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Thoguh posted:Isn't the Navy paying shitloads of money for Nukes to re-up? Why not go that route. SeaBass posted:Have you applied to the NRC?
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Jan 26, 2012 19:57
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jan 26, 2012 20:17
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How important is the program prestige when it comes to getting a job? I'm looking to start an EE Bachelor's this fall, and I've got it down to three universities: Michigan, Michigan State, and a smaller regional school(ABET accredited). MSU offered me an undergraduate research position and around $5k a year in scholarships while The smaller one is offering free tuition, and it's within commuting distance of my parents house so I don't have to spend money on a dorm or anything. Michigan accepted me and offered nothing else, but I know that they have the best program by far. Is the research experience more valuable when looking for a job than going to a better program? And is getting that experience and attending a somewhat decent university worth getting $15k a year in loans instead of just going to a regional school and graduating debt free? ChipNDip fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Jan 26, 2012 |
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Jan 26, 2012 21:06
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ChipNDip posted:How important is the program prestige when it comes to getting a job? I'm looking to start an EE Bachelor's this fall, and I've got it down to three universities: Michigan, Michigan State, and a smaller regional school(ABET accredited). MSU offered me an undergraduate research position and around $5k a year in scholarships while The smaller one is offering free tuition, and it's within commuting distance of my parents house so I don't have to spend money on a dorm or anything. Michigan accepted me and offered nothing else, but I know that they have the best program by far. Do you think you will do grad school? Do any of these schools have a program you are interested in that the others don't? How do their engineering career fairs compare? Prestige is fairly irrelevant for your undergrad if you are planning to just take classes and move on to the professional world immediately after graduation. Research is much better at larger, more prestigious schools which will come in to play if you stay for a masters or PhD. DO NOT live with your parents during college if you do not absolutely have to. Live on campus, meet people, bang girls in a lofted bed.
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Jan 26, 2012 22:16
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A big factor with school prestige is which companies come to recruit. The more prestigious school will attract more and bigger companies to their career fairs. My department will go to Rutgers because it's local, but other wise, it's basically all big name schools. Other than that, it's hard to say, but in general a bigger name will be better. You will theoretically have more (and better) options for research, activities, and other resume builders than at a less prestigious school, but only if you take advantage at them. This is also assuming you do well at that school (a 1.0 GPA at MIT isn't impressive to anyone). This isn't to say you can't do well at a less prestigious school. Their professors still have contacts, and you will still have opportunities. I just think it's easier at a more prestigious school.
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Jan 26, 2012 22:44
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Pander posted:Anyone with any thoughts or suggestions? So many loving job opps for ME/EE...don't really feel my niche is working out right now. I've been told my resume is stellar (Lieutenant in the navy, aviation experience, proven leadership experience, multiple degrees, etc), even by managers at places I'd love to work, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
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Jan 26, 2012 23:07
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General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT is hiring literally hundreds of engineers this year. I turned down a job with them to go to grad school, but it seemed like a good place to start a career. I'm sure they'd give you a good look being ex-Navy with a Nuke degree. I applied on their website and got an email within a couple weeks to fly me up for an interview on their dime. They offered something like $58k for a starting Mechanical Engineer, provided you passed the security clearance and such.
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Jan 26, 2012 23:14
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grover posted:Have you looked at the Naval shipyards? They have a pretty high turnover of engineers, and tend to be hiring pretty regularly. Newport News Shipbuilding and Electric Boat as well, though your military time won't give you any advantages as a contractor. I applied at EB a couple weeks ago. Waiting on that. Haven't hit Newport News Shipping, I'll see if they have any openings. My situation's better, got a local job just this afternoon, so I won't starve. If I can wring enough hours, I can survive here til April/May, when most of the utilities will PROBABLY look to make more new college recruits given how much bigger May graduation is than December. Really wish, if I could go back, I'd have picked ME. I actually enjoyed the ME coursework way more than I ever thought I would.
