Work on your very own DIY project whether it's art, engineering, science, or construction. Find a project that matches your interests and have fun!

Career

Start a DIY project.

Learn more about the story of Los Angeles-based "make tank" Two Bit Circus and how it combines art, education, and technology in order to make it more fun.

Watch a TED Talk about Two Bit Circus.

Practice your STEAM skills by working on a project that combines both art and science! Do some research to get ideas, create your own, and/or collaborate with a friend. 

Advice

Work on a project that combines art and science.

Commercial and Industrial Designers

Develop and design manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and children's toys. Combine artistic talent with research on product use, marketing, and materials to create the most functional and appealing product design.

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Second Interest High-Point

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

First Interest High-Point

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Designers

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations

Art and Design Workers

Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.

Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.

Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.

Coordinate the look and function of product lines.

Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.

Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.

Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.

Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.

Research production specifications, costs, production materials and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.

Design graphic material for use as ornamentation, illustration, or advertising on manufactured materials and packaging or containers.

Develop manufacturing procedures and monitor the manufacture of their designs in a factory to improve operations and product quality.

Supervise assistants' work throughout the design process.

Fabricate models or samples in paper, wood, glass, fabric, plastic, metal, or other materials, using hand or power tools.

Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using and maintaining it.

Develop industrial standards and regulatory guidelines.

Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products.

Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems.

Compact digital cameras

Desktop computers

Laptop computers

Liquid crystal display LCD video projectors

Personal computers

Universal serial bus USB flash drives

1CadCam Unigraphics

Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Systems Adobe AfterEffects

Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe Systems Adobe Fireworks

Adobe Systems Adobe FreeHand

Adobe Systems Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign

Adobe Systems Adobe Photoshop

Apache Maven

Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt

Autodesk 3ds Max

Autodesk AliasStudio

Autodesk AutoCAD

Autodesk Maya for Design Visualization

Autodesk Revit

Chaos Group V-Ray

Computer aided manufacturing CAM software

Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite

Corel Painter

Dassault Systemes CATIA

Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS

Delphi Technology

Email software

ESRI ArcGIS software

Finite element analysis software

Geometric CAMWorks

Hypertext markup language HTML

IBM Notes

JavaScript

jQuery

MAXON CINEMA 4D

McNeel Rhino software

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Project

Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Word

Minitab

National Instruments LabVIEW

PTC Creo Parametric

QuarkXPress

Siemens NX for Manufacturing

Siemens PLM Software UGS NX

Softimage XSI

The MathWorks MATLAB

Trimble SketchUp Pro

Verilog

Web browser software

Xara Xtreme

I'm a big fan of random input. Kids should get out there and try to do as many different things as possible. You won't know what you want to work on until you try LOTS of different things. 

My first go at college, I didn't finish. During the rise of the Dot-com bubble, all I wanted to be doing was working. I left school, moved to San Francisco, started my own company and began to dabble in a lot of different things.  

As the CEO, we joke I'm the "chief email opener". I spend a lot of time meeting with people and figuring out who are partners will be.

Co-Founder & CEO

So, I'm curious you guys, seems like you have this whole kind of education portion of your organization. And how did you guys get into the whole, like, steam idea and like, what kind of what? >> So, you know, it was interesting. We felt like as inventors and game makers who love what we do we sort of had an opportunity to help rebrand what it means to be an engineer. Cuz a lot of kids especially ones who are not interested in math and science think, oh, math and science is not for me. It's terrible, white lab coats, pencil ties. I'm gonna be in a cleanroom my whole life. No, does this look like a cleanroom? Like, I wore a collar shirt for you guys today and that's about it. Kids want to be what they can see. And so it's no wonder that they want to be basketball players and DJs and that kind of stuff. But if you show them, oh my god, there's a job of traveling across the country in an RV and interviewing people. There's a job of making video games and huge games and a traveling carnival. Even the basketball player, right? It's not just the basketball player. There's a thousand other jobs in there >> Yeah. >> From the video production to the guys running the ticketing to, I mean, that rabbit hole goes so deep. And I think that there's a lot of creativity to be found at the intersection of domains. Like I love computer science, and I love circus. What sort of weird things can come out of those two things combined? We've been sort of exploring that. 

