What is this?

I’ve been wildly successful at my own career, both professionally and academically, and have passed on this success through advising younger engineers. Unfortunately, so far most of the people I have supported have been normies, and if I were to help people, I’d rather help MGTOW. This project is my way of giving back to the community, by offering consulting, mentoring, and advising far below what I normally charge, only to MGTOW.

(If you’re looking for generally useful information rather than customized advice, check out Revy’s Career + Academics Guide ($10))

How it works:

  1. Read the “Specific Services Offered” section below to make sure this is something I can help you with. If you’re not sure, send me an email of 2-3 sentences to ask.
  2. Go to the payment button and pay the $10 fee or $20 if you want faster response. (If you pay $20, put “$20” in the subject line)
  3. Email me (revy.at.home@proton.me)
    • 1) your inquiry / request
    • 2) that you paid, and how much
    • 3) If you were sent by someone I sponsor, please mention them
    • 4) If you would be okay if I post a heavily-censored-to-avoid-doxxing transcript of the consultation on my site? (see “past consultations”)
  4. I will provide whatever advice / technical consultation you’re looking for
  5. There will probably be a little back-and-forth afterwards to clarify things

Rate for the initial email plus some minor followup:
– Regular: $10. No guarantees on time, but if I haven’t responded in a week or so, send me a nudge. If you can afford it and really liked my advice, you can pay more afterwards if you want. If not, don’t.
– Rush: $20. For faster response. Again, if you can afford it and really liked my advice, you can pay more afterwards if you want. (Put “$20” in the subject line so I notice it and respond faster.)
– High schoolers applying for college: Free, but if you can pay that would be appreciated, even if that’s years later after you get on your feet

Note that my “standard” rate is $100/h, these are discounts because I’m trying to help the MGTOW community. Not free because I don’t want to open the sperg faucet completely, but still low enough to be borderline free.

Also, this is a new service I just launched. So it might be sketchy. Just be aware of that. Also, don’t hesitate to ask for refund if I’m not able to provide good advice.(No garuntee, but so far, between Project Waifu and this, I haven’t refused any refunds.)

DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK / SERVICE WITH NORMIES

Specific Services Offered:

1) TECH CAREER CONSULTING

I’ve been wildly successful in my own career. I have achieved more in my 20s than most people will achieve in their entire life, and people are typically surprised when I tell them my age. I can pass some of this success on to you.

  • This encompasses the following topics:
    • Plan to get into the tech industry without a college degree
    • How to advance your tech career
    • Resume review, personalized interview tips (Please send your resume as word, google doc, libreoffice. Something that I can edit. Do NOT send it as PDF.)
    • Plan to get work as a 1099 freelance consultant, including legal paperwork
    • Plan to create a tech startup, including legal paperwork
  • See below for the “Big Helpful Career + Academics Guide” that covers more of these topics. I highly recommend reading the relevant sections before using this service, which is intended more for 1-on-1 advice.
  • Requests should follow the approximate format:
    • 1) Current situation
    • 2) Where you want to go
    • 3) What have you attempted to do / are currently doing to try to get there
  • Disclaimer: Admittedly, I am a freak outlier in terms of my achievements. This means that techniques that worked for me might not work for you. I will try to give you the best advice I can while taking this into account regardless.
  • Disclaimer: I’m kind of blunt. Party because I focus more on “correct” solutions than emotional motivations, but partly to shock people out of doing stupid stuff. I’ve gotten feedback of “4/5 stars, knowledgeable and a domain expert, but kind of rude”. Anyways, don’t ask for my help if that’s going to be a problem.

2) ACADEMIC CAREER CONSULTING

For better or for worse, I’ve been extremely good at manipulating the academic system, both for myself and my mentees. From getting admissions into prestigious engineering programs to petitioning courses to minimize workload and maximize GPA.

  • For high-schoolers: (Free, but if you can pay that would be appreciated, even if that’s years later after you get on your feet.)
    • Standardized testing advice (how to study, when to take, which ones to sign up for)
    • Undergraduate-level college admissions essays (I will help you write a really good one)
    • There’s an art to it, which I can teach you. For how important these things are to college admissions, it pains me how little effort people put into these compared to “normal” highschool courses.
  • For college students:
    • Planning academic course schedules: I would tell you to not trust your academic advisor, but you probably already know that. Advice I’ll give you includes things like:
      • If there’s a “weed-out” class, take it at another school over the summer and transfer the credit in.
      • Petition courses into your schedule that you know will be easy As.
    • Getting into research labs, getting academic publications, research grants, patents
  • For admissions to graduate programs (master’s, phd)
    • There’s a lot more space for “bending rules” here than there are for undergrad admissions, but you need to take proactive steps, well before (several months before) the admissions period.
  • See below for the “Big Helpful Career + Academics Guide” that covers more of these topics. I highly recommend reading the relevant sections before using this service, which is intended more for 1-on-1 advice.

3) TECH PRODUCT IDEA EVALUATION / DESIGN ROADMAP

  • I can evaluate your tech product ideas for feasibility, or point you towards more feasible alternatives. With only a brief interaction with me, I can either:
    • Explain (in very technical terms) why your idea is stupid and save you a ton of wasted time. (Admittedly, 90% of ideas fall in this category. No you’re not getting a refund if you’re one of these people.)
    • Give you a game plan that will drastically reduce the amount of trial and error you need to do.
      • Don’t expect me to do the actual work for you. That would be billed at my full rate of $100/h and will take A LOT of hours
    • Note: My specialty is HARDWARE products. That is, you have to have a physical product. If your product is software-only, I can help you, but that’s not really my specialty. I’ll probably end up sending you to someone who’s actually a pure software engineer.
    • Note: I often get feedback of “4/5 stars, knowledgeable and a domain expert, but kind of rude”. Anyways, don’t ask for my help if that’s going to be a problem.
  • If you want to create a tech startup but don’t have ideas, I have a list of “good” startup ideas. The disclaimer is that all my ideas involve a certain amount of technical skill for you to pull off. So if you have no engineering skills whatsoever, you won’t be able to execute on them.
    • Note that this advice contrasts with Aaron Clarey’s advice, who says “if I had a good idea, I wouldn’t tell you”. I disagree with this advice. IMO, assuming a certain amount of industry knowledge and technical still, there are more “good ideas” than there is time in the day to pursue. I generally shelve almost all of my “good ideas” because I don’t have enough time to commercialize them.
    • Some of these ideas, I have already done a good amount of the design work for. However, there is still a significant amount more work required to “bring them to market” that I am too lazy to do.
  • I’ll try to connect you with other people that you might be able to work together with if I can.

4) UNRELATED OTHER STUFF

Pay Here:

Revy’s Career + Academics Guide ($10)

I end up giving a lot of repeat advice. I have created a document summarizing most of the advice I normally give, and generally useful advice. It covers career transitions, promotions, 1099 contracting, entrepreneurship, college admissions, and college course selection.
Note that this is not a “comprehensive” guide on how to live life. It’s more of an accumulation of career tips that are helpful but aren’t entirely obvious. The content here is not scientific or “conventional” in any way, I did not do any “research” when writing this; it comes purely from my personal experiences, observations, and intuition from years in academia and industry. Lots of these tips served me very well. A lot of content, particularly anything labeled “Unique take by revy” means this is a tactic that I came up with, and you probably won’t find it anywhere else (easily). No sources for anything, given the nature of what this is.

There’s a good chance that the information you’re looking for is in here. If not, I would still appreciate if you read it. Two things:

  1. If you read the document, find the information that you’re looking for, and don’t use my service, please send me a message telling me that I helped you with your situation. I’m doing this to help the community, but I’d like to know that I’m actually helping people.
  2. If you read the document, and still end up sending a consultation request because you need more personalized advice, please let me know what you read. So that way I don’t waste my time re-explaining stuff that you’ve already read below.

Here is a sample of the full guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O_6nW-VK7Ju1Y_qkF-8whJoRBLE9X8-GCzsz_61ueIM/. You can find here the Table of Contents, as well as a few bits and pieces of the main guide, so you can see what kind of information I provide.

