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I did SO MUCH MATLAB during my degree. Ended up getting so mad about excel once I was in industry, and once I learned about Spyder (Python based MATLAB equivalent) I was so stale on all my programmy chops it was just like learning to walk again.
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Apr 4, 2023 21:09
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Not a Children posted:I work more on the distribution side of big-wire, but I think these are the software/applications that will be very useful for you to learn if you can get ahold of an educational license: You suggested coding in a way that makes me think you are looking less at "physical design" stuff and more at the intangibles, arenas where coding your own stuff matters vs off the shelf or just quick coding to make a tool. So I didn't suggest what Not a Children did, but if you needed anything in that direction I can help you out.
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Apr 5, 2023 07:52
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Transmission line/power engineers; how often do you get recruiters hitting you up for mechanical/gearbox transmission engineering? I'm about ready to put a disclaimer up front and center on LinkedIn for people to stop sending me EE jobs because I am not that guy.
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Apr 5, 2023 08:02
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Car Hater posted:Transmission line/power engineers; how often do you get recruiters hitting you up for mechanical/gearbox transmission engineering? I'm about ready to put a disclaimer up front and center on LinkedIn for people to stop sending me EE jobs because I am not that guy. I think that's all automated poo poo. I get calls/texts/emails several times a week (sometimes all 3 within seconds of each other!) and often it's "your resume is perfect for this!" and I have zero experience in whatever the job is. Recently got one for an electrical engineer position (I'm a mechanical engineer). Judging by every caller having an accent, I think it's all coming from an out of country call center.
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Apr 5, 2023 11:01
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Car Hater posted:Transmission line/power engineers; how often do you get recruiters hitting you up for mechanical/gearbox transmission engineering? I'm about ready to put a disclaimer up front and center on LinkedIn for people to stop sending me EE jobs because I am not that guy. 15 years in the T-line business and maybe once. Maybe i just get better ish recruiters reaching out to me. Fwiw transmission line engineering is like 90% civil engineering too.
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Apr 5, 2023 13:52
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HarmB posted:If your school is like mine, you should be able to figure out which language you'll be learning for class based on the course number you plan to register for. All things else considered equal, I'd learn that one. I've been full software but still engineer-adjacent for quite awhile now in my career. Our core product (simulations, controls, hardware interfaces, etc) is written in C++ running in embedded Linux environments. Firmware stuff we do is a mix of C/C++/hosed up vendor platform depending on the project. Our testing, visualization, and UI tools are all written in Python, both as one off scripts and larger applications, so there is definitely a place for it in industry. I haven't had to touch MATLAB in years, but as a TA for engineering programming courses I'd at least suggest learning how to use the tools before taking classes you need them in. Having to run through labs and teach material while obtuse students couldn't figure out how to launch the program week after week was one of the bigger frustrations. Car Hater posted:Transmission line/power engineers; how often do you get recruiters hitting you up for mechanical/gearbox transmission engineering? I'm about ready to put a disclaimer up front and center on LinkedIn for people to stop sending me EE jobs because I am not that guy.
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Apr 5, 2023 14:38
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Car Hater posted:Transmission line/power engineers; how often do you get recruiters hitting you up for mechanical/gearbox transmission engineering? I'm about ready to put a disclaimer up front and center on LinkedIn for people to stop sending me EE jobs because I am not that guy. Im a power eng (protection) and i dont get this. I think it’s probably related to either your location or those in your linkedin network or whatever they call “friend group”. Matlab is very good to learn for an EE student and it can carry over to industry fairly easily.
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Apr 5, 2023 16:09
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I'm very jealous of everyone's positive MATLAB experience in college  . Us Aeros got dropped in the deep end of controls/dynamics without any previous programming experience and barely scraped by with C minuses. 10 years in the industry now and I still get chills when I see a Simulink diagram lol
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Apr 5, 2023 16:28
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They were restructuring the course when I did my Bachelors. We did a Matlab module before we covered anything it was useful for. So rote learning how to do fourier transforms and transfer functions with zero context.
