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ee best e what other field lets you control the very fundamental particles of nature?
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Jan 15, 2014 00:40
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KetTarma posted:ee best e Nuclear engineering 
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Jan 15, 2014 00:48
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:Thanks everyone. I've been leaning toward EE, as you know, but I also started looking at MatE because of the manufacturing applications. I'm in a chemistry class this semester, so I'll see how I do with that and go from there. It'll be a couple semesters before I actually start on engineering core since I'm just doing some prereq/refresher stuff, so I have time to decide. I switched from Mech Engineering to Electrical because I'm not very good at chemistry or thermodynamics, but pretty good at calculus*/math in general and low level coding. But with every type you have to consider where the "what am I okay/good at or like?" with the "what will someone pay me to do?" in you location. * I had to teach myself vector calculus for two/three courses, and a lot of mid level pure math stuff because my school decided that Electrical/Computer/Software Engineer didn't need any math courses???
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Jan 15, 2014 00:59
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Thoguh posted:What are you thinking about doing for the PhD? I've got my Masters in Systems and would love to take some more classes to get more into the theory behind it. But I have no idea what I'd do for research and a dissertation. My PhD program has an acceptance rate of about 10% (which I assume is on the easy side for PhD programs? I really have no idea), but my adviser seems pretty confident I'll be accepted. The biggest thing is that I'm not looking research funding. Movax: I picked my concentration by brainstorming a list of topics that interested me that I thought might make good thesis material, and that tied back into my job so I could justify spending time (and resources) at work on it. I sat on it for a couple months, but every time I had an idea, I'd jot it down. I ended up with about 20 ideas, narrowed it down to 3, and sought out a professor at my school whose research interests aligned with those topics. All worked out rather well. grover fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 01:10
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movax posted:Looking to hear some experiences from people who have worked on getting their masters while working full-time. Amount of effort, how long does it take, does your work-life balance become essentially non-existent, how do you pick 'concentrations', etc. I did it. The workload was awful. I wasn't engaged in my classes because after work I wanted to eat dinner and relax, not sit in a classroom. It didn't help my career at all and I wish I hadn't wasted two years of my early twenties doing that. If you want to totally change fields I suppose it might be helpful but I would quit work and do it in a year instead.
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Jan 15, 2014 01:45
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:Can someone tell me the pros and cons of a materials engineering degree? pro: be in the top 20 of your graduating class, because there probably aren't more. con: you'll never be as tough as metallurgist, sweat glistening over the molten slag of a steel foundry last I heard (and it was many years ago) the process/microelectronics fab type jobs are now overseas.... Noctone posted:Thanks for telling us things we already knew and that have already been explained as not applicable to this situation. I did end it with "e; fb". Engineers and their poor communication skills! CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 02:24
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Does anybody have advice for someone who wants to take the EIT exam outside of school? I graduated about a year and a half ago, and recently switched jobs to one that will put me on the path to a PE. Obviously, that'll come a lot faster if I pass the EIT, but being out of school for a while, my math/physics aptitude has dropped off a little. I graduated with a BSEE, so I'd be taking the Electrical and Computer CBT exam (second lowest first-time pass rate, whoo!). What are some good resources for playing catch up? As a kind of corollary to that, is there any way I should prepare over the next few years for taking the PE that will make it easier? I've been slowly plodding my way through the NEC, but I feel like there's more to it than that.
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Jan 15, 2014 15:01
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I graduated last May and I'm preparing to take the FE in early February. Everything I've read says that the most important things are to know the FE handbook really well (free download from NCEES) and know all the functions of your calculator, so that you're not wasting time and brainpower. My impression is that the exam is a lot easier than it's made out to be and the length of it is the worst part.
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Jan 15, 2014 15:38
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Spend a few days studying stuff you never studied in college. I'm a nuke engineer, and I had a ton of specialized courses tailored toward nuclear/radiation and almost nothing toward mechanical or electrical engineering (beyond the 101 stuff). I had to teach myself a lot of stuff (like impacts, bending, etc) very quickly during the exam itself.
