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Gatts posted:I just called up Ohio State. Even with credits transferred it'd probably take 4.5 - 5 years to do an Engineering Degree because I'd have to take pre-engineering classes. That's a long time at 28 next semester. I'd be starting over at 33. At least I've saved enough where I wouldn't have to worry about loans. This is what I'm scared of. I have a philosophy degree but I still think its going to be an entire bachelors degree instead of just a 2 or 3 year bachelors. Lucky for you, you have money saved up. I'm going to have to do the entire thing on student loans. Even expense of living will have to be covered by those. Is an electrical or chemical engineering degree worth 70k worth of debt?
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Oct 23, 2009 20:51
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grover posted:SA's new military forum I don't know yet. And I'm not in the USA so I'm just looking for general information and experience.
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Oct 23, 2009 20:58
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Dangbe posted:This is what I'm scared of. I have a philosophy degree but I still think its going to be an entire bachelors degree instead of just a 2 or 3 year bachelors. Lucky for you, you have money saved up. I'm going to have to do the entire thing on student loans. Even expense of living will have to be covered by those. If you enjoyed engineering? Yes. You would be paying 700+ dollars a month back to the loan office, but you would also probably be making twice out of college what you would with another degree assuming you had no real work experience elsewhere. If you didn't like engineering it would be a disaster since you would pretty much have no choice but to keep doing engineering. This is a trap a lot of people get stuck in. I know a number of people who payed big bucks for their law or medical degrees that hate what they do now, but have no recourse because their student loan debt is to high to start over. While 70k isn't as dire that is a large chunk of cash to have to come up with monthly if you decided you hated engineering and just wanted an office job. The worst part is when you hate your job/day life you end up blowing more cash in your non job life to relax, which means you can't afford to pay off your loans faster without hating your life more. The moral is do not go into big debt unless you are sure of what you are studying being something you can do at least long enough to pay off the debt.
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Oct 23, 2009 20:59
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Juriko posted:If you enjoyed engineering? Yes. You would be paying 700+ dollars a month back to the loan office, but you would also probably be making twice out of college what you would with another degree assuming you had no real work experience elsewhere. I wish I could know whether I would enjoy an engineering job prior to actually working one. I've read a lot about the jobs I'd be doing and they range from absolutely miserable to wonderfully interesting. So, I guess it depends on what job I land. I'm currently a software developer and the job market is similar, so, I guess if worse comes to worse I'll be in the same position I am now +70k worth of debt. Ouch.
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Oct 23, 2009 21:15
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Oct 24, 2009 01:04
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Dangbe posted:I wish I could know whether I would enjoy an engineering job prior to actually working one. I've read a lot about the jobs I'd be doing and they range from absolutely miserable to wonderfully interesting. So, I guess it depends on what job I land. I'm currently a software developer and the job market is similar, so, I guess if worse comes to worse I'll be in the same position I am now +70k worth of debt. Ouch. Most of my graduating class started at $80-90k getting out. Any who made less were either the bottom of the class or chose to do so. To make more you just had to work more. Engineering is a huge field. The basic concepts all run together and you will usually need to know a little of everything. At my current job I run two gas turbines with heat recovery steam generators, a steam turbine, two aux. boilers in case the HRSG's cant cover load, three emergency diesels in the plant, three absorption chillers and two centrifugal. Aside from the mechanical knowledge required to run them I need to know about the electrical distribution system, the data collection system (computer system) and fire and emergency systems. That includes knowing the logic for the GTG's being able to reprogram, cut out and weld up condensate pipe, operate any equipment, rebuild and perform maintenance on it. To give an example, I might start off the week replacing regulating valves on campus, help the shift with boiler chemistry or pm's, troubleshoot pressure transducers and finish off with some absorption training. There is never a point in engineering at which you can know too much, you have to keep learning every day. Thats just a sample of the work I do. Right now I can do anything from operating ships to power plants to building compressors or turbines. The school I went to only had around 600 students and my engineering class was under 80. There were a lot of older students who went through the military or didnt know what they wanted to do until they heard about the school so going to college at 28 doesnt seem that unusual to me. I love engineering, the job is extremely satisfying to me and I get paid well. I can always find work, that I like, in a place that I want to be. The field is huge and if you want to sit around and design or build or create new technology the opportunity is there.
