To All Engineers

[89eliminator]

good thread. i'll be graduating in spring with my Electronic Technician and Electrical Engineering degree's. im still debating whether or not i should go to MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) or not though. since the job market is pretty crappy right now around here, i think im gonna go the 2 extra years to get my bachelor's degree.

 

[asp]

i'm a ME. i'm a civilian that works for the navy. i use some of my class material, but a lot of things that i've learned i tought myself. it depends on how the program you go through is structured. for the most part you'll learn similar things, but not always...

 

[Begster]

I'm an ME student in my 4th year at Northeastern. (5 year school)
One of the best things I did was go to a school with a Co-op program. Looking through all our co-op listings and after going on 2 different co-ops, its clear that the field that you go into really dictates what you will or will not need from classes. My last job was working on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. I used some calculations from my mechanics class, maybe a little bit of statics, but I don't think I ever had one of my old text books out referencing equations and such. As was said earlier, a good amount of easy trig and geometry. I'll be starting my 3rd co-op in January, and I'll be using a lot of dynamics, etc as I'll be working in a robotics division of the company I'm going to.

What I did use the most on my jobs was knowledge of Solidworks with models and drawings, tolerances, documentation stuff like bills of materials, stuff like that. None of which I learned in the classroom.

good thread. i'll be graduating in spring with my Electronic Technician and Electrical Engineering degree's. im still debating whether or not i should go to MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) or not though. since the job market is pretty crappy right now around here, i think im gonna go the 2 extra years to get my bachelor's degree.

You're going to go the extra 2 years to get your bachelors or your masters?

 

[xjruben]

Well as far CAD goes, I have a certificate for AutoCAD and a semester course from school as well. Im learning Solidworks now, it's pretty similiar to AutoCAD Inventor. What I really enjoy are numbers so my Calc. classes I actually like and Physics to me is the single best thing ever. Statics and Dynamics are so fun. I Guess im a nerd but thats why I asked in the first place. I figure I will have to use these just because of what they entail.

Thanks for all the replies. Im getting more of an idea of what it is actually like.

 

[4WDlifeform]

Im going to be graduating with a MET degree (mechanical engineering technology) in about 11 days!! Job market is HORRIBLE now. Cant get a single offer... I need a job soon so I can start building my XJ! haha.

My best word of advice is get an internship!! Look now! you learn so much through them, and looks great on the resume when looking for a job. Engineering is always said to be high demanding, but at least in PA... right now its blahhh. Every job opening that I find is requiring some years of experience. I did 3 summers as a maintenance engineering intern with a paper mill, and it was the greatest thing toward my education. Just keep GPA above 3.0, and get any experience you can get!

Looks like you are in your fundamental classes... I can tell you, in my senor level classes now, I still use statics and dynamics. Those (i feel) are critical. As others said, every class you take is just as important as the others. Its true. Glad you are liking it though! And best of luck to you!

 

[the_weirdo]

I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I design computer hard drives for a living. The job market sucks right now. The job industry you go into will determine what classes you use. PM me if you want more info.

 

[themangeraaad]

Im going to be graduating with a MET degree (mechanical engineering technology) in about 11 days!! Job market is HORRIBLE now. Cant get a single offer... I need a job soon so I can start building my XJ! haha.

Try a year ago, it was worse, at least from my opinion ... apparently I was VERY qualified for every job which I applied for, I got offers from each dependent on passing clearance.. which didn't go through due to one thing or another (I wont give y'all the details ;-)) aka, within 2 months after losing my job (as of Jan 1 2009) I had 2 offers, neither of which could pass due to past clearance issues. I will leave it at this: having (or saying you have) a clean record is very good. Polygraphs suck even when you are telling the truth.

If you are like me and get screwed over for govt jobs.. it gets a bit tougher. Once it gets to that point you really gotta rely on networking and other in's to get you a job. use any and all friends who are already employed as much as possble. that is all I can say

 

[99flexjay]

Im an ME, I spend about a half my time designing things, a quarter of my time making drawings so they can be made, and a third for document control updating assemblies showing where my parts go and writing instruction of how to install stuff.

CAD classes helped, material science, manufacturing classes, FEA

 

[vt98xj]

Graduated this past August with my B.S in MET. Cannot find a job, searching almost daily on Monster.com and Careerbuilders. I have got a few call backs and interviews but nothing as of yet. I went back to my summer job of detailing cars, for the meantime.

 

[lowicz96]

Industrial Engineer at the end of my junior year at Kettering, crazy schedule of 3 month semesters alternating school and work. I had an Internship since I was a freshmen where I basically make production lines better, like run faster, leaner, safer and more cost effective. I have 4 yrs of CAD from highschool which helps alot cause the older engineers dont know to use this technology so I'm the go-to guy. I also do alot of tooling design for production as well, I just finished up tooling design for a new prototype axle (not really my area but i can use autoCAD and ProE so w/e its work).

I dont remember hardly anything from the classes i took 3 months ago!! I have learn so much more at work than in the classroom its a joke. Dont get me wrong, college helps but not when shit is hitting the fan and people want results yesterday.

