Unemployment, and the miserable job search that followed, was a wake-up call to me.
One of the things that I decided to do was go back to school to get a second master’s degree in a particularly esoteric and unique field of engineering that very much suits my fancy.
I was inspired by a former co-worker who earned that degree and now has a job I am envious of.
Right now I won’t tell you what or where it is, but suffice it to say I am neck deep in shock physics and jump equations. When I am done with this new degree combined with my previous education, the tagline for my resume will be “Better Killing Through Metallurgy.”
It is finals week and one of my make-or-break classes has a take-home final due Thursday morning and I am still working full time at a day job.
As such, I am going to disappear for a while. I will be back. In the meantime, there will be lots and lots of math.
Good luck!
Ref finals: may you kick butt, take names, and come out the other side smelling of roses!
All my best wishes!
Best of luck. Grrrrr. Knock it out!
Good luck. Load mags. Kick ass. Stomp some snakes. We will hold the fort. 🔥🐵(flaming monkeys)
Good luck! Shock physics is a pain, so you have my condolences. If you’re interested in a job (no guarantees, but I can put in a good word) and don’t mind working in California, I work at LLNL and we’re hiring like mad in the nuclear weapon physics and engineering groups. Pay is solid, job stability is high, and work is satisfying. Downside is being in CA. Still, it’s fun.
I appreciate the offer. The school I’m at is a feeder to Sandia and Los Alamos. I don’t think I can do California. I looked at Zillow in Livermore. A place roughly the same size as what I live in here in Alabama is $1.2-1.5 million. I bought for $235K. How do people afford to live there?
In coastal CA the general rule when I lived there was, drive until you can afford to buy, then stop.
About a decade and a half ago, a number of friends at Livermore bought houses in Patterson, if that’s an indication.
Yeah. Cost of living is pretty crazy here. A three bedroom suburban ranch style house costs like $800k. Crazy. But making $200k+ a year between the wife and I ends up not making that seem so outrageous. The lab takes care of its own.
Also, lots of people live out in Tracy to the east and commute. It’s a long commute and fraught with traffic over the pass, but very doable. Houses are considerably cheaper. The county sheriff there is significantly more inclined to sign off on CCW permits, which here in Alameda county are as rare as hen’s teeth.
Sandia’s good people. You would do well to end up there. No comment about Los Alamos. (There’s some inter lab rivalry with them, to the point the old saying here is that the Russians are the competition but Los Alamos is the enemy.) Smart people there but they do things in a way that we find very different.
Anyway, best of luck. If you do end up going the national lab route, even if it is at dandies or LANL, drop me a line (my email should show up in your admin interface) and I’d be happy to put in a good word for you, give you some tips, etc.
I work with pressure vessels. One of the issues if you want to pressure test with air vs water you have to do the calcs to determine the safe distance. When calculating the potential boom if it goes wrong your unit of measure is ‘tons of tnt equivelant’.
Those calcs have to be sugned off by engineers with very special skill sets.
Sounds like you may have a possible side job option.
Good luck.
I’d wish you luck, but I’m confident you won’t need it.
Catch you on the flip side.
With best regards, Boris.
Good luck! Buckle down and get er done fella