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Oct 24, 2009 01:29
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Out of curiosity, what % of students in your classes were not there straight from highschool? This is not directed at anyone in particular
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Oct 24, 2009 02:01
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Colawa posted:Out of curiosity, what % of students in your classes were not there straight from highschool? This is not directed at anyone in particular Maybe 25% in the upper level classes. I was actually pretty surprised, but it makes sense.
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Oct 24, 2009 02:14
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If you guys get tired of industry engineering, you could always go to medical school. Schools love engineers (medicine is a lot like engineering, just with a lot more people interaction). Also, substantial number of surgeons I know were engineers. Just thought I'd throw that in the mix.
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Oct 24, 2009 02:49
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Totally Negro posted:If you guys get tired of industry engineering, you could always go to medical school. Schools love engineers (medicine is a lot like engineering, just with a lot more people interaction). Also, substantial number of surgeons I know were engineers. Just thought I'd throw that in the mix. Principles are the same but engines dont bleed. Somewhere around 25% of my class wasnt straight out of high school I think. Its always hard to remember because about half the starting class either drops out or switches majors and a few of the rest take an extra semester or two.
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Oct 24, 2009 03:01
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Engineering for a major corporation in a regulated industry is 10% what you learned in college, 20% ingenuity, and 70% process, documentation, and bureaucracy. Is your dad an engineer perhaps? Wanna know why he got so boring? Probably has something to do with action items, project schedules, and DO-178.
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Oct 24, 2009 06:39
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Dangbe posted:This is what I'm scared of. I have a philosophy degree but I still think its going to be an entire bachelors degree instead of just a 2 or 3 year bachelors. Lucky for you, you have money saved up. I'm going to have to do the entire thing on student loans. Even expense of living will have to be covered by those. Consider a community college pre-engineering program. The one I'm attending has a two year deal where all the credits will transfer to several four-year schools at a cost of about $11k for tuition and all fees, which is cheapcheapcheap compared to a single year at my alma mater.
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Oct 25, 2009 02:18
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Groda posted:I just finished a half year as a intern doing my thesis on an industry project, and I had a blast. I've also worked a half year at a coal plant. Power plants are just generally pretty laid-back work places with practically-minded people and a relatively low amount of bullshit. I was with the engineering staff in both cases. I want to be the guy that shoots the neutrons at the uranium atoms. Also congrats!
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Oct 28, 2009 06:18
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El Kabong posted:Consider a community college pre-engineering program. The one I'm attending has a two year deal where all the credits will transfer to several four-year schools at a cost of about $11k for tuition and all fees, which is cheapcheapcheap compared to a single year at my alma mater. Would my education be compromised by doing this? I feel like at a good engineering school I should go there for all 4 years to get the best education possible. Is this not true? Besides missing out on "the best education" I feel like I might not be prepared for the higher level courses if I take lovely community college classes. Thoughts?
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Oct 28, 2009 15:32
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Dangbe posted:Would my education be compromised by doing this? I feel like at a good engineering school I should go there for all 4 years to get the best education possible. Is this not true? Besides missing out on "the best education" I feel like I might not be prepared for the higher level courses if I take lovely community college classes. Thoughts? What you primarily miss in the first two years is all the huge physics and calculus classes that cause everyone to drop out. You should be fine, if you can get in.
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Oct 28, 2009 15:34
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Invisible Minority posted:I want to be the guy that shoots the neutrons at the uranium atoms. Then in your case you'll want to keep with the applied physics students. Load up on your fuel chemistry and neutronics (applied neutron physics) courses/projects. Fuel guys are in great demand over there, although you may have to compete with some frighteningly brilliant physics majors whose dreams of being paid to do particle physics have been crushed by some junior-year reality check. Fortunately, a lot of them are unemployable. Play with MCNP at the earliest possible opportunity. It will give you a bit of an idea of what kind of work you'll be doing. Better to find out you hate the job now than later. There are several big names (Computer programs, that is. Because they're so old, they will be referred to as codes.) in the field of fuel management. I don't know the American ones, but we have a piece of Westinghouse IP called POLCA.
