The 7 Levels of Engineering

Summary

This video from The Unqualified Tutor humorously explores the typical levels an aspiring engineer might go through, starting from the enthusiastic childhood phase to reaching a world-class status. Chronicling personal anecdotes mixed with satire, the creator talks about the journey, starting from playing Minecraft during the lockdown, transitioning through the challenges of academia, and weighing the realities of an engineering career. The creator hilariously jabs at stereotypical scenarios one might encounter—from childhood bullies to the ultimate realization that pursuing media creation might be just as rewarding, if not more, than striving for engineering fame.

Highlights

• The creator's Minecraft obsession led to exploring engineering concepts in lockdown. 🏗️
• From childhood 'gifted child' stage to 'class nerd'—it's a nerdy journey! 🤓
• Facing bullies is part of the narrative, but it gets better in the adult world. 🍎
• Going to engineering school entails rigorous studies, from imaginary physics to sleepless nights. 📚
• Graduates face a reality check, either creating destructive tech or dealing with mundane jobs. 💼
• True success in engineering is rare, and pivoting to a creative endeavor might be more fruitful. 🎥

Key Takeaways

• Engineering can start with simple fascinations like Minecraft highways! 🎮
• Each level from child enthusiast to world-class engineer presents unique challenges and amusements. 🚀
• Pursuing engineering isn't just about passion; it's about navigating the ups and downs of education and career expectations. 🎓
• Humor and insight make the journey relatable and entertaining for anyone who's been in engineering—or knows an engineer! 😂
• The idea of achieving engineering greatness might be a long shot, so finding one’s niche elsewhere, like on YouTube, could be just as lucrative and fulfilling. 😉

Overview

The video kicks off with a trip back to 2020, when lockdown life led The Unqualified Tutor into the world of Minecraft highways and reignited his passion for engineering. Through a playful tone, he recalls the mundane yet satisfying moments of creating expansive structures in the game—a perfect metaphor for the repetitive but intriguing life of an aspiring engineer.

As the narrative progresses, we move from early childhood curiosities about the world straight into high school nerdom, embodying stereotypical phases of an engineer's education journey. Here, playful jabs at childhood dynamics, teenage bullies, and the awkward transition through adolescence provide a humorous backdrop to the otherwise serious business of learning Newton's laws and rotational mechanics.

The whimsical voyages into engineering academia reveal a stark contrast between childhood dreams and adult realities. The creator humorously navigates through the rigors of undergraduate and graduate school, poking fun at the absurdities and struggles many face during their education. In the end, he suggests that less than 1% reach top engineering echelons, adding that success and happiness might be found instead in creative pursuits like YouTube, reflecting on the broader definition of achievement.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Childhood During the 2020 lockdown, the narrator developed an obsession with building and maintaining iceport highways in Minecraft, spending hours doing repetitive tasks. This obsession reveals a deep-seated passion for engineering, although no university offers a degree in Minecraft Iceport Highways. The narrator reflects on their intrinsic drive for engineering but hints at their decision not to pursue an engineering degree.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Level 1: Gifted Child The chapter titled 'Level 1: Gifted Child' follows the journey of an inquisitive young engineer. At this introductory stage, children are fascinated by the world, eager to understand how everything functions. They begin to learn fundamental concepts such as gravity, friction, electricity, and forces, although calculations are not yet part of their learning. As the gifted child progresses to 'Level Two: The Class Nerd,' they become recognized for their intelligence, although with an eccentric twist, marking the awkward yet promising transition through puberty.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Level 2: Class Nerd In the chapter titled 'Level 2: Class Nerd', the focus is on a child's intense interest in sophisticated projects, such as complex building kits like the Lego Technic Liber Crawler Crane, instead of more 'normal' desires like gaming consoles. The narrative suggests the child is so absorbed in these interests that they overlook social experiences or potential bullying. The chapter humorously conveys the idea that intelligence or being a 'nerd' is often celebrated in adulthood but can lead to social challenges during childhood.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Level 3: High School Nerd In "Level 3: High School Nerd," the main character grapples with the frequent bullying from Chad during their high school years, specifically through the theft of lunch money. Despite this, there is a sense of future empowerment and satisfaction as the protagonist envisions a successful career with a stable job, contrasting with Chad's future as a less affluent PE teacher who continues to bully kids for pay. The chapter highlights themes of perseverance, future success over temporary humiliation, and satisfaction in seeing karma play its role, even indirectly.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Level 4: Introduction to Engineering This chapter introduces fundamental engineering concepts such as Newton's laws of motion, the functioning of circuits, electromagnetism, and rotational mechanics. It highlights the shift in understanding as students commit to studying engineering, emphasizing that these concepts will become a permanent part of their professional lives. The chapter humorously addresses common advice from parents about pursuing engineering for financial and personal fulfillment, setting the stage for the students' full-time commitment to this field.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Level 5: Undergrad Engineering The chapter titled 'Level 5: Undergrad Engineering' explores the early, idealistic stages of an engineering education, where problems seem straightforward and the complexities of the real world are ignored. It humorously warns students that this simplicity is temporary and that real challenges will arise, metaphorically describing future struggles with late-night study sessions and stressful exams. The passage implies a disconnect between these academic exercises and practical life skills such as finance, investment, marketing, and time management, highlighting a gap in educational priorities.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Level 6: Graduate Engineering The chapter humorously contrasts the expectations versus the reality of studying engineering at the graduate level. It highlights the irony of mastering complex theoretical equations that apply to overly simplified situations, such as calculating the distance a ball will travel in an idealized environment devoid of air resistance or friction. The text reflects on the transition from undergraduate to graduate engineering, poking fun at the idea that the study dynamics don't change drastically from childhood, as both involve basic drawings and mathematics. This satirical take underscores the common student sentiment of disillusionment and the financial burden of university education.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Level 7: World-class Engineer The chapter delves into the life of an engineer at Level 7, labeled as a 'World-class Engineer'. It humorously captures the darker side of being in this position, touching upon themes of depression, addiction, and the ethical dilemmas of working in lucrative but morally questionable fields such as weapons development. The chapter offers a satirical take on the personal and professional challenges faced by engineers at this stage, including societal perceptions and personal sacrifices. It paints a picture of someone who, despite achieving professional success, feels a disconnect with societal norms and is resigned to living with morally ambiguous decisions.

