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I disagree that they are all trivially easy and intuitive concepts to anyone. I also disagree that you can always make a manager out of an engineer. Yeah, okay, you can design a thing like nobody's business. But how much do you know about the inherent conflict of interests faced by AEs and how to deal with them? How much do you know about program management? If someone asks you why you picked A over B, how will you back it up if they don't have a degree in engineering? Just because it may be simple to understand and intuitive after the fact does not mean these are all things you can figure out on your own without potentially stumbling (and possibly hard). In my opinion, take the class. Maybe you won't use the CPM or PERT but just like your engineering degree where you may or may not apply the exact things you learned in class to your job, the point is to give you enough background information so that you can learn the things you need to without seeming like a bumbling idiot.
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Aug 15, 2013 21:20
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ov posted:So, how should I go about looking for a job abroad? Is it hopeless? I know I am better off getting some experience back home before applying but I would still like to know how to maximize my chances. Get experience with a company that does that kind of thing, then go abroad. You're not going to go abroad right out of college because young fresh college graduates carry risk. Something like not offending the local populace would seem obvious, but you never know... The exception to that might be working for the state department or the army, but generally they want experience.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:20
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OperaMouse posted:Take change management: quality of solution = quality of technical solution * acceptance rate. Exhibit A: A really crappy cost function designed by business majors who think that multiplying an ambiguous value by a projection to get another ambiguous value is a great way to compare apples and oranges. An engineer with a decent internship under her belt could write out an optimization problem (with actual decision variables instead of subjective nonsense) better than that one in her sleep.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:11
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Senor P. posted:Get experience with a company that does that kind of thing, then go abroad. You're not going to go abroad right out of college because young fresh college graduates carry risk. Yeah, you're right and thanks for the answer. I should get experience here first. I was just asking since the job market here is kind of slow for chemical engineers, well in Sweden atleast.
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Aug 16, 2013 15:20
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Corla Plankun posted:People always say this, but they never mention that they are also trivially easy and intuitive concepts to an engineer. Some people can book learn very well, some people need structured coursework. I fall in the former camp and I imagine so do you, but hard to market that when your competition for management jobs all have MBAs and you just have an engineering bachelors. grover fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 03:27
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ov posted:Yeah, you're right and thanks for the answer. I should get experience here first. I was just asking since the job market here is kind of slow for chemical engineers, well in Sweden atleast. Oh, I thought you were in the U.S. You might be able to, sign onto some oil exploration companies and it may be a possibility. **Edit Does anyone have any experience for working at one of the big oil companies? The pay looks tempting but given their size, I'm concerned about getting forgotten about. Senor P. fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 04:21
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Senor P. posted:Oh, I thought you were in the U.S. I work for a big oil company and from what I have experienced, it is really hard to be forgotten about unless you jump companies all the time and never network. I haven't really had much of a problem moving around inside the company trying to get to my main goal of working overseas, but like any job it is very much group to group and supervisor to supervisor. All of my bosses have been great and willing to help me with my careers, but I know of several bosses that are terrible to their employees and have a "serve your time" approach to new hires.
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Aug 18, 2013 10:16
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I've got a question: This fall I start studying at a senior technical college in my country. The course I am taking is called "Internationales Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen", translated it's something called something like "International Business Administration and Engineering". The curriculum includes the basics of electrical and mechanical engineering as well as economics. Since I'd like nothing more than to work internationally after finishing my BSc and my MSc, is there something comparable in the US or anywhere else? Right now I am working as a sort of mechanical engineer in an international company, but I don't like having my choices limited to just companies whose headquarters are in Austria and Germany.
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Aug 18, 2013 11:58
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Does anyone here work as a controls engineer? I don't have any experience in the industry unfortunately so I'd like to see if there's anything I could try to learn in the next three or four years while I'm working on my master's degree part-time.
