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spwrozek posted:I think that speaks more poorly of the schools career services than anything else. Yeah I guess it's the school's fault that the other ~50-60 companies at the engineering fair weren't hiring. (I don't expect you to believe me because you really had to be there to see it. It sounds absurd but it was true) When I graduated from USC in 2009, exactly two of my friends had a job. One got his job through one of his dad's friends who was a higher-up at a defense contractor, and the other guy had a near 4.0 and was picked up by lockheed. The rest (majority) went to grad/law school (me included), picked up part time/dead end jobs. I know one guy who had a dual engineering degree and he's still unemployed. I believe he does valet. mitztronic fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Oct 29, 2013 |
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Oct 29, 2013 00:34
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mitztronic posted:Yeah I guess it's the school's fault that the other ~50-60 companies at the engineering fair weren't hiring. (I don't expect you to believe me because you really had to be there to see it. It sounds absurd but it was true) I remember the same thing. I had a coop that was going on right at the start of the crash in 2008 and they laid everybody off at the end of the semester. The next semester I went to the career fair and only one company was hiring. I got an interview with another company who brought me back for two interviews before saying they wanted to hire me but couldn't afford any coops. I ended up just doing classes for a couple semesters before doing another internship. 2008/2009 sucked really bad. Also, what is it with recruiters not being able to enunciate when leaving a voicemail? I keep having to google their phone number and mumbled first name to find their Linkedin page to know who the hell is calling me.
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Oct 29, 2013 01:19
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That's weird, we didn't have the same problem at UCLA  We sort of did
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Oct 29, 2013 01:31
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I wasn't trying to be a dick about it, I just didn't see that happen in michigan. I recruited at msu, uofm and tech and it still seemed pretty good (considering) in 08-10. Was tech's career fair smaller, sure (in 06 you had 350+ companies, 09 it was around 150). But talking to everyone there a lot were hiring, we hired 3 interns in an office of 40 all three years. But anyways this really wasn't meant to be a pissing match so sorry about that. It got really lovely out there for a ton of people and is still pretty bad honestly.
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Oct 29, 2013 01:56
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mitztronic posted:When I graduated from USC in 2009, the career fair had only one company hiring (Intel), and they were only "hiring" unpaid interns (and only grad students). So, the kind of engineer that doesn't get any other choices? I went to a not-very-good state school for engineering 2009-2012 and I had way more opportunity than that. I think this might say more about California than anything.
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Oct 29, 2013 04:09
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I am studying ChemE in a southern California cal state and last week one of my classes had a tour of an oil refinery that hires on interns for summers. The tour guide, who was a ChemE, said that they paid the interns a salary of 60k/yr for the summer. It sounds like a lot but I don't know and am maybe a year away from the classes that they require. I also talked to some seniors and that group had summer research experience but no internships. But I have also heard from other seniors that there were a lot of opportunities as the career fairs.
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Oct 29, 2013 06:18
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:I am studying ChemE in a southern California cal state and last week one of my classes had a tour of an oil refinery that hires on interns for summers. The tour guide, who was a ChemE, said that they paid the interns a salary of 60k/yr for the summer. It sounds like a lot but I don't know and am maybe a year away from the classes that they require. I also talked to some seniors and that group had summer research experience but no internships. But I have also heard from other seniors that there were a lot of opportunities as the career fairs. It sounds like a lot because it is. I went to a school that oil and gas recruits from like crazy and I can confirm that the kids who interned at oil companies were rolling in the dough.
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Oct 29, 2013 08:23
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:I am studying ChemE in a southern California cal state and last week one of my classes had a tour of an oil refinery that hires on interns for summers. The tour guide, who was a ChemE, said that they paid the interns a salary of 60k/yr for the summer. It sounds like a lot but I don't know and am maybe a year away from the classes that they require. I also talked to some seniors and that group had summer research experience but no internships. But I have also heard from other seniors that there were a lot of opportunities as the career fairs. Sounds about right. 25/hr is what you should aim for as an intern. Cali cost of living + oil industry bump = 60k sounds totally reasonable.