Exploration

Hobbies & Pastimes

The Intersection Of Domains

How do you define success? [NOISE] >> [LAUGH] >> I would say being excited. When you wake up in the morning. If you're not excited about what you're going to do and what you're working on, on some majority, it's not always gonna be like that. But on some majority of the time, then I think you probably need a good, big change. >> I'm going with that too. Waking up in the morning and having an awesome project to work on, having a great reason to get out of bed, so on both of those axis. [NOISE] Success. >> Game on awesome. >> Cool. 

Success

My Definition of Success

We both just sort of wanted something else to do, nights and weekends. Go and use, sort of all the new technology of the day, cheap sensors and what not. And so just sort of out as a passion project, we started building interactive art. I started falling in love with engineering again, right? And really it happened when we started making interactive art together. A whole bunch of people would get together after work, couple times a month, maybe once a week, talk about all the fun things we wanted to build. So we started making more stuff, and some of us totally terrible, and nobody wanted to play at all. And some of it people liked. As we started building more and more stuff that was completely unrelated to work and served absolutely no practical purpose in the world, we're just making technology for technology's sake. We had no idea it was art until other people started calling it art. Then we're like whoa. >> [LAUGH] We're not artists. >> We're not artists. >> No. >> [LAUGH] >> No way, right? >> And an extension of that is, how do you reject that freaking cultural narrative that we're all told? That you go to school, and then you go and you get a job, and you find a career, and you find a wife. And I mean, there's this like very specific road that you're supposed to take cuz the reality is it's different for everybody. 

Brent Bushnell Highlight

The keys to the Green RV go to three new road-trippers, all interested in design, who kick-start their cross-country journey of self-discovery with a visit to the art-tech spectacle of Two Bit Circus, where founders Brent Bushnell and Eric Gradman share their story of dabbling across domains and finding inspiration at the intersection of their interests.
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<a href="http://academy.autodesk.com/"><img width="96%" height="96% style="position:left" src="http://archive.roadtripnation.com.s3.amazonaws.com/roadtrip/logo/Fueled_By_Autodesk.png"></a>

Whirlwind of Awesomeness

Well, one of my favorite quotes is, like, Helmuth Von Elder or something, you know, old war guy, German war guy. He said, no battle plan survives engagement with the enemy. It doesn't mean don't have a plan, right? It's good to have a plan. Have some plan, but it's like a rough plan. They're guideposts. And then you actually go and engage and then that plan is always up for review. You incorporate new data. And now the plan changes, just go this way. But you don't stick rigidly to that plan. It's a rough set of rules. >> That's good coming from the German military. >> [LAUGH] >> Just play it by ear. >> Just play it by ear. >> Just like wing it. >> [LAUGH] 

Experience

Goals

Have A Rough Plan

You know I was shocked to learn that industrial design exists as a discipline, and now I'm just obsessed with it. I feel like I should have, if I hadn't gone into computer science, it would have been industrial design. >> All right. >> Can you explain it a little more? I feel like I don't have a solid sense. >> It's kind of really difficult to explain. There are so many different applications to it, but it all centers around the end user. >> [CROSSTALK] Someone had to design this cup. Somebody made a decision, you know, what was their rationale? >> So we've learned the hard way how design can fail in the absence of industrial design, proper industrial design, cuz around here we- >> There's a lot of engineers. >> Yeah, a bunch of engineers. We love technology, I love technology, I love playing with new stuff, and sometimes I will shoehorn a piece of technology. Or a particular technique into a final product, just cuz I wanna. [LAUGH] And not out of any regard for the end user. [LAUGH] Let's think about how people will use this thing. 

