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Bondage posted:Will getting my BS in Engineering at the ripe old age of 32 hinder my job prospects that much? Not in itself, no. What came before it?
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Jun 14, 2011 13:26
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Bondage posted:Will getting my BS in Engineering at the ripe old age of 32 hinder my job prospects that much? Unless you spent the last ten years playing WoW in your mom's basement and doing nothing else then your extra life experience may give you a leg up over the 22 year olds who would be competing for the same job.
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Jun 14, 2011 17:23
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Bondage posted:Will getting my BS in Engineering at the ripe old age of 32 hinder my job prospects that much? It shouldn't hinder your job prospects, but you will definitely be treated differently in the workplace compared to your 22 year old peers. You will be expected to come up to speed much faster than your peers, handle a lot more responsibility and will receive little or no training. This is especially true if the company you go to work for does not deal with older graduates that often - they mistake your age for professional knowledge and experience. Just be aware that you will be treated differently by your peers as well as management.
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Jun 14, 2011 18:47
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Does anyone know about working at NGOs, charities, and non-profits? It's a little unusual for engineering graduates, which is exactly why I'm asking it on The Internet - most people I know personally are heading to either the corporate or university world, or national labs. So it's hard to find advice about. And I'm asking here because, well, I'm in engineering. Specifically, I am 2-3 years from finishing my PhD in mechanical engineering*. It's a while out, but I'm wondering what I'm going to do after. I'm much more interested in making a "difference"  than making a lot of money (not trying to start a debate here, so please no "what's so wrong with making money HUH?"). So, if anyone knows what careers exist in NGOs for someone with my background, please tell! Or if you have even semi-related advice, go for it.If you're interested, it was water issues in the developing world that first got me thinking I might want to do something like this. *particularly in heat/mass/fluid transport, fuel cells and batteries, porous media, if that makes a difference
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Jun 14, 2011 19:15
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Have you looked into Engineers Without Borders? I don't know what they have as far as full-time careers, but I know they do similar work to what you're talking about. The group at my school was working on developing a stove for South American communities that wouldn't throw out as many particulates and other hazardous crap into people's homes.
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Jun 14, 2011 21:08
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Kire posted:To the PhD's out there: According to some PhD biologists, they said not to go for a PhD thinking that it would improve job prospects, because it only prepares a person for academic research, which isn't what most companies are interested in. Does this hold true for engineering? I just finished an MS in Aerospace Engineering, after having worked in industry for 3 years after finishing my undergrad. I can give you my opinion on why I didn't continue for a Ph. D. My first job out of college was a very "hands on" type situation, working closely with technicians in a shop-floor type environment. It was great, I liked applying my technical knowledge to making things happen in the real world. But I was sort of unhappy because it didn't require a lot of "difficult" engineering work - basically, it was too easy. I decided I needed an advanced degree to get myself a job where I'd be doing more interesting stuff. I lucked out big time as far as the school and my advisor matching very well with my interests (CFD). The last 2 years have been awesome and I really like working for my advisor. However I see way too many guys who end up on the track to becoming a professor, which isn't what I want. Hell, my advisor has four postdocs who are all well into their 30's. I'm 27 now, and I don't want to spend the next 10 years developing research level code - I want to get out there and put my skills to practical use. Now, that isn't to say that everyone in my research group goes on to be a professor - but I think that most of those who don't go on to work for various government research agencies. Basically if your goal is to improve job prospects, an MS in engineering will do that almost as well as a Ph.D. And a note as to your specific situation: there are probably more opportunities for satellite design jobs outside of academia than in it. Profs who do research in this field are more likely to be doing things like researching new methods in say satellite control, from a fundamental point of view, than in seeing the design of a satellite through from start to finish.
