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A Jew in Manhattan posted:How proficient should you be in a programming language to list it on a resume or during an interview? I break them into two tiers - "regular use" and "some experience". It shows that you've been exposed to a language, and therefore could use it, but don't have the in-depth knowledge that comes with daily use.
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Mar 1, 2011 05:25
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A Jew in Manhattan posted:Do the people in charge of hiring only like to see engineering related societies and clubs? I have leadership experience in a large non-engineering student club. No, non-engineering activities are good too. I know a lot of people I interviewed with while I was in college liked seeing that I was on my school's ultimate team (and I wasn't even an officer or anything).
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Mar 10, 2011 03:04
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I'm not even in the defense industry and I got a pretty thorough background check.
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Mar 27, 2011 21:17
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Maybe you should try a little programming and see if you like it.
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Mar 30, 2011 07:16
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In the free time you've got, work on projects, be they software or hardware (or both). Cool projects can be a good substitute for formal experience. Build yourself an automated soda machine or something.
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Apr 13, 2011 01:37
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RedReverend posted:Does it get a little easier at this point? It gets easier when you stop trying to do everything on your own and start working in a study group with your classmates (if you aren't already doing this).
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Apr 19, 2011 02:06
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2banks1swap.avi posted:Who said programming isn't fun? There's a very broad spectrum of software development, from web dev to embedded systems. Standard software engineering curriculums these days often don't include a lot of knowledge that's crucial for low level programming.
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Apr 25, 2011 04:10
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2banks1swap.avi posted:The thing is, though, that there are far more general software jobs than there are jobs involved with embedded stuff close to the metal. I WANT to work close to the metal. I don't want to skimp on the higher level stuff that is plentiful, though. Embedded systems is actually an enormous field, and it's growing fast. You should not have a problem finding a job writing software that's "close to the metal". As for EE or CS, it really depends on the school you go to and the programs they offer. Either way, make sure you take classes that are important for what you want to do - learn how to program microcontrollers, learn to understand circuits to some degree, learn some computer science fundamentals, and learn software engineering principles.
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Apr 25, 2011 04:26
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I think it's much better to get just one degree and spend your extra time on internships and projects. Classes do not make for real world experience.
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May 2, 2011 08:56
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It shouldn't really matter what laptop you get. A Lenovo should be fine. I wouldn't worry about getting a circuits kit unless you plan on doing that stuff for fun in your free time. Any classes that require these things will tell you so in the syllabus.
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May 4, 2011 20:26
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Python vs Perl?
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May 9, 2011 05:06
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2banks1swap.avi posted:Now I want to bring up an old question I've had but had nobody to offer it to. Many tasks are serial - each step depends on information from the step before it. There's no way to parallelize such a task.
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May 14, 2011 07:53
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I stick to consumer electronics because they're pretty useless for military applications. It keeps my conscience clear.
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May 30, 2011 01:03
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Backno posted:So I know this talk happened already but I can't find it in the thread. What calculator where you guys recommending? I start classes tomorrow and want to get my shopping list together. Ti-83+?
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Aug 22, 2011 07:50
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Weird. My Ti-83+ served me well in my CSE classes. Anything it couldn't handle I just did in MATLAB or Mathematica.
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Aug 22, 2011 16:47
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ValhallaSmith posted:Why the hell is TI still the go to calculator? They have to be way overpriced now. I'm surprised there isn't a common web app out there now. I'd much rather have something like a nook color with CAS for nearly the same amount. Or an ipod touch for 100$ more. There are actually Ti-8x emulators for Android. I have a Ti-83+ in my phone!
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Aug 23, 2011 01:26
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Senor P. posted:As a recent ME graduate, what should I be using to find jobs? Careerbuilder and monster doesn't seem to cut it and I'm tired of going around and making accounts for big engineering/construction companies. Do you have friends in other companies? Ask them if they can forward your resume internally.
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Sep 18, 2011 07:37
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Shoren posted:(PS once you get an interview make sure you send a thank you email to the interviewer within 24 hours. I've been told it makes or breaks job offers) I've had people I interviewed send me a thank you note (or not send one) and I really don't care at all. All I want is for them to demonstrate skill, knowledge, and a good personality. Does anyone else hate interviewing people, or is it just me? I don't feel like I've ever been given enough time to really get a feel for someone. I've always only been given 30 minutes with potential candidates, which really isn't enough, especially if they turn out to be a talker.
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Sep 24, 2011 17:01
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SB35 posted:I you have a part-time job of some sort I don't think that one semester of university is going to throw you into significant debt. Unless of course your university is super expensive, in which case, that sucks. Learn some Python, it's easy and it's nearly universally useful.
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Sep 27, 2011 06:17
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huhu posted:I'm a senior with about two years of engineering experience. I applied to a job that was definitely out of my reach with Lego because it asked for a minimum of 5 years experience. They did however include "...we find your experience and competencies interesting...We would like to keep your data and information in our candidate database for possible future use..." It was a personally addressed email from the head HR manager. Are they being polite or do you think they're sincere about keeping my information on file? If they were just trying to be polite, you would have gotten a boring form letter or nothing at all.
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Dec 16, 2012 21:45
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Wolfy posted:What do I wear to an engineering career fair? A suit, or a dress shirt and tie, or a polo shirt. It doesn't matter that much.
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Dec 24, 2012 01:20
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huhu posted:For the first job out of school, it's been suggested to stick around for two years. If I work those two years how hard does it become to switch fields? That largely depends on how much time you dedicate to teaching yourself new things.
