My household has numerous vehicles, all manually shifted, with the exception of one SUV with a 4-speed computer controlled automatic. It has its place. As I built the drivetrain for almost all of our vehicles, I look forward to the day when electric motors are ubiquitous and can be obtained from the junkyard for a reasonable price. A retrofit of a high performance electric motor and adaptation to the existing transmission will produce an interesting result and despite lacking the ICE's audio note, should make for a fun ride.

I think the reason why software engineers are able to work in safety critical application domains without a traditional PE cert is because they're able to enjoy the luxury of working on the infrastructure via a certified Real Time Operation System (RTOS). As an example, since it costs millions to achieve DO-178B certification for aviation systems (autopilots, flight computers in jet airliners, military jets, etc.) the RTOS infrastructure along with modern Dev Ops to include test automation provide the basis of pedigree needed for computer scientists and software engineers. Many modern engineering disciplines are derived from traditional forms that have PE certifications, including biomedical, nuclear, computer, material science and software enginering. Accordingly, specialized certification methods are needed since traditional certs are not applicable.

It's not enough to be a brilliant engineer and designer these days. You also need to exhibit some semblance of social skills, tact, and etiquette. Despite all the general dislike creative designers often harbor towards management personnel, there are equally brilliant and effective management staff capable of preventing the issues alleged to have happened at GitHub. Whether it's a large corporation that requires a dedicated managerial department or a small team of 20 designers, someone has to step up and control negative office politics. Some of the alleged behaviors from other team members is simply unacceptable and indicative of extremely ineffective and totally incompetent management.

Having spent a lot of time in India over the last 30 years, I have a soft spot for Tata vehicles. I've seen the company grow from a diesel engine and heavy truck manufacturer to a competitor in the small vehicles market, competing with Suzuki, Honda, Toyota, and others in India. Their diesel engine designs are rock solid and scale down to small city vehicles very well. I recently drove a Tata Indica (which I believe has a 3-4 cylinder diesel, no turbo) from Jaipur to Agra and back and the machine got 60 mpg! I feel like the US is suppressing Americans by forcing them to guzzle gasoline - most Asian and European markets have various small diesel car options. Regarding safety equipment, etc... that's something DOT will need to retrofit into these imports, as it has done for all the others in the past.