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CCKeane posted:I don't know how it is for MechE stuff, but I've used open course ware for plugging some holes in my knowledge. I poked through the MIT courses, though I was kind of lost on which ones were actually worth going through. I'll definitely look through the Estimation course, looks good from a skimming. Thanks.
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Apr 30, 2014 05:14
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Is it bad form to put "No software or design verification/testing job inquiry's" on my LinkedIn or Dice page? I'm tired of getting emails for software/design testing jobs, I have no interest in them and there are like a million of them.
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May 1, 2014 18:42
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Do you think that's even going to stop them?
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May 1, 2014 19:06
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Steve Jorbs posted:Do you think that's even going to stop them? Good point
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May 1, 2014 19:41
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I put a notice on my LinkedIn page that I wasn't interested in moving to the SF Bay Area, and it has resulted in maybe 50% less messages from recruiters in that area. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
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May 2, 2014 03:22
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BeefofAges posted:I put a notice on my LinkedIn page that I wasn't interested in moving to the SF Bay Area, and it has resulted in maybe 50% less messages from recruiters in that area. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
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May 2, 2014 03:30
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Move back to Orange County you chump. Nah, Santa Monica is pretty cool. All the interesting tech companies are here now.
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May 2, 2014 06:25
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I was academically dismissed a decade ago while studying for a physics and chemistry double major ("nanotechnology"). Finally got my poo poo together, completed an AS in Engineering, and was hoping to return to college for electrical engineering, but my GPA was simply too low and I had to accept returning as a physics major. I have enough units to be a senior, but am effectively starting my junior year with a 2.3 GPA. I've basically shot myself in the foot multiple times. Even so, I will try for an EE related career (making spectroscopes or biometric timeclocks or something else cool and tangible) and am looking for advice or anecdotes to maximize my chances going forward. Can someone with a BS in Physics get a job in something an electrical engineer would normal get? Would I need to get, say, an MS in Electrical Engineering to have "engineer" on my resume to competitive? Are related internships out of the question or should I just go for the normal REU/research experience stuff a physicist would have. Obviously I will take as many related courses in the physics department as I can, but should I take an extra year and take as many EE electives as I can? What did you or your coworkers who were physics majors do to stand out in a crowd of engineers?
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May 2, 2014 08:35
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I can tell you that many states (17 I think) will not allow you to ever get licensed as an engineer due to not possessing an engineering degree. It's kind of a reserved title. Few states do not impose additional license requirements for non-engineers. Generally this is in the form of up to 4 additional years of experience as an engineer-in-training. Licenses do not transfer state to state directly and must be applied for in each state. The corporation my friend works at demoted my physics major friend from engineer to "planner" when they bought out his company for the same reason. I found it impossible to get hired as an engineer with an engineering technology degree despite a 3.5 GPA. I think your biggest problem will be national companies not wanting to hire someone that will never be able to meet license requirements for all of the states they operate in. At least EEs don't tend to need licenses so there's hope there. E: Have you considered trying to get some form of GPA forgiveness? Sometimes you can get your college to reset your GPA after an extended absence if you write about how you've grown and matured into a better person. KetTarma fucked around with this message at 11:40 on May 2, 2014 |
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May 2, 2014 11:19
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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May 2, 2014 13:11
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Serious question then: Why do most engineering positions in my area require you to be an EIT if they don't care about licensing? I tried for months to get hired as an engineer with a technology degree but was repeatedly shot down because of the education thing. One interviewer for an EE position actually hung up on me after he asked me "So what's the highest math you took in college?" and I answered with "Calculus 2" That was a major motivating factor for me to just suck it up and grind out a full engineering degree.
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May 2, 2014 13:49
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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May 2, 2014 14:19
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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May 2, 2014 14:22
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KetTarma posted:Serious question then: If you are referring to the power industry it is a huge deal to get a PE. Where I work you will never get past the second level of advancement without it. All our consultants are required to stamp everything they send out as well. This is for substation and transmission line design. Most the guys in distribution have it, the guys I know in generation do as well. It is across all fields too, civil, electrical, mechanical, and chemical.
