Tell me about being an Engineer!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Tell me about being an Engineer!

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; _{Can I buy you a rootbeer?}

Powercrazy posted:

A low GPA makes it difficult but not impossible to break into the industry, I can tell you this though, its not going to be easy.

Just don't list your GPA on your resume, and assuming you can't find any internships, do your damndest to work on projects relevant to engineering in your spare time that you can fluff up in some way during the applications process. If the company rejects your application for failing to list your GPA, chances are good they would have rejected it upon seeing your GPA regardless, but many will simply wait until an interview to ask - which at least gets your foot in the door.

The larger the company is, the more likely they are to look at your GPA - the smaller they are, the more likely it is that they won't care as much about that as plain what you can do. Thus, if your dream happens to be to work for a larger firm, just delay that with a few years of working in the field for some smaller group. Get that few years of experience, then poof, no one gives a poo poo about your GPA.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2009 19:40

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 18:32

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; _{Can I buy you a rootbeer?}

CheerGrrl92 posted:

If I stick with mathematics I can finish a degree in a year and a half. I know a lot of you say that where you get your degree from and gpa only matter to the extent of getting your first job.. could I land myself a crappy engineering job with a mathematics degree and then use that experience to land me a decent engineering job if I were to show my worth? Or is that highly unlikely?

My degree is in Math, and I work in CS, basically. It would be a reach for me to get a job as an engineer - theoretically I could, but it would take a fair bit of study on my own time, and it would still be somewhat difficult. (much like how math is a good grounding for just about any career, so long as you put in the time to learn the domain-specific knowledge)

If engineering is what you want to go into, just get an engineering degree.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2009 18:06

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; _{Can I buy you a rootbeer?}

Nihilanthic posted:

I'm going M.E. myself, - what is ME field work like? I've wrenched on my own cars out of fun and later necessity for the past 9 years, starting at 16, and I've done my share of crawling into odd angles to hold or fix or fit or join things together. Will I be doing that or just inspecting things, measuring, etc?

I'm curious about this, and also how M.E. work differs between larger firms and smaller firms? Does the work get more applied and less cubical-based if you move away from corporate firms? Or is this purely a function of job title / "field work" in larger and smaller companies is identical?

# ¿ Jan 5, 2010 20:21

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; _{Can I buy you a rootbeer?}

NativeAlien posted:

I've thought about it and I see pros and cons with contacting them about it. I don't want seem like I think I'm some hot commodity throwing my weight around when I don't have any at this point, and I also don't want them to think "well, this kid's got his opportunity, let's give someone else a try" either. I have no idea if that's how it works, but it's what I'm afraid of.

What I am sure of is not to take one position and then back out of it later. I don't want to bite any hands feeding me.

So don't act like a hot commodity, just call and politely ask. They know how the economy is just as you do, and know how important SOME kind of job is.

I was in exactly this spot before taking my current position - I emailed the slower of the two I really wanted to work for, explained and asked politely, and they said "oh, yeah, sure, one sec... <quick conference>... yeah, you're hired."

# ¿ Feb 19, 2010 16:02

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; _{Can I buy you a rootbeer?}

ApathyGifted posted:

You don't need to actually machine stuff for machining knowledge to be useful. Machine shop guys would KILL to have engineers who understand machining, because theyll think about how the part will be machined when they design it, and make no/less stupid-rear end mistakes. Which of course makes the job of the machine shop much easier.

So question on this - my sister is finally entering the Mech E part of her degree (she did her first two years at a CC) where internships become an option, and has 3 years of prior professional CNC machining experience. She also has a fully set up shop (manual mill, lathe, lots of nice tooling, etc) that she loves to fiddle with. Her eventual aim is to work with a smaller engineering company, where her hands-on experience might come in handy, doing green tech / alternative energy / etc work.

Is this something she can parlay into a cooler than average internship? Is there any particular angle she should try for that, or is it just something worth mentioning on internship applications?

Shalinor fucked around with this message at 21:24 on May 29, 2010

# ¿ May 29, 2010 21:20

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 18:32

Shalinor: Jun 10, 2002; _{Can I buy you a rootbeer?}

Anyone have any insight into MechEng jobs in Seattle area?

My GF is graduating later this year and we'd be moving out to Olalla area in early 2015, so would be looking at jobs in downtown (ferry commute) or over in Bremerton/Tacoma mostly. Her ideal gig would be something with a smaller company, maybe in green tech, but googling around for small shops like that is obnoxious.

She's got 3 years of CNC machining experience backing up the degree (and lots of fiddling in the garage with her Bridgeport, rebuilding giant military trucks and the like, making unicycles and props/toys, etc), if that helps.

Shalinor fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Jan 3, 2014

# ¿ Jan 3, 2014 17:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Tell me about being an Engineer!