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Jun 14, 2011 21:37
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Phlegmbot posted:You should not pursue a PhD unless you're interested in a career in research. If you really want to get ahead in engineering with a masters degree, don't get an MS in engineering, get an MBA. That's the ticket to the big bucks. Of course, you'll no longer be doing much engineering if you go this route... FWIW, I had an offer to work satellites with a BS. Fresh out of school with no internships, either. Only catch was they wanted me to wait 6 months and I didn't want to wait and took another job offer instead. grover fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jun 14, 2011 |
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Jun 14, 2011 22:00
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If you are a getting a Ph.D. you are basically becoming the worlds #1 expert in whatever incredibly small field you're getting your Ph.D. in, and no better than an M.S. in everything else. So if the world happens to be interested in that one thing, you could do very very well. Otherwise it's basically no better than an M.S. There are people that go from getting a Ph.D. to running their own lab or go straight to consulting and making fucktons of money on their own schedule or being a CTO of a startup that's commercializing their work. On the other hand there's a lot that discover that actually nobody cares about whatever topic they did their thesis on. So they're not worthless, but you have to go into it thinking about what you're doing and whether it's going to have an application. And you may be putting yourself on a very non-traditional career path that has a lot of risk and a lot of potential reward. Also, most of the really good outcomes are only available to people at Top 10-Top 25 schools, you probably shouldn't go for a PhD anywhere else. Also I think some engineering disciplines (Chem E, and some kinds of EE) the M.S. is a washout degree and a Ph.D. is actually what you want.
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Jun 14, 2011 22:02
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jun 14, 2011 22:08
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Thoguh posted:They not want to pay you while waiting for your clearance to get processed or something?
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Jun 14, 2011 22:11
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grover posted:If you really want to get ahead in engineering with a masters degree, don't get an MS in engineering, get an MBA. That's the ticket to the big bucks. Of course, you'll no longer be doing much engineering if you go this route... If you want to be a manager, sure. Don't listen to this advice if your goals are to do something interesting as an engineer.
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Jun 14, 2011 22:51
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grover posted:If you really want to get ahead in engineering with a masters degree, don't get an MS in engineering, get an MBA. That's the ticket to the big bucks. Of course, you'll no longer be doing much engineering if you go this route... I couldn't see getting a MSEE because I don't want to go on for a PhD. Once I pass the PE this October, I'll start gearing up for an MBA. I've also considered getting a power engineering certificate - basically half a MS degree and focused more in practical applications versus theory. Anyone have any information good or bad about these certificate programs for the power industry or in general?
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Jun 14, 2011 23:11
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jun 14, 2011 23:43
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grover posted:Honestly, I'd say the same about a masters- I feel bad for guys with masters and PhDs who end up getting the same salary the BS engineers with similar experience, and often much less than BS engineers of the same age because those BSs have 2-7 years more experience. At least engineers tend not to graduate with the debt that liberal arts majors do, at least if they do their post-graduate work the right way. Ya'll are getting paid to research, right? I think a masters does give you a leg up later in life but I'd agree with you about not getting it right after undergrad. The best option is to get the degree after you started working with your company paying for it (ideally). You can do a part-time engineering masters in about 2 years. I agree with the MBA thing too...that might be my next step after I finish my MS CS in a year. Or Systems. Or Both.
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Jun 14, 2011 23:43
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UZR IS BULLSHIT posted:If you want to be a manager, sure. Do listen to it though if you're a poo poo engineer and don't want to admit it, so you can get paid more than everyone else for sitting around doing gant charts and bitching about the schedule and/or budget while telling your subordinate engineers to test everything to the wrong criteria, and taking no blame when the product fails miserably. No offense to you MBA guys, I've just had a couple real bad experiences.
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Jun 16, 2011 20:06
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LloydDobler posted:Do listen to it though if you're a poo poo engineer and don't want to admit it, so you can get paid more than everyone else for sitting around doing gant charts and bitching about the schedule and/or budget while telling your subordinate engineers to test everything to the wrong criteria, and taking no blame when the product fails miserably. This sounds like my dream career path. Thanks LloydDobler for showing me the light.
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Jun 16, 2011 23:33
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My favorite programs are the ones where the weekly meetings just consist of the program manager asking people what percentage various tasks were at and updating the Gantt chart and getting mad if the end date moved in Project.
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Jun 17, 2011 01:40
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My current internship at an environmental engineering firm makes me want to invest in Zip Lock. We go through a few hundred a day when we are field screening soils. It odd working at an environmental firm but throwing away all of our tools at the end of the day because they are contaminated.
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Jun 17, 2011 02:01
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How many of you work in the satellite industry? Or did you all turn down those jobs It's such a small industry we'd probably run into each other at some point
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Jun 17, 2011 20:41
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mitztronic posted:How many of you work in the satellite industry? Or did you all turn down those jobs I'd really like to work in the satellite industry...2 years left on my degree, though.
