The Dodgy Engineer is Sam’s YouTube channel, where (you guessed it!) its style and tone are intended to be deliberately dodgy, being both entertaining and also very educational and informative.
Sam is a third-year engineer at Trinity College and also the Access Officer here at CUES. He started the channel as motivation to learn how to use Arduino and various other devices like brushless motors and sensors while specialising in aerothermal engineering for his actual degree. His projects have a tendency to involve fluids and heat, like making planes or engines, but his content can vary a lot, covering all sorts of disciplines! His videos range from insights into life as an engineer at Cambridge to his exciting and peculiar personal projects like the Musical Anime Arduino featuring Fourier Transforms.
His most popular video is currently his day in my life vlog – if you are an incoming engineering fresher you may even have come across his channel already!
Many people think I’m just bad at editing but really it’s an aesthetic lol
– Sam Walker
In his own words:
I try not to buy too many components, tools or use others’ code as I enjoy making things from as little as possible. Yes, investing in tools would let me make more refined projects but that defeats the point of being dodgy!
When I re-watch many of my older videos, I find them incredibly cringey, but that’s okay. Over time I feel like I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my presentation style and better understand the structure of a good YouTube video.
My favourite project was when I produced mach diamonds from a bottle rocket. This is a thermodynamic effect commonly seen in space-grade rocket engines, but it’s a lot harder to produce in a backyard!
My favourite video was the collaboration I did with Shang Ke (a fellow Cambridge engineer, check out her channel here), where I interviewed a bunch of Cambridge engineers, asking them basic questions. Not only do I think it is the most engaging, best edited video on my channel, but also it was very fun to film.
I currently have just over 700 subscribers and I hope I can continue to grow the channel slowly over the next few years!
Enjoyed the article? Stay up to date The Dodgy Engineer and follow Sam on:
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDodgyEngineer/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedodgyengineer/
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