To purchase the full document, pay using the link below. The “Return to Merchant” link on the confirmation screen of the payment will take you to the document (or just send me an email after paying asking for the link). Since it’s a google doc, it gets updated periodically, or you can even ask me to add sections, as long as they’re also useful to other people.

cards
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If you don’t want to pay $10, just email me and ask nicely. I’m doing this to help the community, so I’d rather people have this information even if I don’t get paid.

Past Consultations

These are past consultations to give an idea of what kind of advice I give. Heavily censored to avoid doxxing, and also some of my more … questionably ethical advice. You can read through some of them to get an idea of what advice I will typically give.

Helping engineers navigate office politics and dishonest bosses

Hi Revy, Sent by TFM.

-Work as an engineer, [fairly high salary], 20s. At my current job 2+ years, boss has never complained about my performance and commends me for the rate at which I ask about how I’m doing (monthly).

-Get random left field email from him yesterday threatening disciplinary action for bs which was never an issue in the past nor was I ever warned about. Mandatory meeting the next morning. HR cc’d but not invited, I make sure HR is invited. I go and it’s a complete nothing-burger.

-Thinking he tried to make me the fall guy for complaints from another dept. All trust is gone. What to do moving forward?

Can you provide your advice for issues like this? Happy to pay you and give more details. Thanks!

==================================================================

Is this your first job out of college? (How many other jobs since entering the workforce, how long each job, why did you move onto next job?)

  • Are you applying for other jobs? Are you doing any freelancing / side work?
  • Is this the only “red flag” at your current job?

==================================================================

Hi Revy,

I figure the best way to do this is answer these bullets 1 by 1 then provide more details at the bottom.

1. No. This is my second job out of college. I worked at the first one for just under a year and left for my current job due to an intense toxic workplace environment. […describes some bullshit here…]

2. I have not as this is extremely recent. I would also like to stay in this town & job as 1. I recently purchased raw land and intend to develop it with rental property, and 2. My current employer provides an easy direct path to […]. I do not do side work as an engineer, but am working to become […]. To add, other people at work really like me and compliment me constantly on how pleasant it is to work with me. Aside from a few groups of people, it’s really wonderful here.

3. So far, yes actually, which is why this has been so shocking to me. Completely out of the blue, have already been told by an older mentor that my boss is trying to make me into a fall guy for his fuck ups.

Trying to keep it brief:

I am responsible for programming specialty computer devices as the need arises. Manuals for these devices often exceed 1000+ pages, and there are numerous different models and firmware versions, all different. Once my changes to the existing program are complete, I write a brief report explaining which variables changed, what they did, what they were changed to and from, and why. I then review these with my supervisor prior to submission, who often doesn’t attend these meetings or give warnings he won’t make it (I need to wait until he is available), as he is in charge of a large department within my company. His boss is the ceo. The settings we reviewed together were sent to technicians where an error was found (not an uncommon occurrence and my success rate was never an issue until today). At no point was I invited to be part of technician testing of these settings, and by our company policy am not allowed to ‘drive’ when testing is occuring, meaning it is impossible for me to debug the code I am being held responsible for aside from running it in my head and reviewing it with my boss.

Disciplinary action was threatened in an email with HR cc’d regarding the quality of what I was submitting to the technicians. He was not going to invite HR despite them being CC’d, but I requested they come because it’d at least make it somewhat harder for my boss and the technician boss to build a false narrative. I go into the meeting and everyone is cordial/friendly and discipline is never mentioned. My snake boss kept saying “Hope I didn’t scare you with that email, it’s just the way I’ve been sending out these kinds of notices lately!”. Boss admitted in the meeting I ask about my performance monthly and he has never complained about it, we all agree moving forward to make me part of the testing process. My trust in management is disintegrated as not only was this meeting complete bogus, but there is no reason HR or disciplinary action was ever appropriate for this conversation. Even if it was just to cover his ass, he’s smart enough to know it would disintegrate all trust, so it’d only be to set the state for a firing in the future, but I have not done anything fire-able and am constantly praised by my boss for high performance. TF?

I don’t quite know if I am at the point yet to consult an employment attorney, but everything is documented. My mentor told me to prepare to not be there in a year should anything happen, I’d either have savings or interviews lined up. Don’t want to leave if I don’t have to. Great medical benefits as well.

Wildcard Plans:

-Swap into another department where I am now a dispatcher. Same company, shit hours, higher pay, completely different management structure (I get along immensely well with these people as I work with them in my current role).

-Get surgery and file for disability before quitting. Need major […] done in the near future. My company has a program where I can get paid […]% of my salary for a number of months on medical leave, and not have to do anything for work. May be able to coast this out and get another job after pocketing the cash.

-Just get another job. Should be easy and take less than a month, but so far this has been the only BS since starting, although this is nuclear threat level bs. I can’t rationalize why this is happening. Annual performance reviews have also been good. Like, what?

Curious as to your thoughts. Thanks man.

==================================================================

Okay, the plans you have are actually pretty good.

About the sudden disrespect:

  • At first, I was going to give you the advice of “if this is the first time, it’s probably some freak outlier situation, chill out”. I’ve gotten suddenly disrespected before, but it was just outliers because someone got emotional due to some special circumstance. However, if an older mentor is telling you otherwise, listen to the person who actually works with you and is seeing first-hand what’s happening. Meaning pretend that you’re overlooking it, but start looking for new jobs anyways.
  • Maybe late, but you can send a “summary email” something like “Was great talk today for our in-person discussion, I just want to summarize some points to make sure we’re on the same page” and then summarize everything that happened during the discussion and then “please tell me if I’m missing something”. Basically it serves to prevent people from telling you something in-person, and they lying and say they didn’t tell you that, or told you something different. In your case, the current email record shows that you fucked up, but the in-person conversation (without a record) is that you didn’t fuck up. You need to turn that unrecorded conversation (that went in your benefit) into a recorded conversation.

[…]

Comments on job hopping:

  • Job security comes from your next best oppourtunity. You could lose your current job a bunch of ways. Let’s say this disrespect didn’t happen. Maybe something stupid happens and your entire department, or maybe the entire company goes under. Maybe you just feel like going in a different direction in your life. You always need to know your next best alternative.
  • If you job-hop, as long as you leave on good terms, you can always come back. Right now, you’re worried because the only company you can imagine yourself working for is this one company. But if you job hop away, by the time you’re on your 5th job, you’ll have already worked for 4 other employers, of which we’ll say 2 were decent employers. This means that if you get fired from your 5th job, you can quickly call 2 companies, and chances are at least one of them will take you back.
  • It sounds to me that you like your job, and was settling down. However, unless you’re being rapidly promoted, you should be job hopping every year. If you like this company, my advice would be to job-hop away to a different company (once you get a better job offer) and then job-hop back to your current company (probably at a more senior role).

Stuff I would recommend doing:

  • Ask your co-workers who like you for their personal contact information. That way if you get fired, you’ll still have their contact information, and maybe they’ll be able to help you network into a new position. Obviously don’t tell them why, maybe come up with excuse.
  • Surgery: Why not. Free money. I would do it if I was in your position.
  • Swap into different department … I don’t see the downside
    • You’re young, you should be accumulating as much experience as you can. Something tells me you’ve already milked everything to learn out of your current job position. Switching a different department is a way to “reset” your learning curve, without actually applying for a new job.
    • Switching back if you change your mind should be easy
    • Knowing multiple related roles will help you out in working together (If department A and B frequently work together, and if you’ve worked in department A, and now you work in department B, you have an advantage over other people in department B because you’re better at interacting with people in department A).
  • You realize that you can turn down job offers right? If you don’t want to leave your current job, just apply for jobs and then turn them down. This has the following benefits:
    • You are able to keep an active tab on what you’re worth on the open job market
    • Forces you to keep your resume and interview skills up-to-date. Also the best practice for interviews is to do interviews. Also if you’re not TRYING to get a job, interviews are actually pretty fun. You basically get to brag about yourself for an hour, and do a few puzzles.
    • Maybe you’ll get a freakish good offer just out of pure luck.
    • If you apply for jobs in another town:
      • If you get an in-person interview, the company will pay for your flight ticket, hotel, and meals. Even if they’ve already given you the job offer, you can still request an in-person interview so you can decide if you want to work for them. I used to apply for jobs for the “free vacation, all expenses paid, plus a tour of some kind of industrial facility and friendly chat with one of the engineers”.
      • If there’s a limited number of companies that might hire you in your current town, you might not want to close those doors.
    • If you get unexpectedly fired, you’re already in the middle of the hiring process of another company, or maybe even sitting on a job offer that you were just leading on.
  • If you don’t want to quit your current job, but do want extra job security, freelancing on the side is a great option.