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Jun 17, 2011 20:59
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Am I the only Civil/Geotech Engineer here? Either I'm a rare and therefore highly sought after breed or I should've done EE/CS... More likely the latter. I'm currently working for a "Top 5 according to ENR" private firm and dying from the inside out. I'd really like to get into the government sector not only to have a little freedom and stability but also to do something other than consulting. Any tips on building my resume to appeal to the .gov? I browse USAJOBs as well as local government pages almost daily, and it seems like the only current openings are for GS-11+. I am grateful I have a job though, just trying to suck it up and save money/build experience/get PE.
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Jun 19, 2011 01:45
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FooGoo posted:Am I the only Civil/Geotech Engineer here? Either I'm a rare and therefore highly sought after breed or I should've done EE/CS... More likely the latter. Check out the federal jobs thread in A/T, too: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3324421
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Jun 19, 2011 02:07
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FooGoo posted:Am I the only Civil/Geotech Engineer here? Either I'm a rare and therefore highly sought after breed or I should've done EE/CS... More likely the latter. Civil EI here (PE in April!); if you're interested in doing road design or anything transportation in the US, every state Department of Transportation uses Microstation. Familiarize yourself with it so you can learn its InRoads plugin. But keep in mind that that's just a state thing; your mileage may vary at a more local level. I live in Louisiana, and I can tell you that at the parish level many places stick with AutoCAD.
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Jun 19, 2011 02:14
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mitztronic posted:How many of you work in the satellite industry? Or did you all turn down those jobs I was going for an internship at LORAL but nothing they had actually interested me much (I already worked in the industry before I went back to school) so I said gently caress it and ended up with a job making human-scale robots, which is way cooler. the pay is less but i'm actually excited about it.
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Jun 19, 2011 04:24
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grover posted:Army Corps of Engineers and Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) both employ a lot of civilian Civil/Geotech engineers. Plenty of other agencies do as well. Are you looking for entry level? Most BS grads will come in as GS-7 and be GS-11 within 18 months. If you have 2 years of experience, you probably qualify for GS-11 already. Having a PE license is a big plus; NAVFAC requires their GS-13 engineers to be PEs, but that's still a long way down your career path. Otherwise, a government hiring agent is looking for the same things on a resume as anyone else. I have an MS and I'm on my second year of work experience. I also have a combat deployment with the NG if that matters (which I thought did, but doesn't seem so since I've been applying for jobs). However, I'd be more than willing to take a cut and start at GS-7 if it means getting my foot in the door, especially since 2 years experience isn't the world. Thanks for the tips, I've been browsing USAJOBS and the Fed Jobs thread for months now. I also realize that my chances are much harder since I prefer to stay in California. I do see USACE and NAVFAC listings come up every now and then, but haven't had much luck yet. Again, trying to stay thankful that I even have a job right now. H.P. Hovercraft: April 2010 or 2011? I'm planning on taking mine April 2011 but am already starting to study. What was/is your study method? My plan right now is to read/browse through the entire CERM book to familiarize myself with the content, then go back and tab it and start doing problems. I'm also planning on taking a review course. And thanks for the heads up about Microstation, our group only uses Autocad. In fact, I'm 99% sure nobody in our group has ever touched Microstation.
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Jun 19, 2011 04:37
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I was under the impression that MBAs had nothing to do with system engineering, and were instead exclusively about the business aspect of things. As I see it there are two reason to get a graduate degree in engineering. The first is because your company is paying for it, in which case you should jump on that post haste. The second is because there's a research opportunity that you genuinely enjoy and want to pursue. I was in the latter category. Also my Masters got me a pay grade bump over someone with a graduate degree, and that translated to about $10K a year. So for me it was definitely worth the extra year I took to get it.
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Jun 19, 2011 16:17
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jun 19, 2011 16:35
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Hoping I can get some advice here. I graduated a little over a year ago with an M.Arch and while the job market for architects sucks overall, it really sucks if you're not on a coast. So for the past year I've been sending resumes everywhere and being a stay at home dad. Long story short, our current living situation has to come to an end and I'm considering going back to school for structural engineering in an effort to: A)ride out the recession B)get a second degree that will make me even more attractive to employers C)avoid becoming "unemployable" Now, this isn't a complete whim as I'd thought about getting this degree after I'd been employed for awhile and getting licensed, and I seriously love doing structural work in design. I've been scrambling for information everywhere I can but it seems that the transition from arch -> engineering isn't all that common as the other way around. I know the engineering side requires more math and physics than we got; we mostly used algebra and a bit of trig in our custom structures courses. What's the feasibility of getting a second master's or should I just bite the bullet for another 4 years and get a bachelor's. Hell, is this even a good idea at all?