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Oct 28, 2009 16:25
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Groda posted:although you may have to compete with some frighteningly brilliant physics majors whose dreams of being paid to do particle physics have been crushed by some junior-year reality check. Fortunately, a lot of them are unemployable. Could you clarify this part?
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Oct 28, 2009 16:28
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Dangbe posted:Would my education be compromised by doing this? I feel like at a good engineering school I should go there for all 4 years to get the best education possible. Is this not true? Besides missing out on "the best education" I feel like I might not be prepared for the higher level courses if I take lovely community college classes. Thoughts? If the courses are approved by the engineering school at the four-year school to transfer than I doubt they are lovely. And, I don't think community college have a monopoly on lovely classes as I'm sure you will discover. It really just comes down to the professor when you're talking about basic math/science classes.
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Oct 28, 2009 16:29
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El Kabong posted:If the courses are approved by the engineering school at the four-year school to transfer than I doubt they are lovely. And, I don't think community college have a monopoly on lovely classes as I'm sure you will discover. It really just comes down to the professor when you're talking about basic math/science classes. Physics, strengths, calculus, numbers dont change just because you are in community college. Its all about what you can learn from the class. If you dont learn the material you are wasting your time.
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Oct 28, 2009 16:36
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Namarrgon posted:Could you clarify this part? A. ...needed to get a paying job someday. B. ...would never get a good doctorate/researcher/misc. quaternary position in their original field. Anyone with that background is vastly over-qualified for nuclear engineering education (except the process and chemistry parts, of course), and those I know personally all ended up going into advanced research (i.e. things which won't be built for another 30-40 years) as a result. There are an awful lot of them that just don't leave the university, and don't perform their master's thesis in the industry or with present-day topics.
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Oct 28, 2009 18:12
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Dangbe posted:Would my education be compromised by doing this? I feel like at a good engineering school I should go there for all 4 years to get the best education possible. Is this not true? Besides missing out on "the best education" I feel like I might not be prepared for the higher level courses if I take lovely community college classes. Thoughts?
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Oct 28, 2009 18:24
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Calculus 2 is the worst calculus.
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Oct 28, 2009 18:35
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huhu posted:If this means anything, I failed Calculus 2 for Engineers at Rutgers and ended up taking it at community college over the summer. I got a 4.0 in the class at community college without studying at all. I literally learned nothing and didn't study but still got a 4.0 at community college. How is it possible to learn "literally" nothing and still pass tests? Were there tests?
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Oct 28, 2009 18:58
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In Canada there are colleges that have programs specifically designed to transfer into the local university after the second year of engineering. They'll work with the university to make sure all the courses they offer will transfer. It's fairly easy to do, since the Canadian engineering associations have fairly strict requirements for curriculums. Things are fairly standard across the country. While you have some places that are 'engineering' schools, pretty much every university in Canada has an engineering program that will be roughly comparable. Honestly, these programs are better in some ways than the university programs at that level. The teachers that teach in the colleges generally also teach courses to engineering technicians and surveyors, so the classes are more practical that the stuff you get in the first couple of years of university engineering courses. Talk to the university you plan on going to and see what they have to say.
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Oct 28, 2009 19:49
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I attended an Engineering Roundtable at Cleveland State University with reps from Parker Hannifin, an individual who owns his own consulting company after being laid off from GE, and another individual who was the President of an Engineering Organization while still a higher level official in the private sector. It was a while ago and I don't have access to their names and credentials. All the men were very impressive individuals by leaps and bounds over the business professionals I met and attended seminars with. Clear spoken, eloquent, and just excellent presentation and communication skills. It's obvious why these guys would be the face of a company. However a summary was... "Job market is very difficult right now." "I've got a stack of resumes just this year that are...yeigh high." "You've got to do internships and co-ops. Get as many as you can even if they don't pay or they aren't exactly what you want. Any experience helps right now. Go for your masters if you have trouble finding a job. Come up with something you've created on your own. Don't sit on your butt doing nothing." "You must stand out. Excel in a software like Solidworks or AutoCad, show me you're involved in organizations, show me you've taken initiative and work on projects and go beyond 4.0 GPA." "4.0 GPA doesn't mean squat. I'd rather have an individual with 2.5 GPA who I assume will have the technical background but works well within a team, has excellent communication skills, takes initiative, and I can present to clients and other people. I don't care about 4.0 GPA combined with nothing else. We're looking for certain kinds of individuals." "After a few years out in the job market, experience counts more." "Network. I've seen a guy who was out of a job for months attend various functions and seminars. After seeing him so active and presenting himself well I told my company to take a look at his resume and see if we had a position for him." "I had an Engineer who was the best at (I can't remember expertise). Beautiful work. The company he was working with asked not to work with him anymore cause he was too weird. We still use him but don't tell the company we are." Stuff like that. I hope there's some beneficial notes in there.
