I got my BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering several years ago. My studies were extremely scattered, and my thesis could only be considered "mechanical engineering" under an interpretation stretched practically to breaking. (Optics, quantum-based thermodynamics, laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy, nanomaterials characterization, and the incidental fact that the system we were studying involves a combustion reaction which has traditionally been co-opted by mech-e's... it was pretty thin and I was well out of my competence but didn't realize that until it was too late and the only way out was through.)
After that, we made a hasty return to friendlier places and people. It was the middle of a recession, so I took the only job offer I had.
I design tools for use in oil, gas, and hopefully someday geothermal wells. I'm pretty thoroughly entrenched now in the industry I once swore to help destroy. Life + my skill set + my wife's work left few options. I tried looking briefly, and I found I could have a great design career in an automatic door company. To no one's surprise, I opted for the devil I knew. It pays decently well, and I'm fairly good at it.
I could humor myself that I'm trying to fix the system from inside, but that's too sadly ridiculous a notion to even be funny.
I salve my conscience with the hope that all this tech and knowledge we're developing may one day be put to use in enhanced geothermal wells. That and hoping all the blowback over fracking will force stricter enforcement of good well cementation practise and verification. One day, maybe I'll have put together enough of a network of knowledgeable people to start something on our own. But that may as well be beyond an event horizon, for now.
(Edited for spelling and gross grammar errors)