Oddbean

When I was a kid, I was interested in aerospace engineering. My half-brother (who is 30 years older than me and was therefore old enough to be an uncle and had that kind of relationship to me) spent his career as an engineer and then an executive at a major aerospace defense contractor. He was the most accomplished person of my family and was raising a happy family, he always kind of represented a role model of who I wanted to be. Hard-working, successful, well-off, and with good priorities around building a happy family. As I studied math and science in high school and engineering in college, I assumed that would probably go work for the same company as him one day (which two of his three kids do now). As a teenager, I could tell you how many aircraft carrier groups the US had, roughly how many B-2 bombers the US had, how much they cost, the technical pros and cons of various fighter jets, comparative missile arsenals among global powers, etc. But when it came time to graduate and go into engineering (during the Iraq War which I opposed), I couldn’t do it. It’s not that I am opposed to advancing aerospace or making weapons for sovereign defense per se, but rather that I didn’t agree with how the US military structurally uses its weapons globally. I began focusing on industrial automation instead, and then ended up in civil aerospace engineering (with a focus on electrical engineering). That area captured some of what I liked about the field of aerospace engineering, but was focused on making aircraft safer and more efficient, rather than more deadly. I spent a decade there in a rewarding career, and followed a similar career path as my half-brother, meaning that I went from engineer to senior engineer to management and finance for the engineering facility, and so forth. But for peace rather than for war. I eventually left the work due to my financial research business growing and overshadowing my engineering work in terms of scale. I had always done financial research work part time as my passion, but at some point it took off and that made it uneconomical to work in engineering/management anymore. After several years of focusing on financial research, I got into bitcoin venture investing in part to help fund engineers and assist them in building things, which was basically what I was doing in my prior role in aerospace and is something I am still strongly drawn to. Anyway, I thought of this as escalations flared in the Middle East this weekend. It’s amazing how small decisions or pivot points can affect where we end up in life.

Thank you for sharing this. I think about this a lot myself lately. Ive had friends and my sister lose their lives due to (mostly) opiates and other decisions and despite operating in essentially the same circles for most of my early life I emerged on the otherside with a good job and a family. Small decisions long ago charted my course, and theirs, and it only really becomes clear in time.

I had a religious friend who worked for Raytheon as a mechanical engineer and had a similar conversation him. As a christian how can you work for a company whose product is creating so much harm? Later in life he lost his top secret clearance and job because he married a Russian. I think now he understands better the nature of the military industrial complex.

What an amazing career and good life choices (I guess). I'm also Electrical Engineer, but my career looks boring compare to this. Progression is hard, never reach an official Senior level after more than 10 years and 2 compagnies. I had also a growing passion for Bitcoin and to some extent finance around it but fail to pivot my career into it and regret not having try harder. Still not late, and at least I have my happy family and that's stay the biggest achievement of my life.

Absolutely! Do not underestimate the power of small decisions or pivot points. It can also go the wrong way too. Was heading for a career in biomechanics, but landed first job in computer journalism which kind of typecast me for too many years. Shit pay and a diminishing demand for quality content saw me leave that behind, all somewhat a little late in life. Ah well…

I have close friends who work for military contractors and family who work directly for the department of defense. They feel no moral qualms about doing what they do, which I of course disagree with but we can still be family/friends. World is a complicated place and we're all just trying to find our place in it.

I for one am very glad you decided not to join the military. 😃 “There are many causes that I am prepared to die for, but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.” ― Mahatma Gandhi https://m.primal.net/HvTB.png

Indeed it is quite strange where the various paths of life end up taking us, but there always seems to be one common theme across all of them - the underlying desire that you've got for one particular thing is always there following you.