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Virginia Tech always tries to get funding for its engineering grad students. All their intro presentations for new students have a big section on how important it is to find an adviser asap. I lucked out and had one lined up with a GRA position before graduating with my BS. The bigger schools make it easier due to the larger amount of classes that need TAs and professors who need GRAs. If you're still feeling out schools, you can probably email any potential advisers to see if they have funding for you. They'll be pretty honest about whats available.
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Dec 8, 2011 03:23
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MourningGlory posted:This is somewhat off-topic, but can the ME's in this thread tell me what magazines/websites/whatever are worth reading for current information on the state of the industry, technology, new advances, etc? I'm still in school, but I feel like I need to do some extracurricular reading on top of my courses. I'm mostly interested in broad, general information within ME, not highly specific stuff. The asme magazine is ok and you get it with an asme membership, which is like $25 for students. Mechanical engineering is so broad that you can find a specific magazine or journal on whatever sub field you are interested in pretty easily. Also join the asme chapter at your school, always a good thing to attend.
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Dec 23, 2011 20:09
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General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT is hiring literally hundreds of engineers this year. I turned down a job with them to go to grad school, but it seemed like a good place to start a career. I'm sure they'd give you a good look being ex-Navy with a Nuke degree. I applied on their website and got an email within a couple weeks to fly me up for an interview on their dime. They offered something like $58k for a starting Mechanical Engineer, provided you passed the security clearance and such.
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Jan 26, 2012 23:14
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If you have access to a landline, use that instead of a cell phone. Quality is better and no chance of a dropped call or dead battery,
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Feb 25, 2012 03:09
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Safe and Secure! posted:So how possible would it be to switch to an engineering field via master's degree if I have an bachelor's in math and CS? Not really interested right, just wondering if it would be a possibility for something like bioengineering, where you need the master's anyway. It is possible, I'd contact the departments you're interested in to ask them directly, though. There's a guy in my lab getting his masters in mechanical engineering when he came in with a BS in physics and another who has a masters in CS here for his PhD.
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Mar 20, 2012 19:23
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I know Virginia has a program where you can do your first two years at a community college, take all the entry level engineering classes (math, physics, intro engineering classes like statics, etc) and get automatically accepted to any state engineering program once you get your associates. You might want to see if your state does something similar.
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Mar 21, 2012 17:01
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Lockmart Lawndart posted:I apologize if these questions have been asked before, but it's a huge thread and I've picked through it without seeing them. The fact that you have a secret clearance should be front and center in everything you submit. Also I got contacted farther out that 2 weeks for some job applications when I was applying, so don't rule them out yet. Also, I got into grad school with a 2.9 overall, but I did a lot of undergrad research with my now advisor, so I'm probably a rarity.
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Mar 27, 2012 01:44
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NomNomNom posted:Senior about to graduate with degree in Ocean Engineering (Naval architecture, part of our Aerospace college). Taking the FE tomorrow, should I really be sweating it? Not really. It's more important to know where all the equations are in the reference book they give you. The electrical stuff might throw you off if you haven't done any of that in a while, but it was a breeze for me. The mechanical engineering department here gets something like a 98% pass rate on their first try every year.
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Apr 13, 2012 16:10
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Notitia posted:Few questions for you engineers. I'm about to start school this fall after 8 years in the military and want to shoot for either a mechanical or electrical engineering degree. Are there any little things I can look into now that will help me figure out which path I'd enjoy more down the line? If you're interested in electronics, look into getting an Arduino kit. Lets you learn about microcontrollers pretty cheaply and has a lot of tutorials and guides for sample projects you can do. On a side note, I'm a mechanical engineer (doing a masters now) and if your school offers mechatronics or robotics courses, that's kinda the best of both worlds in terms of mechanical + electrical. If you're more of the thermodynamics/turbomachinery/heat transfer mechanical engineer, then you'll get plenty of that in your regular ME course load if you choose that path. As for CAD software, if you have a .edu email address already, you can download pretty much any Autodesk product for free. Frinkahedron fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Apr 30, 2012 |
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Apr 30, 2012 01:45
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Notitia posted:As far as EE and ME go is one or the other significantly harder in the end or is that more of a do what you enjoy line of question? Basically, yeah. You'll know if you like it or not fairly quickly. I'd say they are about even in difficulty. EE might make you take a couple extra math courses.
