My wife says real engineers are 24/7. We can't turn it off. I know several others in that category.
If you wake up in the morning and think about engineering, then you are an engineer.
If you wake up in the middle of the night to think about engineering, then you are a REAL engineer. ;-) [Not me, my FIL.]
If you use the Collatz conjecture to put yourself to sleep at night, you win all the engineering on the Internet.
Nah, that's math geniuses/genii/genies.
I have frequent dreams of breaking shit, and then fixing shit. It's some random shit that isn't related to my job, but sometimes related to something I'm fixing at home or in my rentals.
I saw a military member driving a '93 Accord Coupe around work. One day, I happened to park next to him and checked out his ride. It was all stock. He asked me if I was looking for anything or needed help.
I told him I used to have a '92 Accord sedan, so seeing a rare stock car, with original paint, was very pleasing and nostalgic. I asked him how much work he did to keep it looking good and running great. He said that he got it a few years back from an old couple's estate, it was their garage queen.
He parks it in a garage every night, and works on it on weekends, replacing door seals and any rubber going bad. Otherwise the car runs great, just needs the usual preventive maintenance. It was under 100,000 miles. The young man said he didn't want to buy new cars and have payments. Plus he has a few rentals in other states where he's been deployed. And he reads JLCollinsNH and the FI subreddit. His plan is to retire fully after his 20 in service and live on rental and investment income.
A man with a plan.