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Apr 6, 2023 05:22
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Ten years out of college and I’m moving from a manufacturing site engineering role to a corporate technical role where I’ll be focusing on supporting sites company wide remotely and traveling 20ish% of the time. I’m sure this will come with a whole new set of headaches, but I’m looking forward to not having to deal with so much of the day to day fire fighting issues that always seem to come up. Anyone else make a similar change and have things they liked/disliked about it?
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Jun 21, 2023 19:23
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Ethiser posted:Ten years out of college and I’m moving from a manufacturing site engineering role to a corporate technical role where I’ll be focusing on supporting sites company wide remotely and traveling 20ish% of the time. I’m sure this will come with a whole new set of headaches, but I’m looking forward to not having to deal with so much of the day to day fire fighting issues that always seem to come up. Anyone else make a similar change and have things they liked/disliked about it? 7-8 years ago i moved from plant/field electrician to office sme (power EE). Overall its a good change. Much better hours and work environment, i wouldnt switch back. But! If you’re like me, you’ll miss the camaraderie. Its more fun to work in a team to solve emergent issues than it is to be the one person on the hook when something similar happens.
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Jun 21, 2023 19:35
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spwrozek posted:I really hope engineering societies push to remove those industrial exemptions. That you can do major civil/mech/electrical/etc. work at a mine (for example) with no PE is wild. Sure the public isn't there but the workers are. I agree, but they're too weak.
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Jun 22, 2023 20:34
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So I've been a Mechanical Design Engineer in the Petrochemical industry for the past two years. It's an extremely wide and deep field, and I'm very fortunate and lucky to have a role in an actual operational plant. It gives me a whole bucketload of opportunity to see a variety of different equipment up close and personal, and I also have the added luxury of getting to dabble in lots of different areas of the job, rather than - what is typically done in design offices - focusing on one tiny niche subject for the rest of my career and becoming an expert at it (think stress analysis engineer, or heat exchanger expert, or piping layout expert, etc.). A lot of my coworkers come from EPC backgrounds and they're always telling me how lucky I am to work in a living, breathing plant. They said that their career history consisted of sitting in offices and never getting to see the fruits of their labour in person, as their designs would just be handed over to projects to execute in some far-off place in the world. That being said, I really feel like I'm just selling my life to the office. An hour each day comprised of getting ready each morning and commuting, there and back. Eight hours at the office. Ten hours out of my twenty four gone, just like that, every day. Minus another seven or eight for sleeping... It's quite depressing when I think about it and I can't help but feel a huge chunk of my personal time is just gone in a rather insidious manner. Weeks are flying by, I'm usually quite tired when I get home and don't want to do much other than just watch TV or play videogames. There's gotta be more to life than this? Again, I am passionate about and love what I do. I've realised lately that it's the coworkers that I look forward to interacting with, rather than the work itself. I love the feeling of getting together with my team and coming up with solutions. Maybe I'm crazy or wired differently, but even though the option to laze about at work and not do much is a very attainable day-to-day for me, I can't get myself to do it as I just feel like I'm wasting an opportunity to develop myself and get better. My biggest fear is becoming trapped due to my inexperience, and not having the ability to shift to a different company or country terrifies me, even if I weren't actually ever going to shift abroad or to a different company. It's the freedom of choice. This longwinded vent is culminating in a question: I've always regretted not doing Computer Science or going into something code-related. I feel like a lot more power is placed in your hand when you have that skill. You have the ability to freelance, or work from home. What career paths can I go down as a design engineer that would give me somewhat similar options? The only thing I've been able to think of that would work is if I were to become a drat good stress analysis engineer and I could potentially WFH modelling piping systems from isometrics alone without needing access to the site. I thought it could also potentially open up a freelancing path down the road when I build up a portfolio and could approach local industries and offer my job. There seems to be a never ending need for stress analysis in the oil sector.