==================================================================

Revy,

All that for $10?!?! TFM wasn’t lying you’re awesome, lol.

A few clarifications and answering your questions, please lmk if this changes anything.

1. My mentor figure […] friend had a managerial role over me in the past in another field and does not work with me. Just knows me & my blind spots and pointed out he thinks this is a fall-guy setup. Aaron Clarey also thinks this is a likely fall guy setup and a possible but less likely firing set up. Does this change your opinion at all? (Consulting the entire manosphere council lol)

2. Boss sent a follow up email downplaying or ignoring my concerns about not being able to debug my code prior to submittal, receiving constant high reviews, and the fact these settings were reviewed by us together. I send a follow up email with some bs thanking them for the meeting and made bullets about the above, so my ass is covered. Maybe false confidence but I feel like I swept him and made a fool of him in front of the head of HR. (If they even care) I have no clue wtf my boss is thinking. Just 2 months ago the CEO announced they wanted employees from different departments to meet 1:1 with him in private and share their thoughts. My boss explicitly chose me. Why the sudden 180? I can’t rationalize it. The dude is an executive at a medium/largish company and […], he’s not stupid. My company has probably dumped ~[…]k in training alone into me in the past 2 years, just to spook an employee for nothing? Why was hr even a part of this conversation?!? As other departments are trying to hire away his engineers?!?

[…]

Have spoken more to a head honcho in that other department. They want me over there bad lol.

==================================================================

I’m trying to help other mgtow. Basically, I see another mgtow who’s situation I can improve for very little effort on my end. The $10 is just a filter to make sure you’re serious.
You can always pay more after recieving the consultation if you want to express your appreciation though 🙂

1. Again, I’m going to defer to your mentor figure who actually works with you and is seeing stuff play out in-person. Either way, the various actions you can take don’t really change. Changing to a different department is a good move for reasons of resetting your learning curve and experiencing more stuff, and if your current boss is trying to do something stupid, then it just becomes a better move. Occasionally applying to jobs is something you should be doing anyways.

2. Same as above.

[…]

4. First boss is the first job “intense toxic workplace environment”? Either way, no advice here, sorry. I cut ties pretty fast when I detect bullshit so (fortunately?) I don’t have experience with stuff escalating and have never felt the need to burn down a previous employer.

Transferring departments sounds like a really good move. I’d ask for a raise for transfer, but given your current risk situation, maybe ask for raise after you move.

==================================================================

Revy,

I sent you an extra $30 so the $40 total matches what I sent Clarey. Seemed fair.

Recent grad trying to advance career / shift into more technical role

m a recent college graduate with [.] years of work experience in sales and technician work. I got a degree in [.] engineering and I’m trying to pivot into something related to Data Engineering and or robotics. My last [.] years were in a field unrelated to what I actually want to get into. Wanted to know if you were able to give me some advice on how i can penetrate these fields with either some classes/projects or certificates i can take.

==================================================================

Caveat: I can’t help you get into data engineering, but I can help you get into robotics.
[…]
[…] Can you provide examples of stuff you’ve worked on and/or coursework? Do you know how to do 3D modelling? PCB design? What programming languages do you know, and what operating systems / microprocessors have you run them on? […]
Can you describe your current work in more detail? What’s the difference between what you’re doing now, and the “data engineering” or “robotics” that you’re trying to get into? WHY are you trying to make the shift?

==================================================================

[…] some of the classes I did take are as follows.

[…]

  • Familiar with C, C++, and Assembly. I have done projects with […]
  • I have done 3D modeling. Not with autocad but with Solidworks. I even took and passed their certification test.
  • I took a class for PCB design but it was rushed due to covid.

Below is just the stuff I copied from my resume to describe my current work history. The current jobs I have/had aren’t somewhere i want to be in my career. Current being mostly a technician/Manager and former was in sales. I want to make some more money too, currently being paid […], but i mostly want to get into a job where i’m using more technical skills.

==================================================================

[…]

  • You’re job hopping, one year per company. That’s good, keep it up.

Ignoring your previous job in sales, your current position is pretty textbook “technical skills”. You’re getting paid a decent amount of money, and realistically, most “engineering” jobs are mostly just “do administrative work in an engineering environment”. So I’ll interpret your request as a desire to do “design” work.
On that note, it’s extra hard to get a job doing design work, especially in hardware, because if you make mistakes, they’re very costly. There’s a lot of trial and error. So you’ll have to work on your own, paying your own expenses, in order to put design stuff on your resume.

So here’s the plan:

1) Don’t quit your job, but start working on “design” projects on the side. Whatever projects interest you.

  • I’ve personally liked this channel, though it might be too easy for you: https://www.youtube.com/@HowToMechatronics/playlists
  • Most stuff is going to require you spending money in the form of parts and equipment, but you have a reasonable income, so that shouldn’t be an issue for you.
  • Solidworks, PCB, and C++ form the foundation of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering respectively (in the area you want to work), and you already have those skills. This means that you can tackle pretty much any project. Note that what matters to you know is practice through application, not “studying”. You want to be using these skills on actual projects. As someone who does hiring, the way mind my works is 1) I’m currently building X, and I anticipate I’ll be using solidworks. 2) Has the person I’m interviewing used solidworks to build something similar to X? 3) If yes, then they’ll probably be able to build X with minimal training, they’re a safe hire.
  • If your job allows you to “study” on your downtime, that would be the perfect time to doing the coding and design part of your projects.
  • Obviously if your job has design roles, you should “volunteer” for them, but I’m assuming either they don’t have design roles, otherwise you would have done that.

2) Once you have a few design projects on your resume, there’s several options in front of you. The goal here is to get paid to do design work, no matter how little. // Note to you specifically: […] you should be able to skip step 1. Read: If I were you, I would do both step 1 and step 2 simultaneously, and if something on step 2 works, then forget the step 1 stuff.
— Apply to startups. Startups tend to have a higher need for design engineers, and less administrative positions. The smaller and earlier-stage the startup, the less they’ll pay, but the more likely they’ll hire whoever, and basically all their positions are design engineers.
— Put yourself on upwork, and/or apply for super-early stage (incubator, accelerator) startups. You’d be working for extremely low wage, and then work your way up. If you do this, DO NOT quit your job, this would be a side hustle.
— Apply to university labs. These labs don’t pay much, but they’ll take whoever, and with the exception of undergrads, you almost always end up in a design role. Also these always look really good on a resume. If you think you’re going to be there for longer than an year, and it’s a prestigous university, consider getting a master’s degree (if you’re already working for a lab, it’s basically garunteed admission, and you have support going for a fellowship). If you’re looking to work for a lab at an “elite” university, normally it’s hard to get their attention. An easy way to do that is to read one of their past papers, reverse-engineer their research, and then present their own research to them. Another thing you can do is “volunteer” in your off-time, and then after you’ve proven yourself, the lab will want to pay you to get you to quit your day job (although they most likely won’t be able to pay as much as your day job, you should still take it, if only for a brief period of time). // Note to you specifically: You have a pretty good “average” engineering job. This is the only way I know of to RELIABLY go from an “average” job to an “elite” job, with the alternative being applying directly for “elite” jobs and hoping you get lucky.

3) After that, you basically work your way up to more and more highly-paid positions.

  • The TLDR of my advice is that you’ll you’ll have to do an unpaid side hustle (and even lose a little bit of money), and then get a weirdly low-paying (but prestigous) job, and then apply for real “elite” jobs while not telling them how much you were getting paid at your previous job.
  • Another way to think about it: The teeth of the ratchet is you continuing job hopping high-income engineering jobs. The advancing motion that moves you forward each tooth comes from unpaid or low-paid but looks-super-cool-on-your-resume side-hustle.

