this is my junior year, and lately ive been asked about my career options, my parents mainly want me to go to nursing because its a 100% secure job, theyre needed everywhere, but 19 dollars an hour and getting called random times during the night isnt really enticing. In reality i would rather go into construction or automotives, and hopefully own my own business when i grow up, parents giving me more hassle about construction since they dont like working outside for 8 hours a day while the pay is huge, average is 32 bucks an hour after 4 years of apprenticeship (thats just for carpentry too, and you can start right after high school), i was also thinking about automotive technician but once again low pay, so everyones been telling me why dont i go up some and become a mechanical engineer, but frankly i have no clue what they do, whats harder is if i pick a path i would most likely have to stick with it all the way, considering they go in completely different ways, i just dont know what to decide right now, any advice?
the question is, how good are ya at math. engineering is not easy an easy route. i am an ex mechanical engineering student. dropped out the program, then was offered an civil engineering scholarship by one of my professors (to ASU again while i was attending a CC for general studies ), i declined, no freaking thanks. thanks to the rigor of the engineering school, MIS degree was cake accounting, HA. finance, ISM concentration courses DOUBLE HA. too easy
remember a degree is just a degree. most people don't use their specializations from college in their jobs. you really don't have to decide what you want to do yet. start thinking now, and make your decision 3 years from now. just make sure you get into a good university first.
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the question is, how good are ya at math. engineering is not easy an easy route. i am an ex mechanical engineering student. dropped out the program, then was offered an civil engineering scholarship by one of my professors (to ASU again while i was attending a CC for general studies ), i declined, no freaking thanks. thanks to the rigor of the engineering school, MIS degree was cake accounting, HA. finance, ISM concentration courses DOUBLE HA. too easy
remember a degree is just a degree. most people don't use their specializations from college in their jobs. you really don't have to decide what you want to do yet. start thinking now, and make your decision 3 years from now. just make sure you get into a good university first.
i was planning on going to a community college for the first 2 years to get all the general ed. courses done, saves money and i dont mind transfering 2 years down the road, i am good in math, the reason i basicly have to choose now is because the choices go in very different roads, construction can be started right after high school, or i can go to college, automotive technician is right after high school, and mechanical engineer i have to go to college in, also i dont want some bs degree taking courses i will have no use for my future job, thats why if i go a path i want to actually make it useful
ps do u know what a mechanical engineer does? because i sure dont
They design, build, play with all types of engines, machines, tools, to make them better or more efficient...depends on where you're hired. Some enginneers are hired by NASA, auto companies, etc. Click on the link http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos033.htm
Being a mechanical engineer, here's my take. M.E. is a very broad field. That in itself makes it one of the more difficult, but more flexible engineering fields to study.
M.E.'s can be designers, testers, researchers, managers, salesmen (since they have technical knowledge of a product, they are well suited to selling them).
They can be any one of those things in any number of fields. Most people think of the standard automotive or aerospace stuff. But I design mechanical systems for buildings (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, fire protection). In addition to the designing, I also manage all my own projects, do the field coordination with the contractors in the field, and take shit from our client's when things go wrong.
A lot of people I graduated with got jobs doing alot of computer simulation modeling for various mechanical componets, testing for induced stresses, temperature distributions and heat transfers, fluid flow analyses. Certainly, if you like automotive, a M.E. degree is valuable.
One thing to keep in mind: up here in Canada, there is an imminent shortage of trades people, including automotive technicians. I'm not sure how it is in the states, but shortly, jobs in the trades will be easy to come by, with too few people to fill the positions. That will increase wages and benefits.
You should go for it man. But you have to stick with it
I have two semesters left and i get my BS in ME. It has been real tough at times, but i got plenty of party time. I slack off kinda bad but i still get all my crap done.
You have to have a certain mind set to be able to study ME and stick with it. You have to look at things analytically, always wondering how they work, how it was designed and all that. If you think about things that way i would say engineering is the field for you.
You have to learn a lot of calculus, and you use it throughout your classes, so you must be proficient with math. The rest of the classes are all fairly logical if you have the analytical mind i was talkin about above. The only classes that have been real hard for me to get used to were thermodynamics and heat transfer (which im in right now). At first they seemed real illogical but theyre starting to make some sense now i guess.
But ME's are needed in everything man, so dont be scared of not getting a job. I plan on working with the automotive industry, it has always been my dream. But i want to work in an aftermarket support kinda place. Design/Testing of parts that better the performance of existing cars (engine, suspension, etc). I prob wont get my dream job for a couple of years but its alright, ill get there one day.
good luck man, and think about it pretty well cause sometimes when the business majors and all them are goin out to party you gotta drag your ass to the library to do a group project...but at the same time, its not as bad as people make it seem
i was an electronic engineering major, but i changed to a BBA in marketing. it was going to be either of those fields for me, but with the elect. eng. major i was going to have about 13 of my hours go to waste. people have been giving me shit about going into business saying i wont find any jobs, but i have no idea what the hell i am going to do and im going into my junior year in college already.