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Oct 29, 2013 11:45
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Sounds high but it is California. I made $19 and $20 at my 2 internships. Most of my friends made around $14-16.
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Oct 29, 2013 18:03
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Oil money is great, I knew people who made that. The problem is that sometimes you end up working in the rear end end of nowhere so take that into account.
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Oct 30, 2013 02:32
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I've worked at several companies in California and all of them paid interns between $15 and $20 an hour.
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Oct 30, 2013 06:11
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I made $22/hr with free housing at my Garmin summer 2008 internship in Kansas and assumed things had only gone up since then. I guess that could be because they typically get some useful productivity out of their interns.
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Oct 30, 2013 18:51
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I used to feel really good about my $15/hr internships... But then again, that was Denton, TX and 30k a year there is like 50k anywhere civilized.
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Oct 31, 2013 04:00
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I'm currently working at a DOE site interning at 29 an hr. Govt is the way to go.
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Nov 1, 2013 03:23
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OK, I am a potential career changer here. My UG degree is in education (more specifically special ed). I am completely burned out on special ed and I feel like my brain is going to waste. I have dabbled in teaching math, which I love, and I really have a strong math brain. So, I am thinking about getting a second bachelors in either EE or Aerospace Engineering. I know I would be a lot happier solving problems all day, and helping create things and only working with other adults, than I am right now (trying to teach kids who don't give two shits about how to solve problems while being disrespected from everyone above me and the kids below me--but that's a story for another thread). Me and my husband are moving to Orlando in 2014, so I wanted to do one of the programs at UCF. My uncle is an EE and lives near Cape Canaveral. I was talking to him and said Northrop Grumman is going to be adding 600 jobs out there in the near future. He also said that paid co-ops are making a comeback now and that the contractors are pretty strongly represented at the UCF job fairs. He has tons of contacts, which always helps when it comes to networking. However, I didn't have to take a lot of math for my first UG degree so I was thinking about resigning from my current job and taking some math at the community college before we head to Florida. I definitely need pre-calc and probably college algebra as a refresher. I also wanted to take a physics class, just because I haven't done any physics stuff since high school. But I really don't want to go into an engineering major cold, when I haven't done math beyond trig in 10 years. I don't doubt that I can do the math, but I would feel better rebuilding some foundations, you know? I really need pre-calc since I didn't take that in high school--and even if I had, I wouldn't remember it now. Since I already have a bachelor's degree completed I'm hoping I won't have to do any gen eds or electives. I could just do straight major classes and be in and out the door in like 2 1/2 years. I'm estimating that much in case there's some credits that don't transfer neatly, or if I lose a semester to taking Calculus before I dive into classes for my major, etc.
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Nov 5, 2013 03:11
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Just glancing over your potential course listings... Looks like you're going to have to take a year and a half of university level physics (lib-arts physics wont be accepted), calc1-3, diffeq, and one semester of chemistry. I would take all of the aforementioned classes at your local community college if possible as it will save you a ton of money. Check to make sure the chemistry will transfer since it might be a mashup of chemistry topics instead of "Inorganic Chemistry 101."
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Nov 5, 2013 03:28
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:OK, I am a potential career changer here. My UG degree is in education (more specifically special ed). I am completely burned out on special ed and I feel like my brain is going to waste. I have dabbled in teaching math, which I love, and I really have a strong math brain. So, I am thinking about getting a second bachelors in either EE or Aerospace Engineering. I know I would be a lot happier solving problems all day, and helping create things and only working with other adults, than I am right now (trying to teach kids who don't give two shits about how to solve problems while being disrespected from everyone above me and the kids below me--but that's a story for another thread). Maybe it's just me, but I don't see a single thing in your post that indicates you actually want to do engineering. You want to quit your job. You don't want to work with kids (don't blame you). You think you're good at math and want to be challenged. Great...but you never said why you would choose engineering. Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:Me and my husband are moving to Orlando in 2014, so I wanted to do one of the programs at UCF. My uncle is an EE and lives near Cape Canaveral. I was talking to him and said Northrop Grumman is going to be adding 600 jobs out there in the near future. He also said that paid co-ops are making a comeback now and that the contractors are pretty strongly represented at the UCF job fairs. He has tons of contacts, which always helps when it comes to networking. I'm not in that field or location, but this sounds suspicious to me. Absent another war, I think the defense contractors are going to be hurting in the next few years. The defense budget is currently inflated from two wars that are winding down, and that spending is politically unpopular. Even if it's good now, will it still be good at the time you're on the market? It sounds like you're unhappy in your current job and are buying into the current view that STEM is the land of plentiful jobs and riches. Without actual interest in something, I doubt you'd make it through the curriculum. I'm not saying you can't, but you didn't make a very convincing argument here.