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Dec 25, 2012 02:51
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huhu posted:Could you please elaborate more on this? Basically, if you only learn things specific to the aforementioned first job out of school, you might find it difficult to switch fields. If, however, you take the time to stay up to date on your field in general (for example, if you're a mechanical engineer and you end up working on brake pad design at your first job, don't focus all of your time on learning about brake pads), you should be okay.
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Dec 26, 2012 00:35
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I work at a large company, but a lot of things are being done by people who are not qualified to do them anyway.
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Dec 26, 2012 06:07
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CCKeane posted:I had a days long argument with my QC department over if unilateral tolerances were a thing. Not if they were appropriate, but if they existed at all, instead of having ALL tolerances being symmetrical. This is just one example out of many: My department (a test engineering department) has a large inventory of test units and test equipment. When the department was only a few people several years ago, it was good enough to track inventory in an Excel spreadsheet. As the department grew, it became clear that some inventory software was necessary. I found some reasonably priced commercial software that supported barcode scanners or RFID tags and so on, but spending a couple thousand dollars on software and hardware for inventory tracking was deemed inefficient. Instead, one of the test engineers in my department was tasked with developing custom inventory software. After a year of development, we got a poorly designed database with a poorly designed PHP frontend that's so hard to use that there's one guy in the lab whose job it is to check in/check out equipment for everyone else. When I want to use something from the lab, instead of scanning its barcode or something else reasonable like that, I take it over to the lab inventory guy, have him write down the item's tracking code, and check it out to me because the software is too clumsy for me to do it myself. Everyone now agrees that it's a huge piece of poo poo, but because we invested so much in it we're not allowed to move away from it.
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Dec 26, 2012 19:38
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Also amazing: Digital media players being tested by people who don't even understand the difference between a codec and a container.
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Dec 26, 2012 19:43
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Google Sketchup?
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Jan 14, 2013 17:41
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Crazyweasel posted:I work as a test engineer for an r&d company, currently the test manager alternate and will eventually be manager. There isn't really a such thing as management tools here, just a lot of "make sure your team gets these tests done by this impossible deadline". This makes my engineers and techs resentful and unfocused. Don't roll your own tools. Use an existing test management tool, like TestLink. Are you testing software? You might find Jenkins-CI to be a useful tool for automating stuff. I used Jenkins and a bunch of simple Python scripts to completely automate my test lab. I have a rack of test devices and test servers that run tests on new builds with zero human intervention.
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Feb 1, 2013 03:52
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It's also important to not reinvent the wheel. I've seen so many home-grown software tools that should have been off-the-shelf or open source tools instead. It ends up wasting everyone's time.
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Feb 1, 2013 23:51
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CCKeane posted:As a man working on some home-grown software tools, I just want to say that while I agree with you, sometimes you don't have a choice. Oh, for sure. I've had to do it a few times too. Still, it should be avoided whenever possible. At my department at work, instead of using aa commercial inventory tracking database, we have a homegrown web app with an awful user interface, and it doesn't support barcodes or QR codes or RFIDs or anything. You have to manually enter any inventory changes.
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Feb 2, 2013 21:48
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Leave and find a workplace that cares more about your skills than your degree.
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Feb 23, 2013 04:48
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To add to what Noctone said, do it if it sounds fun.
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Feb 27, 2013 05:38
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What about just setting up a VPN?
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May 10, 2013 17:41
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I'm training an intern right now. All I want from an intern is eagerness, patience, and a willingness to at least try to solve a problem on their own before asking me for help. I don't mind helping, I just don't want to have to ask "did you try looking on google?" every single time.
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Jun 8, 2013 22:29
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Last year I had a company offer me 2/3rds my current rate (after I had already told them what I make), telling me it was worth it because they work on videogames. Thanks, but no thanks.
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Jun 10, 2013 21:13
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evensevenone posted:Take CS. Find Bio professors at your school and do computer stuff for them. Bio Ph.Ds are lovely computer programmers, and there is a shitton of programming needed for biology/bioinformatics. As you get into junior/senior year, take whatever distributed computing / database / big data type classes your school offers. GPU and GPGPU classes too. In addition, learn some proper software engineering skills. Learn how to use version control. Most scientists I know are okay programmers but are terrible terrible software engineers, so they churn out terrible code.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:09
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bjobjoli posted:Applicant tracking systems in general are just really terrible. I hope some fancy hipster web 2.0 developers get into the business of making job application software that doesn't totally suck. They could call it 'jobr' or something.
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Jun 17, 2013 17:03
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I get about one recruiter email a week from LinkedIn, including some companies that sound really interesting to work for. I don't even really have anything that I see as particularly outstanding on my profile. Either software test engineers are in really high demand, or LinkedIn just works really well.
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Jul 22, 2013 08:59
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Normally my title is just test engineer, I just add the software part when I talk in a general engineering context to make it obvious that I'm not talking about testing mechanical or chemical stuff. Anyway, software engineering is certainly a controversial title, given that not all software engineers/programmers go through engineering school, and there's no PE exam for software/computer science stuff. However, all of the software engineers/programmers I work with are very much of the same engineering mindset as the other engineers I work with (mechanical, test, industrial, computer, electrical, etc). I've also never met a programmer who actually cares what their title really is. The title of most of the programmers I work with is "firmware engineer", even though some of them are EEs, some CEs, some CSEs, and some just CS.
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Jul 22, 2013 14:14
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How would they even know if you have a LinkedIn profile?
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Jul 23, 2013 00:19
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