TikTok Engineering

There's no doubt that TikTok is influential. From bringing Fleetwood Mac back into the spotlight and selling stores out of cranberry juice, to making quarantine a little less lonely, it's an incredible platform that's connecting millions of people. From a user perspective, it sucks you in. From a marketing perspective, it's an incredible platform. 

We find cool engineering stuff on there, and that's what this blog is about. Our favorite is Emily the Engineer, who has 3D printed and assembled a functional Iron Man suit.

She is a Clemson grad with two 3D printers in her closet, and 2.2 million followers on TikTok.  She has been on Good Morning America (link to the article & interview) and has a YouTube channel. In her Good Morning America interview, her advice for anyone who wants to pursue engineering was "Start getting your hands dirty. Build things, get your hands on tools."

She posted a TikTok of her Iron Man suit the same day she graduated college from Clemson University and went viral. Emily The Engineer is doing a 3D printer giveaway on her TikTok, where she encourages people to upload models to thangs.com and then picks a model. It's probably closing soon though, so if you want to enter, now's the time!

Thangs is "the fastest growing 3D community," boasting over 1.5 million available models on their site. There's no limit to how many models you can upload, and it's collaborative so you can invite friends to work with you. You can even use geometric search to find models that are geometrically related to your own! It's a really cool resource similar to GrabCAD, which we've talked about in the past. Right now, models of Bundled Up Bernie and his chair are trending so people can easily 3D print the latest meme. 

Emily is encouraging creativity and ingenuity, which we love. She is also showing that you don't necessarily have to be an engineer to get creative and take the first step. She is setting all kinds of examples and we could not love it more! 

I wrote a blog a while ago about whether or not Iron Man would use SOLIDWORKS, and I'm still pretty sure he would, but Emily building her suit with some kind of CAD software definitely confirms my suspicions. 

Have you seen a really cool example of a young engineer making waves in the industry? If so, we want to hear about it! Send us an email, comment below, send a Bat Signal, whatever you need to do! We're all about getting the word out about cool stuff. As always, if you have any questions or need a hand, schedule a meeting with Tim. We're happy to help!

Have a great week, and Believe in The Q!