Also, this interview I did with grim has a lot of useful information:
https://www.mgtow.tv/watch/grim-interviews-how-to-be-a-engineer-with-revy-innovations_ruuEazjYTDO3CaD.html

Let me know if this helps.

==================================================================

Thanks revy, this helps a lot. The advice you gave me is something I wouldn’t have thought of by myself and honestly makes a lot of sense. […]

Should I change my current job title to electrical engineer on my resume? I’m just curious how most people would respond to that if they contact my previous employer and see the title was just engineer. Also I’ll remove my sales job immediately from my resume if i interpreted your advice correctly.

I looked at the project videos and I’ll actually be doing 2 projects that look really cool before I hop onto stage 2. Your guidance is much appreciated and I see this taking me roughly 1-2 years to complete everything.

==================================================================

You can change it to “Electrical Engineer”, “Mechanical Engineer” or “Electrical and Mechanical Engineer”, or “Electrical Engineer specializing in XXX” (with XXX being some keyword you stole from the job description) depending on what job you’re applying for. […]
On your resume, you give yourself a title, which is the first impression. It changes depending on what job you’re applying for, and with it the whole “theme” of your resume, without you changing anything else.

Also, regarding the tutorial videos:

Do NOT just follow the tutorial videos exactly. You always want to make some modification or improvement (perhaps after you follow the tutorial), so you can claim credit for “designing” the resulting product, which is “based” on a tutorial. Most design work, even in industry, is usually just a frankenstein of a bunch of different tutorials. So even though your project will be heavily based on a tutorial, it won’t look too different from a paid project.
[…questionably ethical advice here…]

Pigeonholed engineer attempting to transition into robotics

Comment: This conversation thread is from before I started “officially” consulting MGTOW, and also is WAY longer than a single consultation.

==================================================================

Hello Revy,

I recalled from the TFM show that you are a robotics engineer. I am beginning my career transition and am interested in robotics. I apologize for taking your time since you are running your own business because I want to ask if you are open to giving guidance to someone looking to get into the robotics engineer field ?

Thank you for your time,
[…]

==================================================================

[…]
What are your current skills?
What is your motivation? (Job security/income, Remote work, Fun, Self-Employment)
What subdisciplines would you be interested in? (Mechanical/Electrical/Software/ML+CV)
What’s your short-term ability to go without income / purchase starting equipment?
I did a whole video series on this stuff that you’ll probably be interested in:
https://www.mgtow.tv/watch/grim-interviews-revy-innovations-part-1-everything-you-know-about-robotics-is-wrong_rM6mo2KlesBPZ8z.html
https://www.mgtow.tv/watch/grim-interviews-how-to-be-a-engineer-with-revy-innovations_ruuEazjYTDO3CaD.html
https://www.mgtow.tv/watch/grim-interviews-revy-innovations-pt-3-contracting-for-dummies_wWOwlxq5ZSpEQ9e.html
https://www.mgtow.tv/watch/grim-interviews-revy-innovations-pt-4-small-business-bonus-episode-and-new-doll-ideas_XHphHO2GUqbMsl8.html

Fyi the questions will make more sense if you watch the first 2 videos

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Hello revy,
Thank you for the video series and your patience. I just watched the first two and got a clear idea about the types of robotics. I’ll answer the questions below.

  • My current skills are listed in the attached document. I also attached my resume as well.
  • My background is traditional. I received my Bachelors in Computer Engineering […].
  • My motivation is income, interest, job security, and possibly remote work. I’ll elaborate those reason on a separate email
  • Subdisciplines I am interested in are basically what skills I need to build […]. This include ML + CV as well.
  • For now my current objective is to get work in industrial robotics but based on your experience in the first two video it would be better to aim for One man army robotic designer engineer role.
  • I currently work full time and my short term ability to go without income is 6 months expense. It has to be restricted since living in […] is too expensive to do a lot of activities. A big portion of my total assets is now with brokers since I am on the Monkey’s Market Minute.

Let me know if there are items that need clarification. I’ll be watching the last two.

[…]

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Comments concerning your employment:

  • If you have a degree in computer engineering, you should have no problem finding a robotics job. In fact it seems like you’re already in one. So it seems you already have job security and income.
  • However, looking at your resume, it looks like you’re mainly working for large bureaucratic organizations. I’m guessing this is limiting the enjoyment of your work, as well as your opportunities for learning / advancement.
  • IMO the reason why you’re limited to these large corporations is because you’re in […]. You seem to have solid skills in both software and electrical. If you’re willing to relocate, you shouldn’t have any issues finding a job in something more interesting.

Options for now:

  • Since you can code, that’s the ideal discipline for remote work. However your interest in mechatronics limits you to on-site work, constraining you to either relocation or one-man-army operation.
  • Bluntly put, you don’t have the professional weight to demand a high-paying remote position, mechatronics or software-only. If you were in a low cost-of-living area, you might be able to do income arbitrage, but you’re not, rather, you’re in the opposite situation.

Steps forward:

  • Apply for jobs at other companies. Ideally in one of those places you want to relocate to. Also ideally that are willing to pay for you to relocate (I don’t think you have the professional weight to demand that benefit, but if they offer it, great)
  • Add prestige work to your resume (see “improving your resume”)
  • Your current skills vs skills required for mechatronics:

Mechanical stuff:
You don’t have the mechanical engineering to do this to a high level (by yourself). However, being able to manufacture enclosures and mounts for your own electronics is nice. Think plastic vs steel. Most of the control stuff you apply to plastic on a small scale can easily be repurposed to metal on a large scale if you get put on a team with real MechEs.

Electrical / Software stuff:
You have some experience with circuitry, but it seems to mainly be with industrial electronics. Obviously this is a nice skill to have, and normally pays pretty well, but there are two downsides to this:

  • It’s kind of outdated for robotics
  • Industrial control circuits are super-expensive, and unsuitable for one-man-army type projects. And they also usually control “industrial” machinery, which you don’t have the budget or skills to use.
    I would lean into C++/arduino/microprocessor stuff, which is applicable for small scale projects. Usually larger scale robotics projects will be primarily C++ controlled, but interfaced with a couple industrial control circuits, so the experience you already have in that will be useful when it comes time to find a job.

CV/ML:
CV and ML are highly specialized fields. It’s not required to work on mechatronics. I didn’t bother learning these skills since my skills in PCBs, C++, and 3D modelling were already more than enough to get me any job I wanted. However, if you do learn OpenCV and/or TensorFlow, and implement a project using them, and then start applying for CV/ML jobs, you just might land them. I think AeroShogun would be a better resource for that since he actually did it. While there are other options that would make better use of your electronics skills, your background in computer engineering would give you a head start (like Shogun).

This is my “curriculum” that would allow you to learn various skills, and also be great for your resume: (costs ~$500) (If you want to follow this, let me know what you want to build and I’ll put together some more detailed instructions).

  • Buy a 3D printer (Creality Ender 3, either buy one with self-levelling or install it yourself)
  • Get a copy of Fusion 360 (3D modelling software, for making things to 3D print)
  • Buy an arduino, a motor and/or servo shield, some motors and/or servos, accelerometer, whatever other stuff you need
  • Build yourself some kind of robot. Given your interests, I imagine it would be mobile.
  • Optional: I’d tell you to get a raspberry pi, and do some computer vision, but those things are overpriced as hell right now. [this was during COVID] Maybe after you do everything else the price will come down.
  • You can make yourself an SRP if you want, although you wouldn’t be able to put it on your resume, but it’s a pretty good learning experience for 3D printing.

Improving your resume

  • Your interest in […] / Exosuits: those are pretty high-prestige positions, going to the top 5% of engineers, so without something to make you stand out, your odds aren’t good. I would still apply though.
  • […] looks somewhat impressive, but not enough. Right now, your resume still screams “average”. “Average engineer” is pretty good, but insufficient for your goals.
  • You need prestige work. “Prestige” work means work that looks super-impressive on a resume, even if it has low pay or even volunteer. Basically FSAE-type stuff.
  • See if you can get work at a research lab, either at […] or another University. These jobs pay shit, but sometimes they do super-cool research. Do that job for a year, and then leave (you should start applying for jobs ~6 months in)
  • Any one-man-army robot projects would be super-employable. Normally “personal projects” are seen negatively on resumes, but that depends on how elaborate the robot is. […]

Misc stuff:

  • You spent way too long at your first job. At your age, you shouldn’t spend longer than 1-2 years at one job. You want to start applying for new jobs ~8 months in.
  • Too many acronyms, also you graduated a long time ago, no need to say where you graduated from, especially if you can add some prestige work to your resume.