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Oct 28, 2009 21:08
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How is everyone else finding the job search? The part that's been getting to me is how scarce the jobs are that I'm both even somewhat qualified for and vaguely interested in. Is it just me or are 99% of EE and related jobs either senior-level-15-years or QA for business apps in loving Java.
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Oct 28, 2009 21:38
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Dangbe posted:Would my education be compromised by doing this? I feel like at a good engineering school I should go there for all 4 years to get the best education possible. Is this not true? Besides missing out on "the best education" I feel like I might not be prepared for the higher level courses if I take lovely community college classes. Thoughts? The coursework is the same. One thing you MUST be sure of is that all the credits transferred. For instance, I received 3 credits for drafting, but the school I transferred to made me retake it anyhow because the CC was almost all table drafting (was 15 years ago btw) and didn't include as much CAD drafting as the the degree requirements reflected. The "intro to engineering" course was a complete waste as well. Except for the factory tour we went on, that was pretty cool. The best part is the cost- 2 years of CC will cost you about the same as 1 semester of a typical state school. Groda posted:Calculus 2 is the worst calculus. grover fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Oct 28, 2009 |
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Oct 28, 2009 22:04
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grover posted:It wouldn't be compromised at all. I did an early admissions to college thing where I spent my senior year of high school at the local community college, and found (at least in my experience) that the education was excellent, and the overall attitude and work environment better than that of a traditional 4-year school. I think the difference was that although a majority of the people in the 4-year school were there just because it was expected of them, but it was really just an extension of high school and a time to party. Whereas most of the people in the CC were either there because they couldn't afford a better school, couldn't get into a better school, or were established in their careers and going back for their degree- one thing they all had in common was they WANTED TO BE THERE. They aren't just there to get by, but actually learn. And it makes a big difference. I think it just varies a lot on colleges. From what I could tell while the structures varied my CC calc courses were very similar to what my college offered. The thing is that I knew people at my CC that came from out of state and felt crushed by the courses because their CC was just so much worse. We also de direct transfers in state and most of the courses have 1 to 1 equivalents. There is also the fact that some colleges will use a course like calc2 as a weed out so they make the exams way harder than they need to be simply as a filter. I know, at least here, some of the fresh and sophomore year courses were ridiculous simply because they were designed to be weed out. Soon as you got in major the entire thing was smooth sailing.
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Oct 28, 2009 22:13
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SecretFire posted:How is everyone else finding the job search? The part that's been getting to me is how scarce the jobs are that I'm both even somewhat qualified for and vaguely interested in. Company just extended me another couple months and is paying me out of pocket in hopes they can get me more controls, electical, automation, programming, turbines blah blah experience and find another spot for me. Aside from the company, my job search pretty much consists of networking. Anyone interested in field work might want to check here http://tbe.taleo.net/NA11/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=SOLARTURBINES&cws=1
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Oct 29, 2009 00:19
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grover posted:It wouldn't be compromised at all. I did an early admissions to college thing where I spent my senior year of high school at the local community college, and found (at least in my experience) that the education was excellent, and the overall attitude and work environment better than that of a traditional 4-year school. I think the difference was that although a majority of the people in the 4-year school were there just because it was expected of them, but it was really just an extension of high school and a time to party. Whereas most of the people in the CC were either there because they couldn't afford a better school, couldn't get into a better school, or were established in their careers and going back for their degree- one thing they all had in common was they WANTED TO BE THERE. They aren't just there to get by, but actually learn. And it makes a big difference. What does Calc 5 cover? Most I've seen is 3 semesters.