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Jan 15, 2014 16:22
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:... I am starting Monday at the community college taking college algebra and a refresher chemistry class (not general chemistry, it's this survey of chemistry class I wanted to take prior to general chem because it's been 12 years since I took high school chemistry). I'm also taking Spanish for fun. This summer I will do pre-calc and hopefully in the fall Calc I and General Chem I ...I'm hoping I can do them here because our community college is only $80 per credit hour. Pro-tip: Go to the college you plan to attend for an EE and grab the course grid for your major. Find out your target school's EE department's credit transfer policy. You will notice that the first 1.5-2 years are horseshit low level classes which engineering schools love to use as "weed out" courses. These courses, because you have so many aspiring young folks, are usually held in lecture halls with 100+ people.There is nothing shittier than a lecture hall class with a professor that checked out 10 years ago. At community colleges you can probably complete all the math up to differential equations, all the chemistry, and all the physics you're going to need for your engineering degree for a fraction of the cost and most likely, with a smaller class size and attentive professors you can actually talk to. You sound like a grown-rear end person with goals and poo poo, so you won't miss the "full" college experience which is made up of grab-assing, fart smelling, and for engineering, shoe-gazing. Don't let any plebs poo poo on community college.
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Jan 15, 2014 17:03
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osker posted:Pro-tip: Go to the college you plan to attend for an EE and grab the course grid for your major. Specific example: My physics professor in community college wrote challenging exams that really tested how well you knew the material, but was very generous with partial credit as long as you stated your thought process and it was along the lines of what needed to be done. As a result, we came out of tests knowing the material but also doing well in the class owing to office hours and his clearly working out problems in class. The physics department teaching those classes here? 300 person lecture halls, only PowerPoint slides in lectures without any problems worked out, multiple-choice scantron exams, and discussions run by TAs who half the time aren't quite clear in their explanations. Shipon fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 21:31
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That may be true but I've also met some students that had difficulty adjusting from CC to a 4 year engineering program. I didn't have the experience that third and fourth year courses were some haven of attentive and caring professors. I think there is value in learning how to succeed in a 300 person course with no one giving a poo poo about you.
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Jan 15, 2014 22:03
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I think a smaller school is better as well. Largest class was physics with 120 kids. All my civil classes were 12-25 kids. Really could get good attention. I also did cc in the summer so humanities classes were 80% cheaper.
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Jan 15, 2014 22:27
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MourningGlory posted:I graduated last May and I'm preparing to take the FE in early February. Everything I've read says that the most important things are to know the FE handbook really well (free download from NCEES) and know all the functions of your calculator, so that you're not wasting time and brainpower. My impression is that the exam is a lot easier than it's made out to be and the length of it is the worst part. The tests are also all discipline-specific now, so there isn't a shared morning section full of stuff that you've never studied. It looks like you are an ME, so just make sure you're comfortable with answering questions from all of these categories and brush up on anything that sounds unfamiliar: http://cdn3.ncees.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/FE-Mec-CBT-specs_with-ranges.pdf
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Jan 15, 2014 23:42
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osker posted:Pro-tip: Go to the college you plan to attend for an EE and grab the course grid for your major. Yeah, I have the 4 year grid for EE at UCF. I was looking at it to double check on liberal artsy fartsy requirements. Thankfully, there aren't a lot and the ones they do require it looks like I took on the first go around. Sadly, I don't know how many semesters I'll be able to take at the CC. When my husband gets out of the Army we're moving out of state ASAP. When we get to FL I will have to wait on residency requirements too, in order to save a lot of money. I am hoping we will be here through next December (he is med boarding out, so exactly when he'll be out is a big, huge X date that we don't know) and if that's the case I will get through Calc I knocked out and as well as a chemistry credit that should transfer. My CC here offers up to differential equations but, like I said, it's doubtful we will be here that long. And yes, I just turned 29. I already went to "traditional" college when I was 18-22. All the animal house stuff is out of my system now, so spending weekends doing projects and homework really doesn't faze me, and coupled with the fact I know how to be successful in college because I already went, and the fact that I taught math which helps me come up with cute ways to teach myself, probably means I'll be good to go. 
