> We don't expect Aerospace / Mechanical engineering students to learn metalworking. They typically have access to shop technicians for that work. You'd be sur

> We don't expect Aerospace / Mechanical engineering students to learn metalworking. They typically have access to shop technicians for that work. You'd be surprised, but that is often not the case. Lack of sufficient funding, or technicians being dicks, or mis-management by PIs, often result in graduate students having to do the technical work of metalwork, welding, lab equipment calibration, and a bunch of other tasks. Sometimes they even have to operate heavier machinery, or lasers etc without the minimum reasonable technical staff support. I know this from my time on the executive committee of my old university's Grad Student Organization.