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Oct 29, 2009 05:41
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Corrupted posted:What does Calc 5 cover? We have four at VT. 1-Derivative 2-Integral 3-Multivariable 4-Differential Equations then we also take Linear Algebra and Vector Geometry, too. Bean_ fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Oct 29, 2009 |
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Oct 29, 2009 05:44
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Bean_ posted:We have four at VT. I was going to put a maybe on DiffEq as a fourth. We take these 4 math classes and then an elective, which generally is matrices/linear algebra
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Oct 29, 2009 05:45
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Corrupted posted:I was going to put a maybe on DiffEq as a fourth. Thats the standard 4 semester "basic" calculus sequence. Math majors start all over again at the 400 level and prove everything as they go. I haven't heard one of those classes called cal5 though. Perhaps a quarters system would cause things to be grouped differently.
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Oct 29, 2009 06:48
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Subcrid are you from Vancouver? Would you be able to tell me how BCIT compares to UBC as far as engineering education goes?
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Oct 29, 2009 07:04
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Colawa posted:Subcrid are you from Vancouver? Would you be able to tell me how BCIT compares to UBC as far as engineering education goes? BCIT's program is very new. They just started to offer full degree programs a couple of years ago and they weren't offering them yet when I started school so I didn't look into it all that much. I work with one person who graduated from the first class of BCIT civil/structural engineering. It seems like I had a better technical and theoretical background and she has some more experience in things like surveying and drafting. I don't know if that's representative though. Their program is interesting, in that the first two years are their engineering technician program. So you can go into the program and decide halfway if you want to be a technician or do the extra two years for a full degree. The only issue at the moment is that the BCIT engineering program hasn't been certified by the engineering accreditation board yet because it's so new. I think they're doing the review of the program this year. There was an agreement with APEGBC over the last three years where you could take some tests when you're done the program to get your EIT status, but I don't know what will happen next year. Even if they don't get accreditation, I'm sure they'll modify the program to meet whatever they're told to do. If you have any questions about UBC I can probably answer them.
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Oct 29, 2009 09:22
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I'm a EE with 3 years experience and I can't find a loving job. I don't know how new grads are doing it, because I'm seeing hardly any entry level jobs. What sucks is, I went into a small field, RF Engineering (not circuits, but telecommunications). I really LOVE what I do, but I feel like I'm screwed. With how my job situation panned out, most of my experience has been on GSM (2G) systems and not on UMTS (3G). I have some training and do study 3G systems, but I don't have any "hands on" experience. Most jobs in my field want the relevant 3G experience now, so I apply and get interviews, but there are more qualified people than myself unfortunately. So I get no where on that. I've spent the last 5 months applying for other EE jobs, but they ALL want at least 2 years experience in some specialty. At this point I would do almost anything, since I'm unable to collect unemployment and have been living off my savings which is almost gone. Next week, I'm starting to work in retail again selling phones (what I did in college) for the holiday season just to get some money coming in.
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Oct 29, 2009 18:15
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orinth posted:I'm a EE with 3 years experience and I can't find a loving job. I don't know how new grads are doing it, because I'm seeing hardly any entry level jobs. New grads aren't doing it. Though, check out power companies, especially those with nuclear plants. Unfortunately everyone else seems to be applying to the same jobs...
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Oct 29, 2009 19:04
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orinth posted:I'm a EE with 3 years experience and I can't find a loving job. I don't know how new grads are doing it, because I'm seeing hardly any entry level jobs. Try oil and gas service companies. Good website to try is rigzone.com. They love EEs.
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Oct 29, 2009 20:21
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Corrupted posted:What does Calc 5 cover? 1- Derivative 2- Integral 3- Vector calculus 4- Differential Equations 5- Advanced Differential Equations We also had to take linear algebra, and analytical methods (finite element analysis, etc). Multivariable was covered in Integral and vector calculus.
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Oct 29, 2009 22:35
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We didn't have numbers like that, but the civil engineering program at UBC required: Differential Calculus Integral Calculus Linear Algebra Multivariable Calculus Differential Equations Partial Differential Equations Plus some stats courses The partial differential equations course was taken in the third year of the program and the equivalent course in the math department was a 300 level course but the engineering course was numbered as a 200 level course specifically because an inordinate number of people fail it. Putting it at the 300 level would make it count for the average grade used for admittance into masters programs. I know a few people who took the course three times.
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Oct 30, 2009 00:13
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