Passion

Why I Love Industrial Design

Do you guys like pizza and fun? >> Yeah. >> Cuz his dad also invented Chuck E Cheese. [LAUGH] >> What? [LAUGH] What? >> Maybe. It started as a, at the time, arcades were really seedy places, right? They were only, only teenagers went there and so it wasn't good for younger kids. Atari wanted a place to test out new games, and they wanted sort of a different environment that was good for kids. And so they, it sort of came out of their R&D lab, that there was a facility that would have pizza and would be sort of safe for kids and it would have all the different games. When they sold Atari to Warner they were like, oh yeah and this pizza restaurant, whatever, we don't really care about that. So at that point, after having sold Atari, I bought Chuck E Cheese from them and then ran that, and it grew nice and big. So I had lots of birthday parties there. >> [LAUGH] >> Cool. 

Family

My Dad Invented Chuck E. Cheese

Let's learn about where you guys are coming from. How did you end up making really cool big kid toys? >> I have a sort of a non-traditional route in that I never finished school. I went school for electrical engineering for a little while, and then it was right in the middle of the dot com craziness, the first web 1.0. All I wanted to do is be working, so I left school, moved to San Francisco, started my first company and- >> I'm sorry, I just gotta jump in to contrast his story with mine. Because when I graduated, just a couple years later, we were in the middle of Web 1.0 crash. >> Crash. [LAUGH] >> And rather than leaving school to work, I hid out in in graduate school for another two years. [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> He took off and made a life for himself. I'm like, I can't go out there, I can't go out there. [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH]. >> I really wanted to get out there and try a different bunch of stuff. So I worked in DNA synthesis and fiber optics. Testing measurement equipment and retail, furniture. I was even a sushi chef for a little while. >> Really? >> And I still can't really believe that that happened. >> [LAUGH] I find just trying lots of different stuff- >> Go find your niche. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. [LAUGH] >> Try all of them. >> Struggle not to find your niche as long as possible. >> Okay. >> How about you? >> I've always been a huge nerd, and I studied engineering in college. And then at some weird point in the middle of college I decided to join a touring band and a circus. And I became a circus performer, touring and on the road, whilst also completing an engineering degree. >> What did you do in the circus? >> I did a whole bunch of everything, I was an acrobat, I was an aerialist, I was a clown, I was a fire dancer. There's no circus in my family background. My dad's a doctor, good Jewish family, there's no circus there. >> How did that conversation go? >> Poorly, at first, poorly, at first. Although, I do remember that the first time my mom allowed me to spin fire in her presence. >> Nice. >> Yeah, that was a big day, it was like, okay. You're not dead, you've survived this long. Although that's how I got my first mohawk, by the way. >> [LAUGH] >> I burned off all the hair on one side of my head, and I had to even it out. >> [LAUGH] >> And it's been that way ever since. >> It has been that way, literally, I've had the same haircut for ten years. So I stuck around in graduate school. I got a Masters degree in computer science, but really, I was just feeding my circus habit. I was just clocking time. And when I graduated, I took a series of completely uninteresting, unproductive, boring engineering jobs, just horrible programming stuff. And then, I sort of reached this crossroads, where I had to say to myself, what's it gonna be? Am I gonna buckle down and be a professional engineer or am I gonna be a full-time performer? I kinda could've gone in either direction. >> An extension of that is, how do you reject that freaking cultural narrative that we're all told that you go to school and then you go and you get a job and you find a career and you find a wife. There's this very specific road that you're supposed to take, and the reality is it's different for everybody. The world will sorta present you with all sorts of different opportunities, and not get bogged with what you think you should be doing. And we both just wanted something else to do nights and weekends. Go and use all the new technology of the day, cheap sensors and what not. And so just sort of as a passion project, we started building interactive art. >> I started falling in love with engineering again, right? And really it happened when we started making interactive art together. A whole bunch of people, we'd get together after work a couple times a month, maybe once a week, talk about all the fun things we wanted to build. >> So we started making more stuff, and some of it was totally terrible and nobody wanted to play at all, and some of it people liked. >> As we started building more and more stuff that was completely unrelated to work and served absolutely no practical purpose in the world, we're just making technology for technology sake, we had no idea it was art, until other people started calling it art. They were like, whoa. >> We're not artists. >> We're not artists, no way, right? >> [LAUGH] >> We'd been making lots of stuff. I made this one project that got invited to a film festival, and they paid me money and I used that money to pay my rent, and, this whole time, Brent's been saying, quit. Quit, let's start a company, let's start a company, let's start a company. >> I don't know if that's the devil or the angel, but. >> [LAUGH] >> The angel at this point, it was the best decision I ever made. So I quit, then we just started doing what we loved full-time. >> So I'm curious, you guys, it seems like you have this whole kind of education portion of your organization and how did you guys get into the whole steam idea, like what, kind of what. >> So, it was interesting, we felt as inventors and game makers who love what we do, we sort of had an opportunity to help rebrand what it means to be an engineer. Cuz a lot of kids, especially ones who are not interested in math and science think, oh, math and science, it's not for me, it's terrible. White lab coats, pencil ties, I'm gonna be in a clean room my whole life. And no, does this look like a clean room? I wore a collared shirt for you guys today and that's about it. >> [LAUGH] >> Like, kids wanna be what they can see. And so, it's no wonder that they wanna be basketball players and DJs and that kind of stuff, but if you show them, oh, my God, there's a job of traveling across the country in an RV and interviewing people. There's a job of making video games, and huge games at a traveling carnival. Even the basketball player, right, it's not just the basketball player, theres 1,000 other jobs in there from the video production to the guys running the ticketing to, you know what I mean? That rabbit hole goes so deep, and I think there's a lot of creativity to be found at the intersection of domain. Like, I love computer science and I love circus. What sorta weird things can come out of those two things combined? We've been sorta been exploring that. >> I think the whole combination thing is what we're all kinda trying to find in some way. And it's cool to see, too, that you can meld a lot of different ones and it doesn't mean you're saying like, okay, I'm gonna drop everything and go be an accountant and then go be a painter, it's all a lot more nuanced. >> Yeah. >> And that you find the creativity in the intersections of the organizations that we wouldn't expect it. >> I'm a computer scientist and a roboticist. And I love architecture and economics and industrial design, right? And those are sort of like blending into me as maybe computer science blends out a little bit, because I'm sort of moving continuously through different careers. >> Well, one of my favorite quotes is Helmuth von Elder or something, old war guy, German war guy. He said, no battle plan survives engagement with the enemy. It doesn't mean don't have a plan, right? It's good to have a plan, have some plan. But it's like a rough plan, they're guideposts. And then you actually go and engage, and then that plan is always up for review. You incorporate new data, and now the plan changes, let's go this way. You don't stick rigidly to that plan, it's a rough set of rules. >> That's good coming from the German military. >> [LAUGH] >> Just play it by ear. >> Just play it by ear. [LAUGH] 