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May 2, 2014 15:04
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Thoguh posted:Isn't your area nuclear? That's a pretty niche area with a whole bunch of extra regulations involved I also totally agree with everything you said. None of my classes had anything to do with design. Most of my classes didn't even use math. spwrozek: Most stuff in my area is DoD-related with particular focus on communications.
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May 2, 2014 15:42
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KetTarma posted:Yeah. I'm 46 credits away from my BSEE now though. Woo. I gave up on nuclear when I decided to go back to school. Nuclear Engineering is pretty terrible if you want to get a PE. You are far, far, far better off going for mechanical, structural, or electrical engineering over nuclear unless you want a PhD.
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May 2, 2014 15:46
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Or go CmpE and never have to worry about getting certified in anything 
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May 2, 2014 16:16
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Yeah, if you work in software or consumer electronics you'll generally never need any certifications at all.
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May 2, 2014 17:01
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Speaking of, I'll probably have a whole box of PE Civil/Structural codes and books to sell once I hear back about the April test, if anyone else is planning on taking the same
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May 2, 2014 18:40
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Pander posted:Nuclear Engineering is pretty terrible if you want to get a PE. You are far, far, far better off going for mechanical, structural, or electrical engineering over nuclear unless you want a PhD. Nuclear isn't exactly the place for a PE anyway. While we can get one we have to take the EIT as "other" candidates and then having the license does almost nothing for you besides the letters on your name. No nuclear project can go anywhere without the NRC saying it's ok, so the review of a PE doesn't matter one way or the other. That said there are a ton of things you can do as a nuclear engineer without a PhD. You just don't need to be a PE to do them.
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May 2, 2014 23:17
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KetTarma posted:Serious question then: quote:I tried for months to get hired as an engineer with a technology degree but was repeatedly shot down because of the education thing. One interviewer for an EE position actually hung up on me after he asked me "So what's the highest math you took in college?" and I answered with "Calculus 2"
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May 2, 2014 23:37
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Eustacia posted:I was academically dismissed a decade ago while studying for a physics and chemistry double major ("nanotechnology"). Finally got my poo poo together, completed an AS in Engineering, and was hoping to return to college for electrical engineering, but my GPA was simply too low and I had to accept returning as a physics major. I have enough units to be a senior, but am effectively starting my junior year with a 2.3 GPA. I've basically shot myself in the foot multiple times. Even so, I will try for an EE related career (making spectroscopes or biometric timeclocks or something else cool and tangible) and am looking for advice or anecdotes to maximize my chances going forward. I could definitely see a physicsts getting an applied metrology job, but you're going to have to show proof through projects you've done in school that you can handle all the EE stuff on your own. There are a lot of bits and bobs on the test sets that a pure EE BS would never be able to do right out of the box, especially the parts that interact with the environment. It would be a lot easier if you had an MS though. My first job was in metrology, doing custom rigs for near THz measurements to find electrical properties as a EE BS. I got super lucky and the MS co-op they were going to hire bounced to another job, and I was able to go back to school while working for my MS. So it can be done I suppose, I'd rather have gone straight to grad but I had no money at all. The other part is all the back-end stuff for the machines but this is mostly straight EE and except for the biggest companies they are contracting out the design for these parts (for commercialization). I don't know what the license talk is about, you don't need a PE for any of this stuff and I've never met anyone who works in it possessing one. It helps to be familiar with the FCC stuff I suppose but it really depends on what sort of development you are doing.
