Tell me about being an Engineer!

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

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The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

RogueLemming posted:

I agree that it is maybe an unnecessary evil, but it's still good experience. If that experience is worth his time to him, I think he should go for it. It's a value judgment for him then. Would you give up a few hours of TV every week if it would possibly put you in a much better spot a few years from now?

What I do not agree with is that by him going out of his way to get ahead he is "negatively impacting the entire discipline".

How is a full-time, 40 hours a week plus commute, unpaid internship, including the prior/additional time investment to make the money you need to be able to work for free, equivalent to "giving up a few hours of TV a week"?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2011 02:46

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 02:23

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

RogueLemming posted:

Jesus christ you all sound entitled. Let me guess, you all DESERVE more money? And someone else always get promoted/moved to the spot that you DESERVED too, right? I bet that someone is a person who was willing to think about more than the paycheck they DESERVE.

It's not an issue of entitlement, it's earning fair pay for an day's work. Someone who can't afford to work without pay for several months shouldn't be at a career disadvantage.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2011 05:28

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

PE question: I'm sitting for the Civil/Structural PE in April and putting together all my code books. How vital is having the correct year's code, especially if mine are newer? I have AISC 13th, but the other big design standards are ASCE 7-05 and ACI 318-08, while I have copies of ASCE 7-10 and ACI 318-11. Should I go back and buy the previous editions, or are the newer ones going to be sufficient?

Also, do I really need the prestressed or the masonry standards?

# ¿ Feb 25, 2014 21:54

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Work has some electronic copies of the earlier codes I'm missing, so I'm planning on printing them and putting them in binders. Only one I can't find is the masonry code, so I'd appreciate that one.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2014 22:45

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

IratelyBlank posted:

(electrical engineering) Does anyone have any experience with going back to do a PhD after being out and earning money for awhile? Or any experience with it at all?

I went back and got my civil engineering PhD after working for about two years. I was looking into part-time terminal masters' programs, but one school offered me a PhD research assistant position on a DoD grant, so I quit my job and took it.

Generally you'll be in a better position than other students: more practical experience, better connections, a more stable financial situation (especially since you've got the landlord income). However, you're also going to have to go back and re-learn study skills, time management, academic writing, and so forth.

$20k is about typical for a stipend, assuming you're in an area with an average cost of living; there isn't really room to negotiate it, since it's typically a fixed rate set by the college. You may get slightly more later on depending on the grants your research group receives.

However, one thing to note about engineering doctorates is that a lot of practicing engineers are suspicious of PhDs at best and outright dismissive of them at worst. You may run into situations further down the line where a company passes you over because they think you're too head-in-the-clouds for practical work (though your 8 years' experience would mitigate that).

# ¿ Mar 14, 2014 15:21

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

fishhooked posted:

If you don't mind me asking what do you do, or will you do, with your civil PhD? You're definitely right their is a mindset in the engineering consulting industry that those PhDs are only useful for teaching. I'm seriously considering dropping my 7+ years civil consulting career and pursuing a doctorate, after I finish up my masters of course.

I'm a structural engineer at an industrial engineering firm, where I mostly do analysis of steel equipment towers and conveyor galleries. I also teach one class a semester at a community college.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2014 20:16

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

As a ChE you don't really have much use for CAD beyond basic navigation skills, since you're not responsible for to-scale schematics as far as I know. You might want to look into fluid dynamics software like ANSYS Fluent or pipe network analysis software like Bentley Autopipe, though.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2014 03:23

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

I've decided to do as much paper and pencil calculating at work this week and the next to get me into the groove for the PE, and it's fun

# ¿ Mar 31, 2014 21:02

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

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

# ¿ May 2, 2014 18:40

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

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.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 23:59

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Thoguh posted:

How would an engineering society be able to prevent anybody from calling themselves an engineer? Other than the specific case of PEs anybody can call themselves an engineer if they want to.

The Quebec Order of Engineers legally prevents non-members from calling themselves an engineer in any way, to the point where they successfully prevented Microsoft from calling their certifications "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers" in that province.

# ¿ May 14, 2014 20:29

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

KetTarma posted:

I wanted to ask the opinion of people that are out in industry. A number of people I know are getting out of the military and going to online engineering schools. I'm extremely skeptical of this and have said as much. They're ABET accredited. All of the labs are done via simulator programs. Should I be discouraging people from doing this? It just seems really sketchy.