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Apr 30, 2012 01:54
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I got two great years of internships and had my (at that time, around sophomore year I think) GPA of 2.77 on my resume. Senior year I had around a 2.9(?) and I turned down three job offers and went to grad school (where I have a 4.0 now!  ) I wouldn't leave it off unless it was really terri-bad.(I did a lot of undergraduate research to balance out my not so great GPA, so I am definitely not a typical case.) Frinkahedron fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Jun 24, 2012 |
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Jun 24, 2012 19:23
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Wilhelm posted:Anybody here ever graduate with a really terrible GPA and go on to grad school or nab a job easily? I have a 1.8 and am going into my 4th year. This was due to a combination of being unprepared as well as a serious illness in my 2nd year that completely devastated my grades, and has also put me behind by a year. A lot of people will accept an "In Major" GPA for a resume, especially since your specific engineering classes aren't until junior and senior year, which can let you put a better GPA on there. Also, a common grad school thing is to only look at the last 60 hours of your degree for the GPA, which can be a good thing if your grades improved towards senior year. Definitely keep networking as much as you can though. That'll help you regardless of gpa or grad school.
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Jun 29, 2012 02:13
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SeaBass posted:Has anybody here worked or currently work for General Dynamics? I have a phone interview tomorrow afternoon (mid-level engineering position), just trying to get a feel for the place. Which divison? I interviewed (and was offered a job) at Electric Boat last year.
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Jul 19, 2012 01:44
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SeaBass posted:Electronic Systems, Inc. in San Diego. Got a call from them this morning on my way into work. They're going to bypass the phone interview and have me come in for a face-to-face interview next week. That's how they did it for me. Didn't even schedule a phone interview, just went right for the in person. They never did reimburse me for the food costs during travel like they said though  I guess I'll just describe what my experience was like, but since Electric Boat is literally a giant shipyard, it might be different from yours. All of the people interviewing that day were all herded together after being checked in by security and taken on a tour of the facility by an engineer. Really interesting stuff, got to see the subs up close inside the docks, the biggest machine shop I've ever seen, etc. We were all asking the engineer questions the entire time and he was really honest with his answers. He also said that at Electric Boat, something like 50% of all people who get offered a job there turned it down. I was interviewed by two engineers in the group that was interested in me in one of their offices. Both would have been my boss if I had accepted. No technical questions beyond asking about the work that was on my resume. They did the standard stuff like describe a time where you solved a problem between two people. I got an offer via email probably a week later. I knew by then I'd be doing grad school, so I turned it down instead of haggling on salary or whatever, but I do remember it being a little low, not sure what cost of living was there though.
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Jul 20, 2012 02:27
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huhu posted:I'd like to get my feet wet with robotics. Since I'll be pretty busy this semester with work and school(mech eng) I thought Lego Mindstorms would be a fun start. Two things, is this a worthy endeavor and is it possible to somehow put this experience on my resume? I plan on doing lots of exploration and not just basic stuff with it before I consider the knowledge resume worthy. You might be better off picking up an arduino and some basic servo or stepper motors and going that route. Lego Mindstorms is great, but probably limiting if you want to do projects for a resume. Plus you learn how to program in something more like a real programming language. If you're not comfortable jumping in that deep, maybe look at the Vex Robotics kit. It's like an older version of Lego Mindstorms. Also, look to see if there's a Mechatronics or intro to embedded class offered at your school. It might be an EE class instead of ME, but that'll get you started as well. Frinkahedron fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 06:00
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Jakabite posted:I'm not really sure, that's the thing. Just the overall design, and then getting an idea of how all the parts work together. The algorithm writing aspect is good fun too, the programming, but I don't really want to do straight computer science. Like I said, I did lean more towards mechanical but now I'm probably swaying more towards EE. Thanks for the input by the way! The lab I do my graduate work is basically a Mechatronics lab, but we are all mechanical or electrical engineers that are specializing. You are probably better off doing an ME or EE and either getting a minor in Mechatronics (or at least plan your electives to have a lot of those classes you can put on a resume). That way you can still say I'm an Electrical/Mechanical engineer for a whole slew of other jobs as well as having that mechatronics experience.
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Aug 28, 2012 23:45
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MourningGlory posted:I graduate in May with a BSME and I want to start posting my resume online so that I can maybe have a job lined up by the time I'm done. Are there any sites in particular that I should be looking at? Sorry if this has been discussed already. I've followed this thread reasonably closely but I can't recall if any job sites have been mentioned. Your engineering department probably has a fall career fair (ours is in 2 weeks), focus on that first.
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Sep 10, 2012 03:16
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SB35 posted:Casio FX-115es is the one you want, and it's under $20. Just make sure you do your prep and practice tests with it so you can figure out how to use all of its functions. This is the best one. All you need to do to pass the FE is do some practice problems to get familiar with the calculator and know where stuff is in the reference handbook so you don't waste time looking for an equation. If you have half a brain and do those two things you'll pass easily. nbakyfan posted:tdlr: what career path in ME could I take where I wouldn't be stuck in an office 90 percent of the time? I know places like Schlumberger (or any petroleum exploration/drilling operation) would love to send you out to oil rigs for a few years. Down side is, you're in the middle of nowhere a lot.
