5 ms·

This guy sure gets a lot of milage out of his past employer. It's rare to hear him mentioned without NASA being mentioned in the same breath.

vernie 6y ago
Hey I'd milk it, too.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
uponcoffee 6y ago
It definitely lends credibility; versus the introduction from the other comment - that this is the guy that glitter bombs package thieves on youtube - which makes me take this less seriously.
- enobrev 6y ago
  I'd recommend watching those videos before knocking him for the glitter bombs. They are impressively engineered, with entertaining videos which contain a good deal of detail about how, why, and in the most recent version, how they are working with law enforcement to crack down on package thieves.
  - projectileboy 6y ago
    Just adding a +1 to this comment. Those glitter bombs were non-trivial, so say the least.
  - TheGallopedHigh 6y ago
    If you’re into this type of engineering check out “stuff made here” or “BPS Space”.
    - buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
      "Stuff Made Here" is amazing. I can't believe how talented that guy is. And he seems much less edited/fake than Rober (who I also enjoy). I watch both of their videos whenever they upload a new one, but "Stuff Made Here" appeals much more to my engineering side, and I appreciate the lack of "showmanship" that is so prevalent in Rober videos.
      - lozaning 6y ago
        Stuff Made Here guy's workshop is peak envy. The tools he's got there are just incredible.
      - wyldfire 6y ago
        Rober cuts to the chase. I think it's tuned for a different audience. "Stuff Made Here" guy is willing to show all of the "wrong turns" on the way to a good design. Rober's audience doesn't get a chance to get bored with one of those wrong turns and change the channel. But "Stuff Made Here" will attract an audience that is curious about the process that got him there.
      - usepgp 6y ago
        not to mention he's gotten almost 2m subscribers in less than a year on ~20 purely engineering focused videos.
    - JaggedJax 6y ago
      I hope Joe is doing alright. He just announced he's burned out and taking a break. I'm sure he could use it. He's done some impressive stuff.
  - scoot 6y ago
    > They are impressively engineered By someone else
- wyldfire 6y ago
  Those packages are designed incredibly well, IMO. There's a lot of things that can go wrong and he seems to reliably get footage of it being opened and recovers most of the packages, too.
GloriousKoji 6y ago
Don't forget he also worked for Apple.
- dvdbloc 6y ago
  Which to me seems way more impressive than working for NASA
  - 2muchcoffeeman 6y ago
    Really, what’s your reasoning? I’d rather have NASA on my resume than any of the FAANGs. Especially if I was an engineer. Building spaceship bits? Sign me up.
    - Serious_Cheese 6y ago
      Not OP, but NASA is very old school and the tech stack is old, not to mention that things move slower than a turtle (so much bureaucracy) and the fear of losing funding. It's just not a great place to work for anecdotally speaking. At best, it's an ok place to work for. Oh and I forgot to mention the crazy low salaries across the board, and yearly raises that are below inflation rate.
ballenf 6y ago
I think he just tries hard to market his content to a very broad market unlike many science/engineering Youtubers. I would enjoy content from him that doesn't have that feeling of being watered down, however.
gowld 6y ago
He has to differentiate himself from the posters, because he's too good-looking and laid-back-looking for people to not prejudge him before seeing his impressive engineering talent.
satysin 6y ago
It's pretty common for YouTubers who have a big past employer or specialist career. Ali Abdaal is one I have seen pop up a lot this year. Every video of his mentions he studied at Cambridge and is a Doctor. Clearly it works quite well for the audience he is targeting as he has over 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube with an highly engaged subscriber base. His content isn't anything special when you look at it and he plays a lot on his "socially awkward" personality which seems to work well with people seeking out self-improvement advice. These people sure are excellent at marketing so I guess fair play to them. Ali isn't hurting anyone with his generic advice, probably quite the opposite in fact so I fair enough to him.
- bigbubba 6y ago
  On the other hand you have channels like Applied Science where he rarely ever mentions that he's employed by Google, except in rare Q&A videos. His channel is popular because he shows off really neat stuff in good detail, rather than dazzling people with his credentials.
  - satysin 6y ago
    I love Ben's videos however perhaps if he followed the marketing strategy of Mark Rober or Ali Abdaal he would have more than 700k subscribers. Not that 700k is bad at all, it is just an observation at how many subscribers some of these people can get primarily through name dropping. However I don't think Ben is all that fussed about chasing every subscriber like Mark and Ali.
pchristensen 6y ago
Unlike the founders that went to Stanford MIT, or who are ex-Apple/Google/FB etc. Headlines are short, and you have to get a lot done with as few words as possible. NASA is strongly associated with "smart engineering and problem solving" - good branding for a course like this.

