I don’t get to set stuff on fire as much as I did in grad school, but I still get to do it occasionally (typically cost, safety, time, etc limitations). I got a degree in mechanical engineering then stayed on to do experimental fire research on lithium ion batteries. Now I help design battery packs that can withstand single cell failures without blowing up completely. Basically I keep a small fire from turning into a big fire. The main trade off is mass/volume of the battery pack, but the latest tech is getting really good in terms of performance.

In grad school, I would’ve tested the hell out of all my ideas. Now, my time is worth something and I have to be smarter about it. Typically model/simulate several ideas, optimize the best of those ideas, then test the best ideas based on preliminary simulation results. Iterate based on test results and so on.