Which schools, in particular?

# ¿ May 18, 2014 19:58

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

If ABET's signing off on it, it's gotta be at least passable.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 13:14

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

# ¿ May 22, 2014 19:51

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

As an EE, it depends on if you're interested in working in a field where a PE would be required (I think for EEs this would be facilities design, HVAC and power transmission). If not, you might as well get that free master's instead.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2014 21:53

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Technician and engineer are usually separate career tracks at a lot of companies because of their differing qualifications and requirements, from what I've seen. Working as a tech wouldn't really get you in the door if what you really want to do is design.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 15:14

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

PPI has decent review materials: you can get a week of test bank access for $50 (available for the civil, chemical, mechanical, electrical, enviro or industrial exam).

The Chairman fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Jun 30, 2014

# ¿ Jun 30, 2014 23:50

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

I do not have an engineering degree or any sort of background in engineering coursework, and just landed a mechanical engineering job. I've worked alongside MEs for the past few years so I've absorbed some things so I'm not going in entirely cold at least. Obviously I wouldn't have been offered the job if they didn't think I could do it, but I'm still slightly worried some engineering-specific problem is going to come out of left field and I'm going to have no idea what to do.

From what I can tell the job is basically my old job (industrial design) just with more hard numbers and math and less creative freedom. Any tips on pretending to be an ME without an ME degree?

Don't be afraid to ask for help or look at your colleagues' work for guidance. Nobody reasonable is going to expect you to come in on day 1 with perfect knowledge of everything your office does; as long as you're learning something from each new job that comes in and not asking the same questions over and over, you'll be fine.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2014 21:18

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

The scaled score for passing the FE is 70, but how that translates from a raw score depends on the subject and the questions you get.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2014 20:48

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Just say you got a 4 because GPAs are only accurate to one sig fig anyway

# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 17:32

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

All the M.Eng (terminal professional master's) programs I'm familiar with either have an industry co-op component or a multi-semester capstone project. Both of those are good networking/resume building opportunities and ways to demonstrate your specialization in a field (as well as differentiating you from B.S. graduates who've only ever seen the inside of a classroom).

# ¿ Jul 26, 2014 16:13

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

BigBobio posted:

Most good graduate programs will not accept you if you're applying for only an MS degree. They want PhD students

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"?

In what field? In civil, there are plenty of good programs that offer terminal MS/M.Eng degrees.

If a program only offers a thesis MS, then yeah maybe they'll be reluctant to take on students who just want a master's before they go to industry, but standalone master's programs with co-op/project components exist at good schools.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2014 15:24

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

Would it be possible to to get a MS in engineering without a BS in engineering? My degree is a BS in Industrial Design but I've been working as an ME for the past couple years (only got an official job title change about a month ago though). I feel like an MS would give me a little more credibility than "I'm a designer who's been pretending to be an engineer" in any future job hunts and save my resume from being filtered out before it reaches a human due to the lack of an engineering degree on it. Plus the salary increase would be nice.

It's possible, you'd just have to complete the undergraduate prerequisites before you begin on the master's coursework. Some programs have a "bridge program" that lays out the minimum coursework you need, possibly in an accelerated summer form.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2014 16:28

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Electrical, maybe mechanical, possibly chemical. Civils and EnEs basically never see a circuit unless they go out of their way to.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2014 13:59

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

The Hitchhiker's Guide to AutoCAD Basics in the application help files is a good introduction to the basic editing and navigation commands that you'll spend the most time using.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 01:39

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Does any engineer really use vanilla AutoCAD for much besides looking at DWG files? I'm a structural and the most I use it for is drawing preliminary sketches; everything else is done in a dedicated BIM/steel detailing package.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 20:31

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Panzeh posted:

I'm an AutoCAD tech looking to become more employable now that it seems everyone is looking for an architect, engineer, or someone with trade skills. I already have a Bachelor's degree, but would like to get into structural engineering. Would having a little bit of training in miscellaneous steel detailing help?