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Jun 19, 2011 20:40
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Arvannies posted:Hoping I can get some advice here. The thing is, if you want to do actual engineering, jumping straight into a masters isn't going to teach you a bunch of the things you need to know. There isn't a lot of fluff in a structural engineering bachelor's program, almost all of the courses you'd need to take are directly required to understand what you're doing afterwards in the real world. If you went for a research based masters and they let you in, you might be able to pick up courses to understand whatever area you're specifically researching, but in my mind you wouldn't have the breadth to actually practice once you graduate. If you took a course based masters, you'd just get eaten alive. New graduates of university programs are useless in the workplace for about a year even taking a full program. You should also check the licencing requirements wherever you're looking to become licensed. In my jurisdiction in Canada you can't become a licensed professional engineer without a degree from, at minimum, a four year engineering, geoscience or technology program.
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Jun 19, 2011 22:18
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Hi there, I'd appreciate some advice as well. I graduated in December with a BS BME degree, took a vacation for 2 months, studied for the GRE and have been sending out resumes since. I'm trying to find any kind of engineering job in Georgia, but I haven't heard a word at all. I'd rather not go to grad school if it's not paid for. I'm searching Monster, finding local tech companies nearby and checking their site for openings, and a couple of Healthcare/Biomed Twitter accounts for job openings, but I know that's not enough. A lot of my BME friends are going to med school or grad school, or in the same situation as me (unemployed). Right now I'm open to moving out of Georgia, but if there's something I'm missing outside of applying to Monster and finding local companies in GA and checking for job openings, I'd love to hear it  I'm afraid I'm forgetting a lot of engineering concepts since it's been so long. Will taking the FE help my job prospects?
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Jun 20, 2011 22:33
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H.P. Hovercraft posted:Civil EI here (PE in April!); if you're interested in doing road design or anything transportation in the US, every state Department of Transportation uses Microstation. Familiarize yourself with it so you can learn its InRoads plugin. But keep in mind that that's just a state thing; your mileage may vary at a more local level. I live in Louisiana, and I can tell you that at the parish level many places stick with AutoCAD. Definitely get some Microstation experience if its offered to you. It's a good skill to be marketable with consulting firms. At a firm of 300 I'm 1 of 3 people with good microstation experience. Even though there's not much DOT work out for consultants right now, when we do get lucky Im usually on the team.
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Jun 21, 2011 04:09
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Does anyone have any recommendations for good aerospace/aeronautical programs?
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Jun 21, 2011 06:24
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I work at a company that designs prototypes for satellite antennas, positioners, mechanical attenuators, etc. Its more microwave/RF stuff though. Does that count as satellite?
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Jun 21, 2011 06:39
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lu lu lu posted:Does anyone have any recommendations for good aerospace/aeronautical programs? Aerospace is a pretty diverse field, and what specifically you are interested in will affect the answer to this question. Also whether you are talking graduate or undergrad programs.
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Jun 21, 2011 16:03
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Business grad checking back in. The undergrad EE advisor at my local state school was very positive and accommodating. She said they have anywhere from 2-4 students enrolled at any point in time who have chosen to go back to school after entering the workforce. Most applicants are accepted (good!) because they are almost always focused and do really well (duh). I just need to prove my math/phys/chem chops at the local CC all of who's credits will fill requirements/credits at state. The planning continues...
Bronze fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Jun 23, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 02:27
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Just a tip, get it in writing from the science/engineering college as well as the EE department that those credits will transfer.
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Jun 22, 2011 02:58
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Well, he mentioned it's a state school so they should have an articulation agreement set up with the CCs. At least that's how it is here (CA).
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Jun 22, 2011 04:34
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I'm sure they do, but at my public school I knew a lot of people who had issues where a counselor told someone that their CC credits would transfer, but then they either didn't or the department didn't consider their CC courses to fulfill the necessary requirements. So what I'm saying is he should get in writing that his specific courses will get him the standing with the EE department that he's going for. UZR IS BULLSHIT fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 04:50
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Typically local CC to local state college credits transfer as they are all funded from the same source, however it is always good to get everything in writing. The university should have a list, probably online, where you can check what classes will transfer in and for what credit type and amount.
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Jun 22, 2011 06:06
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UZR IS BULLSHIT posted:I'm sure they do, but at my public school I knew a lot of people who had issues where a counselor told someone that their CC credits would transfer, but then they either didn't or the department didn't consider their CC courses to fulfill the necessary requirements.
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Jun 22, 2011 17:33
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