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Jan 27, 2012 01:31
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Frinkahedron posted:General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT is hiring literally hundreds of engineers this year. I turned down a job with them to go to grad school, but it seemed like a good place to start a career. I'm sure they'd give you a good look being ex-Navy with a Nuke degree. I applied on their website and got an email within a couple weeks to fly me up for an interview on their dime. They offered something like $58k for a starting Mechanical Engineer, provided you passed the security clearance and such. I live in Groton right now, and I can definitely attest that EB is hiring like mad. $58K actually won't go very far in Groton (especially if you have student loans), but ex-navy + nuke will almost definitely get better than that by a good bit. That being said, Groton's a pretty lovely place to live, though I'm sure it's better than 9-mo at a time under the sea working 18 hour days. Don't expect a whole lot to do if you end up out here, honestly.
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Jan 27, 2012 16:41
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ChipNDip posted:Is the research experience more valuable when looking for a job than going to a better program? And is getting that experience and attending a somewhat decent university worth getting $15k a year in loans instead of just going to a regional school and graduating debt free? Research experience will help you for grad school moreso, I think. You should pick the cheapest option that allows for internships, because the internships will be what gets your foot in the door for the first job. That being said, I wasn't too impressed with many MSU engineering grads/students. The Michigan guys knew their stuff, but a lot of them seemed to suffer from owning hard at classroom/textbook problems, but falling apart when it came to practical application of my knowledge. Then again, my supervisor at work is a UM grad, and he's one of the best engineers I've ever met. What regional school were you looking at, Kettering? Their co-op program will cover you experience wise, but in return you will spend your undergrad at a school where there's only like 20% women, and there are only science/engineering majors. It is nice and small though, and my time there turned me from horribly awkward fat goon right out of high school into a competent engineer/leader. Lots of leadership opportunities, and lots of networking to be done. Michigan has everyone in the state beat when it comes to prestige of companies it attracts, outside the auto industry. Kettering has every auto-maker and every auto-supplier, but if your sights are set towards Silicon Valley, Michigan hands down. You had to do all your own legwork at Kettering if you wanted to co-op out west at a Silicon Valley company. Michigan sends interns to Microsoft, Amazon, etc all the time.
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Jan 28, 2012 00:03
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Pander posted:I'm in a bit of a bind. My history is pretty untraditional...BA in history in 2004, Naval officer from 2004-2009, Nuke Engineering BS just last month, have my EIT cert. Trying to get entry-level, and no bites in the past month after about 50-some applications. I've focused my search on the nuclear power plant operators, and expanded from there (including GE, Exxon-Mobil, and many engineering consulting firms). Are you just applying to corporate websites? In many cases, that stuff all goes into a black hole, and recruiting for entry-level engineers is largely through campus recruiting and the like. This is definitely recruiting season, as employers are looking for people that will be graduating in May/June. Also, I wouldn't let a NE degree stop you from applying to CivE/ME-type jobs.
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Jan 28, 2012 07:32
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Lt Moose fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Jan 29, 2012 01:38
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Lt Moose posted:Check out the Engineering Expo on the 9th. It looks like there will be 12 companies there looking for full time nuclear grads. I would also check out the ECS Career fair (this week), but I'm not involved with them as much as I am with the EXPO so I don't really know which companies will be there. Probably a lot of major ones though, I'd check on Symplicity. I'd known about it, but I don't know if I can get in. They swipe your university ID to get into it, and I don't know if it's only going to be good for current students or alumni as well.
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Jan 29, 2012 02:55
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Pander posted:I'd known about it, but I don't know if I can get in. They swipe your university ID to get into it, and I don't know if it's only going to be good for current students or alumni as well. Judging by the attendees list, it might be worth it just to go. If you're denied... sneak in the back door  You could probably call the career center (or whatever you guys call it) and ask if it's only for current students or alumni as well.