vernie 6y ago

Hey I'd milk it, too.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

uponcoffee 6y ago

It definitely lends credibility; versus the introduction from the other comment - that this is the guy that glitter bombs package thieves on youtube - which makes me take this less seriously.

enobrev 6y ago
I'd recommend watching those videos before knocking him for the glitter bombs. They are impressively engineered, with entertaining videos which contain a good deal of detail about how, why, and in the most recent version, how they are working with law enforcement to crack down on package thieves.
- projectileboy 6y ago
  Just adding a +1 to this comment. Those glitter bombs were non-trivial, so say the least.
- TheGallopedHigh 6y ago
  If you’re into this type of engineering check out “stuff made here” or “BPS Space”.
  - buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
    "Stuff Made Here" is amazing. I can't believe how talented that guy is. And he seems much less edited/fake than Rober (who I also enjoy). I watch both of their videos whenever they upload a new one, but "Stuff Made Here" appeals much more to my engineering side, and I appreciate the lack of "showmanship" that is so prevalent in Rober videos.
    - lozaning 6y ago
      Stuff Made Here guy's workshop is peak envy. The tools he's got there are just incredible.
    - wyldfire 6y ago
      Rober cuts to the chase. I think it's tuned for a different audience. "Stuff Made Here" guy is willing to show all of the "wrong turns" on the way to a good design. Rober's audience doesn't get a chance to get bored with one of those wrong turns and change the channel. But "Stuff Made Here" will attract an audience that is curious about the process that got him there.
    - usepgp 6y ago
      not to mention he's gotten almost 2m subscribers in less than a year on ~20 purely engineering focused videos.
  - JaggedJax 6y ago
    I hope Joe is doing alright. He just announced he's burned out and taking a break. I'm sure he could use it. He's done some impressive stuff.
- scoot 6y ago
  > They are impressively engineered By someone else
wyldfire 6y ago
Those packages are designed incredibly well, IMO. There's a lot of things that can go wrong and he seems to reliably get footage of it being opened and recovers most of the packages, too.

GloriousKoji 6y ago

Don't forget he also worked for Apple.

dvdbloc 6y ago
Which to me seems way more impressive than working for NASA
- 2muchcoffeeman 6y ago
  Really, what’s your reasoning? I’d rather have NASA on my resume than any of the FAANGs. Especially if I was an engineer. Building spaceship bits? Sign me up.
  - Serious_Cheese 6y ago
    Not OP, but NASA is very old school and the tech stack is old, not to mention that things move slower than a turtle (so much bureaucracy) and the fear of losing funding. It's just not a great place to work for anecdotally speaking. At best, it's an ok place to work for. Oh and I forgot to mention the crazy low salaries across the board, and yearly raises that are below inflation rate.

ballenf 6y ago

I think he just tries hard to market his content to a very broad market unlike many science/engineering Youtubers. I would enjoy content from him that doesn't have that feeling of being watered down, however.

gowld 6y ago

He has to differentiate himself from the posters, because he's too good-looking and laid-back-looking for people to not prejudge him before seeing his impressive engineering talent.

satysin 6y ago

It's pretty common for YouTubers who have a big past employer or specialist career. Ali Abdaal is one I have seen pop up a lot this year. Every video of his mentions he studied at Cambridge and is a Doctor. Clearly it works quite well for the audience he is targeting as he has over 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube with an highly engaged subscriber base. His content isn't anything special when you look at it and he plays a lot on his "socially awkward" personality which seems to work well with people seeking out self-improvement advice. These people sure are excellent at marketing so I guess fair play to them. Ali isn't hurting anyone with his generic advice, probably quite the opposite in fact so I fair enough to him.

bigbubba 6y ago
On the other hand you have channels like Applied Science where he rarely ever mentions that he's employed by Google, except in rare Q&A videos. His channel is popular because he shows off really neat stuff in good detail, rather than dazzling people with his credentials.
- satysin 6y ago
  I love Ben's videos however perhaps if he followed the marketing strategy of Mark Rober or Ali Abdaal he would have more than 700k subscribers. Not that 700k is bad at all, it is just an observation at how many subscribers some of these people can get primarily through name dropping. However I don't think Ben is all that fussed about chasing every subscriber like Mark and Ali.

pchristensen 6y ago

Unlike the founders that went to Stanford MIT, or who are ex-Apple/Google/FB etc. Headlines are short, and you have to get a lot done with as few words as possible. NASA is strongly associated with "smart engineering and problem solving" - good branding for a course like this.