Any Engineers Here?

Off Topic
41

[quote]Rktman wrote:
NOTE: In Civil Engineering, getting your Professional Engineers license is a MUST, unless you want to be a CAD operator the rest of your life. This is the license you get after 4 years of professional experience AFTER graduation.[/quote]

In engineering in general, ME, EE, Structural, and Civil, a PE is a must unless you want to go into research or manufacturing. I’ve had my PE for almost 4 years now and it really opens doors.

I don’t know if I agree with this. The time alone is not a good factor. Yes it takes about as long to become a “useful” engineer as it does a “useful” doctor, but half of that time you are actually working making a decent salary. And school is generally cheaper for an Engineer. Being a doctor usually means a lot more schooling, for longer, and then working for little to no pay as an intern for a while before you actually see any money. Most doctor’s I know with about ~10yrs experience still have $100K in student loans and are barely earning $70K/yr.

I never said becoming an Engineer will change your way of thinking- I just pointed out that typically people who do become Engineers are not that religious to begin with. Practicality and Religion just don’t mix.

My guidance counselor in high school had this aptitude test that you could take to see what kind of jobs you were suited for. Sure enough if you answered the religious questions with anything other than low-to-moderate interest almost all technical/scientific jobs were off the table. He actually found it insulting. I agree it was, but it’s also pretty accurate.

42

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
Rktman wrote:

One last point, eengrms76 wrote about the religion aspect of many engineers. My advice is to be a real T-man before you enter college and have your values set in stone before you let some other goof ball professor or a bunch of immature kids decide your values for you. If this means waiting a year or so to start, so be it.

I never said becoming an Engineer will change your way of thinking- I just pointed out that typically people who do become Engineers are not that religious to begin with. Practicality and Religion just don’t mix.

My guidance counselor in high school had this aptitude test that you could take to see what kind of jobs you were suited for. Sure enough if you answered the religious questions with anything other than low-to-moderate interest almost all technical/scientific jobs were off the table. He actually found it insulting. I agree it was, but it’s also pretty accurate.[/quote]

Umm, OK. I don’t agree with the whole “practicality vs. religion” idea but I suppose this really isn’t the thread for that discussion. My only point was that some people benefit from being more mature when they enter the college setting.

43

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
Lastly, and this is from my personal experience only, most engineers I’ve ever met are not religious people. Something about being in a science related field that precludes religion. Don’t know why. Don’t care. Just an observation. This should help you know up front if you are practical enough for engineering, or anything theory-based and technical in nature.[/quote]

Being religious requires you to be ignorant, misguided and superstitious. Not the sort of qualities I would want in the people who designed the aeroplanes I travel in.

44

[quote]Get this wrote:
Being religious requires you to be ignorant, misguided and superstitious. Not the sort of qualities I would want in the people who designed the aeroplanes I travel in.[/quote]

What requires being ignorant and misguided is the statement you just made.

45

I didn’t intend for this to be turned into a debate on religion, I was just stating an observation I have personally made. I never said it was actually true.

I do somewhat agree with the statement just before about what religion requires, however I don’t agree with ignorance. Just because someone is religious doesn’t make them ignorant. I have no beliefs of any sort when it comes to religion (I’m actually irreligious, if that makes a difference) so I don’t condemn people for believing in it. It’s their choice.

46

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
wfifer wrote:
I’m a EE major.

Be very careful in selecting a school. Frankly, I hate mine.

Where do you go?[/quote]

Stevens, a school respected by everyone but its students and alumni.

47

[quote]Rktman wrote:
eengrms76 wrote:

Here are some thoughts:

…

Civil Engineers make the least amount of money of all engineers.

Mechanical engineers, like civil, need to be more hands-on in both their learning and their application.

Not all engineers use much math on a daily basis, but still need to study it quite a bit.

