mostly irrelevant comment, writing to the HN advice column:

> Are you mechanically intuitive? Do you want to help solve climate change? Do you like working on big hardware projects? … Send a page of evidence of execution ability … This could be a resume enumerating prestigious schools and high GPAs, but it could also be a summary of an awesome project you built that showcases your world-saving skills

I really like this approach.

I’d like to work somewhere like this, working on engineering real physical things

I however have no relevant (electrical/mechanical/etc) skills, no evidence of execution ability, and no diplomas from prestigious schools.

I got an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering 5 years ago because I think that electrical engineering is cool and wanted to learn how to make stuff, but somehow managed to get the degree without really building anything or learning how to build anything (this is partially because of the program, but largely because of me). I didn’t get a job working as an hardware engineer, and ended up in software. I’m pretty good at my job, but I do not like software, and wish that I had tried harder to get a job in hardware or tried to go to grad school.

Does anyone have any experiences developing non-software engineering skills while working as a software engineer, or transitioning from software to some other engineering? How can I develop electrical / mechanical engineering skills?

one approach I’ve considered is to try to go to grad school now, but every program I’ve seen requires letters of recommendation from professors, and I did not have any meaningful relationship with any of my undergrad professors and doubt that any would remember that I was in their classes.

I guess the other option is to try to build skills by working on side projects while still keeping my day job. Is it possible to become proficient this way? (enough to be employable compared to people with skills developed at prestigious schools)

in short, I botched my engineering undergrad pretty badly (despite graduating with a 4.0) and went down the chute to software. does anyone have advice on how to fix this, develop the skills I want to have, and get into the career I want to be in?