Parents Memes

The crushing realization that those fancy differential equations don't translate to fancy bank accounts! Parents and society sell engineering as the golden ticket to wealth, but the reality hits harder than a thermodynamic crash. The left panel shows the classic parental ultimatum—doctor or engineer—because apparently artistic careers are just elaborate ways to starve creatively. Meanwhile, the right panel captures that soul-crushing moment when you realize your engineering degree mainly qualifies you to understand exactly how everything around you works while barely affording any of it. The salary-to-student-debt ratio is basically the world's most depressing mathematical function.

The existential crisis of every aerospace engineer. Parents fund a $200,000 education so they can weaponize the phrase "it's not rocket science" with technical accuracy. Meanwhile, orbital mechanics problems silently mock you from the corner of your room. The irony is that rocket science is actually just applied physics with more explosions and higher stakes. Your degree basically qualifies you to be professionally corrected by relatives who think they understand how planes stay up.

The beautiful mystery of engineering - where even engineers' kids have no idea what their parents actually do. Just disappears for 8 hours, mutters something about "tolerances" and "structural integrity," then comes home with a thousand-yard stare. Meanwhile, the rest of us are nodding along pretending we understand why bridges don't fall down. Engineering: the art of solving problems you didn't know existed in ways you can't comprehend. Next time someone asks what engineers do, just say "math stuff" and change the subject like the rest of us.

Parents think engineering is all about fancy calculations and prestigious office jobs, but the reality? Sometimes it's just shouting into pipes. That $80,000 engineering degree finally paying off as Junior discovers the acoustic properties of cylindrical chambers. Four years of calculus, thermodynamics, and materials science have prepared him for his true calling: being a human sound system. Engineering expectations vs. reality in its purest form!