…

Lastly, and this is from my personal experience only, most engineers I’ve ever met are not religious people. Something about being in a science related field that precludes religion. Don’t know why. Don’t care. Just an observation. This should help you know up front if you are practical enough for engineering, or anything theory-based and technical in nature.

Very good stuff here.

I am a civil engineer with almost 10 years experience in MO.

I started out in engineering school thinking I would be a ME, then EE, finally chose Civil Eng. The first two years of eng school will give you some time to think about what you really want to do (or whether you even want to be an engineer; there is no shame in deciding you want to do something else entirely, i.e. medicine will probably always be a safe choice).
The last 2-3 years are the best(and yes it usually takes 4.5 to 5 years total). You get to learn about the stuff in your discipline.
Then you graduate with a Bachelor of Science, which according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), is not enough education. They are pushing for the Master’s Degree as a minimum for Professional Licensure. NOTE: In Civil Engineering, getting your Professional Engineers license is a MUST, unless you want to be a CAD operator the rest of your life. This is the license you get after 4 years of professional experience AFTER graduation.

IN SUMMARY, CIVIL ENG CAREER PATH:
4-5 yrs of BS education
2 yrs MS education (maybe, not required currently but look for it soon).
4 yrs professional experience.
1/2 yr study and take the PE exam, pass hopefully.
=10+ yrs to get to your goal of being a valuable Civil Engineer.

Compare this to the time required for medical school, dental school, law school, and dollar for dollar it is not financially the best decision, but then again money is not everything.

I hope this does not seem too jaded, but I wish someone would have told me this before I started the process.

When you start working you find that much of what you learned you will never use again, BUT school teaches you to “learn how to learn”. That’s important.

One last point, eengrms76 wrote about the religion aspect of many engineers. My advice is to be a real T-man before you enter college and have your values set in stone before you let some other goof ball professor or a bunch of immature kids decide your values for you. If this means waiting a year or so to start, so be it.

Please forgive spelling and punctuation, most engineers suck at writing.

Good Luck.
[/quote]

Hey Rktman, I’m in MO as well. Did you go to UMR? Class of 97’ here.

48

Just a shameless plug for biomechanics as a possible career here. It’s essentially engineering as applied to the human body (which, since you came to this site, I’m assuming you’re interested in). If you like performace you can get into things like what affects jump height and power output, if you like computers and programming you can get into computational modeling and 3D analysis, if you like materials you can focus on joint health and function, etc.

Just something to think about as you go through an engineering undergrad (as many biomechanics do). Lots of career opportunities opening up too as we become a more recognized field in the medical community.

-Dan

49

[quote]SkyzykS wrote:
TheSicilian wrote:
Tell me WTF would YOU DO in that circumstance…I know what I’d do AND shat I DID because I lived IT…

I check the welds myself. Especialy the ones that are essential to the integrity of the item being lifted, and all of the rigging equiptment.

Nuts and bolts are important too. You can’t have things slipping off and smashing people either. (like the legs on the condensor unit that we had to adjust before placing, earlier this week.)

The fault you are trying to place on the engineer does not lie solely on him. It lies on everybody that was involved with that lift.

If your life is at stake, you don’t take someones word, you check yourself.

[/quote]

SkyzykS, you are 100% correct. That was the first and LAST time I’ll ever take someone’s word with regards to MANY things in life. I did check the pieces and wasn’t sure the way they wanted to rig it would be safe. I then suggested to “choke” both pieces with the rigging to make SURE they wouldn’t come apart. I got a whole rash of shit from the superintendent about how the ENGINEER knows rigging better than me because of x,y, + Z, and that if I didn’t like it he’d fire me right then and there. I should’ve told him I wasn’t going to do it and told them to get my money if they didn’t like that answer. I was young and dumb at the time and “needed” my job. I know now that I can always get another job, but only one life. Thank GOD no one was hurt.