==================================================================

Thank you for the feedback and time. There is a lot for me to take in and now I know where I stand. I will clarify my current situation and ask questions to your points below. My questions will be highlighted.

Comments concerning your employment:
I am glad my choices in jobs improved based on your feedback on my current being tied to robotics .
Unfortunately yes it is a bureaucratic organization. It is limiting the enjoyment and growth at my work since management wants a technician long term. I already looked at their KPI and asked my coworkers one question, does the employer reward their employees well with better pay or advancement? Their answer is no they do not receive any higher pay or better positions and they work for 3 years.
Yes I am willing to relocate. This is my most difficult part because when I make a move I like to make sure I have a job there first before moving. Otherwise I move there and I have no job or company change their mind and basically I am stuck there or move back to […] with no job.

Options for now:
Steps forward:
I am currently applying for jobs in […] and was debating strongly between […]. I will expand my interest with code to obtain more remote or one-man army roles.
Question : Are […] a good states for robotics ? sites like zippia ranks them by pay. I know California is high, however I have been there a few times for work in my previous role and it was not to my liking.
[…]
With my current position I do need prestige work on my resume. I will find them or ask you.

Your current skills vs skills required for mechatronics:
Mechanical Stuff: I am fine with manufacturing enclosures and mounts .
Electrical / Software stuff:
I have arduino kits and Open CV AI kits so I will pull my focus on projects involving those.
CV/ML
I am currently learning Open CV, beginner level right now. I will reach out to shogun once I get proficient.
Your Curriculum : I will definitely take up your offer on the curriculum. I will let you know when I got the money for it because I am currently budgeting for it. Yes my interest in robotics does fall under mobility.
Improving your resume
You need prestige work.
The […] does have a robotics lab and I will ask if I can volunteer my time. Not sure if research lab can accept volunteers, but I am pretty sure they highly need a technician to do the dirty jobs.
For your projects on your to do list. I will put that on the back burner for now until I am proficient with the 3D printing. […]
That is all I have going on for me and my questions. I will proceed on the Open CV and Arduino while looking into 3D printing.

Thank you for your time,
[…]

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Uhhh big misunderstandings/things I forgot to tell you:

You don’t want to be going out of your way to learn XXX skill. You want to pick a project, and learn the (bare minimum) skills required to complete that project. Obviously, the project you pick should be based on the skill you want to learn, but you need to have a concrete project in mind when you are looking for what skills to learn. This has several implications:

  • This ensures you aren’t learning useless knowledge/theory, makes your learning way faster and more practical. Big contrast to taking college classes.
  • You’ll have a much bigger project to put on your resume at the end of it. As a senior engineer, when I look over resumes, I don’t care what you list under “skills”. If you haven’t used it on a (major) project, you don’t have experience using that skill in a practical environment, and you basically don’t have that skill.
  • On any given project, only half the skills we use are skills we already have. The other half are learned on the job, because it’s specific to that job (usually a specific C++ library, a proprietary manufacturing process, or how to use a specific electronic chip) and usually never used again. Obviously that ratio changes depending on your experience, but I’m trying to get you used to learning on the job (i.e. go on google and search “how to use XXX”)
  • Alternatively phrased: you don’t have to know a skill in order to do a project that requires that skill. I never learned C++, I just followed arduino tutorials on youtube. Copy-paste the code from the tutorial, then modify/combine/edit it to do what I want. […]
  • On the note of skills that we already have: I can see someone starting from scratch being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff to learn, but you already know C++ and circuitry so that shouldn’t be an issue for you.

Ways to go about finding a project:

  • Tutorials/guided projects are great. Then you can modify the project in some way, so it becomes your own design, and it looks more impressive on your resume.
  • This guy’s great, follow 2 or 3 of his tutorials and you’ll be ready to start freelancing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxABxSADZ6U, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B3gWd3A_SI&list=PL1KVSZBJtW0pOY7Tg_gBf8aZPtwF5DD0F&index=15
  • However, if you want to come up with your own project, it’s not entirely obvious what skills/tools to use. That’s where I come in. I’ve kind of listed the skills required to make most plastic mechatronic robots, probably a toy car or robotic arm or something.
  • I suggested the Ender 3 as your first 3d printer because it’s a very barebones printer that people like to modify (usually with 3D printed parts). So if there’s anything that pisses you off about the printer…maybe search “Ender 3 modifications on youtube?”
  • If you work for a University lab, I would recommend taking a full-time paid position, not volunteer. As in, quit your current job for a research assistant position that pays far less. Think of it as sacrificing 1/2 your pay for a year, in exchange for a major boost to your resume. Obviously you’d have to find a pretty good lab/project…
  • I don’t know about […], but Texas has a huge tech industry. I think it ranks just behind California, and the way things are going, will probably pass California. Make sure to add “looking to relocate” to the top of your resume.

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One more thing:

For most employee positions, especially at large companies, “learning” and “research” is considered part of the job responsibilities. Upper management loves it; they call it “ongoing training”. Also for large corporations, you don’t actually need 40h/week to get all your main job responsibilities done. So allocate 10h/week (or even 20 or 30h if you can, although obviously you want to downplay the number of hours) for “learning/research”. Usually getting management to buy you hardware is a pain due to paperwork, so you’ll probably have to bring your own. I think arduino programming and ML/CV would be great candidates for this, preferably something that has more software than hardware so you don’t make a mess at your desk. The caveat is that if you invent anything, the company will own it, but you’re not at the entrepreneurship stage of your career yet so that’s whatever.

Sometimes corporations will have certification workshops. Most of these are useless, but there are a couple (IPC-J-STD, IPC-A-610) that would be helpful if you can get your manager to sign you up for them. You probably also have some kind of online employee training system, usually stuff like “information security” and “diversity and inclusion” training, basically powerpoints you button-mash “next” on so you can fill out the paperwork saying you did it. These are basically useless for learning, but maybe you can find an official company training on Arduino or OpenCV or something, go through a few slides or lessons or whatever, and then start learning it for real based on youtube and google and stuff. If your boss questions what you’re doing with your time, you’ll have an official company training you can point to, that you’re just doing “supplemental” work for.

Super-large companies usually also have a “makerspace” with 3d printers and electronic soldering stations, maybe even CNC machines. They’re usually pretty unused since the only reason it’s there is so the company can brag about having a makerspace. I’d also recommend buying your own equipment since it’s more convenient (and time is money), but if it’s a tool you don’t use that often or you just want to build stuff on company time, they’re great.

==================================================================

Hello Revy,

Hope your New Years and Holiday went well. Yes I do have a strong interest in mobility. I spent the time from the last time we talked reflecting and applying to various jobs. […]

After research and reflection on my goals I decided industrial robotics is not what I wanted. I thought about my time from my industrial engineer role. I am no longer interested in industrial robotics for personal reasons regarding quality of life. I want to go straight into doing robotics on the software side or electro – mechanical (Remote or Hybrid).

To get this prestige projects or work I will follow your curriculum and will volunteer to help you on your to do list when you think I am sufficient.

In terms of my current job they are ok with me doing the projects so long as it doesn’t get in the way of work. As for the training they do not have the personnel to come to […] to train us. I will be sticking to my current role for now.

Long term wise the projects I am interested are the following.

  • Computer Vision for vehicles and I will reach out to Shogun on this.
  • […]
  • […]

Thank you for your time and patience,
[…]

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[…]

I’ve been mentoring some students recently, and figured out some things I have been doing wrong. Specifically, 1) I’m freakishly smart, but that also means that stuff that works for me might not work for other people. 2) I judge people based on projects and hard skills, but there are other managers who actually put weight on degrees and “transferable” skills. Nevertheless, I’ll try my best.

To start, I was previously encouraging you to learn everything, but now taking into consideration your limits, maybe it’s better for you to specialize as much as possible. Probably into one of the three below options. You can always change your direction later, and your previous experience will only help you.

