About Eejit’s Guide

Hi, I’m Ryan.

Failed university once. Worked in engineering for 14+ years. Still learning every day.

I’ve worked in electrical engineering for more than 14 years across electrical design, automation, manufacturing, hazardous area equipment and engineering management.

I created Eejit’s Guide to share practical lessons from engineering, investing, trading and life in plain English. The aim is simple: explain things without unnecessary jargon and hopefully help people avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made along the way.

What you’ll find here: Practical engineering guides, investing lessons, trading psychology, career advice and life experiences written by someone who has been through the successes, setbacks and occasional disasters that come with them.

Why I Started Eejit’s Guide

My motivation is that I genuinely enjoy putting posts together and giving my take from real experience.

If something I’ve written helps someone avoid a mistake I made, understand a topic faster, or feel a bit less alone when things are going wrong, then the site is doing something useful.

Personal note: I think a lot of things online are made to sound more complicated than they need to be. Sometimes people explain things like they are trying to prove how clever they are. I would rather explain things in a way normal people can actually use.

Why “Eejit’s Guide”?

If you are not familiar with the word, an “eejit” is Scottish slang for an idiot.

It is usually said with a bit of humour rather than anything nasty.

Being Scottish, I think being self-deprecating is part of our nature. We are not always great at bigging ourselves up.

The name fits because I am not pretending to be super smart or perfect. I make mistakes all the time. Some are small, some are bigger, but I try to learn from them and fix what I can.

Eejit’s Guide is not written like a textbook. Textbooks are useful, but people fall asleep reading them. Real life is messier than that.

My Engineering Background

I have worked in electrical engineering for more than 14 years.

My work generally involves electrical design, automation, site visits, client discussions, specifications, requirements, and carrying out design work based on what a project actually needs.

I have experience in:

Electrical design
Automation
Manufacturing
Engineering management
Metal fabrication environments
ATEX-related equipment and specifications
Procurement and part specification
Site visits and troubleshooting
Software and network-related engineering work

Why this matters: A lot of the engineering content on this site comes from real pain points, the kind of things you deal with when you are actually responsible for making something work.

Being an Engineering Manager

Professionally, one of the things I am proudest of is becoming a manager.

It definitely has its downsides. You can end up dealing with pressure, difficult decisions, and problems that do not have neat textbook answers.

But when it goes well, it goes very well.

Seeing a team pull together is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. Watching someone grow in confidence, improve technically, and develop in their role is something I value a lot.

You only play a small part in someone else’s development, but seeing that growth happen is one of the best parts of management.

I Failed University

One thing people might not expect is that I failed third year of university.

One of my modules went particularly badly, and it dragged my results down.

At the time, I thought I had ruined my future.

I eventually went back, passed, graduated, and moved into engineering. Since then, I have worked in the industry for over 14 years.

Important lesson: Failing at something does not mean you are finished. It might feel like it at the time, but there is usually another route forward if you are willing to take responsibility and keep going.

Why I Write About Investing and Trading

I used to think investing was something only the super wealthy elite did.

I did not know you could own a fractional share of a company like Amazon within minutes of setting up an account.

Over time, I became interested in investing, trading, index funds, and trying to build wealth sensibly.

I have also made plenty of mistakes. I have picked individual stocks, traded on my own, and learned lessons the expensive way.

My view: If I can help a few people avoid the same investing or trading mistakes I made, then job done.

What You’ll Find on This Website

Eejit’s Guide is mainly built around straightforward explanations for engineering, investing, trading and life lessons.

The aim is to keep things simple, practical and honest.

Engineering: Electrical engineering, ATEX, automation, tools and practical guides.
Investing: Beginner-friendly investing lessons, index funds, mistakes and long-term thinking.
Trading: Trading psychology, technical indicators, risk, mistakes and lessons learned.
Life lessons: Personal setbacks, career lessons, resilience and things I have learned the hard way.

The goal is simple: practical explanations in plain English, without pretending to be something I am not.

What My Wife Would Probably Say

My wife would probably say that I focus on the wrong things.

I can spend hours or days researching a topic, then forget to take the bin out.

I overthink things, talk a good game, and apparently that coat hanger still needs put up from two years ago.

If only I had the same focus for house cleaning.

In fairness: She knows I take my career seriously, and she has allowed me to follow it. That support matters more than I probably say out loud.

What I Want Young Engineers to Know

If you are a young engineer, the biggest thing I would say is this:

You can do well in engineering with the right attitude.

You do not need to be the most technical engineer ever or to know everything. I don’t have a master’s degree.

What you do need is:

The ability to problem solve
A willingness to learn
The ability to think outside the box
Resilience when things go wrong
The ability to deal with pressure
A good attitude

You will get things wrong. You might even think the job is not for you.

But from my experience, it gets better.

My honest view: I am not the best engineer in the world, but I cover a fair bit across electrical engineering. If I can build a career in engineering without a master’s degree, then plenty of other people can too.

Why This Site Exists

I would like Eejit’s Guide to become a useful resource.

A place where the tools help because they are built from experience and real pain points.

If you are sitting in an office, workshop, plant room or on site at 3am and nothing is working, maybe one of the articles helps you feel less stuck.

I have been there.

I have sat with my head in my hands wondering what to do next. I have driven home from work after some of the worst days of my life.

But I am still here, still learning, still making mistakes, and still trying to get better.

If there is one message behind the site, it is this: you do not need to be perfect to make progress. You just need to keep learning, keep trying, and keep finding a way forward.

Eejit's Guide