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Jan 29, 2012 03:59
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Lt Moose fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Jan 29, 2012 07:26
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Wonder if anyone can offer some career suggestions for a next move? I'm UK based, mid 20s and I have a Masters in physics and have been working in acoustic consultancy / engineering for the last 4 years since graduating. I work for a multi disciplinary engineering consultancy that does all different sorts of engineering (civil, M&E, structural, environmental and a whole host of things I probably don't know about). I feel like I'm ready for a move to something different, away from acoustics, but I've been struggling to think where my skills might apply. I enjoy working on building projects, but acoustics is a pretty nebulous subject matter, you're not taken seriously most of the time and we have small scopes of work on a number of big projects that you never feel very informed about the project, constantly working on the hoof etc. I've learn little bits about the principles of engineering but not enough to slot easily into another discipline by a long shot. I've been using GIS in my job a lot recently, and for the most part really enjoying it. What kind of experience would I need for a as a GIS analyst? Would I need to get more qualifications in geography or more experience in IT before I could be employable in that field. Any suggestions for career options for physicists with some engineering experience very welcome!
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Feb 1, 2012 20:55
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Thanks for the advice guys. I figured the research thing would be more academic, but at least it's hands on something (and a guaranteed job during school). movax posted:What regional school were you looking at, Kettering? Their co-op program will cover you experience wise, but in return you will spend your undergrad at a school where there's only like 20% women, and there are only science/engineering majors. It is nice and small though, and my time there turned me from horribly awkward fat goon right out of high school into a competent engineer/leader. Lots of leadership opportunities, and lots of networking to be done.
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Feb 2, 2012 00:58
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If my first two internships are both in the auto industry, both in manufacturing, am I probably going to get stuck with only auto industry or manufacturing job opportunities when I graduate next year (May 2013)? My first internship was last summer, and it in manufacturing with GM. My uni's career fair was Wednesday and Thursday, and after an interview this morning, I've already got a summer internship offer in manufacturing with Toyota. I think I'd really enjoy it, but my one reservation is a fear that this will limit my options in the future to nothing but manufacturing and/or automotive. It's not that I don't like either of those, it's just that I'm interested in a lot of other areas, too (R&D, robotics, autonomous systems), and I'd like to have the opportunity to really explore those in the future. Is that a legitimate concern, or will I be fine? I've only got 10 days to accept Toyota's offer 
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Feb 3, 2012 21:11
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Lt Moose posted:If your name shows up in the Illinois student directory, you will be able to get into the expo (I'm on the committee this year and just asked). You will also be able to get into the ECS career fair, according to their page (http://engineering.illinois.edu/corporations/career-fairs). Thanks a billion for keeping me in the loop with this! Went both days. First day was kinda blah, only Electric Boat seemed to show any interest. Second day was a lot more fun. CIA had a lot of interest, DNFSB had a really odd-but-cool 6 year program they offered, and I got an interview with PG&E earlier today that went well. It sounded less like "we're not sure we want to hire you" and more "we're trying to figure out where you'd be the best fit", so I'm really excited. Nukework on the west coast (my first real job not in the deep south, woo!) would be great.
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Feb 3, 2012 23:16
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Lt Moose fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2012 01:11
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BSchlang posted:If my first two internships are both in the auto industry, both in manufacturing, am I probably going to get stuck with only auto industry or manufacturing job opportunities when I graduate next year (May 2013)? No, I spent 3 years in auto and it was easy for me to get out of that cesspool. Keep your horizons open with some interesting personal projects you can talk about at interviews. (i.e. leave yourself able to put other skills on your resume. Just because you're interning on the plant floor doesn't mean you can't polish up some programming skills or something.) e: are you an A2 goon?
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Feb 4, 2012 03:17
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BSchlang posted:If my first two internships are both in the auto industry, both in manufacturing, am I probably going to get stuck with only auto industry or manufacturing job opportunities when I graduate next year (May 2013)? If you want to get into another field then it would help to have an internship in it, but it is not necessary by any means. I have a friend that did a years worth of cooping and two years part time in the power industry and went to GE to work in the aircraft department after he graduated.
