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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 1st, 2023

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  • Yeah I’ve ridden out economic highs and lows. This past year, data center orders were an all-time high and everything else was very low. Next year both are record highs. I’m not sure if you got the impression that I think AI is this awesome economic boom or that I even like it. I think it’s all a bunch of hot air that probably is going blow up in everyone’s face and that sucks, but the world will still keep moving. Even during 2008 or covid or the dotcom bust, there was still people working, myself included. Absolute worst case scenario, I lose my job and can’t find another (unlikely considering how much experience I have in industrial), I can always just go wire houses with my buddy. I’ve done that for years on the side.

    Like I was pretty much just commenting on the news, pleased to see it might turn into more manufacturing for the company I work for, while most of the comments on here missed the point entirely and thinks that it’s saying “AI should be called manufacturing” and not that some of the biggest buildings in the country are going to require infrastructure manufactured in the states to build them.

    I know this type of talk isn’t about “me” and moreso what will happen to the economy and working people as a whole, but that will primarily affect things like the tech industry, which goes through this boom or bust cycle anyway. I don’t see the AI bubble popping as everyone suddenly losing their jobs.


  • Well obviously they’re not “my” orders, I just have a job testing and doing QA on the electrical systems. They’re also for AWS, meaning yes right now they’re ramping up real hard for AI, but AWS is like the backbone of the internet. If the bubble burst tomorrow, it’d be more of the same. To be quite honest we struggle to keep up with Amazon’s demands, and we’re one of like 12 panel shops that build shit for them just for the data centers.

    That portion of the business is like half our company’s workload. We’d be fine, the rest is for heavy industry which is what I primarily work on. I’ll take all the overtime I can get right now though.







  • I don’t think many people in the 70-80 age range are out there committing crimes.

    Also I had lead water pipes for years. Other than some stupid stuff I did as a kid like run from the cops to avoid an underage, I wasn’t exactly committing any serious crimes. Crime is more often than not a result of the circumstances someone grows up in, like poverty, friends and neighbors, no opportunities, etc.








  • Some of the biggest data centers are pushing 100 megawatts. When I worked on the solar farms out west, an entire industrial site would be around 200-400 megawatts.

    For context, those sites would be powering entire towns. The Blythe mesa solar project is over 2,000 acres of solar panels. It’s bigger than the town. Quite a bit of Las Vegas is ran on solar.

    It’s not quite as simple as just sticking panels on the roof of the data center. It also needs to be reliable enough to store the energy so it’s available at night when the sun is down. This is still one of solar’s biggest hurdles.



  • Sounds like some defeatist bullshit. Playing games all day is no way to live.

    Doing things is a way to be happy. I used to go out every week in my early 20’s, still do but not as constantly now that I’m in my 30’s. I love meeting people, making friends, falling in love, playing and seeing live music, working with my hands as an electrician, renovating my home, taking care of and loving my dog, traveling, exercising, biking. Hell I volunteered and planted trees with my city’s local government just because I was kinda bored the one summer. I’m engaged to the love of my life and my future and career is bright. I do all of this for my own fulfillment and for those that I love, the “contribute to society” stuff sounds like a 13 year old’s idea of the Joker. I don’t even have social media, unless you count lemmy I guess, so it’s not to “show off”

    Style is more often than not just grooming yourself and looking presentable. Nobody is saying buy a t shirt every week.

    “Never be happy with the situation” is also just a pessimistic viewpoint. If you put yourself in new and interesting situations, then you’ll be surprised how much fun or fulfillment or challenging mentally physically whatever they can be. If you don’t like it, then change it and don’t do it. Or don’t, and sit inside all day. It’s your life.


  • On paper I make around 70k, but with overtime and bonuses and field work it’s more like 85k. This is the most I’ve ever made in my life.

    I split my bills three ways with my fiance and a roommate. We live in a LCOL city and I bought a big old 1800 sq ft home during covid. Our mortgage is $860, so with utilities each of our expenses out the door is like ~400 per person. I have no debt other than the mortgage.

    I’ve been banking cash to slowly renovate the house myself. Life is good.