To All Engineers

[xjruben]

Im fairly new to the forum and have searched about what some of you guys do. I have a career specific question. Who all here is an Engineer?; doenst matter what, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical so on and so forth. I was curious as to know what engineers really do. And out of the classes you took in college (if you can remember) which one do you use the least? Im just curious to know as a hopeful future Civil Engineer. Thanks to everyone in advance.sd

 

[kastein]

Electrical/Computer engineer here. I work for Intel in the validation department on server processors - meaning I spend my days trying to find ways to make our processors break, hang, lock up, give incorrect answers, etc. I've always been into hacking, reverse engineering, and writing code/working with microprocessors, so I enjoy validation work most of the time. I find I use skills from my microprocessors, operating systems, digital logic, and similar courses more than anything else, though I learned most of them before taking the courses as it's been my hobby for more than a decade now.

What you do as an engineer will greatly depend on what job you go for - I never design any new hardware, but I use my knowledge of how the hardware someone else designed is supposed to work to try and find bugs in it. If I had gone for a design job I would have needed much stronger math and microelectronics/semiconductor theory knowledge than I currently possess. Example - if you want to be a civil engineer who designs large buildings and tunnels and whatnot, go for the design classes, the soil engineering classes, the stress analysis classes, the materials science classes, all the stuff you'll need to know before you can design large structures well - if you want to be an inspector or something else (I'm not too familiar with civil, sorry), go for the courses that cover that material.

 

[guther66]

Math

 

[RTicUL8]

Sanitary waste disposal engineer...

 

[guther66]

Just Kinding

I'm a civil engineer and there really isn't a class that I would say I use the least. There are so many direction you can go with a civil engineering degree that all the classes are useful. Each job can pull from various parts of each fundemental classes. Plus the CE program has requirments making sure that you cover the fundemental classes. I would make sure the the school you are going to is ABET accredited to help with the licensing process.

I guess the classes I use the least would be generally ed/diversity classes that you have to take.

 

[METAL MONKEY]

EE here. I deal with small analog and digital circuits with the products we manufacture. I don't do much new designs, but I'm always tweaking the old ones.

What I wish I would have done before I was too far into my schooling was write down a couple of specific areas that interest you. Then try to see if you can hang out with a person in that specific area of interest for a couple of days to see what it's like. Once you find the one you really would like to pursue, try to center your courses around that field. I didn't really know what direction I wanted to go, and ended up taking a smattering of courses and didn't really concentrate on anything. It helps to know a little of everything, but can hurt not to know enough of one thing when entering into the field.

 

[ZomBrady]

Civil Eng here.

Learn to write, and write well. At least 60 percent of my job is writing reports, contract docs, specifications and work plans. Maybe 10 percent is design work.

Pay attention to your Engineering Economics class. Cost estimating is a requirement in this profession.

 

[MoparManiac]

I took Computer Engineering as undergrad, and am now pursuing Systems Engineering.

I don't use too much from my undergrad as I took a different direction (Systems is very broad and general).

Systems engineering is usually tackled by the "veterans" of the fundamental engineering fields (Mechanical, Electrical, etc) as they know how a full fledged system should function and how it should be designed. Today, at least in the DoD world, a lot of larger companies are subbing out component engineering work and are striving to become system integrators, who develop the architecture and design of a system and perform the integration and validation of the system.

I could make this post into a novel, but I'll stop by saying my job is mainly composed of system requirements development and system integration, validation, and verification. I'll leave it at that .

EDIT: x2 on the cost estimating, utilized a lot on proposal work.

 

[themangeraaad]

Electrical/Computer engineer here as well. And I think Ken (kastein) summed it up pretty well.

In my line of work Ken is pretty much my worst enemy (well, he works with different parts of servers than I do... but close enough :laugh. Ken works for a server company trying to break stuff. I am a supplier for a [different] server company... so if Ken worked with HDDs (or SSDs) he would be trying to break my stuff .