The fault was mine in that I should’ve stuck to my guns and never flown it, yet I can’t believe how lazy/incompetent/cowardly that particular engineer was… Just as in any profession, the only person you can truly trust every time is yourself and even then…

50

Any Nuclear Engineers?

51

[quote]Rktman wrote:
eengrms76 wrote:

Here are some thoughts:

…

Civil Engineers make the least amount of money of all engineers.

Mechanical engineers, like civil, need to be more hands-on in both their learning and their application.

Not all engineers use much math on a daily basis, but still need to study it quite a bit.

…

Lastly, and this is from my personal experience only, most engineers I’ve ever met are not religious people. Something about being in a science related field that precludes religion. Don’t know why. Don’t care. Just an observation. This should help you know up front if you are practical enough for engineering, or anything theory-based and technical in nature.

Very good stuff here.

I am a civil engineer with almost 10 years experience in MO.

I started out in engineering school thinking I would be a ME, then EE, finally chose Civil Eng. The first two years of eng school will give you some time to think about what you really want to do (or whether you even want to be an engineer; there is no shame in deciding you want to do something else entirely, i.e. medicine will probably always be a safe choice).
The last 2-3 years are the best(and yes it usually takes 4.5 to 5 years total). You get to learn about the stuff in your discipline.
Then you graduate with a Bachelor of Science, which according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), is not enough education. They are pushing for the Master’s Degree as a minimum for Professional Licensure. NOTE: In Civil Engineering, getting your Professional Engineers license is a MUST, unless you want to be a CAD operator the rest of your life. This is the license you get after 4 years of professional experience AFTER graduation.

IN SUMMARY, CIVIL ENG CAREER PATH:
4-5 yrs of BS education
2 yrs MS education (maybe, not required currently but look for it soon).
4 yrs professional experience.
1/2 yr study and take the PE exam, pass hopefully.
=10+ yrs to get to your goal of being a valuable Civil Engineer.

Compare this to the time required for medical school, dental school, law school, and dollar for dollar it is not financially the best decision, but then again money is not everything.

I hope this does not seem too jaded, but I wish someone would have told me this before I started the process.

When you start working you find that much of what you learned you will never use again, BUT school teaches you to “learn how to learn”. That’s important.

One last point, eengrms76 wrote about the religion aspect of many engineers. My advice is to be a real T-man before you enter college and have your values set in stone before you let some other goof ball professor or a bunch of immature kids decide your values for you. If this means waiting a year or so to start, so be it.

Please forgive spelling and punctuation, most engineers suck at writing.

Good Luck.
[/quote]

Thanks for the input. Im glad to get advice from someone as experienced as yourself.

Can i ask what sort of work youve done in your time as a civil engineer?

52

[quote]TheSicilian wrote:
SkyzykS wrote:
TheSicilian wrote:
Tell me WTF would YOU DO in that circumstance…I know what I’d do AND shat I DID because I lived IT…

I check the welds myself. Especialy the ones that are essential to the integrity of the item being lifted, and all of the rigging equiptment.

Nuts and bolts are important too. You can’t have things slipping off and smashing people either. (like the legs on the condensor unit that we had to adjust before placing, earlier this week.)

The fault you are trying to place on the engineer does not lie solely on him. It lies on everybody that was involved with that lift.

If your life is at stake, you don’t take someones word, you check yourself.

SkyzykS, you are 100% correct. That was the first and LAST time I’ll ever take someone’s word with regards to MANY things in life. I did check the pieces and wasn’t sure the way they wanted to rig it would be safe. I then suggested to “choke” both pieces with the rigging to make SURE they wouldn’t come apart. I got a whole rash of shit from the superintendent about how the ENGINEER knows rigging better than me because of x,y, + Z, and that if I didn’t like it he’d fire me right then and there. I should’ve told him I wasn’t going to do it and told them to get my money if they didn’t like that answer. I was young and dumb at the time and “needed” my job. I know now that I can always get another job, but only one life. Thank GOD no one was hurt.