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Oct 18, 2012 05:19
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Lord Gaga posted:
The vast majority of engineering grad students get paid as GTAs or GRAs to get their degree. There's tons of research money out there to fund it. Just for my two cents, I'm 75% through a masters in mechanical engineering, but I'm specializing in unmanned systems and mechatronics, which is something I couldn't really do in undergrad. That was probably the biggest reason I stayed for a masters right out of school, since I was still in required heat transfer/fluids classes my fall semester senior year. Many of the grad students in my lab are stopping at a masters. So the 'expected' path really varies depending on what you want to specialize or get a job in later.
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Oct 31, 2012 15:26
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Edward IV posted:I'm a Mechanical Engineer and, as my first job, worked for 2 and a half years doing CAD work for this lovely Armenian guy. Unfortunately, I was let go in October due to downsizing and have been job searching since. Get a copy of the exam book they give you with all the formulas and references and look through that and get familiar with it. You'll spend a lot of time looking up formulas and stuff, so don't waste time not knowing where stuff generally is.
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Dec 5, 2012 04:40
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Wolfy posted:What do I wear to an engineering career fair? I wore a suit to every career fair. It's hard to overdress for one.
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Dec 24, 2012 06:58
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henn and potion posted:I'm thinking about going back to grad school for Computer Science. It would be part time and I would be able to adjust my work schedule to accommodate my classes. However, I routinely put in 50-60 hour weeks (70+ when poo poo gets real) so I'm hesitant to add classes into the mix unless it's worth it. I'm fortunate enough to work in a research lab doing what I want to do. The graduate degree is purely to pad the resume, and I'd only considering it because I could possibly get it all paid for by my company. Check out the grad school thread in business and finance for sure. I know tons of people who got an engineering masters degree and highly recommend it (and I'm one of them!) but CS is different enough that I can't say it's the same for sure. Grad school is great though, getting paid to get a degree is very nice.
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Apr 4, 2013 16:23
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Thoguh posted:I can't speak for undergrad. But when I did my Masters the difference between an MEngr and an MS was whether you did a thesis. To add to this, usually a master of engineering is unfunded and you (or your employer) pays for it, while a master of science lets you have a GRA or GTA position that pays for school and has a stipend.
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Apr 14, 2013 17:54
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You should probably figure out an subversion control method (Tortise SVN is what we use in our lab for client side) because of the possibility of two people editing the same file at once, even with a 12 hour difference. You can lock files while you edit them and then push changes back up to the server for other people to work on. You could run it off a regular desktop at your office pretty easily if its only a couple people using it.
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May 10, 2013 19:45
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Get an internship doing something, anything, to offset the GPA. I had something like. 2.8 around junior year, but I managed to work at a fire protection engineering firm for a couple summers. During the school year I did undergraduate research outside of class for multiple semesters. Senior year I barely had a 3 and I turned down 3 job offers to go to grad school in robotics.I'm not typical, but it's possible.
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May 15, 2013 00:48
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Globofglob posted:All internships I've looked up though seem to have a 3.0 GPA requirement, though. Do low GPA internships even exist? They do. Look for smaller places that won't auto throw out your resume based on a GPA. If possible email it directly to the person doing the decision making. Even better, talk to them in person at a career fair or if they come to give a presentation on campus. Join your professional society's local chapter (ASME, IEEE, etc) and go to meetings. I guarantee they bring companies to talk about what they do semi-often. That's how I got my resume to who hired me as an intern when I first started.
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May 15, 2013 02:43
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Kolodny posted:It's really incredibly depressing, for the students and the professors both. I was in a class last week, senior level elective aerospace class, ~30 of the smarter people in the class, and the prof asks how many people have something lined up after graduation. Two guys slowly raise their hands. Prof: "Oh. Well. I'm sure you'll all figure out something." This is at Virginia Tech, which make it especially surprising. I'd be interested in what things are like in the other engineering departments.  As a graduate and current grad student in the ME department at Virginia Tech, it's a hell of a lot better on our side of Randolph. Every single person in my senior design a couple years ago (12 people) had a job or grad school lined up. I heard aerospace was bad but not that bad.
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May 15, 2013 05:47
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Booties posted:This is a fortune 500 company with over 60k employees. Though I would report to a smaller company. The job profile says sales engineer. I had to look it up and it seems like they are expert customer service people who do some engineering calculations. I also need a salary requirement. Is 60k/year too low or high? I dont think there is any commission. If you can, put negotiable.
