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First, don't listen to current students. It's like listening to middle school kids talk about high school. Engineering isn't like architecture or medicine. There isn't really a professional standard. Well the PE, but that is more for public works rather than say processing semiconductors. Engineering duties, pay and type of work will vary wildly. Its more accurate to characterize the "engineering work experience" by industry rather than by major.
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Oct 8, 2009 00:34
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Roumba posted:I royally hosed myself hard the last two semesters and dropped my GPA to ~2.25 at the end of my sophomore year. Because of this I've no hope of getting any kind of intern/coop because every one I see requesting Nuclear Engineering has minimum GPA requirements that I don't meet. Should I just switch majors now, or try to claw my way back up and hope that by the end of the next 2/3 years I'll be an attractive candidate for a job? The good news is after about 3 years of work experience your GPA won't matter. Its going to be tough in a bad economy, but I've seen people with worse get internships in a decent economy. A lot of large corporate interships are about being related to someone who works there anyway. Try getting any sort of "technical sounding" work either as a glorified laborer tech or as a university undergrad lab assistant. The pay for the latter will be terrible, but at least its something for your resume. Gatts posted:I am 27 years old, BBA in IT/MIS/CIS/whatever, MBA in Finance and am not happy since I'm trying to change jobs and barely getting interviews, feel like I'm in a rut, etc. Would there be any advice about me going back to school for an Engineering degree? Possibly electrical? Just don't do like general engineering or engineering management, your MBA will probably supersede that anyway. Systems engineering would probably be most at home, the problem is systems engineering as a specific academic field is all over the place. Some programs will be very project management "MBA-like", some will be very mathematical simulation based and some will be like a variation of electrical. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Oct 20, 2009 |
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Oct 20, 2009 02:22
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Blue Light Special posted:Senior Civil Engineering student here. I've got a 3.6 GPA, attend North Carolina State, and will be graduating next semester. I would like to continue my education as soon as possible, but I am torn between pursuing the MBA or the MSCE/MSE. A lot of engineering management with MBAs got their position first, and then the degree afterward as formality. You don't need an MBA to interact with people, most civils I know need to interact with customer's regularly. One friend had his tattoos removed because of it. Interacting with others is pretty much required in any modern workplace. You SIMPLY CAN'T be a guy alone in a backroom, that is some 40s WWII stereotype. A lot of engineers do wish they could be left alone though. Anyway, unless its a top 17 program (or whatever number their tier is), you might as well save the tens of thousands of dollars in tuition. MBAs from otherwise reputable, but not overall elite schools are common. If you want to be an engineering manager and not an i-banker, there is no reason to go to Wharton or something. If you work yourself into a management potential the company will probably pay for YOU to take some way overpriced, gentleman's quick executive MBA course. Looks like even Harvard is trying to use their good name for some quick corporate money. http://www.exed.hbs.edu/ Cypress posted:Hey Guys, It will be difficult to impossible to work for the American divisions of a aerospace corporation without US citizenship. But most have multi-national divisions anyway, so you could look into that. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Oct 21, 2009 |
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Oct 21, 2009 00:56
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Woodstock posted:I am very interested in Systems Engineering, but I haven't seen many BS-programs for it, and don't know too much about the exact work that it would do. yeah the post below you is right and I also said previously that academic systems programs vary from technical project management to mathematical simulation to a kind of electrical engineering lite. The old timer establishment doesn't quite know what to make of young engineers in that field, as traditional systems tasks are usually performed by other discipline senior personnel who adjust their technical viewpoint from "specific" to "general". That's not to say they don't get hired, they do, but in this case the difference between academic and industry is even larger. A lot of large companies don't even have an entry level systems engineer grade, as the very nature of the job requires a senior person. but with all engineering questions ymmv very greatly. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Oct 22, 2009 |
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Oct 22, 2009 04:09
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Roumba posted:Well I talked to a couple of my professors and it seems like my best shot at any kind of research or work experience is in the astronomy department, which is not bad at all. Hopefully I can work on something at least tangentially associated with my degree. Anyone know what kinds of things I might want to avoid though? I know someone in the Astronomy Ask/Tell got duped into a semester of coding some horrible old math program and nothing else. come on beggars can't be choosers
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Oct 22, 2009 18:11
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Does anyone know what kind of jobs are like a few months on and a few months off type schedule? I have a grad degree and 10 yrs experience in aerospace, but as technobureaucrat, paper pusher engineer for massive corporations. Pay is good, life is comfortable, but I sort of want to get in THE poo poo and my hands dirty. Oh and to all you recent grads worrying about your grades...its all who you know. After 3 years experience, its considered sort of tacky to put your GPA front and center of your resume. You just gotta get that foot in the door ONCE in your life.