So yeah, I work for a company which designs, manufactures, sells, etc SSDs. I am a FAE (Field Applications Engineer), also called a sales engineer by some people. I am pretty much on site at my customer's facility every day being the #1 point of contact between the my company and our customer. In my job I have to know quite a bit of about the technology, but that isnt something you learn in school necesarily unless its through personal interests.... I mean, no college class I was offered would have taught me the details of flash based technologies.

If you asked me what I was planning on doing while I was in school, I would have answered technical work, idealling writing VHDL or low level code. Now I am in a completely different, customer facing environment. Is it bad, no, not at all... then again I was looking for more of a technical position (was unemployed for 5 months and by the end of those 5 months I was willing to take any job offer I got). Most all of what I have done so far involved nothing I have learned at school. Yeah, little bits and pieces here and there... but that's all really. What school really gives you is a work ethic and engineering mentality

The best things I got out of school were the organizational skills and technical mindset. I already had the mindset which is why I became an engineer in the first place, but school furthered it. I started off looking to become a Civil Engineer, then decided to go to school for mechanical engineering, after a year I switch to Electrical engineering, after one more semester I changed to computer/electrical... so I have hit almost all the major engineering disciplines for a short while Not that any of the ones before computer engineering even mattered.

You have to think about what you want to do, and take it all in. I learned alot about flash technology in school because I helped a friend with his senior project... now I am working with flash. Talk to friends, give them a hand here and there. Learn stuff from them... Keep yourself organized, learn how to manage your time as well as possible. Have fun.

 

[old_man]

I am an EE/CS/ME. I have had my job exported overseas 5 times in my career. I recommend civil engineering. Its hands on and they can't outsource it as easy.

 

[swbooking]

Im an EE.

and my GF's family owns Aragon Geotechnical in Riverside, Ca. Her brother is a Civil Engineer M.S. and P.E. and her father was a Civil Engineer P.E. as well (RIP).

Hope everything goes good for you.

 

[CaliGold]

I'm an ME in product design. I use geometry and trig, but at least half of my time is doing CAD work making complex surfaces and component package layouts. The other half is spent on emails, meetings, calling vendors, and a little screwing around. I work with designers so a good sense of what looks good and getting a feeling for the designer's tastes makes it a lot easier.

Good knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes are very important as well to create the design you intended for the end product.

I'm in more of the artsy-fartsy side of mech engineering, so those semesters of statics, thermo and fluids are long gone, but I'll have to look up that "simple beam" equation every so often just to validate something.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Im fairly new to the forum and have searched about what some of you guys do. I have a career specific question. Who all here is an Engineer?; doenst matter what, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical so on and so forth. I was curious as to know what engineers really do. And out of the classes you took in college (if you can remember) which one do you use the least? Im just curious to know as a hopeful future Civil Engineer. Thanks to everyone in advance.sd

Software Engineer here. Done quite a bit of embedded, and even a little GUI work (both in Windows and Solaris).

I've written specs, designed/developed/integrated/tested SW, operated test stands for sell-off testing of hardware (I was part of the team developing the test stand SW, so it made me a natural resource to help out on the testing), and even taken part in a couple of investigations into failures in the field.

As a result, I've managed to at least bump into nearly all my courses from school at one point or another. I've even had glancing brushes with thermodynamics (testing of HW was done over temperature cycles using LN2 to get to -20C) and materials (listening to the Mechanical guys making presentations about metallurgy and such), though I've not directly used either. Come to think of it, perhaps the only course I've not needed since getting out of school was Transport Phenomena (fancy term for a 1-semester course focused on the PN junctions that are the basis of the Transistor).