[…]

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[…]

==================================================================

Hello Revy,

It has been a while. I just got a job offer and was able to move out of […]. Just had to handle the move more better.

I am focusing on […] at the moment.

[…]

Sincerely,
[…]

Bookkeeper can’t find work

Hiya Revy, […]. This is, admittedly, a bit of a shot in the dark, I’m not sure if you can help me, but do you think you could help me start a career in bookkeeping? I’ve read your webpage and understand you mostly want to serve people getting into engineering, but I thought it might be worth asking for some help with my situation. I’ve been taking online courses to become a freelance bookkeeper (and I archived all the lessons along the way so I can always reference back to them whenever I want) and I got my certifications in Quickbooks. But of course, no one starts a career without somebody taking a chance on them when they have no experience, or no formal education. Finding that first client is always the hardest step and I’m certainly not alone in being all set up on the launchpad of a new career, but unable to take off just yet. I was thinking perhaps you may know some startups or other companies who would need a bookkeeper, and/or willing to take a chance on a fellow MGTOW who is eager to start a new career. Or heck, even if you yourself don’t need a bookkeeper, maybe I could look at your books, organize some things free of charge, and then you could give me a good review on my Quickbooks Pro profile. Perhaps there’s other ways you could help that I can’t think of yet. I’m also willing to slash the usual rates in half for those first few clients because I’m still trying to get my foot in the door and get that valuable real-world, real-work experience. It’s pretty much impossible to get people to reach out to you when you have zero reviews on whatever website profiles you have out there. I heard about you from TFM’s show, I’ve been watching him for years, I can still remember the very first 420 livestream he did. Hopefully we can work something out together. Thank you for your time and consideration.

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There’s two things I see:

First, the reason why you can’t find work as a bookkeeper

  • Most people aren’t business owners, and don’t need bookkeepers (but do need to do their taxes)
  • Most small business owners don’t care about bookkeeping (but they do need to do their taxes)
  • If someone does understand the importance of accounting/bookkeeping, most of the time, they are going to do their own bookkeeping. I fall in this category. This is because it means nothing to have a bookkeeper do the bookkeeping if you don’t actually look at the books. But if I look at the books, I might as well just do the bookkeeping myself. 
  • If someone really wants the bookkeeping to be done well, but doesn’t want to do their own bookkeeping, they’ll hire someone experienced.

Basically, people don’t need “standard” bookkeeping. However, people WILL pay money to someone to help them do their taxes. Probably because taxes are way more complicated than bookkeeping.


Second, copy-paste from my guidebook, it’s still applicable to you even if it’s a different industry

I would recommend that engineers try to be employees when they are younger. Being a contractor doesn’t really become profitable until engineers are older and more experienced. The reasons why:

  • More pay: when you are a contractor, you are paid what you are worth. When you first start off, you will earn nothing, because you have no job experience and therefore you are worth nothing. However, companies are, for some reason I cannot understand, willing to pay a fairly decent salary to junior engineers. Therefore, when you are younger, you should be an employee and get paid more. Contractors don’t begin to outearn employees until reaching at least mid-career level. < Rephrased for your case: People don’t trust you because you’re inexperienced, and since they aren’t bookkeepers/accountants themselves, they can’t supervise you AND THEREFORE CAN’T TELL IF YOU MADE A MISTAKE.
  • Supervision by and learning from senior engineers: If you work as an employee, you will be supervised by a senior engineer. This mentor will give you designs to implement that will be superior to whatever designs you can come up with in your inexperienced state. They will tell you what to do when you meet a challenge. They will review your work, and tell you where you are making mistakes that will bite you later. These will make your job easier. Also, you will learn these designs and solutions and add them to your repertoire, greatly accelerating your growth.
  • Pay for mistakes: When you make mistakes as an employee, your boss pays for your mistakes. When you make mistakes as a contractor you will pay for them. This is why, when you are inexperienced and make many mistakes, you want to be an employee, so you can make mistakes with your boss’s money.
  • Learn how to run a business: If you work for a small business / startup, you’ll be able to see first-hand how a “real” business operates. Switch roles and wear as many different hats as you can.

Basically, the less skilled you are, the “safer” employment you want to do. The more skilled you are, the more “challenging” employment you want to do. In case you’re considering it, startups are even worse.

So I see the following options:

  • If you want to be self-employed, you have to become a (tax) accountant
  • If you want to continue as a bookkeeper, you should get a job as an employee, working for either a large company or a CPA. Working under a CPA. I explained above why normal people won’t hire bookkeepers, because 1) they don’t care about bookkeeping, or 2) they can just do it themselves. However, the exception are CPAs. Accountants need bookkeeping, and while they can do the work themselves, they don’t have the time (I’m specifically saying “CPA”, because a non-certified accountant is less “valuable” and therefore doesn’t have a problem with doing the bookkeeping themselves). Plus, they have the ability to double-check your work so they’re less worried about a newbie making mistakes.
  • Ideally, do both at once (i.e. work as an accountant, under a CPA)
  • Even more ideally, get a CPA. Part of the process to become a CPA is to work under a CPA for 1 year, so you’ll need to be a non-certified accountant first anyways. But the downside is this requires a college degree…
    • Go work as an assistant under a CPA. Tell them that you want to become a CPA, and they’ll help you apply for college, give you all sorts of tips, and you can work for them part-time while attending school.
    • If you have lots of money, go back to school and take the academic classes required to get a CPA. Then, with your extra classes, apply to work under a CPA. You’ll be more likely to get the job, plus your starting pay will be higher because you have the college classes. (Rephrased: College classes increase your pay as an accountant. Working as an accountant doesn’t change the number of credits you get per class. Therefore, it makes sense for you to do the classes first, then get the work experience. But realistically, you’ll probably be doing both at the same time anyways.)


I think Aaron Clarey has a course called “the world’s greatest accounting career”, maybe that’s useful.

==================================================================

I think the term I’ve been looking for when I say “non certified accountant” is “tax preparer”?

TLDR: Work under a CPA as a tax preparer or bookkeeper or whatever the CPA needs a lesser-paid person for.


(Even when I had a bookkeeper, I didn’t bother contacting her until January when I had all my statements in order, because to me, a bookkeeper was just the person who prepared my documents for the CPA)

unfortunately you just missed tax season

ChemE trying to pivot to software (Also some international business loophole stuff)

Hi Revy,

I’m […not in the US…] and I just finished my undergraduate program in chemical engineering […]. I was just listening to TFM, and he mentioned that you were offering career planning services.

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I can provide general career advice, but I don’t really know that much for chemical engineering. If you’re okay with that, drop $10 in the payment link.

You’re not giving me much to go off of. What is your current situation, where do you want to go, what are you trying to do now to get there?

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Hi Revy,

My Current Situation:
I recently graduated […] from a “good” engineering school […] for chemical engineering. I did multiple manufacturing related coop positions and I feel my resume looks pretty good. However, during my last co-op I felt burned out and I can’t stand the idea of going into an office again for 8 hours and doing work I don’t enjoy doing. I can’t bring myself to apply for these engineering jobs that I know that I will hate doing. Financially, I’m doing fine because I’ve been working part time at a restaurant since high school and throughout all of university, and I’ve saved every dollar that I made from my coops and the restaurant and I’ve been investing in index funds (although I got out since trump was elected in 2024 and TFM was warning about the market being in a bubble). I am currently still working part time at the restaurant every day and I enjoy working there. I have a few thousand in student loans that I can pay back at any time, but I choose not to because […not US…] student loans have zero interest at the moment. I am living with my parents (which I don’t mind and they don’t mind because I’m working and doing my part) so I have low overhead and I have the freedom to chase ideas.
I’ve just been programming in C whenever I’m not working at the restaurant. I have my own web server that I’ve made entirely in C here: […] and I also have my own mail server that I’ve programmed entirely in C as well thats also running at […] (I can receive mail there too if you put […]. my website showcases a few of the programming libraries I’ve written, as well as some videos that I’ve recorded of me doing linux stuff for fun. I’ve also uploaded my videos on youtube to see if they’ll get any attention […]. I have also programmed games in C for gamejams where I’ve made all my own 3d assets and tilesheets […].
Although I studied chemical engineering and I’ve done coops for manufacturing, I feel no interest in actually working there anymore. I feel happy solving problems coding and writing my own servers. I want to make something great but I feel lost and I have regrets about going to school for another engineering field.
lately, I’ve been writing a matching engine for a possible exchange service for trading (there was a potential client interested in having me write a matching engine, but he’s been quiet for a day so I’m not sure anymore).