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May 31, 2013 01:34
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CCKeane posted:If you can work in getting something on the manufacturing end, that is mad hands dirty. In the most literal sense. My hands are usually filthy because I get called to fix a machine when the maintenance guys get it up and working. i'm far too much of a delicate flower to be glared at by technicians and angrily pressured by engineering-end. also it would be the same life, just a different part of the building. SeaBass posted:- Maritime or petroleum engineering gigs do time on/time off I probably don't have a skillset for Oil in the field, unless they need someone to click the the status field of excel spreadsheet from "red" to "green". oh well I'm just cubicle dreaming. I was thinking maybe if there was some non-profit general engineering, where I could be skirted off for a few months at a time then recharge back home for a few months. But that mainly seems to be volunteer based. oh well back to verification or metrics whatever
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May 31, 2013 23:28
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bjobjoli posted:To all the employed senior engineers in this thread, It really couldn't hurt, just your pride. How big is the company? How much experience do you have? If the company is a large corporate affair, the manager may not have authority to just sign you up as a contractor, even if he wants to. there may be many hoops to jump through in which he has to justify why someone internally couldnt just do those tasks. Your idea may work better with smaller consulting engineering firms rather than big corporations. Though the downside is, they often have less money to throw around. But seriously it couldnt hurt, and he/she (but probably he) may feel for ya and pass you on some other leads. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 00:36
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hieronymus posted:This is the problem - my experience at my company is that the researchers tend to be either medical doctors or straight phDs in biology/whatever. The hardware engineers tend to specialize in EE/Computer engineering. The software people have more flexibility but more likely than not studied CS. So the BME people actually don't fit into a lot of companies that actually do BME type stuff (I work at a medical informatics/medical device company.) am i correct in assuming, biomedical engineering is not traditional in the sense that your massive corporations that employ engineers have no place for it? biomedical engineers are inherently in the medical industry or "pure sciences", they don't really fit in with aerospace, manufacturing, electronics, building, or heavy industry hiring paradigms. Sure there are places like Medtronic and where you work. When you are in say an electronics design/manufacture company, it is "run" by engineers. For biomed, you are under MDs, science PHDs? Hierarchy is based on pedigree and the letters after your name. With just an undergrad degree a BME will just be a tech to them. Why is it that biochem BSs get jobs cleaning glassware for minimum wage, when an engineering BS acquires jobs starting at 60k? I don't think we are any smarter than them, I feel its due the cultural and funding structure of medicine and pure sciences. An electrical engineer can probably work anywhere, for any industry. a biomed engineer only has a limited amount of places that will utilize their talents correctly. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Jun 10, 2013 |
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Jun 10, 2013 09:55
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Weinertron posted:What's the least awkward or painful way to avoid wasting everybody's time without compromising one's negotiating position about salary? I just watched a fresh grad friend of mine waste a ton of time by interviewing with a company who wanted a EE to do FPGA design and CAD work, they recruited people with relevant senior design projects and internships during college. Are you making GBS threads me? Even if they made a better offer later, you know these are shady who will take advantage when they can. I'm not saying everyone should work for a large corporation, it has its major drawbacks, but you know they will be above the board with compensation and benefits. You do have an opportunity for more responsibility in a smaller organization, but what these smaller company recruiters don't tell you is: 1) A lot of them are affectionately referred to as "engineering sweatshops" 2) They will fall apart financially if a stiff wind blows on their one "cutting edge contract". 3) The ownership and upper people are enriched beyond any middle manager at a large corporation, but the middling and lower engineers toil with pay far below what they would get at a corporation. 4) if you work at a place with a small amount of people, taking vacation when you want becomes a game Small and agile seems to work well with software, and all those Northern California innovative places, but when it comes to traditional engineering hardware and actually making physical poo poo, it just means that much less of a cushion when things go bad. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 02:03