Interview

Today, particularly today, and not even five years ago, is the kinds of tools Eric was just talking about are super accessible. Even the technology that powers the Connect. That was a $10,000 camera seven years ago, right? Now you can get that for 100 bucks. Are you kidding? I mean accelerometers, gyroscopes, cheap sensors, all that stuff used to take a team of highly trained engineers a year to be able to do anything interesting with that. That makes for a sort of really powerful set of options. Because now you can just throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what happens. Let's not overanalyze it. Let's just start building. And we might be totally wrong with our initial design as we would come up with it right now. But by Saturday afternoon, it might be a completely different project and something that is on the road to being totally awesome. 

Brent Bushnell

Co-Founder & CEO

Videos

Brent Bushnell

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Engineering

Technology

Building Things

Day to Day

Skills & Qualities Beyond School

Advice for Getting Started

Recommended Education

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Myself:

Challenges I Overcame

Learning Issues

Brent Bushnell

Co-Founder & CEO

Videos

Brent Bushnell

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Engineering

Technology

Building Things

Day to Day

Skills & Qualities Beyond School

Advice for Getting Started

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Myself:

Challenges I Overcame

Related Leaders

Jim Cantrell

Adam Wilson

Chriselle Galapon

Eric Gradman

Steve Seon

Ian Bernstein