Although identified as a "student" in my profile, I have yet to actually pursue a 'formal' education at much of anything; in general, I self-teach, and (probably like many here) prefer 'hands-on' experience to theory alone. (School was a
disaster for me, BTW.)
Still, should I need to take a course in something, I'm willing enough to do so...
I have yet to decide what kind of career I should take; household electrics would be
way too easy
(and I'd no doubt struggle to be "economical" whilst upholding a high standard of workmanship, anyway). Engineering and/or consultancy look more appealing; whatever job I go for, I'm quite sure it has to be beyond the 'average' person's means...
And I'm surely not alone in finding it somewhat insulting, how so many people keep getting the most basic things wrong.
To an extent, I feel sorry for them; I can't help but wonder why many keep penny-pinching on important (if "boring") stuff, yet burn crazy sums of money on frivolities (e.g. fashion, weddings) -- or just gamble it away at casinos, pokies, or wherever...
What I want to happen in engineering (and which I try to do in devices I build myself) is to combine good-old pride in workmanship, with the knowledge and experience acquired since; to make the most reliable products feasible. I just hope we can overcome the wrath of consumerism, and put a stop to planned obsolescence...
I think it's become increasingly clear, too, that we just
can't rely solely on the designated 'safety agencies' to adequately block hazardous products from the market; they just don't have anywhere
near enough resources to do their job alone (and likely never will). With the advent of the WWW, however, we get to publish our own findings; where official product recalls fall short, we shall issue our own.
Here are my recalls to date, at Hardware Insights (where I'm a forum moderator, and work on the main site during better times).
This is not to abolish the official safety agencies; they exist to serve a purpose (namely, protecting those who can't examine products themselves). If anything, I'd hope that we could support them (no doubt bureaucracy may get in the way, though)...
