I'm glad I'm not the only one that has found this thread useful.

I started out at the Univ of South Florida in Tampa for EE for a couple of years, then quit and worked my way up to managing a retail auto parts store for about 3 years, then moved to Houston and bartended in topless bars for about 4.5 years. I then worked on a telephone help desk for Internet customers of Bell Atlantic for about 5 months and then changed to working with Cisco Systems routers and stuff and now have been doing that for the last 6 years.

Now I'm going back to school. I probably will change careers after school to something in Engineering. I'm very excited by the proposition of all of this new learning. And will probably really enjoy the change of careers when that time comes.

Variety is the spice of life.

Wow Steve, not only do I live just a couple miles away from your old alma matter but I too took the engineering to IT and hopefully back to engineering path.

Yeah, they know what happened to Galloping Gertie. The new bridge presumably is designed with this in mind. Hey, we all know the wind howls down the Sound at times. Another of my friends is an Operating Engineer (power equipment operator). He wanted, in the worst way, to operate one of the two 500 foot-tall tower cranes that out in the Sound. Let me repeat that. This guy desperately wanted to work atop a 500 foot tall NARROW steel structure that has virtually no stabilizing 'guy wires,' in a windy, unpredictable environment. He got his wish, by the way. I don't visit him while he's at work.

And yeah, re-work is a PITA, compared to road building from scratch. Then again, road building from scratch, to be done right, takes quite a bit of material...to make a nice stable road prism. Too expensive. So then you're designing something with just a bit of crushed rock under it, that you know will crack and move. Upgrading an existing overpass is like repairing a watch while it's stull running. I'm on an airport modernization project ($3.7 billion), so this project has the added joys of TSA, FAA and, ummmm, aluminum tubes filled with people and kerosene...around construction equipment. I'm certainly in no danger of getting bored.

I always felt sorry for the engineering students. They were the ones with books open during lunch. No time for partying. I think engineering deans would agree that engineering degrees should just be five years. Officially they're considered "four year degrees," but no one is really fooled.

Not true, I partied hard and still got a 3.2 GPA.

Part of it was mastering studying and taking tests when stoned. When you can master an engineering concept while under the influence beating the curve is assured.

:D

When I started I was told that only 2% of the EE students got their EE in 4 years

The engineering path is pretty well laid out at most schools, with good progession from easy to all-nighter-difficult courses! If you skip a step or fall behind it can be more difficult than it should be..but that's not always the case. Understanding that subsequent classes get harder, but builds on the prior semester's classes should help being an engineering student. Build good relationships with your fellow students and form study groups. Peer support makes understanding difficult concepts much easier!

I took 18-22 hrs/semester during my second degree and worked nights (partied on nights I didn't work), yet I still got a respectable GPA. I couldn't have done it w/o help from study groups!

Stephen, I've read most of your posts here and on Rennlist, so I have no doubt that you will make a good engineering student and an even better engineer. You are probably a better engineer now (!) than half the engineers I know! You will do just fine, the best of luck to you!

An engineer recognizes a design limitation with a possible detrimental failure mode and pours half his beer into a redundant glass.


:D

A great engineer would chug the beer and use the can or bottle to fix what ever needs fixing :D effective and efficient!

Steve,
Sounds like your interests lie more in the mechanical world. Just go for it in whatever way works. You are never too old to stop learning.

I have an EE degree and enjoy what I do. I got drug into the software world (without much formal training) several years ago when my company needed someone to do command and data acquisition software. As it turned out I really enjoy it. Now it is mostly what I do. In my group I'm the interface guy because I understand the software and understand the hardware interfaces as well. I've learned a little about mechanical systems due to needing to control them and measure the responses. I guess I've learned some practical mechanics as well from working on these wonderful old cars.

An old codger once told me "If you want to play with cool hardware, you better learn to write software." It works for me. Forget all that business software and database stuff. Forget the web stuff too. Give me interesting systems.

I went on to get an MBA thinking I wanted to go into management.:rolleyes: When I had two classes left, I had seen enough of what my (then) boss had to put up with that I wanted to stay technical. I finished the degree, but try my best to stay out of management.

If I had it to do over again I might try for a dual degree with EE and ME and a little CSE training. I'd take more ME classes just to be able to get involved with the Formula SAE stuff.

Just find whatever interests you and go for it. Good luck and don't forget to post about intersting projects here on the board.

Rob

Yes :D

At WPI (My Alma Mater), the freshamn speech went like this: "Look to your left, look to your right, one of you will not be here at graduation". For my ChemE class, 75% of us who started, finished, the Profs were proud!

It's hard, but the reward is there. As far as the party life, I went to a straight engineering school and I still can't remember the weekends!

Sorry,
I had a slight case of postus interruptus........