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May 28, 2013 15:39
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rockamiclikeavandal posted:I am starting my first internship on monday, y'all got any general advice you wish you know or you wish your interns knew before they showed up? My plan right now is to try and be relentlessly positive and kiss rear end, network, and try not to break anything. If you get asked to do something that you don't know how to do (and can't look it up on your own) don't be afraid to ask (and ask earlier rather than wait). You're an intern, so you're not expected to know much practical stuff at all for how they do things.
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Jun 9, 2013 04:02
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Kolodny posted:At Virginia Tech, the AeroE program had no required writing courses, technical or otherwise; the only mention of writing on the courselist was for the senior capstone, which said that it satisfied the writing requirement. The excuse is probably that the AeroE program is already at the max allowed number of required credits. I think it was the same with MechE. The only time I ever heard about technical writing classes was from CS and CompE students, maybe EE as well. As a (former) Virginia Tech ME student, the writing requirements were the freshmen English classes everyone else took, and two semesters of a "lab" course that had something like 80% of your grade come from writing lab reports. Your senior year capstone project had several reports and presentations as well, so you can't really get away with not knowing how to write. There were no restrictions on other classes as long as you were eligible to sign up for them. I took several random classes (intro to sci fi!) my first couple years before getting into the grinder of engineering classwork junior/senior year.
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Nov 20, 2013 16:31
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Hed posted:Did you not have microecon as a GenEd req? I think it's good to have both to be a well-rounded individual but interesting that Aero would be different otherwise. Econ is not a required class at VT. I didn't take it as an ME.
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Nov 22, 2013 03:49
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Apocadall posted:I'm a computer engineering student. Does anyone have opinions on the DoD SMART scholarship, interning, and job program? I was in the military previously and thinking on it, the idea of working for the DoD appeals to me. What are some views on this? One of my lab mates did it and had his last year of undergrad and all of grad school covered and then some. He has to work for the DoD for like 3 years to "pay" it off but he seems happy at his job and the place he ended up at is basically my old lab in government lab form, so it couldn't be a better fit for him. He did have a strict time limit to finish grad school though, had to really push to finish his masters in 2 years.
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Apr 30, 2014 02:08
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Alastor_the_Stylish posted:
To make more money.
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May 13, 2014 03:23
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As someone who went through a program that didn't push you to get a PhD (I did an MS right after undergrad and it was the best decision I've ever made, career wise), it really depends on the program/the research you're doing and what you're there for. My masters degree had me doing very applied projects in addition to my masters research and let me take classes that were in my desired field (robotics) that I couldn't fully take advantage of as an undergrad. The department is top 20 in the country for mechanical engineering, so I'd say it qualifies as "good".  The graduate program you're interested in will have an staff member who's sole job is to advise grad students, ask them.
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Jul 27, 2014 15:00
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Corla Plankun posted:When I applied for grad school I found it to be true 100% of the time. Maybe you skipped over the word "good"? It's like anecdotal evidence is crap or something.
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Jul 27, 2014 15:35
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Absolutely. MS-only students are cash-cows for universities. Shear Modulus posted:Like the other posters, my experience was that top engineering departments are very happy to admit students for an MS only but part of that is they want you or your company's money; paid tuition, stipends and research positions only get doled out to the PhD students. My MS was fully paid for by my research  (And lots of my lab mates too)
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Jul 28, 2014 01:08
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Daviclond posted:Anyone got experience of migrating abroad in engineering? How hard was it? In a very general sense, upstream means oil fields, which means you're in Texas or Alaska, or the upper midwest (like North Dakota, or even Canada). There's also the gulf coast if you want more of your traditional oil platforms at sea kind of thing. If you could somehow transition to downstream, then all the coasts open up to you as that's where the refineries are. Out of Texas, Alaska, and North Dakota (in the US), Texas is probably the most like what you seem to be looking for. Frinkahedron fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Aug 12, 2014 |
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Aug 12, 2014 12:10
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I have never heard of any of my former classmates flying to another city for a career fair, but my university hosted a few per year, so YMMV.
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Oct 2, 2014 04:27
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Think of some good questions to ask, it'll show you've researched the company/position (you have, right?) and that you're serious about knowing as much as possible. You're interviewing them as much as they are you.
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Oct 7, 2014 23:52
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I wanted to ask some salary advice really quick, I figure some of you might have a good idea for these numbers. I have a company I interviewed that wants a salary number but they haven't made an offer. I'm going to try to avoid answering that until they make an offer, but if they keep pushing I want to be ready with a number. "Negotiable"
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Feb 6, 2015 05:07
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