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movax posted:What do you think the salaries for that position should be out of curiosity? I don't know if I'm off-base expecting considerably more for that for that given job/responsibilities. with supervisory duties? around 90. Booties posted:I don't think I can read this thread anymore since I just got my BME. Should just go get an MBA and forget I wasted my time. I think we were a bit overly harsh, I think the summary is "other than a few particular large employers, BME is more under the demesne of the medical research industry, which tends to have graduate-degree inflation". Also, unless you are in a top tier program, an MBA without work experience is a an inefficient allocation of your personal resources. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 16:13
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an skeleton posted:It's just an option that's available, I may not do it, but thanks. I think the CS idea is better for employment opportunities than BME, but it puts you out of pure engineering realm too. Sure you can apply for engineer positions that are software based, but without an "engineering" degree you are restricting yourself from going for slightly off-range jobs. for example: a computer engineer could apply for a hardware testing, a materials engineer could work into some mechanical stuff, a chemical engineer is seen as generally versatile. In many places CS is seen as a pure software specialist. The word "engineer" in the degree offers flexibility (physics degrees are also highly respected in engineering, but not chem and especially not bio)
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Jun 12, 2013 20:56
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HClChicken posted:This forum is so bipolar. Someone posts that they want to be a computer engineer and they are told to look into computer science because it's more versatile and there is no way you are going to build computers. Then someone says they want to do CS and they are told to do computer engineer for the title "engineer." All I was trying to say was cross-discpline work for engineering majors tends to be more common and easier than for pure CS people. There is a shared skillset that a more theory-trained CS person MAY not have. I am not trying to push electrical or computer, I am neither. an skeleton seems truly interested in bioinformatics, I'm glad he has focus, I was willing to take any sort of technical work when I was younger, even if it slightly deviated from my schooling. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Jun 13, 2013 |
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Jun 13, 2013 23:49
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Doghouse posted:Someone I know is an engineer for a defense contractor, and is salaried but still needs to bill each hour she works to a specific program. She's been having computer problems, meaning that her work computer has not been working and they have been unsucessfully trying to fix it. She feels like she can't bill the time that she is sitting there at work waiting for them to fix it, and she is very upset and thinks she has to make up the time, and I think she should just bill the time. She is showing up to work after all. Am I totally off on this one? Your friend must be very high strung and legalistic,or has not been working very long. As long as she isnt engaging in consistent and wholesale fraud for hundreds of hours, these types of downtimes are expected and common. Very well paid government contract types often chit chat about golf and Obama  for laughably long amounts of time on the clock. We aren't North Korean robots we are allowed a certain amount of reasonable leeway.Her managment budgeted for her a certain headlevel and if she deviates too much from it, even by charging too little, she is messing with some cost account managers numbers. If she is really feeling bad, have her get up and have a work related conversation during the upgrade. The technically correct answer is to ask for an overhead charge number from her manager. This will be company money. They do not like giving away company money. Most defintely do NOT take vacation time and certainly do not leave the timecard short for the week. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 18:35
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Hed posted:Haha who would endure four years of [ABET degree] for 29k? But you'll get sooooo much more hands on experience as an underpaid slave without an engineering title than your friends making more than double your salary at some big faceless corporation. I am reminded of my high school DeVry and ITT Tech recruiters. Why go to a fun university with an accredited education, when you could pay an inflated for-profit mill and hang out with the gooniest people on earth! minutes from the strip mall by your parents house!
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Jun 27, 2013 19:36
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KetTarma posted:I was a prototype instructor for 3 years. Every civilian that worked on shiftwork was trying to either transfer or find another job. I understand reactors are nothing to mess around, but what makes nuclear stuff so intense? Is it the technical nature of the physics or just the decades of Cold War serious business tradition? I mean economically it can't be a vicious pull like some demanding petroleum engineering stuff.
