Hey Big Blue,

Sorry for the delayed response; I got caught up in finishing up some work before finals week begins.

Anyway, I wouldn’t necessarily say I hate my field though I probably came off that way earlier (and often times I tend to let my emotions take charge and blame the field rather than pinpoint the problems more directly). I do like building things as an engineer. I guess I don’t feel “good enough” when I can’t figure something out and I become extremely frustrated with it. Then of course there’s the other aspect of being cooped up inside all day as with any other white-collar job. There’s only so much of that I can take. During my internship last summer it almost felt like a sin to waste perfectly sunny summer days inside on a computer.

Finally, as I said, I’m disgusted with what modern tech has done to people’s social skills. I hate the pace of modern society as I’ve already made clear. I cringe every time I see people taking selfies and posting them on Twitter and I wonder what this world has come to when I see people playing on their smartphones at the dinner table with family or friends. I can’t stand this notion of consumerism either, people just buy new stuff even when their old stuff isn’t broken (and then they wonder why they’re not financially secure). It’s as though life is now a matter of making money to buy lots of stuff and then die; I don’t like that notion at all. Every time my mom brings up graduation, all she talks about is the money I’m going to make and buying a new car for myself. I just shake my head in pity, I’d much rather be happy in what I’m doing and there’s nothing wrong with my car. sure it’s 13 years old, but it’s an Audi; I treat it well, it looks sharp, rides super smooth, and it has everything I want and need in a car. I have no need for all the toys in modern cars, just give me a radio and I’m more than happy. I guess song can sum up what I’m saying better than words; Miranda Lambert’s Automatic and Bradley West’s These Days kind of do a good job summing up my feelings. So while I do like engineering at times, I don’t want to contribute more to what I see as an epidemic.

So now that I’ve got the restof the monkeys off my chest, I guess the question is “what does a tech guy that seemingly hates tech possibly do?” and that’s what I’m still trying to figure out. I’ve been considering taking the actuarial exams and going that route instead, though it’s probably a very boring job. I do like operations research / industrial engineering type work and that’s what I’ve focused on in my math major. However, I can’t seem to find work in that area. All places I applied to haven’t even given me a call back (that’s not a surprise though, even the tech companies I apply to never call me back despite me having a seemingly perfect resume and a personal website where I keep a “living” resume).

Other than those fields, it’s a tough call. Again, I want nothing to do with this whole smartphone, Twitter, Facebook, Internet craze. Out of all the engineering classes I’ve taken, my favorites by far involve embedded systems. I was recently asked to do my PhD with one of my professors where I would study 3D printers; that is something I could see myself doing. But again, embedded systems are becoming incorporated into “the internet of things” and that is something I do not like.

I guess I might be better off working for myself doing consulting work where I can make my own hours and hold meetings on the beach if I choose to. I just don’t want to be confined to an office contributing to stuff I’m personally against.