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Aug 18, 2013 12:56
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extraordinary posted:I've got a question: This fall I start studying at a senior technical college in my country. The course I am taking is called "Internationales Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen", translated it's something called something like "International Business Administration and Engineering". The curriculum includes the basics of electrical and mechanical engineering as well as economics. Since I'd like nothing more than to work internationally after finishing my BSc and my MSc, is there something comparable in the US or anywhere else? In the US, there are some special MBA + engineering hybrid degrees that might be similar to your BSc + MSc. Do the course descriptions on this page sound like what you were studying? http://gordon-staging.tufts.edu/programs/m-s-in-engineering-management/course-descriptions timtastic fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Aug 18, 2013 |
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Aug 18, 2013 13:11
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timtastic posted:In the US, there are some special MBA + engineering hybrid degrees that might be similar to your degree BSc + MSc. Do the course descriptions on this page sound like what you were studying? Well, there are a few similarities, though nothing that'd make me go "Yes, that's exactly it." These are my course contents: BSc posted:Fundamental science MSc posted:Technical subjects I think it's best described as some kind of "allrounder engineer". I know, specialisation is everything nowadays, but I met quite a few customers of my company who said that they look for people with qualifications like these. Additionally, getting into that course is rather hard, there where about 4 applicants per place for it and most people get hired right away after finishing it, or so I heard. I mean, if worst comes to worst, I still could try going for another engineering field with that BSc, right?
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Aug 18, 2013 13:43
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That seems to me like a pretty solid list of qualifications for any engineer, but it all comes down to how that is communicated to people making the hiring decisions.
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Aug 18, 2013 15:25
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timtastic posted:Does anyone here work as a controls engineer? I don't have any experience in the industry unfortunately so I'd like to see if there's anything I could try to learn in the next three or four years while I'm working on my master's degree part-time. I am. Ladder logic/PLC programming is what I do with most of my time, so try to learn that if you can.
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Aug 18, 2013 17:49
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I've got an interview for an apprenticeship as a dairy maintenance engineer. There's going to be teambuilding exercises, tests, and a tour as well as the interview. It's going to be me against four others for this position - anyone got any experience with this kind of role, or any tips on how to make myself stand out? Experience-wise, all I've got is an HND in electrical engineering and two years working at an electronics store.
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Aug 27, 2013 13:57
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2013 14:15
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I'd say the emphasis in the brochure seems to be on maintenance and repair than creating.
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Aug 27, 2013 14:47
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Question for the mech engineers in here, or any other discipline if you want to chip in: how much of the math that you learnt getting your degree do you find yourself using on a regular basis for your job? I started my college course this week and naturally it's very math-intensive, and I can't help but picture myself in 5 years time sitting in a cubicle spending all day solving equations and poo poo. This isn't a post saying 'I hate math', just genuinely curious as to what I could expect in the real world.
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Sep 5, 2013 22:28
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Frankston posted:Question for the mech engineers in here, or any other discipline if you want to chip in: how much of the math that you learnt getting your degree do you find yourself using on a regular basis for your job? I started my college course this week and naturally it's very math-intensive, and I can't help but picture myself in 5 years time sitting in a cubicle spending all day solving equations and poo poo. The reality is that it's far too risky to let engineers solve advanced calculus by hand, as well as being completely unnecessary since working engineers all have computers. Every equation we use on a regular basis has been long since solved and reduced to plug 'n chug algebra, and everything more complicated that that is done by computers. On the rare occasion something came up that was best solved by hand, we'd find an intern or recent grad and let them do it because nobody else remembered how. It's actually one of my biggest gripes in the disconnect between academia and the real world- it's pointless to teach that poo poo; they should have been teaching us how to use mathematica instead. Now, YMMV as there are myriads of types of engineering jobs out there, and some are very math-heavy, but very few I've seen use any advanced math at all. grover fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 22:51
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Frankston posted:Question for the mech engineers in here, or any other discipline if you want to chip in: how much of the math that you learnt getting your degree do you find yourself using on a regular basis for your job? I started my college course this week and naturally it's very math-intensive, and I can't help but picture myself in 5 years time sitting in a cubicle spending all day solving equations and poo poo. I'm going to slightly disagree with grover - as a mechanical engineer I generally don't have to use calculus level math, although I do use algebra often enough to consider that a vital skill. That said, I think it IS important to be able to identify when calculus could be helpful, and how it may fit into a larger solution, even if the ability to hammer it out isn't as useful. Honestly, in some ways I wish I had a course that specialized in more advanced applications of high school level algebra, trigonometry, and geometry - those are kind of the bread and butter of a lot of what I do (which is some sort of weirdo blend of mechanical design, manufacturing, and process optimization). EDIT: Also a somewhat important caveat is that if you work for a small company, you have a very high likelihood of ending up as the math guy - usually this isn't problematic, but if solving equations is particularly frustrating, you may end up spending an extra hour or two a week assisting someone else.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:02