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Jun 28, 2013 04:53
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From what the old timers have told me, software makes all our lives easier but has reduced the "prestigiousness" of engineering from olden times. We could design and fabricate large, impressive pieces of hardware for a series of technical scenarios. Utlizing multi-disciplines, millions of dollars and acres of land. It would be quite an impressive feat. Or we could just hire some unkempt, pony tail and balding programmer, possibly without a degree, to write a simulation with Nth sigma accuracy. Modify his code for future use as necessary. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Aug 4, 2013 |
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Aug 4, 2013 00:33
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Frankston posted:How much of a disadvantage would I be putting myself at if I went for a study year abroad instead of a year in industry? I'm aware that experience is a good thing, but the allure of going abroad for a year is very hard for me to resist. I've been to a few university open days over the past few months and some have mentioned that it's a good idea to get industry experience, and others have said that it doesn't really matter to be honest. Personally, I'd go abroad just for the life experience , you will see and meet people and have awesome stories forever. Before I started full-time, I did a summer of volunteering abroad (I told work to move my start date 3 months later). And I don't regret missing one day of work. You may be working in an engineering office for a good 30 years, but rarely will you have a chance to live abroad as a carefree young person again. Where would you be? Your first job is connections or luck of the draw anyway unless you are a truly stand-out individual or in a critical subfield. Its not like you'll never work again if you don't choose the internship. However, from a purely career standpoint, its better to do the internship. Especially if you want to work where you intern. That is a true foot in the door. So think of this as one of the first life decisions where adult responsibilities are played against youthful dreams. JacksLibido posted:I'm currently an Electronic Warfare Officer in the Air Force flying on a Jamming Platform. I know a decent amount of how radars/radios work and why some are used in certain ways, and I have a very good understanding of modern communications networks. My BA was in economics (with an awful GPA) but I've had a lot of leadership experience with my jobs before the AF, and during the AF, and I have a TS/SCI. I'm currently working on an MBA and slowly working on a second bachelors in EE, my question is, is the EE really going to be worth it if I want to get a job with a Defense contractor like Boeing/Northrop/Raytheon? I've had some of my military buddies currently working at those companies tell me not to bother with the second bachelors and just get my MBA and get through linear algebra and I'd get a job easy, but then I've also had civ. friends tell me that if I don't have an ABET degree I'm screwed. My theory is, the EE combined with what will be ~6 years of hands on experience by the time I get out will help me get a good paying job pretty easily, but it's a pretty drat significant time/money investment right now and I'm finding that I simply don't have enough time to finish both degrees before I get out. If you had to pick one, would you go with the MBA+math and bank on the clearance and hands on experience, or would you get the EE and hope to get paid Engineer 2/3 pay with just 2 bachelors? Do you want an engineering title or a business title? Project manager is very a vague position, often its just another hat worn by both sides. In said industry, EEs are in short supply right now. Business people are a dime a dozen. The pay scale for an EE will be higher, unless you somehow get a management type position right away. Even if you have a engineering experience from the AF, from an HR perspective I'm afraid you may get pigeonholed into finance/estimating type stuff. which is fine if that is what you are after. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Aug 9, 2013 |
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Aug 9, 2013 03:24
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Tide posted:I am very serious entertaining the idea of going back to school and getting my BSME or BSEE. My dad went back to undergrad EE when he was around 40 (he already had a grad degree in some impractical biological science, so he requested to start from scratch). He had a productive 25-30 years before retiring, so don't think your time is running out. But are you pursuing this for purely financial purposes? I'd say median for a freshly graduated engineer starts around the mid 50s low 60s. If thats a pay cut from your current position, how many years would it take to recoup? CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 00:16
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I always thought of it as more the type of company: if you work for a "corporation" that has publicly traded stock probably not. If you work for a "firm" or directly for the government, probably should get a PE.
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Sep 9, 2013 03:02
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EnterYourNameHere posted:I don't know whether the right thread is this one, or the resume thread, but I'll start here: not to reference my dad again, but he leaves off his master's in some bioscience (I don't even really know what it is) mainly because of fears of age discrimination, as he was in his early 40s when he got his EE BS. why would a company hire an older guy whose previous experience is irrelevant over someone younger with the same engineering experience? the company will get less years and have increased insurance costs. his fears weren't unfounded, as he was part (and won) an class action age discrimination some years ago from Honeywell. that being said, its a different time now, and I don't think it has bearing if you are under 40. but also, i don't think a sociology degree will really be of much benefit on a resume other than a "that's interesting" for most technically minded managers.