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Jan 16, 2014 03:44
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Hollis Brown posted:That may be true but I've also met some students that had difficulty adjusting from CC to a 4 year engineering program. I didn't have the experience that third and fourth year courses were some haven of attentive and caring professors. I think there is value in learning how to succeed in a 300 person course with no one giving a poo poo about you. Academic hardship wasn't so much the problem as the efficiency of money spent. I went to CC out of financial necessity, as I had to swing a hammer full-time to get it and engineering school paid for. When college is paid either by your parents or amorphous student loans you're signing for when you're a retarded 18 year old, it is a lot harder to get outraged about enormous lovely weed-out courses. Colleges charge cray cray credit-hour rates, the least they can do is deliver a product that isn't absolute poo poo. I think the failure to thrive in college stems from a failure of experience for some people. Spending some years working, and learning that nobody gives a poo poo about you, but getting paid for it is a lot more valuable and a lot less insulting than paying for something (college) and getting a poo poo product (120 person powerpoint shitshow).
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Jan 16, 2014 15:43
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Post them if you have any questions specific to Valencia or UCF's EE program. I did my pre-recs at VCC then transferred to UCF a few years ago and I'm a senior EE undergraduate taking graduate courses and involved in research so I can answer a lot of questions specific to the program.
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Jan 17, 2014 16:15
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spwrozek posted:I think a smaller school is better as well. Largest class was physics with 120 kids. All my civil classes were 12-25 kids. Really could get good attention. I also did cc in the summer so humanities classes were 80% cheaper.
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Jan 17, 2014 16:25
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Ah, ha, just noticed a fun little 'glitch' with Boeing's career website. While updating my info it kept switching my status from "US Citizen" to "Undocumented Alien seeking Asylum". God, I hope this hasn't been doing this for the past 5 years, otherwise there's an entire IT dept. in Seattle that I want to kill. Would be a real kick in the nuts to know I haven't gotten an engineering job in 5 years because some stupid computer thinks I'm an unregistered Iranian refugee or something stupid like that.
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Jan 17, 2014 17:26
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Not a Children posted:As a kind of corollary to that, is there any way I should prepare over the next few years for taking the PE that will make it easier? I've been slowly plodding my way through the NEC, but I feel like there's more to it than that. The advice I got was to look at the tested areas 1-2 years before you are able/planning to take the PE. Keeping that information in mind, try to expose yourself to the material through your work. Maybe take on a project that you wouldn't have normally to refresh your memory on a skill set. Or spend some extra time going through calcs for things you're rusty on. That way, you're more motivated to "study" because you are getting paid and have deadlines. YF19pilot posted:Ah, ha, just noticed a fun little 'glitch' with Boeing's career website. While updating my info it kept switching my status from "US Citizen" to "Undocumented Alien seeking Asylum". God, I hope this hasn't been doing this for the past 5 years, otherwise there's an entire IT dept. in Seattle that I want to kill. Would be a real kick in the nuts to know I haven't gotten an engineering job in 5 years because some stupid computer thinks I'm an unregistered Iranian refugee or something stupid like that. Well, if you get a letter from Boeing congratulating you on your citizenship after 5 years, you will know.
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Jan 18, 2014 07:01
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Not a Children posted:Does anybody have advice for someone who wants to take the EIT exam outside of school? I graduated about a year and a half ago, and recently switched jobs to one that will put me on the path to a PE. Obviously, that'll come a lot faster if I pass the EIT, but being out of school for a while, my math/physics aptitude has dropped off a little. I graduated with a BSEE, so I'd be taking the Electrical and Computer CBT exam (second lowest first-time pass rate, whoo!). What are some good resources for playing catch up? A girl at work just took and passed the FE after 5 years out of school. I gave her my review books and that is what she studied. She also has 2 kids under 3. As for the PE, get the review manuals and some practice exams. Take a class to cover the afternoon topics and you should be good to go.
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Jan 18, 2014 07:21
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YF19pilot posted:Ah, ha, just noticed a fun little 'glitch' with Boeing's career website. While updating my info it kept switching my status from "US Citizen" to "Undocumented Alien seeking Asylum". God, I hope this hasn't been doing this for the past 5 years, otherwise there's an entire IT dept. in Seattle that I want to kill. Would be a real kick in the nuts to know I haven't gotten an engineering job in 5 years because some stupid computer thinks I'm an unregistered Iranian refugee or something stupid like that. You gotta find someone who can put your resume on the right person's desk, never trust automated systems.
