[quote]GhostOfYourMind wrote:
Wow! Tons of good stuff here guys. Thanks a TON for all the info. Next week (my spring break) I’m going up to UCF for an interview/visitation, then heading over to Embry-Riddle later in the week.
I have a strong work ethic, and math is one of my stronger subjects (especially compared to literature…ick!). So far I have a 4.52 weighted GPA. Still waiting on ACTs and SATs though (I hate both of those tests…). I’ll end up taking each one a second time though just for good measure.
Engineering has been something I’ve always been fascinated with, and have wanted to do. I love to know how stuff works, how to design things, how to improve things, take things apart…etc. At first, I researched chemical engineering freshman year (so 2 years ago), and found it was interesting, but not my cup of tea. Then my uncle’s recently turned me on to the possibility of aeronautical engineering (hence Embry-Riddle, where he happend to go), and also mechanical and electrical engineering (leaning a tad bit towards electrical more than mechanical, as it kind of goes hand in hand with my hobby of electric RC cars).
Anyways, thanks a ton for all the stuff once again guys. One more question, what schools did you go to (or are you going to) and have you ever heared of ABET (I think UCF is ABET certified; something to do with a board of engineers or something?).
Thanks again!
CU Aero Stallion- Care to explain more about aerospace engineering? That’s always caught my interest right along side electrical engineering.[/quote]
ABET is the group that certifies engineering schools and makes sure that the curriculum meets certain standards. In my experience, ABET accreditation is very important, and seen as a requirement when applying for a lot of jobs.
I work as a headhunter (Recruiter) we work quite a bit in the Engineering world, as those jobs are in high demand. I have placed all levels, mostly ME’s and EE’s.
My word of advice for all of you newbees, experience trumps most things in terms of what hiring managers look for. Do whatever you can to gain as much practical experience in your chosen field. Also, do not be afraid to start out at the bottom and work your way up, hiring managers love that career track.
[quote]cjs1034 wrote:
I have to agree with pretty much what everyone else here has posted. I just graduated from Penn State as a Mech Eng (aka engiNERD) in Dec after 4.5 years. So I thought I might reinforce in with a couple of things.
Intern or co-op. If your school has a big co-op program i.e. Drexel then do that otherwise I would try and land a couple of internships during your summers for a couple of reasons…
Engineers are in very high demand right now it seems but you need experience. That was all I heard when I was interviewing… you need more experience. I even had 1 summer internship. While that is not a lot of experience I know plenty of people that have absolutely no experience. The other reason that I think that it is better to intern unless you have a big co-op program is that it helps to find a “group” and if you are going to co-op and your “group” does not then you will not be on the same schedule.
Like I said and like many people people have said before find a “group”. It can be pretty rough going solo as an engineer. Being able to work on homework assignments and study for tests with friends is a major plus. If you do not understand something usually someone else with be able to shed some light on the subject. Plus spending lots of time by yourself doing homework is not my idea of fun.
I found that after my first two years (general core classes) that my GPA went up. I agree with people that the subjects do get harder but I found that I was more interested in the subjects and therefore I had an easier time. Lets face it Calculus and the like are BORING… fluid dynamics, heat transfer are a little more interesting in my opinion. So even if your first couple semesters are rough you may want to stick it out unless you truly do not want to be an engineer.
Engineering is hard it is not impossible. Find a balance between school, social life, and other activities. I knew plenty of kids that spent hours each day in the library doing work. Now there is nothing wrong with that. I will be the first to say congratulations on your high GPA. Personally, I would rather have a more balance in my life. Do not expect to be partying every night. You do have to put in a lot more time that other majors but you should be able to have plenty of fun too.
School is a lot different than work. you can go into so many professions after your graduate and never even have to look at Bernoulli’s equation or Laplace transforms ever again although you probably will not see them ever again even if you do engineering work. Lots of business were looking to interview me because engineers have good problem solving skills. I talk to finance people, consultants, sales people while I was looking for a job. Companies LOVE engineers. Also, working as an engineer is all about problem solving not about memorizing theories and equations. And to me it is a lot more fun than anything that you do in most classes.[/quote]
This post hits the nail on the head. I took a job straight out of school (UF '98) that required me to use about 5% of my engineering education. This estimate accounts for the elective courses that were all geared toward my future HVAC career.