Now, you may be wondering where all this physical stuff is coming in, since I said I'm a SW guy. Well, my school (Stevens, in glorious Hoboken, NJ) pushes all engineering majors through a fairly broad core curriculum their first two years, giving you at least a little exposure to ME, Civil, EE, CS, Materials Eng., Chem, CAD, Engineering Management, and a few other odds and sods (such as an 8-semester humanities requirement). The idea is to make the students more well-rounded. As a result, I took the Computer Engineering path instead of a pure CS path (since I liked to tinker with things and I liked computers, but I "didn't want to sit in a cube all day writing code").

Guess what? I ended up in a cube writing code anyway, and I found out I liked it. Even better, since I've spent a good bit of my 12 years in the field being able to take what I write into the lab and get personal with the HW, I'm a SW guy who knows enough about scopes, DMMs, Logic analyzers, Spectrum Analyzers, etc. to be at least half way useful when something breaks. (as I put it some times, I'm not a Test Engineer, but I play one on TV sometimes).

My feeling on the matter is that I like having that broader curriculum to draw on - it gives me a better grasp of the system as a whole and how the SW's part plays with everything else. Put another way, it means when the HW guy wants something, I can grasp the why as well as the what.

Since it sounds like you're in school now or heading there, don't be afraid to toss some electives into your schedule from another discipline if you find something that catches your interest - being able to step away from your concentration and do something else for a short bit might be just the thing to break you out of a rut. In my case, I added a Minor in Music to my undergraduate Engineering degree (Have a BE and ME in my discipline), and I've taken four-course "graduate certificates of special study" in Systems Design and Operational Effectiveness and Project Management.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Where in NC are you going to school? I'm in Charlotte studying MET.

 

[RichP]

Sanitary waste disposal engineer...

Plumber eh

 

[xjruben]

Im actually not in NC studying. Im Studying in Mexico at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional. Im thinking of transfering to NC State University. I never took the SAT in highschool for reasons which I still dont know. I guess I was just lazy or something. Most of my friends from HS are at State and one isstudying Civil Engineering there. I have kept in touch with him and asked him questions about the semesters and the course schedule there. He said im actually a semester ahead of him as far as classes so tranfering could be possible in terms of classes. I just have to see about validating those classes. So now I'm talking to State about my school and its program.

 

[red_01_xj]

I am an EE/CS/ME. I have had my job exported overseas 5 times in my career. I recommend civil engineering. Its hands on and they can't outsource it as easy.

I have to agree, yet finding entry level jobs are hard to come by, everyone wants 3-5 years....If anyone know's any job openings.

I am a Graduating in 2 weeks with a B.S. Civil Engineering.
I have passed the FE, and have 4 years Construction Inspection/Materials testing work on my resume. PM me if you have any leads. I am opening to moving if it is the right opportunity.

 

[RichP]

I have to agree, yet finding entry level jobs are hard to come by, everyone wants 3-5 years....If anyone know's any job openings.

I am a Graduating in 2 weeks with a B.S. Civil Engineering.
I have passed the FE, and have 4 years Construction Inspection/Materials testing work on my resume. PM me if you have any leads. I am opening to moving if it is the right opportunity.

Personally if you are single I'd go check out the Navy or Air Force. A commission, good pay, gets your experience and looks good on the resume. Hopefully things here in the state will have turned around by then.

 

[Phil]

I'm a mechanical engineer by degree, working for a pretty big construction company. My wife is a civil engineer PE, doing civil design.

We do completely different things from each other.

 

[cpolish24]

I'd say thats about a carbon copy of my work life...but the time on is not part of the screwin around, its hard work...:roflmao:

I'm an ME in product design. I use geometry and trig, but at least half of my time is doing CAD work making complex surfaces and component package layouts. The other half is spent on emails, meetings, calling vendors, and a little screwing around. I work with designers so a good sense of what looks good and getting a feeling for the designer's tastes makes it a lot easier.

Good knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes are very important as well to create the design you intended for the end product.

I'm in more of the artsy-fartsy side of mech engineering, so those semesters of statics, thermo and fluids are long gone, but I'll have to look up that "simple beam" equation every so often just to validate something.