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CCKeane posted:I'm going to slightly disagree with grover - as a mechanical engineer I generally don't have to use calculus level math, although I do use algebra often enough to consider that a vital skill. That said, I think it IS important to be able to identify when calculus could be helpful, and how it may fit into a larger solution, even if the ability to hammer it out isn't as useful.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:12
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grover posted:That's pretty much what I said. Having knowledge of the higher level calculus is extremely important to understanding a lot of different engineering concepts, but actually solving it by hand... not so much. Ah, I thought you were downplaying the importance of understanding the concepts, I misunderstood.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:15
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Frankston posted:Question for the mech engineers in here, or any other discipline if you want to chip in: how much of the math that you learnt getting your degree do you find yourself using on a regular basis for your job? I started my college course this week and naturally it's very math-intensive, and I can't help but picture myself in 5 years time sitting in a cubicle spending all day solving equations and poo poo. As a civil, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is really all you need. All the equations you learn in class are important so you understand what the programs are doing and if you are getting real answers. There are plenty of times where I do a quick moment check by hand but only on simple things. You can't do real finite element analysis by hand anyways. Oh yeah just be sure to remember everything you haven't done for the PE exam 5 years from now.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:45
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Its funny that you spend all those years solving things analytically, then you get into upper class/grad school/industry and having to solve actual problems you suddenly need to learn a completely different style of math that fits better in a computational environment. Week to week I do more linear algebra and inversion techniques more than anything else.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:42
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Definitely agree that understanding it is more important than knowing how to do it on demand. Last time I needed calculus, I took my data sample, put it into excel, multiplied each sample by the sample time interval, and summed the area under the curve that way. I used it to calculate the volume of air moved by a pump that ran a short burst, which included startup and wind-down due to the inertia of the pump motor. Very basic calculus, but calculus nonetheless, and done manually. Also understanding things like the moment of inertia and beam equations is important, even though you'll never do the math on it again. You'll use your solid modeling software to do all the math on that poo poo, but knowing that deflection is a third or fourth power function of section height/thickness informs your judgement - making things just a little bit larger can have a large payoff in stiffness. Things like that.
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Sep 6, 2013 22:26
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I am very serious entertaining the idea of going back to school and getting my BSME or BSEE. But... I'm 40. I have a mortgage, kid in private school, wife works. Other than the kiddo's private school, we live pretty cheaply all things considering. This coming spring, I'm going to enroll in one of the community colleges and re-take algebra and pre-cal just as a refresher. I could probably skip the algebra and pre-cal courses, but it's relatively cheap, can be done online, and I feel like I would greatly benefit from it since it has been 21 years since I took them in college (never mind high school). There's no way around working and going to school full time. On the plus side, I'm extremely mechanically inclined, drat good with numbers, and very self motivated. Additionally, there's the very outside possibility of tuition reimbursement from the company I work for. If I have to pay for it out of pocket, money will be extremely tight and realistically I am looking at student loans for about half of it. It wouldn't be so bad if my 6 year old wasn't in private, but public school isn't an option as they are beyond terrible here. I would prefer to go aerospace / aeronautical engineering, but there's no schools in my area that offer it. Crazy? Stupid? Possible?
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Sep 8, 2013 00:08
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Tide posted:I am very serious entertaining the idea of going back to school and getting my BSME or BSEE. My dad went back to undergrad EE when he was around 40 (he already had a grad degree in some impractical biological science, so he requested to start from scratch). He had a productive 25-30 years before retiring, so don't think your time is running out. But are you pursuing this for purely financial purposes? I'd say median for a freshly graduated engineer starts around the mid 50s low 60s. If thats a pay cut from your current position, how many years would it take to recoup? CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 00:16
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Not purely from a financial point, but it is a motivating factor. It would be a small reduction in pay, but the flip side being quality of life and doing something I really want to do. I am salaried plus overtime (with a completely free vehicle (including gas, insurance, repairs) and pretty damned good benefit package). The company I work for now has it's own engineering divisions that I could transition to which would be a considerable step up in pay even though I would basically be completely green. These engineering divisions are why there's a possibility the company may cover my tuition.