My input

First pecking orders in engineering is meaningless. When I was in school there was a belief that EE were on top and civil was on the bottom. When the aerospace collapse occurred the only work around was in civil engineering. Also in aerospace all the high paid stress and analysis engineers had a civil background. That is because the curriculum for civil engineering is more mathematical rather then applied engineering related.

The type of engineering to get into should be based on what your desires are. Are you mechanically inclined or are you more logic orientated? If you want to apply this knowledge to Porsches you may want a mechanical degree. If you have a lot of background in computers you may want to lean toward an electrical degree with courses in machine control.

But the degree means nothing in the real world. You won't learn true engineering until you work in it. That's taking a project from conception, to design, to final hardware. Learning the look at various solutions and understanding which is practical. You won't learn that in school but only in experience. I've worked with many great "engineers" that had no degree. So do you want a degree or engineering knowledge?

I love airplanes and mechanisms. I have a mechanical degree. My forte' is in aircraft landing gears. That means I look at kinematics, hydraulics, strength, metallurgy and virtually any other aspects of mechanical sciences you can think of. It's the best of all engineering I think.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 911/914gary
[B]My input

.

But the degree means nothing in the real world. You won't learn true engineering until you work in it. That's taking a project from conception, to design, to final hardware. Learning the look at various solutions and understanding which is practical. You won't learn that in school but only in experience. I've worked with many great "engineers" that had no degree. So do you want a degree or engineering knowledge?

Coming from a non degreed engineer standpoint I can relate to that statement. I was lucky enough to work for some very good engineers when I was a technician. They were also good teachers.

Experience is extremely important but the degree gives a person credentials, which in our society is unfortunately over-emphasized. However those credentials are the key to unlocking doors. If I were to be laid off today, I'm not sure if someone would hire me as an engineer. My company made me an engineer, but I lack those god awful credentials that say I am a capable engineer. Perhaps PE registration is a route I should take for career protection.

Apllied Physics (with a minor in math) - covers the whole thing.

There is a huge need for Industrial Physists - they just don't know it.

Forget the Engineering thing - I have an MS in ChemEng, learned more in 6mths in a pilot plant than 4yrs in school - nothing was applied and used more chemistry, math and physics then the chem eng stuff.

As far as practical work experience - think PLASTICS, plenty of great paying interesting jobs in the polymer field.

One thing about engineering as a profession is you are getting your education starting with your first day as a freshman. If you want to become a doctor it's four years to get a bachelors, then 4 years of med school plus 4 more years of training. Same with lawyers. It's four years for a bachelors then law school.

I'm an ME and I've worked in such exotic places as Mexico, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and New Jersey. It's always something new with engineering. As we constantly say, "we're always working ourselves out of a job." Once your project is finished, you need to build something else.

I think engineers should get their PE licenses. I'm registered in four states and it comes in handy when you need to get on another project - or stay on a current project. Recently I was one of the last to leave a project I was on simply because I had a PE license in WA.

Always thought the PE was for Civil Eng, projects with real world bottom line figuers help for sure even tech articles and giving talks at conferences seem to boost the resume.

Employers love engineers that are end-goal focused, able to think resourcefully out of the box and show savings with inexpensive innovation. The best engineers I ever had the pleasure of working with didn't have a college degree in engineering.

I'm a Civil/Structural/P.E. and own a Forensic Engineering firm. I've got degrees in Civil Eng. and Mech. Design. I wouldn't trade what I do for anything, BUT ..... my favorite TV show comes to mind here: "Curb Your Enthusiasm". ;) I worked in the industry before and while going to school, so I knew what it was like out in the real world of engineering. I was excited to finally reach my Junior year and take all of those 'interesting' classes like Bridge Design, Design of Wood Structures, Steel Design, blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? They're all friggin' math classes - 90% theoretical, 10% practical. Mostly, no application to the real world. What the engineering degree is - as is the P.E. License - is simply a way to weed people out of the system. And that's fine. There has to be a way to keep the idiots out and this is the system we've come up with. You need to look at the Engineering Degree as simply part of the process. You need that sheepskin to move to the next part of the process.

I can't tell you how many 4.0GPA engineers I've interviewed over the years who are full of theoretical bull***** knowledge but couldn't figure out how to get themselves out of a cardboard box!! Common sense and practical knowledge are KING. The degree is just a membership card that gets you out on the dance floor.

OK - here is an engineering question:
Your mouth and hands are bound, your feet are bound, you are put into a sturdy cardborad box. It is closed on all ends. The cardboard is such that it is very strong to impact, you can't kick your way out becuase the space is too cramped to move your legs order to develop enough force and they are bound together but there is some movement but it is slight.

There is a very easy way to get out in less then 2 minutes - how would you do it?

Feel free to ask questions prior to answering.