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Sep 20, 2013 03:37
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Hollis Brown posted:Kind of a long-shot here, I've recently graduated with my M.S. in materials science and I'm trying to break into the oil and gas industry. If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it (can PM if you prefer). Since I've started applying for jobs I've learned about relevant certifications (NACE, API, etc) however I haven't seen many opportunities to get these sorts of certifications and the roles that materials engineers fulfill are rather niche, with few entry-level postings. The obvious answer here is to have relevant co-op/intern experience, but I was not interested in the industry before. Just out of curiosity (I'm not in oil) are you materials science or materials engineering or materials science and engineering? It was my undergrad and I haven't used it, and was always wondering if anyone besides academics actually saw the difference between the three. Oh the future was bright for that major in the late 90s early 00s, with promises of Intel cleanroom suits or composites or metallurgy  , but when I was out most only had options for grad school or work in an unrelated engineering field.
CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 05:28
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I actually can't think of an undergraduate major that is more well suited for "older" students than engineering.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:53
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KetTarma posted:Went to a career fair yesterday and accidentally got myself interviewed on the spot by a major multinational corporation for what turned out to be an internship position. They did the formal interview today with some engineering managers. They seemed pretty impressed with my resume and I think I nailed all of the interview questions. Should find out if I have a pretty good summer gig within a few weeks. Say some prayers for me I'm sorry but most of us don't pray to your false and cruel radioactive god.
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Oct 10, 2013 22:30
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Isn't engineering enrollment in the Western world down every year? Soon we will be rare and prized as a spotted leopard and we won't need a title! Who truly embodies the public's nerd stereotype: engineers, real scientists (not some pretty premed bio major who wears glasses), or "those" IT-tech people. In my vast professional experience an engineer is not really a nerd. More of a mildly conservative dad in his early 50s who likes to work in his garage and has some specific hobbies.
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Oct 12, 2013 01:56
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Claverjoe posted:You say that, but stay in school long enough, it becomes Academia. It's like high school with gray hairs, abuse/occasional sexual harassment of foreign graduate students, and grudges that came from a conference in the 1980s. I'm trying to get the hell out of it and work for a company... though finding that first non-academia job is pretty distressing. "We want 5+ years experience" doesn't accept the time you put in at a research university and a postdoctoral fellowships. I think there is a window of 5-8 years between experiencing work enough to desire to go back to school, and not being that weird industry guy in class (who asks too many questions about the syllabus and constantly tries to insert his work experience in every anecdote). eh engineering grad school is full oddballs and foreigners, no one will notice.
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Dec 19, 2013 01:32
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Claverjoe posted:Oddballs I could stand and often enjoy their company. What got to me is the occasional professors trying to corner and gently caress the Iranian grad student because he has way too much control over her visa status because he was her dissertation adviser, and other sundry tales of people with tenure being shitbirds. apropos of foreign grad students, I saw my friend's graduation program and between the number of extremely long Indian last names and really short Chinese ones, I surmise the volume of printing ink used was probably just average.
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Dec 19, 2013 03:54
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Thatim posted:Thanks for the replies! Not to sound like an ugly American, but as I understand some European masters degree are only equivalent to a US Graduate Certificate. Not because of the quality, but because the programs are sometimes shorter and involve less classes. but it varies wildly. e;fb
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Jan 12, 2014 23:55
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Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:Can someone tell me the pros and cons of a materials engineering degree? pro: be in the top 20 of your graduating class, because there probably aren't more. con: you'll never be as tough as metallurgist, sweat glistening over the molten slag of a steel foundry last I heard (and it was many years ago) the process/microelectronics fab type jobs are now overseas.... Noctone posted:Thanks for telling us things we already knew and that have already been explained as not applicable to this situation. I did end it with "e; fb". Engineers and their poor communication skills! CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 02:24
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 22:35 |
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Uncle Jam posted:
I've known people to go home and tend their injury quietly because every single reportable was to be reviewed by some VP who made sure "everyone is safe on my watch!"
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Feb 8, 2014 23:29
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