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May 3, 2014 18:41
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Hey, I need some advice. I graduated five years ago and never bothered to get an FE. Not having an FE never really held me back but I'm wanting to get it so I can get my PE and be done with the thing. My work weeks are about 40-50 hours a week, which isn't bad but can definitely flare up from time to time. However, I am going for a part time MBA, taking 2-3 classes a semester. My thought process is that if I register for the FE in late August, that will give me four months to study for the exam. The MBA summer classes end mid July. The fall session starts up in late August but they shouldn't be too bad around the time I would take the exam since it's the beginning. So my thought is that I study 5-10 hours a week until mid July and then really hit it hard once my summer classes are over. Any thoughts? I'd basically have to start over from scratch. So I'm going to have to rely on study material and the internet to patch the undoubtedly massive gaps of knowledge I need to fill before I take the exam. Thank you
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May 3, 2014 21:45
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You should totally be able to do the FE in that time frame. What discipline of engineering do you practice for your day job? Does the university at which you are getting your MBA have an engineering school? If so and you are able to physically go there, I'd try to go to their review sessions. The first thing you should do is get the NCEES manual and use it for everything. Every assessment, every study session. Become one with your (exam-sanctioned) calculator. After a small amount of studying those two things are going to matter more than one more mass or energy balance.
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May 3, 2014 21:53
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Do you need your PE or are you going management route with the MBA and not really need it? Your plan sounds good though. I assume you have been working under a PE so you can get someone to sign off on your experience.
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May 3, 2014 22:22
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The FE is a supplied-reference exam; you get a searchable, electronic copy of the NCEES FE Reference Handbook to use during the exam, so make sure you're familiar with where to find information in it and that you don't spend time memorizing information that you can find in it. Get used to working at the computer, if you're not already. I like the material from PPI2Pass, if you're looking for review guides and practice problems.
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May 3, 2014 23:59
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Yeah, the FE is above all a test on how quickly you can figure out which equation or chart to look up, and (more importantly) the ability to find it quickly in the NCEES reference book. Thankfully ME undergrad had taught me this valuable skill by conditioning me to referring to steam tables and materials properties lists nine million times per exam so I was good to go.
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May 4, 2014 00:03
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I'm in the same situation with the MBA and honestly I barely studied for the FE. Familiarizing yourself with the reference book is by far the most important part of prep. If/when I leave engineering in my day to day work, I figure the PE may be useful. Obviously when it comes time to seriously study for the PE I'll make sure it's worth my time.
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May 4, 2014 00:28
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Olothreutes posted:Nuclear isn't exactly the place for a PE anyway. While we can get one we have to take the EIT as "other" candidates and then having the license does almost nothing for you besides the letters on your name. No nuclear project can go anywhere without the NRC saying it's ok, so the review of a PE doesn't matter one way or the other. If you can list some of things a nuclear engineer can do without pursuing academia, lemme know I'm all ears. Even at nuclear plants the work is still more suited toward EE/ME than NE BS's. I don't remember the FE exam that well...I walked out feeling like I got about half right, was unsure about 25%, and the another 25% was pure guessing. And it was enough to pass. So it can't be that hard I guess?
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May 5, 2014 15:53
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Hey btw, if things go right next Autumn I'll be starting my studies in Mechanical Engineering in Helsinki, Finland. It's an "university of applied sciences", or a vocational university, so it sort of has a focus on hands-on application as opposed to more theoretical stuff. We also have Engineering degrees in 'regular' universities that work the opposite way. Does this kind of divide exist in American universities at all, or does the distinction happen at a sub-degree level or at all? I'm interested in reading about the American side of things but most don't really seem to mention anything like this.
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May 5, 2014 20:32
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It sounds like what you're talking about might fall under Engineering Technology degrees: http://www.abet.org/engineering-vs-engineering-technology/
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May 5, 2014 20:55
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Skeleton Jelly posted:Does this kind of divide exist in American universities at all, or does the distinction happen at a sub-degree level or at all? I'm interested in reading about the American side of things but most don't really seem to mention anything like this. Yes. A variety of vocational programs, usually at community colleges, give a 2-year degree in applied science. The programs tend to be oriented toward production: machining, welding, composites, etc. may all fall under the "applied science" label. "Engineering" is almost entirely distinct and focuses on design and theory, although crossover experience is obviously valuable. edit: And there exists an entire spectrum of professions between fabrication and pure engineering. IMO, the coolest jobs require a good deal of both and often have "prototype" or "laboratory" in their titles. Eugene V. Dubstep fucked around with this message at 21:27 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 21:20
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Apparently most recruiters don't know the difference either. See my above post on being bombarded with test position jobs.