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Feb 4, 2012 08:26
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movax posted:No, I spent 3 years in auto and it was easy for me to get out of that cesspool. Keep your horizons open with some interesting personal projects you can talk about at interviews. (i.e. leave yourself able to put other skills on your resume. Just because you're interning on the plant floor doesn't mean you can't polish up some programming skills or something.) Keeping up with unrelated projects and skills is very handy for a number of reasons, even if they aren't technical, though it does help if they are. Although, to be fair, I've only worked for smaller companies, where one person with a wider skill set is more useful than a narrow specialist. The opposite could be true for larger companies.
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Feb 4, 2012 16:47
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I'm going to be graduating by May with a BS in Biomedical Engineering, and I've been thinking of what to do after graduation, i.e. whether I get an internship or something. Grad school isn't really in my cards at the moment, since I don't think I'd be a good fit for it at the moment and I'm not convinced I'd do well, and I'm trying to figure out what kind of employment is best. My past experience has mostly been in hospitals and clinics for the past two years, and I've got a few decent projects under my belt. Does anyone have experience in BME-related prospects and advice?
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Feb 10, 2012 14:51
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Feb 10, 2012 16:34
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Thoguh posted:February is already late to start looking. You should have started months ago! It's only recently been that I've decided not to stick around for another year in an attempt to boost my GPA. I mean, technically, my parents still think that's the plan, but I think it's mentally retarded to do so, so... yeah. That's why I'm late. Yes, we've been doing stuff like that. No actual classes related to actually being in the real world, mind, but we do have a senior year final project that me and my team have been working on (and its coming along well). And it's not like I was born knowing everything ever, I wasn't entirely sure what to do. Glad to see that I am yet again not on the ball, but that's par for the course for me. I haven't heard much out of my classmates other than "yeah I don't know what to do after I graduate" and "uhh I'll get like a job or something". I don't personally know any of the crazy, obnoxiously motivated, constantly caffeinated types that have somehow managed a 4.0 GPA, millions of EC hours and are poised to become president of some successful company right out of the door, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere. It's actually kind of sad how the grand majority of my classmates don't have a clue what to do after graduation. (Some say they might go on to grad school, but that's definitely not everyone.) I can't say I'm confident in this year's graduates' success.
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Feb 10, 2012 17:19
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Grades don't matter if you have the right experience and personality. Don't waste your time and your parents' money. In your case it will be worth it to spend 100 bucks to get your resume perfected by DustingDuvet. Good luck and try to use less than 2 conjunctions per sentence while you are out job searching.
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Feb 10, 2012 17:57
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resident posted:Grades don't matter if you have the right experience and personality. Don't waste your time and your parents' money. In your case it will be worth it to spend 100 bucks to get your resume perfected by DustingDuvet. Good luck and try to use less than 2 conjunctions per sentence while you are out job searching. I'm very happy with DustingDuvet's resume service, that might be the best part of all of this. I've landed every interview I've had, too. Out of one, ever. 
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Feb 10, 2012 18:16
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Feb 10, 2012 22:06
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Around when should the absolute last date a third year engineering student could reasonably apply for internships? I live in Ontario and have been applying to pretty much every civil engineering related firm with little success. I still have a solid list that I have yet to contact and more I haven't followed up with yet but I'm getting pretty stressed out and worried it's already getting late. I only have one decent internship in my history from last summer and my GPA is far too low to give me much chance for companies with online applications.
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Feb 14, 2012 07:28
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Wilhelm posted:I still have a solid list that I have yet to contact and more I haven't followed up with yet but I'm getting pretty stressed out and worried it's already getting late. Shotgun blast of emails with your CV out to those you haven't contacted yet, and a nice follow up with those you have. Those retards in HR aren't gonna just hire you on their own you know. Depending on when your spring semester ends, you should probably know if you'll have an internship by April sometime at the latest.