The learning you do in the “real” world is what will allow you to perform at your job adequately, what you can apply from your studies will be the determining factor in your progress through “the ranks” at work.
Inside of 6 years, I passed the PE exam and started my own consulting firm. An unexpected but rewarding by-product of the engineering degree is that the problem-solving process has made me a better businessman.
I am a structural engineer. I will have my master’s in a month. Don’t get frustrated, it will get easier. When you have a job that allows you to use your mind and be creative, you will realize that it all pays off. Course work will be hard, but it will all run together after a wile and become easier. Good luck!
LOL, UCF? its a small world isn’t it. I started over at UCF as a computer engineering major. The campus is quite well organized I think.
UCF isn’t a bad choice if you definitely want to pursue engineering; there are numerous co-op opportunities, as lockheed martin and boeing are always bribing students to come work for them.
Let me caution you about something though. Engineering is an incredibly popular major at ucf, being one of very few decent academic programs they have (The film school was made famous by blair witch project, but that was a fluke lol). As such, the classes fill up quickly (especially calc classes), and by quickly I mean within about 5 minutes of opening registration. As a freshmen at ucf, I knew people who were already a semester behind schedule (and they were on their first semester!!).
Also, because of the overcrowded nature of the engineering program, there are many teachers who will be out to fail you, and passing will literally be impossible (no matter how intelligent you are). They are there to weed people out because not enough higher level classes are offered.
My last and final warning is this, I dropped out of engineering my second semester because of one class, INTRO TO ENGINEERING. It is the most idiotic, ludicrous, disasterous course handled by completely moronic teachers and grad students. You will spend more time on this 1 credit class than you will for all your other classes combined. If you go to UCF and Luis Quintana and his gf are still teaching the course, run!
I am an electrical engineer. Go into engineering only if you have a passion for it and if you seek to learn more, not just for the sake of getting a high salaried job. For me, the decision was a no brainer. I was always interested in my field and wanted to follow a career goal on those lines.
There will be times when your friends in business courses will be having a blast. You’ll be slogging it out going through ginormous textbooks. It’s well worth it. Do not bitch about the workload, you’re the one who chose the path!
Some things engineering will/should teach you:
1)Logical thinking.
2)Being practical.
3)Analyzing any problem with a sound approach.
4)Good technical skills.
5)Time management.
On the flip side, I’d caution you to not get so involved with your books so as to earn you the title of “campus geek”. Work hard and play harder.
Rather than concentrating on bookish knowledge, learn the concepts and fundamentals.
And yes, treat the engineering degree as a stepping stone to your future goals. You have a wide variety of options to chose from if you sek to diversify.
The market keeps fluctuating. However, on a batchelors level, the four disciplines of engineering that fight for top honors/demand are:
1)Electrical
2)Computer
3)Civil
4)Mechanical
These change dramatically with the addition of a Master’s or PHd degree.
As long as there is technology, engineers will be in demand!
[quote]Jerome wrote:
I can’t stand it. I also don’t like tech’s using it.
At least Canada has the Iron Ring, so you know anyone without it isn’t a real engineer.
mica617 wrote:
Biomedical.
On a side note, for all of you other engineers here with actual engineering degrees, am I the only person who gets pissed off at the bastardization of the term “engineer” (i.e. the cleaning crew being ‘sanitation engineering’, etc)?
[/quote]
Yeah, its a real piss off. I have friends doing courses through college, and they throw around the term engineer all the time. they do like a 2 year course and use the term engineer in their title. I had to be in school for 5 years faculty and 1 year general studies, and i’m still not a professional engineer until I get the P.Eng.
My friend has this sister who did a 4 month “safety engineering” program at the local technical school. she said to him, who is an engineering student…
“Its funny, that we will have the same thing but it only took me 4 months and its going to take you 5 years”
Also, i’ve seen secretaries in eng offices use the title “Documentation technician” and “technician engineer”?!?!!? what the hell does that even mean?
