Like most of us, you probably don’t have a lot of time to think up a great Halloween costume this year, and even less time to build one.
We have some great news for you! Inspiration from this list, along with a few items that might be lying around your shop (maybe you’ve even tripped over them once or twice), you can become the most terrifying engineer that your co-workers have ever known.
Lucky for them.
10) The Network is Down
This is a simple one, just rummage through the trash to find whatever happens to look like a piece of network equipment, even if it totally doesn’t work. Plug in a few ripped or broken cables to the wrong ports, maybe mix-and-match a few RJ11 and RJ45 plugs for good measure.
Bonus points if you can make a belt or suspenders out of some ripped-up wires. Nobody will ever be asking you for IT assistance again!
9) OSHA Inspector
One of the simplest costumes on today’s list, all you need is a hard hat and a clipboard. A safety vest and some glasses might also really help to sell the whole package.
The difficult part of this one is in the presentation. When you go out trick-or-treating, make sure you point out each safety risk presented by those front porch decorations. With continued practice, you probably won’t even need to explain your costume to anyone.
8) Complete Set of Hand Tools Except for the 10mm, 13mm, ½”, and Small Flat Blade Screwdrivers
You really didn’t need me to tell you how well this costume will go over!
A nice bonus feature of a setup like this is that so many people will understand it: mechanics, those with a knack for DIY projects, contractors, not even including every single person on your maintenance team.
The best part about this costume is that it’s SO easy to build. Just strap on your own tool kit, since it’s ALREADY missing these components anyway! Easy and relatable, not to mention downright awful, just the way a good costume should be.
7) Person with More Knowledge Than Common Sense
This one is flexible, because you can substitute whatever crazy solution you have ever thought of trying, but you know deep down, it was a really bad idea, even if you didn’t know why. Maybe a significant other told you ‘please, please do not do this.’
You never actually tried it, right? Please tell me you didn’t try it.
But if you did try, and it did turn out a disaster, then you can use it in place of our suggestion below.
Find a circuit breaker and some copper wire; make a loop of wire and just strap that thing down into the ON position. Just really lock it in there. No more problematic breaker-tripping for you, no way.
You may have been called many things in your life, but nobody will ever call you ‘boring’ ever again.
6) The Downtime Surprise Special
Nobody likes the downtime events. Either you lose a bunch of money, or you are working around the clock to fix it, or you are sitting around waiting for it to be fixed. Something like this just needs to be included in our costume lineup.
A standard red stack light on top is good. If it lights up and strobes, better. If it has an audible alarm as well, best. Added to the light, get a bright timer clock just so you can broadcast how long this equipment has been down. This costume only gets scarier as the evening progresses.
It might require some batteries and a little programming to get the entire experience, but the relief at the end of the evening when you can finally shut it down and get back to normal life… Totally worth it.
5) The Giant Spark That Makes You Rethink Your Life
Nothing is more terrifying than working around inside an enclosure when that screwdriver touches something it shouldn’t have touched. Hopefully, you just end up with a blinding flash and a scorch mark on a small piece of metal and nobody is the worse for wear, but that’ll really get your heart rate going.
For this costume, just find the brightest work light you can get. When you go to shake hands with someone, just yell 'pop' really loudly for a fraction of a second and turn the light on and off as fast as you can. You can shock someone without shocking them at all. What fun.
One final addition to this costume is the portable defibrillator, you might want to have that close by when meeting new people using this method.
4) Buzz Words From the Quarterly Update Meeting
Another very simple yet effective and relatable costume. Nobody will understand what your costume means, but neither will you - and that’s exactly the point!
Just print out a bunch of words that represent everything you strive for and work hard for on a daily basis, but be sure to avoid context. Tape these words right onto your shirt. A walking billboard of hope and vision for the future.
As Wikipedia says, ‘this list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.’ Just listen closely to any meeting presenter, the higher the executive level, the better. Jot down every 5th word, and apply those to your costume.
Be careful with this one, because you might find yourself slipping too far into character-acting mode and using phrases like ‘paradigm shift,’ ‘actionable,’ and ‘synergy.’
3) That One Absolute Train Wreck of a Control Cabinet Downstairs
This one is a bit harder to design but is absolutely guaranteed to get both a laugh and a look of horror from your coworkers and loved ones.
Either because they understand it or simply because they look at you in horrified anticipation of having to help clean up this mess. And what a mess it is.
Quickly, before the next upgrade project’s scraps are thrown in the dumpster, find the ugliest mess of a cabinet that you can find and hang onto it. You may know this cabinet. You may have worked on it. You might even be part of the reason it looks this way.
Get some hefty shoulder straps and for the rest of the evening, any time someone relates a small life struggle, you can simply say ‘well, at least you don’t have to troubleshoot the wires in this thing.’
2) Giant Spool of Wire That Actually Needed to be 3 Feet Longer
We’ve been saving the best for the end of the list. Another good ol’ relatable costume. You don’t need to dress up for this one, just carry around a spool of wire with a big length sticker on it and a BOM with a big matching length sticker.
Only they don’t match.
And you know which number is longer.
I don’t make the laws. Murphy does.
You can really sell this costume with the look of sadness at having spent the entire day (or more) laying the conduit, prepping the site, getting the supplies, fishing the wire and there it is. You give one final pull for the last 3 feet of wire, and it’s too short. Back to the supplier you go.
And finally, here it is, our #1 control engineering costume of 2023:
1) The Impromptu Stand-Up Safety Meeting That Maybe Most Definitely Was Your Fault
Any costume that involves a smoke machine has to be really good.
All you need to do for this epic setup is rub some soot and grease onto some old clothes, maybe smear some on your face, and let the smoke machine do the rest of the talking for you.
Casual conversation is easy in this costume because, let’s face it, you probably aren’t all that stressed out sorry about the incident. If you can even remember what happened in the first place.
Remember folks, have a fun and spooky season (and don’t actually try to light anything on fire or perform dangerous stunts. When the safety officer is looking. Just kidding).
And one final holiday tip from your friends at Control Automation: any machine can be a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.