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Sep 8, 2013 00:39
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Tide posted:I would prefer to go aerospace / aeronautical engineering, but there's no schools in my area that offer it. Aerospace is cool and all, but the job market is very tight; you'd be better able to market yourself with an ME degree and electives in fluid dynamics and other aero-type classes. You might also want to look into online evening classes at schools outside your geographic area. I don't mean bullshit for-profit schools like Strayer or Excelsior (steer clear of those!), but a lot of actual real brick & mortar state schools are offering distance learning. I haven't seen many undergraduate courses offered via distance learning, but I'd be surprised if there weren't a few good schools out there. I'm not sure what your background is, but if you're a technician and have been working closely with engineers and doing engineering-type work, you may be eligible to sit for the PE exam, which would make you an "engineer" even without the degree. grover fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 00:39
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Great advice, guys, thank you for the help. The alg and precal classes I was planning on taking are this spring and summer. My target for going back to school is Fall 2014. So, I have plenty of time. Some of the courses for my curriculum will be at the local community college (online and in class if necessary). Anything I can do online, I will. I have searched high and low for universities that offer distance/online for BSME, but nobody does it except one that seemed kinda sketchy. There are a couple BSEE online programs (Arizona State University is one). Also, the distance/online classes are inherently much more expensive for reasons I don't understand. Unfortunately, not a tech (I'm basically logistics and tell the our techs and engineers where to go). For PE, do you mean Process Engineer? Tide fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 00:55
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Tide posted:Unfortunately, not a tech (I'm basically logistics and tell the our techs and engineers where to go). For PE, do you mean Process Engineer? PE is important in some fields (civil mostly) and completely unimportant in others, like manufacturing. I have a few technician colleagues I keep encouraging to sit for the PE exam so they can legally quality as engineers and get the promotions they deserve. I mentioned it for you, because you may be able to take less than a full bachelors worth of courses, but become an engineer through the PE route. If what you do can't be considered engineering even in the loosest "lol, industrial engineer" sense, then eh. grover fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 01:08
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As an Aero I've never heard of the term Professional Engineer before. I did get a cool ring that I lost when I graduated. Also, stay away from Aero if you ever want to get a job. Gorman Thomas fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 01:24
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^^that is crazy that you never even heard of it. Most states have stopped allowing people to sit for the PE without the four year degree. But you could possibly sit for both exams back to back after you graduate. Also you will never get reciprocity from other states that require a degree if you don't have it.
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Sep 8, 2013 03:37
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I am looking into getting my Associates Degree in Engineering from one of the local community colleges that's actually pretty highly regarded, then spring boarding that into a BSME/EE. But that's dependent on my meeting with admissions at the local 4 year and how many classes from my Business degree will transfer.
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Sep 8, 2013 04:02
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Sep 8, 2013 04:12
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The NSPE is lobbying to have the ability for non-engineering degreed people to sit for the FE to be removed.
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Sep 8, 2013 04:18
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KetTarma posted:The NSPE is lobbying to have the ability for non-engineering degreed people to sit for the FE to be removed. I've heard there's also a lobby to try to get it restricted to just engineers with masters degrees, too. Personally, I think it's a knee-jerk reaction of the old fogeys who think there are too many PEs now and want it to be more restricted to increase the value of their own licenses. grover fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Sep 9, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 16:01
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Is the PE a thing mostly for Civil or ME? I've never seen it for any job listing I checked out, I don't know anyone who has it where I work now, and none of my friends in Engineering that I know of sat for it.
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Sep 8, 2013 16:04
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Uncle Jam posted:Is the PE a thing mostly for Civil or ME? I've never seen it for any job listing I checked out, I don't know anyone who has it where I work now, and none of my friends in Engineering that I know of sat for it. In my last job, nobody had PE. In my new job, virtually everyone does.
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Sep 8, 2013 16:07
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I'm a junior in high school and I would like to know what does it take to be a civil engineer?
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Sep 8, 2013 17:09
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On the subject of P.E. licenses I don't think it is fair to discrimate those who have not gone to college. People coming from craft backgrounds have been able to get their P.E's ahead of time. My old boss managed to get his P.E. before going and getting his degree. Also I really don't think graduate school should count an additional 2 years out of the necessary 4 to a P.E. license. (Graduate research and work are not the same.) Metapod posted:I'm a junior in high school and I would like to know what does it take to be a civil engineer? The ability to move dirt, survey, and perform basic maths. They do stuff with concrete, grout, structual steel, and other steel shapes. I imagine there's is similar to other 4 year engineering degrees, they will do 2 years of math, 1-2 years of chemistry, 2 years of physics, etc...
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Sep 8, 2013 18:58
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