booms in place prior to this project, but wanted to try to save space by having the boom travel on a guided hole, to be held in place by tightening or untightening the screws/bolts. I don't have a diagram, but it's similar to the mechanic displayed in this video starting at 9 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCgCS0uTPUY I have a bad habit of losing small pieces with my stuff, so after toying with a prescription drug bottle, I was curious as to whether or not such a screw or bolt with a similar \"failsafe\" existed? Basically, I'd like to be able to easily tighten or loosen the screw/bolt if I apply pressure, but if I applied no pressure, it would just continually spin or lock like an unpressured prescription bottle cap. In the event such a part doesn't exist, what might be a good alternative? Thanks for the help!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
zwqnej
|
askengineers_train
| 3.5 |
[
{
"content": "I frequently work on design teams of up to twenty people, with each person responsible for some subset of the full product. In short: lots of communication. Think of product development like a ball of clay being turned into a sculpture of a person, and the process is sculpting by committee. You don't just go straight to detail work at the beginning. First, you rough it out. You might have a small number of people (2 or 3) do this initial step. They'll decide how tall the sculpture will be. They'll give it a general shape. How many arms? Legs? Long hair or short hair? Eventually, it will be recognizably human, and they can pass it along to the larger team. Maybe I then own the \"head\" of the sculpture. How long will the neck be? Okay, I'll make it... this tall. But wait, the guy who owns the shoulders comes to me and says \"My shoulders can't support a neck that tall, it will buckle. Oh, and the hair the early guys set up? Yeah, look how it interferes with the shoulder blades back here. Maybe you can move it back a little and shorten the neck?\" It's basically that sort of interaction. Over and over. And over. And... over. Between every team member, daily, for months. And eventually, you sculpt a product that meets everyone's responsibilities. Then you go test it, and you fine tune the sculpture. Rinse and repeat and hope you've done a good enough job by your ship date!",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How do R&D engineers plan out part designs when different parts or assemblies are made by other people? I worked as a manufacturing engineering at my previous job and had very close interactions with my R&D counterparts. I never thought to ask during my tenure, but it's been on my mind quite a bit now. My R&D department was broken up into teams for different parts of the product. We made ovens so I'll use that as the example. One team was responsible for the main structural part of the oven. Another made the cooktops. Another team made the doors and ect. In the early stages before the main key structural part was designed and approved how did others go about designing theirs that would attach to it? Is the best practice to design based off a broad idea and product dimensions and then adjust as the main structure changes?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
sfut69
|
askengineers_train
| 4.588235 |
[
{
"content": "Assuming this is for a new role... I always start by adding at least 20% to my current salary when they ask what that is. Some folks say not to say what you're making now, or don't give them a number, and that's fine too, but my strategy is tell them I make 20% more than I'm making, then add another 10% to that and say that's what I'd need to consider a move. If they're still interested, I'll know it's worth pursuing. If they're already quibbling and saying that number is out of their range, I don't waste my time with it any more. Any company that is going to quibble about 10-15k isn't worth my time.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "How do *you* negotiate salary?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
f7c1i9
|
askengineers_train
| 4.666667 |
[
{
"content": "I just switched jobs and got a 32% increase. Was already 6 figures to begin, so it was a pretty big jump. Edit: sorry just saw the sticky \\- Power engineer \\- 10 years experience \\- B.S. and B.A.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "What % pay raise have you when seen changing jobs recently? Currently engineering profession is seen as a fully employed, meaning there are no engineers looking for work. A **recruiter friend of mine told me, they can't hire who they want, so they are poaching engineers from their competitors. This means great pay increases!** Lets get some numbers out here, for all of us to compare and have better negotiating skills going forward. My last job change was a 16% pay raise, same COL and City, that was in the beginning of 2019 mind you, today I'd expect to see a higher average than this.",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
iwv1ni
|
askengineers_train
| 5.666667 |
[
{
"content": "Depends on what engine we're talking about, some engines have a pre-startup lube oil system. :)",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Engine wear So a lot of people told me that a lot of wear in a engine happens upon startup if so why isn’t there a separate oil pump that circulates the oil before startup so that less wear occurs?",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
yr5vpn
|
askengineers_train
| 5 |
[
{
"content": "You are right that the heat content of the air is small compared to the food and water in the freezer. That means that you can get away with quickly opening and grabbing. But you need to consider a few things beyond what's been mentioned: * ΔT between the freezer temperature and ambient is a lot bigger than ΔT between the freezer temperature and the point where stuff starts to melt. * As you hold the door open, warm air will continue to flow past the solids in the freezer and across the inner surface of the door, progressively warming those materials, as well as replacing the cold air in the freezer with warm.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | true |
[
{
"content": "Opening the freezer during a power outage My roommate says that the freezer should not be opened at all during an extended outage, so that the heat won't escape. I say that because our freezer is packed full, and water (in the food) holds heat so much more than air, that opening the door briefly and infrequently won't have much effect. I feel that even if all the cold air is dumped out when you open the door, there's orders of magnitude more 'cold' locked up in the food itself, that it makes little difference in how fast the food will eventually thaw. Curious is anyone has any thoughts or if there is a good way to quantify this problem!",
"role": "user"
}
] | |
rud14e
|
askengineers_train
| 4.833333 |
[
{
"content": "We made a year's worth of sales in the first month of the year that I left, and after hearing for years how we were going to get more help or do things more effectively, while still fucking getting shit work that paid not enough to put up with it so sales people could make their quotas, I decided that enough was enough. Nothing was going to significantly change there and I wasn't going to be able to help it change. Too much top-down, too many custom one-offs that could never scale as solutions being encouraged. Now I make a little more, doing a good bit less, and I'm a little less jumpy at night.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] | false |
[
{
"content": "Why did you leave your last job?",
"role": "user"
}
] |
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