Where Do I Want to Go:
I want to be a software developer writing code for myself. I want to write servers that can provide services to other people that I can help, and get paid (ideally in crypto). On my ideal day, I would wake up, write code at my own pace for about 4 hours until the afternoon, then I would work at a different part time job that’s easy like at a restaurant or convenience store where I can just think about software problems and interact with people and do some physical work. I’ve heard about AMR from TFM and how he’s running a VPN service, web hosting service, with a video platform service like mgtow.tv, and I want to live kind of like that where I’m writing servers and providing all these services.

What Am I Trying to Do Now to Get There:
I’ve been reaching out to people on crypto forums to see if they have some website ideas they want to implement (like the matching engine request), but I just don’t feel like I have any kind of network. I’ve been writing code by myself ever since and all my projects have been self imposed challenges. I’m saving all of my money and living very frugally so I can continue to code and write projects. Other than that, I don’t feel like I have very much direction.

I can provide more details. Can you also give me a list of “Good Ideas” that I might try? Also, could you put me in contact with AMR so maybe I could do some work for him? I kind of look up to AMR and his lifestyle of creating his own online services for other men.

==================================================================

My Current Situation:

Out of curiousity, what’s your US status? Can you apply for jobs in the US without H1B?

I would recommend putting an equivalent amount of money into money market, and naming the account “student loan” so you don’t accidentally spent it

You’ve learned the hard way that simply doing projects and hoping people see them results in:

1) People not seeing them, and if they do see it, not use it even if you offer it for free.
2) People not offering to hire you (you can put your resume and a “looking for work” on your projects, it probably won’t result in anything, but it won’t take much effort, and the probability of getting a job from this will be greater than 0) (don’t do this if it will hinders the “can’t tell details because of NDA” strategy)
Imagine what would happen if I made the SRP, or offered this consulting service, WITHOUT advertising on TFM. Simply nothing would happen.

However, this is useful, because you can put them on your resume. So now, you can apply for jobs, and PUSH your resume (and your projects) in front of people who are looking for people to hire. Where you can, pretend that you did it for money for a client that you can’t reveal because of NDA.

You don’t NEED to get another degree. You can simply put “software engineer” at the top of your resume, and people will simply believe you since if you have coding stuff on your resume and ANY engineering degree (which you do). However, if that isn’t enough, this is a valid way to shift industries. However, if you do, DO NOT get an undergrad degree, get a MASTER’S degree. The reasons why:
1) you can get it faster (1 year vs 2 year)
2) it’s worth more, because obviously Master’s in SoftwareE > Undergrad in SoftwareE. To rub this point in, if you get a master’s and an undergrad in the same field, your undergrad no longer matters. Master’s in SoftwareE and Bachelor’s in ChemE is considered just as good as Undergrad and Master’s in SoftwareE, plus you have your ChemE bachelor’s if you ever feel like going back to school.
3) Master’s classes are easier to get As in for some reason. But even if you don’t get good grades, GPA for Master’s degree matters less than GPA for undergrad, simply having the degree is more important.
4) Master’s allows you to do more research credits. In fact, I’m pretty sure that a “transition” undergrad doesn’t allow you to do research credits at all. Research is an easy way to get an A, while simultaneously putting material on your resume.
I personally used this technique to shift from one industry to another (my Master’s degree and my PhD are in different fields). If you decide to go for another degree, DEFINITELY seek my advice for that (both for the application as early as you can, and again once you get in and you’re picking your courses).

Re: Matching Engine

Flaking is pretty typical, I’m assuming you know that, but if not, get used to it.

You’re clearly hardworking, and enjoy both non-technical (restaurant) and technical (coding) stuff. The desire to continue doing restaurant stuff even once you get a much higher paying coding job suggests natural work-ethic. I’m guessing the reason why you don’t like working a 9-5, I’m assuming it’s at a large bureaucratic company and it’s the bureaucracy that’s messing with you, and you enjoy the engineering part of the work. Let me know if I’m wrong.

If I’m right about the administrative bloat being why you hated your coop: Startups tend to have less administrative bloat. The smaller and earlier-stage the startup, the less they’ll pay, but the more likely they’ll hire whoever, and basically they have no bloat.

Part of the reason why I made the assumption that you’re worked at a large beareaucratic company is because I can’t think of a startup that needs ChemEs. Not saying that they don’t exist, just that if you randomly take the first job suggested, it’ll probably be for a super traditional company. For super-early stage startups, I would go to startup/incubator/accelerator events and expos. I would also try your university job fair. Basically, any company recruiting at […university…] will have a favorable opinion of anyone who graduated from […univeristy…], this would be way more effective than random cold-calls (startup or not). Some universities have separate job fairs just for startups.

If you still want to do software instead of ChemE, it’s even more important to go for startups. If you try to apply for Amazon, they’ll be like “wtf ChemE degree?” but if you apply for a startup, they’ll be more likely to take whoever applies.

Where Do I Want to Go:

Re Crypto:

Early in your career, you take whatever job you can get. You don’t get to be picky until you get more experienced. If you’re worried about being pigeonholed, ask yourself: is this next job more in the direction you want to go than your current job? In this case, anything software will meet that requirement

Re convenience store:

Consider doing something with downtime, in which you can pull out a laptop. Aaron Clarey and TFM both did and recommend night shift security. I think hotel receptionist also works. These things don’t require much work, but do requires “trust and general competence” which you can demonstrate with your engineering degree. There’s is a concern with “overqualification”, but you can ease their concerns with your restaurant experience. That being said, I say “consider” because that restaurant you’ve been working at, you probably know that they’re not assholes, which is kind of priceless in its own way.

What Am I Trying to Do Now to Get There:

I’m not seeing “applying for jobs” as one of the things you’ve attempted (I recommend startups for reasons stated above.)

You seem to be trying to go the freelancer route. I recommend against this, because as a freelancer, your pay will be very little because … well right now, you’re worth very little. Whereas as an employee, you’ll get paid a bit more reasonably, plus you can learn from senior engineers. The freelancer / “consultant” route doesn’t really work as a day job until you’ve gotten a decent amount of experience.
As a side hustle, sure. For where you are right now, I would recommend Upwork. 90% of the clients on there are retards, 90% of the contractors on there are woefully inexperienced and kind of useless (and you can join that 90%). You’ll probably end up working for less than minimum wage on failing projects, but at least it will give you the experience of getting paid something other than 0 for your work. That will increase your confidence.

Re: looking for good ideas

(Your problem isn’t that you don’t have “good ideas”, your problem is that you’re not trying to sell yourself. Directly. You want door-to-door salesman levels of shameless.)

Re: AMR [… exchange contact information here….]

Doing work for AMR, I’m sure it would grant you fulfillment. I’m not sure if he’s generating enough profit to pay you, but it’s not like you’re getting paid right now. Regarding your inevitable attempt to put it on your resume:
– One option is to describe it in vague terms, and if people ask for details, say that you are held under NDA. The important thing is to PRACTICE describing it in vague terms.
– Other option is to have at least one other thing. If the interviewer talks to you about that project you can say “well actually, this other project is more interesting” (I’ve done this, and the interviewer didn’t have a problem with it).

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Adding to My Current Situation:
I also enjoy building my own custom drones! I source parts from ali express and other drone part websites online and I enjoy putting it together and soldering the electronics to the flight controller! I built my first drone a month ago, and I’m sourcing parts for my second drone. I’ve been thinking about building bigger and bigger drones to try to move a load.

Adding to Where Do I Want to Go :
It could be fun to build a business making food delivery drones. I like sourcing the parts from different suppliers and planning out a build, calculating costs, and testing the parts. I’ve seen videos of Chinese food delivery drones, and I could try doing a drone delivery service for the restaurant.