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Nov 5, 2013 04:48
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Speaking as someone that's dabbled in defense: It is very hard to get in the door for defense without a security clearance. I have a secret clearance and that helps me some. If a company wants top secret, they rarely will hire someone to sit around for however many months and however many tens of thousands of dollars it takes to get them that clearance. I dont even bother looking at jobs that require TS/SCI because I know they'd rather train someone with the clearance than pay to get me cleared. It's actually cheaper to do it that way, believe it or not. On the "why be an engineer" front: It's definitely something that's more of a lifestyle while in school rather than a thing to study. Wake up, go to classes, finish classes and do homework, go to TA/SI sessions, come home, do more homework, study, eat, then maybe relax in the evening by working on your hobby electronics project. That's my life right now, haha. Even on days where I only have one class I usually spend 6 hours at school just trying to stay caught up on everything. You have to really enjoy what you're studying or else you won't get through. vvvvv - Almost every EE course Im taking is a math class. Circuit analysis is all math. Digital logic? Pretty good bit of math. Physics? Nothing but high end calculus. Next semester for me? Differential equations, assembly programming (binary math!), circuit analysis with fourier/laplace transforms (calculus++), and a computer architecture class (maybe no math!) KetTarma fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 5, 2013 12:51
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I would test out the water with the math courses you need at a community college to see how you stomach it first. You really just need to be able to pick up different applied mathematics concepts easily and use them as tools in other classes. If you try to take a course load without even pre calc... Enjoy coming home to sleep in your bed only a few nights per week.
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Nov 5, 2013 15:24
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Thanks for all the honest feedback! I definitely will not enroll in the major without precalc first. In my first undergrad degree I took stats and some weird math for teachers class, and that's it. I also have some graduate hours in math but it was also more the "teaching math" side of it, rather than pure math, even though the grad courses had a MATH prefix. Not sure if that makes sense? So starting in January I am going to do college algebra at the community college, and then hopefully pre-calc in the summer term. When I looked at the UCF catalog, the common engineer core required Calculus w/Analytical Geometry, which I'm guessing is slightly different than regular calculus. I'm thinking I want to do regular Calc I and II before jumping in as well though, just to make sure I can apply calculus in the specialty classes. The catalog also listed "Chemistry for Engineers" as a course, so I may take regular chemistry too just so that I have some base knowledge. I did take a chemistry in college, but I don't remember much. I'm fine with taking as long as I need to with other courses before I actually enroll in engineering courses. I'd rather do that, and be confident when I start them, then be in way over my head. I have taught high school Algebra I and II, as well as this course called "special topics" which was a mashup of pre-calc, honors-level geometry, and functions/modeling. I just don't have the coursework to back up all that, because I got licensed by passing a Praxis test. Hooray for NC and their extremely low requirements for teachers!  As for reasons for being an engineer--no, I'm not buying into the big money STEM myths. I just want to do something more with my math brain than I am now. I'm not really interested in business finance or accounting, so those are out. I am not really interested in just going for pure math either. I just really like tinkering with things, solving problems, working in teams, etc. I am always wondering how things work and trying to figure stuff out like that for fun. So it just seems to make sense to me. Edit: I forgot to talk about defense contractors--I definitely don't plan on limiting employment options to defense corporations. I was merely restating what my uncle told me about Northrop adding some jobs. I don't have a clearance, so that would exclude me from some options anyway unless they were willing to process one for me. Hip Hoptimus Prime fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 5, 2013 22:07
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:When I looked at the UCF catalog, the common engineer core required Calculus w/Analytical Geometry, which I'm guessing is slightly different than regular calculus. I'm thinking I want to do regular Calc I and II before jumping in as well though, just to make sure I can apply calculus in the specialty classes. The catalog also listed "Chemistry for Engineers" as a course, so I may take regular chemistry too just so that I have some base knowledge. Calculus with analytic geometry means "theoretical calculus" as opposed to "applied/business/technical" calculus. You want the theoretical calculus which is what engineers and scientists use. The more math you have under your belt, the easier your engineering classes will be. My physics 1 class required only co-enrollment in calc 1 but definitely used multivariable calculus with some differential equations stuff. The professor explained it of course but it was a lot easier having already taken all of my calculus classes. I'm in my sophomore circuit analysis class and the professor regularly uses differential equations to explain concepts even though no one has taken that yet. It's definitely not required; however, math is the language of engineering. The more comfortable you are, the easier it will be.