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May 5, 2014 21:53
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Popete posted:Apparently most recruiters don't know the difference either. See my above post on being bombarded with test position jobs. What? You don't want to make half of what you are now and barely use your degree?
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May 5, 2014 22:05
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Pander posted:I'm just saying that if, for whatever reason, your goal was to get a PE, do it in another discipline where it'll be useful. Design work I've done lately has almost uniformly required structural PE help/stamps. I agree that if your ultimate goal is a PE, whatever the reason, nuclear is not the field for it. At least not if you want it to be at all useful. As for nuclear stuff outside of academia, it depends on what you want to do. Research could be considered a non-academic field I guess but you'll probably need a PhD, a master's at the very least, and be willing to live in one of very few places near a national lab (this is for US based engineers, non US you're on your own). Other things you can do: Rad waste disposal. Regardless of the state of the nuclear power industry the waste generated isn't going to go anywhere unless an engineer figures out where to put it. This could be interim storage or final disposal, pending political business surrounding final disposal in the US. Other countries have projects that are much further along. Criticality safety. Wherever nuclear material gathers, someone has to make sure it doesn't unintentionally go critical. This is more important that you think because physicists always want to do weird things. Medical physics. I know very little about this field in specifics, but I imagine it covers things like shielding, external and internal dosimetry, and personnel protection. Reactor design/whatever. GE, Babcock and Wilcox, Areva, Westinghouse, Nuscale(?), and a few other places all design reactors. They probably have some work but it will be mired in politics and regulatory nightmare webs. Safeguards. Figuring out how to keep the good stuff from the bad guys. Lateral proliferation is a big issue and safeguards people do some really neat work. Also you can probably get a swanky position with the IAEA and live in Austria. This probably also includes various interrogation and detection methods, both passive and active. These imaging/detection systems can also be used to get images of things like nuclear reactors to find "missing" inventory in places like Fukushima where the core has melted so they have more uses than just scanning trucks and containers for things that aren't pallets of kitty litter. In theory you can work for various contractors or with NASA for space based power, but as far as I can tell there is very little of this that actually happens. You can go work with weapons, probably maintaining them. B&W Pantex is the only place that does this in the US so I hope you want to live in Amarillo. There's also the navy of some flavor. Propulsions (don't do that), KAPL and Bettis take civilian contractors I believe. A lot of these categories are super broad and also overlap one another. There is a surprising amount of work you can do that actually makes use of a nuke degree. Olothreutes fucked around with this message at 22:52 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 22:50
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working in nuclear is terrible, stay away.
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May 5, 2014 23:18
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Pander posted:If you can list some of things a nuclear engineer can do without pursuing academia, lemme know I'm all ears. Even at nuclear plants the work is still more suited toward EE/ME than NE BS's. My friend that's about to graduate with his BSNE just got hired as a welding engineer.
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May 5, 2014 23:30
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dxt posted:working in nuclear is terrible, stay away. You did commercial power, yeah? I didn't mention that in my post for a reason, it certainly isn't the only thing you can do.
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May 5, 2014 23:33
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spwrozek posted:What? You don't want to make half of what you are now and barely use your degree? But they say its an interesting opportunity! Then they tell me I can move to bumfuck nowhere for this position.
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May 6, 2014 01:50
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I don't mind commercial nuclear, I just wish I weren't always contracting for high profile high priority projects that are fast-tracked 8 ways from Sunday. I can at least say I've done some pretty ridiculous stuff despite only a couple years 'real' experience. Also, the secret is to find the good plants to live at. They include I actually looked for/applied for a bunch of the jobs you listed, Olothreutes, a couple years ago when I was out of college and wanting anything. You could probably search my history, look early/mid-2012 to see a personification of "I applied everywhere why can't I get a job  " college grad. Might be time to look again, I think my current A/E firm is starting to look dicey long-term.
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May 6, 2014 04:59
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