It depends on the firm, but it leans towards no -- not too many structural engineers handle the detailing, leaving the connections and cutouts up to the fabricator/contractor and signing off on them when they come back for review. Learning a BIM package like Revit Structure, Tekla Structures or Bentley ProSteel might be worthwhile though, since it makes coordinating your design calcs and your construction plans much easier.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 23:05

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

I wouldn't use EIT as a post-nominal in general - it confuses people who don't know how engineering licensure works and looks cheesy to those who do. Just mention it under your certifications.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2014 14:55

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

I think it'd be worth going to that event, since it's a national professional conference and not a local/regional job fair.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2014 14:20

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Do internships, do co-ops, do research opportunities, join student auxiliaries of professional associations, build relationships with professors more substantial than just attending their classes. Anything that'll get your foot in the door, potentially over someone with a high GPA but no work history of note.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2014 15:10

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

I know ASCE does an annual salary survey that gives civils a good sense of what they're making in relation to other civils in their region; does ASME do the same?

# ¿ Oct 29, 2014 23:27

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Zero Gravitas posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for continuum mechanics textbooks, or a source with some worked examples (specifically about working out the spatial description of a material field/material description of spatial field)?

My lecturer in this subject think the purpose of the lecture is simply to scrawl as many equations as he can in three hours and for the life of me I cannot read twenty sides of mathematical squiggles for a general case and know what to substitute. Even one worked example would be enough, but my google-fu cannot turn up a single worked example.

Gurtin is a decent book, but even with a textbook, continuum mechanics is a horrible tensor explosion.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 21:49

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Hello Sailor posted:

Should I really take circuit analysis anyway or can I get by just fine with a good textbook (and can someone recommend an older one I can pick up cheap)?

Take an FE prep course/buy a FE study guide specifically. It'll cover what you need of circuit analysis (and kinematics and engineering economics and whatever other topics you've never studied before) with strategies how to solve the kinds of problems you'll encounter on the exam.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2014 18:01

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Big Spoon posted:

2) Assuming I pass the FE, would my meteo education from Penn State be enough to get my EIT license? I'm in Texas if that matters.

In TX, your meteorology degree would have to have covered 8 credits of calculus and 20 credits of engineering sciences (so, for EnE, things like wastewater treatment, transport phenomena, site remediation, and so forth). If you can't meet that, you'd want to look into getting an M.Eng or M.S. in EnE rather than hope your bachelor's squeaks past the degree evaluation.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2014 18:27

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Big Spoon posted:

I have calc up through differential equations so that should be good. I don't think I can get into a MS program without the EIT though.

I don't think I've ever seen a grad program that required you to have an EIT, honestly; at most they'll ask non-engineers to pass the FE exam to demonstrate basic competency, but you don't need the state certificate

# ¿ Nov 3, 2014 22:46

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

The FE's nice to have in your back pocket, just in case you ever do decide you want the PE later on, even if you're 100% covered by the industrial exemption in your current field -- besides stamping drawings, the PE is also required if you want to start your own engineering services firm, become a consultant, or testify in court as an expert witness.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2014 19:54

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Outside of the extremes on both ends of the prestige range, it's about the quality of networking. I also went to a school that's well-known regionally but unknown outside of it, and all the jobs I've gotten (in both industry and academia) were through the alumni network.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2014 21:17

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

I work at a small structural/mechanical firm (3 engineers, 4 drafters, 1 estimator) where the drafters do the bulk of the 3D modeling and detailing from the engineers' designs, but the engineers are also skilled with the CAD and BIM software and occasionally see the entire design through from the analysis stick model to shop drawings. None of my friends in bigger firms touch CAD or BIM, outside of importing their stick models into DXF and handing them to the drafters.

It helps that the BIM software we use takes care of most of the menial stuff like numbering assemblies and creating part views; if we were still doing that by hand, I imagine we'd have one less engineer but twice as many drafters.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2015 20:23

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Do you have any leads or connections to employers in the consumer electronics industry, or are you cold-calling open positions? If you don't have any kind of "in" to the industry, you're more likely going to just be rejected out of hand for looking like you're casting an inappropriately wide net in your job search.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 05:21

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 02:23

The Chairman: Jun 30, 2003; But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun

Honestly, I'd really really consider taking calc and/or diff eq at the community college before you transfer. Get all your basic requirements taken care of first for cheaper in an environment with more personal attention and tutoring resources, so you can focus purely on the upper-level engineering stuff after the transfer.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 20:49

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

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