The fault was mine in that I should’ve stuck to my guns and never flown it, yet I can’t believe how lazy/incompetent/cowardly that particular engineer was… Just as in any profession, the only person you can truly trust every time is yourself and even then…

[/quote]

You should know better than anyone by now that on a jobsite Crane operators have the last say for any given pick. It’s unfortunate you had a bad experience with an arrogant Engineer. Most of them are not like that.

53

[quote]

Hey Rktman, I’m in MO as well. Did you go to UMR? Class of 97’ here.[/quote]

You got it - UMR Class of '98.
Good to hear from a fellow Miner.

54

[quote]ZachDelDesert wrote:

Thanks for the input. Im glad to get advice from someone as experienced as yourself.

Can i ask what sort of work youve done in your time as a civil engineer?

[/quote]
Well I started off doing Geotechnical (soils) work right out of school, but after 6 months of writing the same report, it got old. So I went to work for a smaller civil consulting firm. There I did my own surveying, drafting, design, construction stakeout, everything-it was great.
The typical projects were: residential and commerical subdivisions, water and sewer projects for various cities, larger highway department projects (though few), land surveying projects, etc. I really learned a lot even though it was a small place.

I’ve pretty much been doing the same thing ever since, though I’ve worked for a few different firms. If you do go into engineering, you will probably find that moving around is the easiest way to advance-although I wish this wasn’t the case.

55

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
BTW: With an engineering degree, you could probably get a quick commission in one of the services. I’d rather be on an aircraft carrier than in a cubicle any day!! :)[/quote]

From the cubical you get to go home every night to your family, on the aircraft carrier you get to work a 16 hour day and stand 2 or more 4 hour watches a day, do endless drills, work on qualifications…! Add it up, no sleep time factored into a standard day! I’ve done both and you don’t actually do any engineering on an air craft carrier, or even need an engineering degree to be an “engineering” officer on a carrier.

It takes a very special type of person to dedicate their whole life to that, God bless them all and thank them from the bottom of my heart! Freedom is not free.

56

[quote]dswithers wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
BTW: With an engineering degree, you could probably get a quick commission in one of the services. I’d rather be on an aircraft carrier than in a cubicle any day!! :slight_smile:

From the cubical you get to go home every night to your family, on the aircraft carrier you get to work a 16 hour day and stand 2 or more 4 hour watches a day, do endless drills, work on qualifications…! Add it up, no sleep time factored into a standard day! I’ve done both and you don’t actually do any engineering on an air craft carrier, or even need an engineering degree to be an “engineering” officer on a carrier.

It takes a very special type of person to dedicate their whole life to that, God bless them all and thank them from the bottom of my heart! Freedom is not free.[/quote]

Good post.

57

Another booming field to consider is accident reconstruction. I nearly gave up engineering because I could not stand being in a cubical all day long. As a reconstructionist with the right firm you do everything from investigating the vehicles/scenes to testifying in court.

58

Of course, you could be in the service AND be in a cubicle. Most of the AF engineers I know have been imprisoned in them most of their/our careers.

I love the accident reconstruction biz - and got the opportunity to do some of that several years ago. It’s amazing what you can figure out from a bunch of scorched pieces, once you learn what to look for. It’s a growing field in our litigious society, unfortunately.

59

Some random thoughts -

All of my ChemE friends made more than that average figure, although they all went to the U of Mn which always ranks very high. The admission reqs aren’t too bad but they sure weed people out.

As with any field, there is a balance between theory and application. Anyone who claims one side is 100% right is wrong.

Any major can apply to Med School. Try Biomedical Engineering or Mech/Chem E with a Biological emphasis. Heck, be a French major. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you get the prerequisites in.

60

Network & System engie here (yes, both.) Currently with dod/mil contracts. I didnt get my titles there… for anybody familiar with dod/mil work, they toss the engineer title like its candy.