I wanted to be a ME but the idea of sitting behind a computer all day drawing up stuff sounded boring, I like the hands on job of IE where i go out and talk to the machine operators about the problem and do the engineering on-sight. The guys on the floor have alot of knowledge you cant find in a book and they arent willing to give it up for nothing.

 

[coolkidmc]

I'm a Mechanical Engineer designing Packaging line equipment like conveyors, accumulators and other type of specialty machines. I use Autocad and Soildworks as my programs and its also a lot of math involved. I like my job as I'm given a customer plant drawing and have to make our equipment fit due to customer needs. I love my job and glad I made the choice to get into engineering!! Well good luck in which ever you choose.

 

[ChiXJeff]

Graduated this past August with my B.S in MET. Cannot find a job, searching almost daily on Monster.com and Careerbuilders. I have got a few call backs and interviews but nothing as of yet. I went back to my summer job of detailing cars, for the meantime.

Network, Network, NETWORK!!!!

No, really.... the first job will understandably be a bit harder to land. Make sure you keep your business network going, you'll be amazed at how small the world is really getting. In 25 years and something like 7 job changes, just 1 job came off of a published ad. The rest of them all came through personal contacts.

 

[Boatwrench]

Former Naval Engineer.

I made Cutters go Vaaaarooommmm...turning dead dinosaurs into smoke and noise. Now I work in public transit and watch mechanics fix engineers errors.

Does that count?

 

[CherBear]

EE (aspiring)

 

[kastein]

EE (aspiring)

:cheers: what sort? i.e. what specific sort of nuts and volts do you want to screw around with?

 

[OkieXJ]

I'm an ME. I work for a small business so I do a lot of everything. Being well rounded will find you a job a lotttttt faster than knowing a ton about 1 thing like thermo or beam design. When considering the basics you get with almost every ME degree, the best classes are those outside your typical curriculum. Even as an ME the best class I took was mechatronics. It taught me how to code and how all sorts of stuff works together. Next was probably economics. ~0.25% of my time is spent updating drawings in SE, 1/4 desiging new products, 1/4 fixing old crap that could have been done better the first time around and 1/4 on office/business stuff. As an engineer I have to manage people, talk to customers, talk to suppliers and be able to competently design products so we don't get sued. Our new products include software (microcontroller, PC and website stuff) and chemical pumps so it helps to know how to do all sorts of different stuff. My first job at National Instruments was in an EE area, nothing mechanical related. Thats what can happen these days.

 

[Ecomike]

X@ on those! Also allows one to migrate to Journalism, engineering law, manual writing, engineering management, and so on. Don't skimp on any of the math.

I am a Chemical/ Bio-chemical environmental Engineer.

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.

 

[Ecomike]

Lot of great posts in here, some have had and posted experiences that I share(d), so I will not repeat them. I started out as a field sales engineer (outside salesman) with just a high school diploma (college Prep), and got lots of hands on training in real world production and products. Specifically painting, plating and cleaning equipment used in manufacturing, repair, and remanufacturing. Got me in the back door of nearly every plant and factory in Texas in less than 5 years, where I worked with plant engineers to help them use the products I sold and serviced. I went back to school many years later, to get an engineering degree. I looked at all of the options, and decided that at the time, Chemical engineering was going to give me the most future options, but I practice a mix of industrial, bio-chemical, environmental, safety and civil engineering.

Many people with engineering degrees end up moving onto other areas where they use their engineering degrees, but not in the way they planned. Some go onto patent law, for instance, journalism, management, research, sales, marketing, or systems integration (as mentioned already) etc. Good reading writing, and inter-personal people skills are real important for those areas. Also speech class, as you may end up needing to make public presentations! Top math skills are a must.

Best advice I can give is do some real hands on Tech work in the field first (on the job training) in an area that you think you are interested in, before picking the more narrow field.

My last thoughts are these, the merging of biology, computers, and engineering, Bio-medical-chemical engineering is going to be the new high demand kid on the block. The ones that can understand complex bio-chemical, bio-medical, and computer electronics and software, and micro-NANO-device technology are going to be the new kids on the block for the next 20-30 years. Yes, Borg Technology! My university has already created a new college of Bio-Chemical and Bio-Medical engineering to cover the new inter disciplinary fields as they already see it happening!

Good luck!

 

[40banditxj]

I am one of those people that took my engineering degree in another direction. I have my BSEE, and I am a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. I examine microelectronic circuit patents (mostly phase locked loops, power on reset, and driver circuits that are implemented on seminconductor devices).

Writing and speaking skills are integral in my job, as one must be able to effectively defend their position as to why a patent application was rejected or allowed. I still use some classroom teachings from logic design and electronics, but in a different way. I don't do as much math, but I have to have an overall understanding on how electronics work (i.e. how a MOSFET functions in different circuit configurations).

Any field of engineering will give you a good background in the field you want to study, as well as teach you how to learn. I found that engineering had taught me how to learn, when it came time to learn patent law.

 

[Doctor94R]

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.

Smallish world.

I'm an EE and work for ASML as a CSE (Customer Support Engineer). We support the tools bought by Intel (Micron, Samsung etc) that print the circuitry on silicon that Kastein ultimately tests.



I support the tools that keeps him in a job :roflmao:


BTW, Kastein... what Fab are you located in?