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Sep 25, 2023 19:16
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If you wanted to do computer science you probably should have went to school for it. If you don't want to work in a plant then get a job at a design firm. Plenty of firms have remote or hybrid setups. Granted this is an American bent on my opinion. I think many people believe everyone is remote these days and it just really is not the case, plus more companies are pushing return to office. A side note on engineering development. We have found that young engineers who are not in the office with senior staff are mostly not doing well. They develop slower and do not have the level of engagement we desire. Not universal and some of that is probably on me as a manager. Personally I am glad we are now required to be at the office Tues, Wed, Thurs.
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Sep 26, 2023 16:24
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I’d hate to be a new graduate now, our office is empty because we’re Scandinavian with a 50/50 hybrid, I’d be forever bugging my mentor with stupid questions, that I can’t just lean over and ask. It’s bad enough for me with 20 years experience in a new role having to track a list of questions so when I get to a decent number I can call my project lead and ask them, rather than just asking them when they pop into my mind. I am also hating working from home, I loved it at my old job as I didn’t have much to do, now I’m fuckin flat out I hate it. So much more unproductive at home. Maybe the bosses were right about wfh
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Sep 26, 2023 18:06
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The office was superior to me until they reworked it to the “open office” concept. Now i cant focus for more than 5 minutes without everyone and their grandma bugging me. I was able to negotiate a single wfh day which literally doubled my productivity. WFH every day is a drag though. Even your house can be made a prison.
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Sep 26, 2023 18:14
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Fully open office is bad unless you literally are always collaborating. We have full cubes so it isn't as bad. I think the 3 office/2 remote is a good balance. I tell my team to have few or no meetings for the home days so they can just crank away. I also agree I was sick of my house even with a nice home setup and all that. I like hoping on my bike for the 10 min ride in, the energy, etc.
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Sep 26, 2023 18:25
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My work gives everyone a lunch allowance on your work badge to use in their canteen. If I don’t come in, I’m effectively foregoing £5 per day. Money and food are great motivators. The peak of my Maslow’s needs is food; to the point where my new boss guarantees my attendance for early meetings by getting bacon rolls in.
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Sep 26, 2023 20:20
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Oodles posted:My work gives everyone a lunch allowance on your work badge to use in their canteen. If I don’t come in, I’m effectively foregoing £5 per day. How much time/money are you spending on your commute though? I'd sure as gently caress forgo £5 per day to not deal with a commuting. I can WFH for my job depending on what phase of a project I'm currently working on. A lot of what I do I need to be physically there to do, but if not I can WFH. WFH is the absolute best and I'd never go into the office if I didn't have to.
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Sep 26, 2023 20:32
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dxt posted:How much time/money are you spending on your commute though? I'd sure as gently caress forgo £5 per day to not deal with a commuting. 20 minute cycle. So it’s not much of an effort. My old job had a lunch allowance which went into your pay, and you didn’t need to spend it on food. It was just a non pensionable benefit. But my new work bought my old work, and in the transfer they replaced the old benefit with their benefit on the card, so I begrudge “losing” money. Plus, it’s pretty tasty food and I don’t need to make a lunch.
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Sep 26, 2023 20:36
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Oodles posted:20 minute cycle. So it’s not much of an effort. 40 minutes for £5 doesn't sound great to me. Though a bike commute is nice, I miss having a job where I could do that.
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Sep 26, 2023 20:46
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E: wrong thread
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Oct 5, 2023 00:42
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Anyone have a pulse on the current market for Civil Engineers in/around Phoenix? Residential land development is drying up and I'm looking to make an escape. Prefer to not return to residential LD. I'm a PE in California and Arizona - experience in heavy civil, large infrastructure projects, hospitals, enough H&H to be dangerous, and LD. Expert in Civil 3D.
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Oct 31, 2023 04:01
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telarium4 posted:Anyone have a pulse on the current market for Civil Engineers in/around Phoenix? AZ PE here! I work in the Water/Wastewater industry in Phoenix, and at least for this industry, experienced PEs are still in pretty hot demand. I spent over 8 years in private consulting before I needed a break for life quality, and went to the municipal sector, but pretty much every consulting firm that we work with, large to small, seems to be looking for people due to the sheer amount of work that is available. I think the same is true for other areas like heavy civil, transportation, etc., but if you're willing to learn, water/wastewater is pretty cool, especially since the Phoenix area is about to push heavily into toilet to tap, I mean, rear end to glass, I mean, direct potable re-use. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions in particular.