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Feb 14, 2012 08:27
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Thoguh posted:There is a huge middle ground between these two extremes that the overwhelming majority of engineers fall into. I highly doubt that most of your classmates aren't out pounding the pavement for jobs or grad school. Something else you need to consider is contacts. Do you have any? Do you know anyone in the industry? This is where you're going to have the most success in finding job prospects. If you cold-call a company about entry level jobs, HR will probably just direct you to their web site, which will lead to an online application, which will end up in the online application black hole, from which no application is ever heard from again. But if you know somebody that works for a company, they can put in a good word for you, and they can make sure HR gets a good look at your application/resume. My advice is to make as many contacts as you can right now. Job fairs, industry seminars, conferences, anything you can attend that will have industry people present. Does your school have a biomedical engineering professional society student chapter? Those are great resources for industry contacts. Most schools have career fairs where you can meet industry people and even give them your resume. Do as much of this as you can RIGHT NOW. In the end, grades don't matter that much if you can find a contact that just likes you. Someone that will go to bat for you from inside the company will help you out way more than a high GPA.
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Feb 14, 2012 14:16
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You're stressing out in February? I had interviews as late as June - lots of places take their sweet time hiring interns. Contacts are by far the best way to get internships, and thinking back that's how most of the engineers I knew got work in school. You probably don't think you have any contacts, but you do. I got a job through an ex-girlfriend's aunt's common law husband who had never even met the girl. Ask your friends who've interned, ask family members, ask professors. Maybe your uncle's friend owns a company - who knows until you ask.
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Feb 15, 2012 01:59
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Contacts are very helpful for a lot of people, but all of my jobs have been through online postings, oddly enough. It's not impossible, just unlikely. I think an exceptional source of contacts is working with the alumni association of your school. Alumni of your school will be more familiar with your education and background, and, well, I know I'd always lean toward supporting a student at my alma mater. Also, GPA isn't the most important thing, but it isn't unimportant. I wish I was more focused on my schoolwork when I was at school. I ended up with a 2.8 or so. I'm a few years out so it isn't a killer, but it certainly didn't help at the time. That said, once you're out, you will find that being a good engineer has a hell of a lot more to do with work ethic and teamwork than calculus.
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Feb 15, 2012 02:11
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Feb 15, 2012 05:07
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Hey Engineering thread! I need some advice. I posted this in the non-traditional student thread and they thought it might be a better question here. I graduated in 2006 with a B.S. Physics (and a minor in astrophysics). My senior project was, unlike any of the other physics majors, with the Mechanical Engineering department, with grad students working on Hall-effect Ion Engines. I had realized near the end of my junior year that I wasn't really into physics research. I liked physics, which is why I finished the degree, but I didn't really want to keep doing it. What I really wanted to do was Aerospace Engineering and design spacecraft. So, I decided to go back into IT for a few years and pay off some debt, then head back to school. My plans have always been based off of a conversation I'd had with the engineering professor who's research I was mooching off of for my senior research project, and he'd told me that I should look at getting a master's degree. Here I am 6 years later, still working in software (I'm a QA lead at Amazon.com) and I want to go back to school. Not right now, but once I'm done with 4 years at Amazon (I'm at a little past the 2 1/2 mark right now). So, here's where my questions start: 1. What does it matter between getting another bachelor's degree or going for a master's degree (or even a PhD)? How will this affect salaries? 2. Will my 6 years of professional experience in software help sway either schools or future employers into accepting me? Will it help with future salaries? (I'm making 81k/yr right now, I realize that I'm probably going to be dropping down below that by jumping careers, but I'd like to know how much) 3. Was the engineering professor right when he said I really should be looking for a place where I can be a research assistant rather than just taking classes? This sounds way preferable to me anyway, but, at least from talking to UW's Aerospace & Aeronautical engineering people, it sounds like it might be impossible to pull off if I'm not planning to get a PhD. 4. Am I totally underestimating the difference between jumping from physics to engineering?