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Nov 5, 2013 22:15
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I feel like I usually have an opposite take, but I actually think studying other topics greatly improved my understanding of mathematical concepts. I know much of calculus clicked for me when I was working on thermo and saw its practical applications. It can swing both ways, I think. Although, admittedly, I am very, very much a practical learner and don't really understand anything until I break it a few times. Made me a terrible babysitter.
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Nov 6, 2013 02:52
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Nov 6, 2013 03:09
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CCKeane posted:I feel like I usually have an opposite take, but I actually think studying other topics greatly improved my understanding of mathematical concepts. I know much of calculus clicked for me when I was working on thermo and saw its practical applications. It can swing both ways, I think. Although, admittedly, I am very, very much a practical learner and don't really understand anything until I break it a few times. Made me a terrible babysitter. While I don't disagree with this, if you are trying to push through the degree program in 2.5 years, the math of the engineering classes will get ahead of what you are learning in math class really quickly, especially if you are starting in pre-calc. I came from a poo poo high school that had a mess of a math program, I basically gen ed'd plus math classes my first two years in college. I was up in calc 3 by the time I started in serious engineering classes and still felt behind mathematically. It wasn't like I was a slouch either, I was top in high school and was qualifying in math events then but preparation is everything.
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Nov 6, 2013 03:19
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Thoguh posted:Can't totally agree with that. I work for a defense contractor and not even a third of our workforce has a clearance, and other than crypto or GPS stuff very few guys have top secret. Even if you deal with classified stuff on a daily basis it is pretty easy for companies to compartmentalize it, and they have a financial incentive to do so. Being a US citizen is far more of a big deal than having a clearance. I guess my experience is a bit different since most defense contractors in my area are all related to crypto/satellite stuff/CYBERWARFIGHTERhooyah. Almost everything at SPAWAR seems to require secret if not TS/SCI.
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Nov 6, 2013 03:45
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KetTarma posted:I guess my experience is a bit different since most defense contractors in my area are all related to crypto/satellite stuff/CYBERWARFIGHTERhooyah. Almost everything at SPAWAR seems to require secret if not TS/SCI.
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Nov 6, 2013 03:49
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but then you'd have to be furloughed every year 
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Nov 6, 2013 03:53
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Thoguh posted:Can't totally agree with that. I work for a defense contractor and not even a third of our workforce has a clearance, and other than crypto or GPS stuff very few guys have top secret. Even if you deal with classified stuff on a daily basis it is pretty easy for companies to compartmentalize it, and they have a financial incentive to do so. Being a US citizen is far more of a big deal than having a clearance. This is my experience as well, most engineers do not have a clearance and very few hold TS (Mechanical/Aerospace). No citizenship is a dealbreaker most of the time though unless you are an amazing candidate.
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Nov 6, 2013 16:13
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:I'm burned out teaching special ed. Do you want to stop teaching entirely, or just shift your focus? Teaching special ed can feel more like running a daycare than a classroom. If you just want to move to a mainstream classroom just take whatever math courses would be required for you to do that, and get the full bachelors only if it increases your pay grade. This obviously doesn't apply if you want out of public education entirely.