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Jan 18, 2014 08:00
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I have never once received a callback from an online job posting out of hundreds of applications and despite a resume that's pretty good (a headhunting firm edited my name out and used it as their example resume for a while without telling me). I have even spoken to a hiring manager that said I was a perfect candidate for a job they'd just filled and she wishes I had've applied. I told her I did. She said "Oh. Well, we have about 2000 applicants per spot via the website so we don't really look at that much." I never use online job applications anymore. Totally worthless. You have to get out and call people, email them, linkedin them, everything. It's all about networking.
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Jan 18, 2014 13:09
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My first job out of college was at a ~300 person company my uncle worked at, the second one was a small enough company that the resume was a direct email to the hiring manager, but my third job was through an online job application for a large contractor where I had no connection. I wouldnt say never use online applications, but they are frustrating. I believe one reason is that you are typically are up against many more applicants, and there IS quasi-bullshit automatic word scanning. Secondly, I've noticed that the job openings tend to be terribly dated sometimes. For instance, Ive known people hired into positions already yet the job reqs are still open. I've seen this happen for internal and external reqs. So, if you have a large list if employers and little time, maybe pick the direct ones out and spend some more time networking, but its not completely impossible to get a job online. Usually the lovely part is having to text format you're beautiful .pdf resume
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Jan 18, 2014 13:44
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Not a Children posted:Does anybody have advice for someone who wants to take the EIT exam outside of school? I graduated about a year and a half ago, and recently switched jobs to one that will put me on the path to a PE. Obviously, that'll come a lot faster if I pass the EIT, but being out of school for a while, my math/physics aptitude has dropped off a little. I graduated with a BSEE, so I'd be taking the Electrical and Computer CBT exam (second lowest first-time pass rate, whoo!). What are some good resources for playing catch up? My advice: 1) Get a copy of the FE reference manual that will be supplied during the test and an approved calculator. Use these exclusively. Use them for work. Get comfortable. Get a 2nd identical calculator, too; one at work and one at home and bring both to the exam in case one fails or breaks (it happens). 2) The NCEES sample tests are the best most accurate self-tests you can get for this, but they're limited in the # of questions. Don't start with them, end with them; use them as a tool to know where you're prepared, and where you may need to spend your final few weeks of effort. The other study books seem to have questions that are WAY more difficult than the actual FE exam will have, and are thus a great training tool. Go through some of them and see where you're strong and where you're weak. Concentrate studying on your weakest areas. Skim and brush up on the parts you know how to do, but don't waste a lot of time on them. Don't worry about how long it takes to do the 3rd party study guide problems; on the real test, every question has a trivial answer that only takes a few seconds to find if you know how to solve it. 3) When you think you're ready, take the NCEES sample test. Time yourself. If your solution for a problem will take 20 minutes to solve, you're doing it the wrong way- skip it and come back. Chances are, you'll finish with plenty of time to go back and slough through the questions you weren't so comfortable with. 4) Consider just taking the general test if you find you'll need to do a lot of studying for the EE specific test. You'll need to study up for the general test in the AM anyhow, and honestly, if you know enough to do well in the morning, you'll do just as well in the afternoon. grover fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jan 18, 2014 |
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Jan 18, 2014 14:44
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KetTarma posted:I have never once received a callback from an online job posting out of hundreds of applications and despite a resume that's pretty good (a headhunting firm edited my name out and used it as their example resume for a while without telling me). Absolutely, we hardly review resumes for permanent positions. We never open up a new position unless we already have someone in mind, and it goes on the company website for the required 5 day minimum, and pretty much hire the person we were going to hire. The one time someone backed out and went somewhere else, we just ended up hiring nobody rather than interview other candidates. The stack of resume thing happens for co-ops and contract only.
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Jan 18, 2014 16:24
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movax posted:You gotta find someone who can put your resume on the right person's desk, never trust automated systems. Trying to grow my LinkedIn connections at the moment. I guess this is the real trick, finding the right person. I'll admit, my network of people I know is probably mediocre, but I've had a few people with the "right" connections. They just never want to do anything but tell me to apply online. I suppose half of networking is hoping the people you're networking with someone who knows what it means to network.
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Jan 18, 2014 16:56
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YF19pilot posted:Trying to grow my LinkedIn connections at the moment. I guess this is the real trick, finding the right person. I'll admit, my network of people I know is probably mediocre, but I've had a few people with the "right" connections. They just never want to do anything but tell me to apply online. I suppose half of networking is hoping the people you're networking with someone who knows what it means to network.