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Feb 17, 2012 00:14
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Looking for some advice here: I'm finishing up a BS in Finance and having serious regrets about not doing something in engineering, since it seems that everyone wants people with a "technical" degree. How can I make myself more "technical"? Can you go into some kind of post-undergrad engineering programs? What's a B-school graduate to do?
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Feb 17, 2012 00:59
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RustedChainsaw posted:Looking for some advice here: What kind of jobs are you applying for? What kind of technical skills are interviewers expecting you to have? It seems like you are looking for the wrong job if anybody is expecting you to have engineering knowledge. You don't have the right undergrad experience to go into an engineering masters program. All you can really do at this point is go back for a second BS in engineering.
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Feb 17, 2012 01:17
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Kenshin posted:1. What does it matter between getting another bachelor's degree or going for a master's degree (or even a PhD)? How will this affect salaries? I know several people with physics degrees that do engineering work without having an engineering degree. Apply, see how it goes. A masters fresh out of college might make 5-10% more than a BS, maybe. I've heard people say that getting a PhD in engineering cuts you off from most engineering jobs but it's not true. You do have to have your research in an area that people want though, this is true if you went on to a physics PhD as well. quote:2. Will my 6 years of professional experience in software help sway either schools or future employers into accepting me? Will it help with future salaries? (I'm making 81k/yr right now, I realize that I'm probably going to be dropping down below that by jumping careers, but I'd like to know how much) Yes, it will help to have work experience. It will help more if you want to do software but it still looks good that you can hold a tech job. You probably won't make 81k at an entry level engineering position but you can certainly make more than that eventually (within 5 years if you're any good). quote:3. Was the engineering professor right when he said I really should be looking for a place where I can be a research assistant rather than just taking classes? This sounds way preferable to me anyway, but, at least from talking to UW's Aerospace & Aeronautical engineering people, it sounds like it might be impossible to pull off if I'm not planning to get a PhD. Research assistant is fine, you get a stipend and get some experience and you can focus on school. Personally, I would get an entry level engineering position and then take courses (many engineering firms will pay part or all of your tuition). Honeywell, when I worked for them payed 90% of tuition, where I work now pays 100%. Also, are you sure Amazon won't pay some of your education? Why not stay there and keep your well paying job AND get your tuition payed for? quote:4. Am I totally underestimating the difference between jumping from physics to engineering? Working in aerospace is different than being an aerospace engineer though, you may want to go through an aerospace companies junior and senior job postings and see which ones want an 'aerospace' engineer and whether that's what you really want to do compared to other majors. My second hand experience of aerospace majors is that you can expect to do a lot of test engineering (I'm ECE).
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Feb 17, 2012 20:05
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Murgos posted:Research assistant is fine, you get a stipend and get some experience and you can focus on school. Personally, I would get an entry level engineering position and then take courses (many engineering firms will pay part or all of your tuition). Honeywell, when I worked for them payed 90% of tuition, where I work now pays 100%. Also, are you sure Amazon won't pay some of your education? Why not stay there and keep your well paying job AND get your tuition payed for? Amazon won't pay for any education at all that isn't related to the job. As my job is a Quality Assurance Engineer Lead, there is nothing that relates to that job that I want to study. Seeing as working specifically on software is exactly what I do not want to do, staying here isn't really an option. (I'm open to working on software that helps design/build things, but ultimately I want to design & build spacecraft. Yeah, I know I'm going to have to figure out a more specific focus such as engine design or something.) Very solid on DiffEq, Partial DiffEq, and LinA (though I might be a bit rusty on all of them, but nothing a few weeks of brushing up wouldn't cover). Good idea, I'm surprised I hadn't thought of this. After some of the advice I've seen, might it help a bit to spend a year or two getting a B.S. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, then find a job, then get them to pay for my Masters degree?
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Feb 17, 2012 20:22
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