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Oct 31, 2023 05:36
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Sort of engineering chat related. I’m being nominated to the board of directors of a local STEM charity. So I’m pretty stoked about that.
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Nov 6, 2023 16:15
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You must be absolutely over the moon and super proud of that achievement, but you managed to rein in your excitement and post such a steady announcement. You're a stronger man than I am. Big congratulations to you, being nominated to a position like that is proof enough of the hard work and effort you've put in.
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Nov 6, 2023 16:28
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I mentioned to the Managing Director of the charity that I wanted to be more involved. I currently do mentoring with them. I said I was interested to join the board in the future, and she nearly bit my hand off and said they could nominate me in April. They had a lot of issues with board members not being involved, so they had to re-write the governance saying they could only have the role for 3 years. I’m super excited, it’s a charity I was on the receiving end of 20 years ago, I love the charity. They did a kids seminar on the maths of pokemon, like how much calories Charmeleon would need a day to keep its tail lit, or how Whalelord is so light he’s actually float. So stoked. I love it.
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Nov 6, 2023 16:33
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Canned Sunshine posted:AZ PE here! I work in the Water/Wastewater industry in Phoenix, and at least for this industry, experienced PEs are still in pretty hot demand. I spent over 8 years in private consulting before I needed a break for life quality, and went to the municipal sector, but pretty much every consulting firm that we work with, large to small, seems to be looking for people due to the sheer amount of work that is available. Thanks, Canned Sunshine! I'm pretty familiar with the conveyance end of water/wastewater, but limited in my knowledge of the treatment side (to only the water resources PE). I'm always willing to learn anything new and... become more 'dangerous'. Wouldn't mind exiting consulting for the same reason you listed. I'll reach out soon!
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Nov 13, 2023 01:58
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I'm in water/wastewater though i'm mostly in messing around with spreadsheets and writing letters about how it's bad to have a water main leaking into your sanitary system.
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Nov 29, 2023 17:34
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Panzeh posted:I'm in water/wastewater though i'm mostly in messing around with spreadsheets and writing letters about how it's bad to have a water main leaking into your sanitary system. 
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Dec 9, 2023 18:04
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Morning thread. Just stopping by to say that I got to present on being an engineer to a group of 15 year old girls. I stressed there’s no normal engineer stereotype (used Zuck, Musk vs Rowan Atkinson), spoke about Engineering school teaching you how to think like an engineer and not just learn formulas, and if you’re going to be working for the next 50 years of your life (at their age they will be) make sure you do something you enjoy and feel passionate about and Engineering can definitely give you that. I only got one question about salary, which I deflected as I hate speaking about money. Also, I work with a STEM charity and really feel passionate about the next generation, and especially for girls as I had a LinkedIn post reminding me about the awful murder of 14 female engineers in Canada in early December 1989.
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Dec 11, 2023 10:46
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good work for the next gen! 
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Dec 12, 2023 14:54
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Oodles posted:I only got one question about salary, which I deflected as I hate speaking about money. This is an awful bit of cultural brainwashing that needs to stop and I hope you cna get over that in the future. People absolutely can and should derive satisfaction from their work but satisfaction doesn't pay the bills, nor is money purely a secondary concern. It is a very important part of your life as an adult, something they know and understand very little about, and getting a good perspective is very important to their development as teenagers starting to consider the very course of their lives.
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Dec 13, 2023 16:11
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Very cool spreading the STEM love to the next generation. Talking about money should be a softball when it comes to engineering since it is consistently one of the highest paying fields. Sure you don't want to go into engineering solely because of the money but no harm in planting that seed that it is a great way to make a living while working on solutions to society's problems.