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Jan 18, 2014 17:16
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jan 18, 2014 17:46
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Online applications do work, however I think mainly for low-level positions. Anything Engineer III or above and management is pretty much exclusively due to networking. Just this past year we did the testing for a Microsoft datacenter and one of our field engineers parlayed it into a job with Microsoft as their commissioning manager for the Northwest region. He wasn't even close to the best field engineer we had on site, but he was very good at making friends with the right people.
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Jan 18, 2014 18:04
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KetTarma posted:I have never once received a callback from an online job posting out of hundreds of applications and despite a resume that's pretty good (a headhunting firm edited my name out and used it as their example resume for a while without telling me). I got several interviews and a job from online postings as a new graduate.
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Jan 19, 2014 07:51
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Noctone posted:Online applications do work, however I think mainly for low-level positions. In the UK at least, pretty much all engineering graduate schemes are done online. The companies almost always then do an online sift with psychometric testing before actually looking at the application.
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Jan 19, 2014 10:32
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Uncle Jam posted:Absolutely, we hardly review resumes for permanent positions. We never open up a new position unless we already have someone in mind, and it goes on the company website for the required 5 day minimum, and pretty much hire the person we were going to hire. This is how it is where I work too, with the exception being entry level positions. Even then someone might be looking to do a lateral move for various reasons. However we're required to interview at least three applicants for the position so basically those other two people are wasting their time interviewing. Sometimes I'd sit in the interviews and I'd feel sorry for the poor suckers who probably expended a lot of effort into making sure they knew the right things to say only to hand it off to someone who had been within the company for three years. They don't really have a shot because most managers are so overextended that they don't want to spend the weeks into months training someone when they have someone internally who knows the ropes. It seems hard to find a good job without networking. I agree that networking isn't just connecting to a recruiter on LinkedIn, it's establishing yourself as a solid, if not stellar professional who does great work with minimal bullshit. I like to use LinkedIn but only to see what credentials/degrees someone has and what their employment history looks like, especially if it someone in senior management. It's a decent guide to see if you're on track to achieving your goals.
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Jan 20, 2014 04:35
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Thoguh posted:Having a connection on LinkedIn won't do you any good if that person isn't willing to put your resume on a hiring manager's desk for you. As Grover posted, networking is mostly just accomplished through work itself. If you do good work and are a person people like to work with they'll remember that if you ask them for help getting into a job or if they have a job opening themselves. I crapped on the LinkedIn thread when it started because the posters in there seem to think LinkedIn is a place to network rather than a place that reflects your network and I still think they are giving really bad advice in that thread, at least for tech jobs. This is very, very true. If your type of work allows for it, gathering a portfolio and posting some of it online can be helpful as well, as it does sort of allow somebody hiring to look at your work.
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Jan 21, 2014 05:08
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What's the general consensus about blogs and such for getting your name out there for your first job? I'm working on a website where I post random articles about science along with some electronics reviews right now. I'm pretty sure if you type my name into Google, you'll get that site as your first match. That's not a bad thing, is it?
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Jan 21, 2014 13:30
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No that would never be a bad thing. At worst it shows you are passionate about something in an unrelated field to what I'm directly hiring for. I would still rather hire you than someone else ceteris paribus.
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Jan 21, 2014 18:15
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KetTarma posted:What's the general consensus about blogs and such for getting your name out there for your first job? Worked out for this guy. Now companies pay him ridiculous amounts of money to solve their EMI problems or teach week long courses because his website/blog is well indexed.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:12
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On the other hand I saw some dude post on the AiChe blog about his blog. When I checked it out his latest update was that he had found his passion in bread making after not finding a job in engineering. Made me poo poo my pants a little at my own prospects.
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Jan 22, 2014 03:26
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Xeom posted:On the other hand I saw some dude post on the AiChe blog about his blog. When I checked it out his latest update was that he had found his passion in bread making after not finding a job in engineering. I've been looking for work for 14 months now out of school. I don't know what the gently caress to do, really. Anyone have suggestions on what companies or geographical areas to look at? I'm a MechE/Environmental engineer type hybrid. Open to relocating anywhere, really.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:17
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There's always Detroit. If nothing else, suppliers are always looking for application engineers.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:23
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