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Nov 6, 2013 17:57
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I'm not really sure how to phrase this, but here goes. Where I am (Alberta, Canada) most engineers go down the EIT->PEng->Project Manager track, and I recently discovered I probably don't want to go down that path. It might be different/better in something other than an oil and gas sector EPC job working under a PEng that really doesn't know how to mentor. I was wondering, what kind of areas should I start looking at? I'm not expecting exact companies or anything, but just an idea of what search terms I should start using. I'm an EE and I like the electronics side of things much more, but I also like managing information as well as my time spend evaluating bids. So what areas would that be? Electronics manufacturing/design, Information Management, or Procurement/Logistics? I'm sick of the attitudes in the oil/gas industry.
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Nov 6, 2013 20:33
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Blorange posted:Do you want to stop teaching entirely, or just shift your focus? Teaching special ed can feel more like running a daycare than a classroom. If you just want to move to a mainstream classroom just take whatever math courses would be required for you to do that, and get the full bachelors only if it increases your pay grade. This obviously doesn't apply if you want out of public education entirely. I tried that. I interviewed for regular ed jobs over the summer, and the principals would just call me back and say, "Hey, we went in another direction with that math job, but here's a special ed job offer!" It was depressing because I do have a math certification.  I'm also in NC, so I've been stuck on entry level pay for what seems like an eternity now (6th year without a raise, unless you count the 1.2% we got where they also increased health insurance by more than that so it was actually a pay cut). We plan to move, but I still think I'm just ready to move on.
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Nov 6, 2013 22:22
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:I tried that. I interviewed for regular ed jobs over the summer, and the principals would just call me back and say, "Hey, we went in another direction with that math job, but here's a special ed job offer!" It was depressing because I do have a math certification. Oh, NC, the state with the lowest teacher pay in all 50 states plus DC? That may be a big chunk of the problem... much as I love NC, it is a poo poo state to teach in these days.
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Nov 6, 2013 22:29
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A company accepted my job application and sent me an email a day later telling me to take an online, 1-hour screening that included the Wonderlic Test along with verbal and mechanical comprehension tests. Anyone seen or used anything similar? Results?
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Nov 7, 2013 20:37
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Wandering Orange posted:A company accepted my job application and sent me an email a day later telling me to take an online, 1-hour screening that included the Wonderlic Test along with verbal and mechanical comprehension tests. Anyone seen or used anything similar? Results? I worked for a company years ago where the Wonderlic was used as part of the hiring process. As long as you aren't as dumb as a box of hair and/or psychotic you've got nothing to worry about.
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Nov 7, 2013 22:17
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The Wonderlic is fun for comparing your score to NFL players.
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Nov 8, 2013 00:05
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Hey everyone. So, is anyone actually hiring these days, or is everything still the same poo poo when I graduated 5 years ago? Just curious as I managed to once again not make it through the first 'pre-interview' stage for a Sales Engineer position with the requirements of 'a pulse', 'an engineering degree' and 'understands high-school level physics'. This AE degree sure is proving super wonderful for learning how to sell flooring at a big box home improvement store.
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Nov 18, 2013 16:00
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Nov 18, 2013 16:13
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Thoguh posted:I'm assuming by AE you mean Aerospace rather that Ag. The Defense industry still isn't doing very well in the US but the commercial Aerospace industry is doing a fair bit of hiring. Yeah, aerospace. If I had Ag, I probably would've stayed out in NoDak. And maybe might actually have a salaried job.
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Nov 18, 2013 16:18
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Do you have relevant work experience during that five years? You need to make yourself a better candidate than people who are newly graduating, especially if you're competing for entry level positions.
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Nov 18, 2013 18:34
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antiga posted:Do you have relevant work experience during that five years? You need to make yourself a better candidate than people who are newly graduating, especially if you're competing for entry level positions. Pretty much no relevant work experience, though not for any lack of trying. I understand about making myself the better choice over the other guy. Apparently something that I haven't been able to pull off, I guess. Ah, well, I'll just get back to the job search. Maybe I'll have better luck in the next 5 years, who knows.
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Nov 18, 2013 18:59
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