Adding to What Am I Trying to Do Now to Get There:
I’m working on building a list of suppliers I can order from and tracking the lead time on all parts. I’m calculating the cost of drone builds and minimizing the cost, and I’m learning from a drone building discord on how to plan out builds better.
I could research the existing food delivery drones from the companies […]

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I’m gonna shut down your drone idea. There’s lots of people that do drones as hobby. Unless you’re designing and manufacturing custom modifications, simply putting together parts that are designed to go together doesn’t qualify as “it’s worth paying this person”.
If you really want to do RC stuff and get paid for it, you’re either gonna need:
– Machining experience, and be really good at Solidworks, so you can design custom frames
– Electrical engineering degree, plus PCB design, so you can design custom electronics
Both these things you have nothing in, and attempting to learn the skill on your own would cost a stupid amount of money.

Between the crypto thing and the drone thing, you seem to have a thing for “trendy” things. These look good on a resume, but generally the best and easiest jobs are in industries that people don’t think to look for.

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Also, I’m gonna upsell a resume review (extra $10 if you go for it).

Re-reading this stuff:

It seems like you’re going for entrepreneurship? Shutting that down for the same reason why I recommend against 1099 contracting. You’re inexperienced. This means if you try to do something high-risk, you’ll fail. So you want to do lower-risk stuff, ideally building things for someone else, spending someone else’s money, under the supervision of a more experienced engineer. For now, gaining experience under AMR is the move.

I analyzed your dislike of ChemE is a “beauracracy” thing. It might also be a “design” vs “repetitive” thing, where “design” refers to building something that you can call your own? Either way, software should give you more design oppourtunities, because software is more amenable to startups, which give you more design oppourtunity (and autonomy.) So my rec doesn’t change too much. The only thing that gives you more of what you’re looking for is entrepreneurship, which as described above, isn’t the ideal move for you right now.

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Hi Revy,

Thank you for your time, I’ll get the resume review for $10 USD. […]

(Out of curiousity, what’s your US status? Can you apply for jobs in the US without H1B?) […response here…]


I would recommend putting an equivalent amount of money into money market, and naming the account “student loan” so you don’t accidentally spent it
good idea, I will set the amount aside.

I’m guessing the reason why you don’t like working a 9-5, I’m assuming it’s at a large bureaucratic company and it’s the bureaucracy that’s messing with you, and you enjoy the engineering part of the work. Let me know if I’m wrong.
Yeah I think you hit the nail on the head. I enjoy creating things like writing software, and I like fixing things like doing work on family cars and fixing restaurant equipment. But I absolutely can’t stand the bloat of the education institutions and company HR departments. I’ll consider startups more, do you think indeed and other online job app websites are a good place to continue looking? I’ll be looking around for startup/incubator/accelerator events and expos, do you have a good list of them?


I’m not seeing “applying for jobs” as one of the things you’ve attempted (I recommend startups for reasons stated above.)
I have a mental issue, where I hate the idea of applying to jobs anymore. A few months into a job, and I’m questioning why I’m even doing the work and what I’m even going to do with the money. That’s a skill issue though, and I’ll give startups a try.

I’m gonna shut down your drone idea. There’s lots of people that do drones as hobby. Unless you’re designing and manufacturing custom modifications, simply putting together parts that are designed to go together doesn’t qualify as “it’s worth paying this person”.
Thanks, I needed someone to tell me this was a bad idea.

It seems like you’re going for entrepreneurship? Shutting that down for the same reason why I recommend against 1099 contracting. You’re inexperienced. This means if you try to do something high-risk, you’ll fail. So you want to do lower-risk stuff, ideally building things for someone else, spending someone else’s money, under the supervision of a more experienced engineer. For now, gaining experience under AMR is the move.
Got it, I gotta focus on getting some more experience first. I’m going to try to reach out to AMR today.

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[resume stuff]

Okay, it’s gonna be easier for me to just make you a resume than actually comment. Here you go […]

[more resume stuff]

==================================================================

US stuff:

  • You’d want to set up a “company” in […country…]. […] And so that way the US company would be paying your […country…] company, not you directly. I’m not too familiar with how it works in […country…], but that’s roughly how you’d get around the H1B thing.
  • […]

Clarification on the whole [company] thing: I gave you some contradicting advice as to why 1) you shouldn’t be a contractor, but also 2) to make a [company], and have people pay you through your company..

You want to be a “misrepresented employee”. Basically, you work through your number company as a contractor, but get treated as an employee. If you want to be able to work for companies in the US, then this would allow them to hire you, but since you’re being treated as an employee, you get supervision from a senior engineer, and you’re not being forced to eat costs when you mess up.

[lots of information copy-pasted from my guidebook]

Where to look for jobs:

  • “High-yield” job hunting: Milk those […university…] job fairs. I don’t know what specific resources you have, since I didn’t go to […university…]. You can also look up “[…university…] incubator” and “startup accelerators in […]”.
  • “Low-yield” job hunting: You want to be applying to jobs directly, either on the company “jobs” page, or by cold-emails to whatever email you can find. Stay away from “job websites” like monster.com or indeed.com. They’re just a source of spam for jobs that you are obviously not suited for.

==================================================================

[it drags on a bit after this]

Retired man considers IVF surrogacy

Comment: Edited to have some updated information

===============================================================

Heya revy, I’m heard your spiel on the tfm Saturday show, I’m mgtow and I’m retired early so I think I’d be a good candidate for surrogacy. I’d actually like to know which countries are gray market as well as the countries that offer citizenship to the parent.

===============================================================

Until recently, the two countries I know of that have surrogacy “fully” legal are Mexico and Colombia. It also looks like Argentina has been added to the list recently.

Regarding surrogacy itself, here is, in my opinion, the best place to get a summary of the information.

[…I talk some shit here and don’t want to make enemies, contact me if you want the full transcript…]

For the citizenship thing, I’m only familiar with Mexico and Colombia:

I’m assuming you have a significant amount of savings, since you mentioned you were retired early. We’ll use these funds to get you residency (just show, not spend).

Colombia has a 2 year temporary residency that upgrades to 5 year permanent residency, that upgrades to citizenship. It does require a significant ($250K USD) real-estate investment in the country. However, it gives the child citizenship by birth soil, which grants you permanent residency automatically, and reduces timelime to citizenship to 2 years. In other words, your child gets citizenship automatically, you’d be looking at 2 years STARTING from the birth of your child.

Mexico has a 4 year temporary residency that upgrades to 1 year permanent residency, that upgrades to citizenship. However, it is an overall more “intuitive” path (you can look up the details yourself). Also, if you’re retired, or willing to jump through a few extra hoops, permanent residency can be available immediately (but you still need to wait for 5 years to apply for citizenship). It also gives the baby citizenship by birth soil, and reduces your requirement to 2 years, which means you’d be looking at 2 years starting from WHEN YOU FIRST GOT TEMPORARY RESIDENCY.

Note that if you’re trying to get out of the US, you don’t need citizenship, (permanent) residency is all you need. Since it gives you a permission to live and work in that country, and basically gives you all the rights of a citizen except for the right to vote.

For my own decision, it was based on the following:

[…]

Here is the todo-list I would make for you:

[…I talk some shit here and don’t want to make enemies, contact me if you want the full transcript…]

Book a free consultation with the agency and just let their representative talk about the process

You should prepare the following:

~$70K

Get ready to take at least 2 vacations. Or just straight-up move to the country permanently.

Passport, ~12 months of investment bank account statements
[…]

Lorem

About me:

I am an engineer specializing in robotics and automation. I’ve worked in military, reseach, biomedical, and space industries. I’ve sent a bunch of robots into hazardous enviornments that are considered too dangerous for humans, some more stuff into medical research labs, and a bunch more stuff into orbit.

I hold a Master’s and a PhD from two of the top universities in the US. I’ve won many fellowships and grants both for myself and for my students. The “publications” list on my CV spans several pages. They still regularly hire me to design/build stuff.

I currently run an engineering consulting business. Basically, people pay me $100/h to design and/or build stuff. I’ve also created several small-scale startups, some successful, some not.

No, I’m not going to doxx myself. It’s up to you if you believe me.

Here is that other link that you’re probably looking for: www.spinningrobotpussy.com

Contact: revy.at.home@proton.me