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Dec 13, 2023 16:37
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Canned Sunshine posted:AZ PE here! I work in the Water/Wastewater industry in Phoenix, and at least for this industry, experienced PEs are still in pretty hot demand. I spent over 8 years in private consulting before I needed a break for life quality, and went to the municipal sector, but pretty much every consulting firm that we work with, large to small, seems to be looking for people due to the sheer amount of work that is available. Not in phoenix, but another poo poo engineer over here in Ontario. I'm on the consulting side, and we'd hire 3 more of me if we could find them. There's massive amounts of work out there right now due to lack of infrastructure spending over the preceding decades, which has meant tons of municipal infrastructure on the water/wastewater side with deferred work that can't be deferred anymore.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:53
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totalnewbie posted:This is an awful bit of cultural brainwashing that needs to stop and I hope you cna get over that in the future. People absolutely can and should derive satisfaction from their work but satisfaction doesn't pay the bills, nor is money purely a secondary concern. It is a very important part of your life as an adult, something they know and understand very little about, and getting a good perspective is very important to their development as teenagers starting to consider the very course of their lives. I’m not going to tell a room full of 15 year olds that I earn 120k. I did tell them that I earned enough for my wife to not need to work, and I can support a family of 6. I did tell them that I was fortunate to enjoy my job and be paid well for that, which is something that Engineering really can offer. I’m also not going to tell my kids what I earn, because they’ll go talking about it. When they are 17/18 and looking to get a job, and are mature enough to not go blabbing about it; I will definitely speak to them about money.
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Dec 16, 2023 15:09
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Oodles posted:I’m not going to tell a room full of 15 year olds that I earn 120k. I did tell them that I earned enough for my wife to not need to work, and I can support a family of 6. I did tell them that I was fortunate to enjoy my job and be paid well for that, which is something that Engineering really can offer. Is it because you're embarrassed that you make so little? Are you not driving a rolls royce... Are you in a peasant Audi??? Seriously though you should feel comfortable talking to teens looking into engineering about what you make because unless you live somewhere extremely poor (like you live in a castle and everyone else is a villager infected with plagas from RE4), your salary is not what I would call extravagant unless you're right out of college. Where I work staff engineers cap out around 130 (and moving up the food chain is not a significant boost) at which point raises come much more slowly and go to everyone, so a 30 year engineer makes about the same as a 10 year one. I live in a high cola area (housing) and when hiring constantly have to stress the benefits, job stability, and rigid limits of a 40 hour work week to make up for the pay. A 15 year old will hear that number and think it's an incredible amount of money (versus just a lot) and be encouraged to take that career path. That's good! Remember that they're constantly being told that you can make millions being a tiktoker or streamer or sports player or whatever, even though success there is basically playing the lotto. They'll remember 120k through high school which is critical because in a year or so they will need to start thinking hard about college, and that number will keep the engineer path on their minds.
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Dec 16, 2023 19:33
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I probably should clarify that I’m in the UK, and the average salary here is £38k. So I’m almost triple that, which puts me into the top 1% of earners. There’s also probably a British humility on that too. But yea I take your point.
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Dec 16, 2023 21:14
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Oodles posted:I probably should clarify that I’m in the UK, and the average salary here is £38k. So I’m almost triple that, which puts me into the top 1% of earners. if you’re british, then not wanting to talk about it is the clearest way to communicate it’s a lot of money
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Dec 17, 2023 16:00
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Oodles posted:I probably should clarify that I’m in the UK, and the average salary here is £38k. So I’m almost triple that, which puts me into the top 1% of earners. Good for talking to the next generation! I’ve been doing stem nights at my kids elementary school (grades 2-5) for non Americans. And while it’s a gigantic pain in the rear end, a huge pain in the rear end, I feel like it’s doing some good. People always say that “engineers are in demand”, mothrruckers if that was true you’d pay us more. In my former industry of foundry (not the sexy kind) people always complained that it was hard to find good help, and that all the smart people wanted to keep getting in to management. Well of course, being a technical IC doesn’t pay off, and engineers aren’t dumb as prerequisite of having longevity so of course they’re trying to get paid more. Why all they clutching of pearls and sighing?
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Dec 18, 2023 05:17
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