I dont call myself a doctor cus i watch grey’s anatomy. man, thats a sweet show.
I am currently taking the last math class for my engineering major. I would rather put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger right now than read any more about vector spaces.
It is worth it though because if you graduate with a liberal arts major the job market SUCKS! With an engineering degree you can get hired 100x easier for any job just because you are an engineer.
I am a Chem E but I do mostly Environmental Engineering.
The demand for Chemical Engineers is amazingly low. There are some good paying jobs out there but if I had to do it over again I would go Civil or maybe Mechanical.
Do amy of you other Chemical Engineers have their PEs or EITs?
I have a bachelors in Aerospace Engineering and I currently work as a Flight Test Engineer. I get to spend most of my day out in the hanger away from my desk and everyday is different. In school the later courses were the hardest but the most interesting.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
The demand for Chemical Engineers is amazingly low. There are some good paying jobs out there but if I had to do it over again I would go Civil or maybe Mechanical.
[/quote]
If I had to do it again, I’d have started college early, finished and entered into the job market when it was at its height, invested heavily, and then would’ve bailed out and studied what I want to study. Ah, well. Hindsight is 20/20.
3rd year Mechanical here:
Just thought I’d like to point out that some schools start with a general first year; that really helped me figure out what I wanted to do.
I ultimately choose MecE because we’re like the whore of engineers… we do a bit of everything and can branch of into almost any field.
An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it was
better to spend time with the wife or a mistress.
The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid
foundation for an enduring relationship.
The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because of the passion
and mystery he found there.
The engineer said, “I like both.”
“Both?” “Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume
you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and
get some work done.”
A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a
particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, “What’s with these
guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!”
The doctor chimed in, “I don’t know, but I’ve never seen such ineptitude!”
The pastor said, “Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let’s have a word
with him.” “Hi George! Say, what’s with that group ahead of us?
They’re rather slow, aren’t they?”
The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that’s a group of blind firefighters.
They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we
always let them play for free anytime."
The group was silent for a moment.
The pastor said, “That’s so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for
them tonight.”
The doctor said, “Good idea. And I’m going to contact my ophthalmologist
buddy and see if there’s anything he can do for them.”
The engineer said, “Why can’t these guys play at night?”
[quote]Nick4 wrote:
3rd year Mechanical here:
Just thought I’d like to point out that some schools start with a general first year; that really helped me figure out what I wanted to do.
I ultimately choose MecE because we’re like the whore of engineers… we do a bit of everything and can branch of into almost any field.[/quote]
Hey, are you in Calgary or Alberta?
I’m thinking of mabey going there from Vancouver (I’m not at UBC yet tho). Probibly mechanical.
Any suggestions/recomendations on what its like there and the differences?
[quote]wpak23 wrote:
I have a bachelors in Aerospace Engineering and I currently work as a Flight Test Engineer. I get to spend most of my day out in the hanger away from my desk and everyday is different. In school the later courses were the hardest but the most interesting. [/quote]
Cool. What exactly do you get to test and mess with? Engines, wing designs, fuselages…?
Yes, I’m considering UCF because of their large and popular engineering program (plus it’s not far from home at all, but by that same token, neither is Embry-Riddle). Embry-Riddle is still a strong contender though. Any one go to Embry for engineering of any sort? I know it’s considerably much smaller in both campus size and undergrads there than at UCF (which is a plus for me).
And thankyou once again for all the advice. I will certainly consider an internship or some kind of opportunity to get real world experience in engineering. Nothing is every black and white from a text book, so it’s definitely a good idea to get “hands-on” experience. Man, it’d be cool to work at Lockheed Martin messing with all their fun toys…hehe.
I was a research chemist for about four years and then for reasons beyond me I was promoted to…a chemical production engineer.
Right now I am “in training” which means that I am working as a production supervisor. I really hate my job. 12 hour shifts that rotate days to nights every three months. It is boring as hell but it will pay for itself! We are building a High potent suite and I will be in charge of that and our kilo lab soon!
I would say if you want to be able to climb ladders then go engineering. My route will be harder since I am a BS chemist. I dont really understand that either since we are far superior to ChemE’S!