The 7 Levels of Engineering Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 in 2020 when the world was in lockdown I spent most of my time playing Minecraft it was during this time where I developed an obsession with building and maintaining iceport highways on public servers so you can travel around really quickly even though it meant me doing the same boring repetitive task again and again for hours on end I still did it anyway because I had aut because I have an innate drive for engineering unfortunately most universities don't offer a degree in Minecraft Iceport Highways but they do offer degrees in engineering and in this video you'll see exactly why I decided not to do
• 00:30 - 01:00 engineering level one gifted child all engineers start out at this level as a child you are very inquisitive about the world and you wanted to know how everything works on this level you'll be introduced to basic ideas about gravity friction electricity forces but you're probably not doing any calculations yet level two the class nerd at this point you've now transitioned from a slightly weird but otherwise intelligent kid with a bright future ahead of him into a very weird nerd who now smells like the boy's changing rooms and also unironically looks like this because you've just reached puberty
• 01:00 - 01:30 and you haven't noticed because you're too busy following a Minecraft redstone tutorial normal kids might have wanted an Xbox or PlayStation but you wanted a Lego Technic Liber Crawler Crane LR 13,000 42146 advanced building kit for adults build and display a rewarding project model crane with incredible details including winch system and luffing jib for your birthday at this point you may already be getting bullied but if you're not then you soon will be haha nerd the days where smart kids are considered cool stops at around age 8 and only starts again at around age 30
• 01:30 - 02:00 in the meantime you're just going to have to put up with Chad constantly stealing your lunch money but one day you'll have a cushy job working in an airconditioned office while Chad will probably end up being a PE teacher hey my dad gave me that card so give it back possessions 9/10 of the law tell that loser you call dad i said thanks he's still just bullying kids but at least now he's getting paid for it and he's earning slightly less than you are haha take that Chad level three high school nerd here you begin to learn the
• 02:00 - 02:30 fundamental concepts of engineering like Newton's laws of motion how circuits work electromagnetism and rotational mechanics a couple no longer means this it now means this because you'll be working with these for the rest of your life and this only exists in your imagination your favorite subjects are maths physics and maybe chemistry so your parents tell you to get a degree in engineering it'll be fun they said you'll make so much money level four introduction to engineering you've committed to the path of engineering and now you're going to study it full-time
• 02:30 - 03:00 right now everything seems straightforward and simple but don't be fooled trust me in a few years time you'll be pulling your hair out working your way through 3:00 a.m revising and stressing only to get 20% on your final exam but enjoy this moment because right now you're studying a version of engineering where water doesn't exist air doesn't exist fire doesn't exist and everything behaves in a perfectly predictable way instead of preparing for adult life by learning about how money works how to invest how to do marketing how to manage your own time or other
• 03:00 - 03:30 people's time instead you're memorizing a few dozen equations but at least when somebody asks you how far a perfectly spherical ball will travel when thrown at an angle theta with velocity B in a system where air doesn't exist friction doesn't exist and the Earth is perfectly flat you'll know the answer level five undergrad engineering when you were a child you thought studying engineering would look something like this but instead you spend most of your time making basic stick figure drawings and doing maths which is exactly what you were doing when you were a child anyway so nothing's really changed if university hasn't put you in enough debt
• 03:30 - 04:00 already then having crippling depression and an addiction to physics simulators definitely will level six graduate engineering if you're on this level you either make a small amount of money working for a small company or research institution or university or you make a large amount of money developing weapons of mass destruction which will almost certainly be used to incinerate innocent children in different countries when somebody asks you what you do for a living you just reply with "I'd rather not say." Which probably puts all kinds of horrible thoughts in their head about you but at this point you just don't care when you're 40 years old living in
• 04:00 - 04:30 a one-bedroom apartment depressed and alone just remember the good old days before you learned what engineering was really all about back when you used to watch Seth Bling or Mumbo Jumbo tutorials on YouTube and that's what you thought electrical engineering would be like at university level seven worldclass engineer if you're on this level you're probably not watching this video because you're too busy launching rockets or building Chat GPT5 however don't get your hopes up because according to Chat GBT less than 1% of lifelong engineers will ever end up on this level honestly you'll have better luck trying to become the next Mark
• 04:30 - 05:00 Robber making YouTube videos about building robots than you will trying to be on this level and you'll probably make more money too point is it's 2025 either learn how to make a good YouTube video or learn how to start a business otherwise you'll be forever doomed on level six now piss off