You should go for it man. But you have to stick with it
I have two semesters left and i get my BS in ME. It has been real tough at times, but i got plenty of party time. I slack off kinda bad but i still get all my crap done.
You have to have a certain mind set to be able to study ME and stick with it. You have to look at things analytically, always wondering how they work, how it was designed and all that. If you think about things that way i would say engineering is the field for you.
You have to learn a lot of calculus, and you use it throughout your classes, so you must be proficient with math. The rest of the classes are all fairly logical if you have the analytical mind i was talkin about above. The only classes that have been real hard for me to get used to were thermodynamics and heat transfer (which im in right now). At first they seemed real illogical but theyre starting to make some sense now i guess.
But ME's are needed in everything man, so dont be scared of not getting a job. I plan on working with the automotive industry, it has always been my dream. But i want to work in an aftermarket support kinda place. Design/Testing of parts that better the performance of existing cars (engine, suspension, etc). I prob wont get my dream job for a couple of years but its alright, ill get there one day.
good luck man, and think about it pretty well cause sometimes when the business majors and all them are goin out to party you gotta drag your ass to the library to do a group project...but at the same time, its not as bad as people make it seem
i dont mind the school work, i just want a job i would love afterwards, with some nice pay, also i wouldnt mind creating a better version of the RENESIS engine , i havent taken calculus, i had the option to go up in math to pre calc if i took summer school for advance algebra, but decided not to because i thought it was not needed, boy was i wrong
mechanical engineering? Hmm... Definetely a lot of math. Definetely calculus. Probably the hardest class you're going to have to take. Don't be scared of it though. It's not as hard as it might seem. I'm enrolling in calc 3 next semester and so far it hasn't been anything extremely hard. You will be also dealing with Physics, especially engineering Physics (Calculus + Physics). I might be wrong though. I'm computer science major But it's definetely a very interesting field of work.
Being a mechanical engineer, here's my take. M.E. is a very broad field. That in itself makes it one of the more difficult, but more flexible engineering fields to study.
M.E.'s can be designers, testers, researchers, managers, salesmen (since they have technical knowledge of a product, they are well suited to selling them).
They can be any one of those things in any number of fields. Most people think of the standard automotive or aerospace stuff. But I design mechanical systems for buildings (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, fire protection). In addition to the designing, I also manage all my own projects, do the field coordination with the contractors in the field, and take shit from our client's when things go wrong.
A lot of people I graduated with got jobs doing alot of computer simulation modeling for various mechanical componets, testing for induced stresses, temperature distributions and heat transfers, fluid flow analyses. Certainly, if you like automotive, a M.E. degree is valuable.
Just some food for thought.
hit it on the head IMO.
autoCAD and comp modelling is all the rage, which is why i never went into industry and stayed at school.. programming and sitting behind a comp is not my idea of fun.. so i'm back doing thermonuclear stuff in a BSc, starting all over again.
i dont understand your route? have u finished HS? eng is pretty tough, i dont mean to bag on you, but unless you find HS real easy, uni will be a shock to ya my friend.. community college... well - i'll leave that there... the topic has been known to inflame ppl here... but i would hazard to say that if you have to go thru there first, you'll find it real tough in the later years at uni, it gets harder.
if u want to get in the field, get into the best possible school, and get used to studying... i dont wanna freak you out, but i've known good smart ppl get broken by engineering. the class gets smaller and smaller, no joke my faculty started at like 600+ students and final yr (4yrs later) was like 150 that actually ended up with a B.E.
anyway, as was said the options are huge, and the pay good... i suggest you work on getting in first, and then after first yr, get in on a studentship in some industry somewhere - thats the best way to see exactly what they do in any given field, thats why they have studentships in the first place..
Everything's hard. If you keep studying, and like wankski said you're going to have to do a lot of studying, you're going to be fine. I really don't see much difference between university and college. I go to UMKC (Univ. of MO, Kansas City) and some community college for programming courses and the only difference i see is the tuition. The level of teaching is the same. Oh and yeah, interships are good, if you can find a company that actually wants interns.
autoCAD and comp modelling is all the rage, which is why i never went into industry and stayed at school.. programming and sitting behind a comp is not my idea of fun.. so i'm back doing thermonuclear stuff in a BSc, starting all over again.
i dont understand your route? have u finished HS? eng is pretty tough, i dont mean to bag on you, but unless you find HS real easy, uni will be a shock to ya my friend.. community college... well - i'll leave that there... the topic has been known to inflame ppl here... but i would hazard to say that if you have to go thru there first, you'll find it real tough in the later years at uni, it gets harder.
if u want to get in the field, get into the best possible school, and get used to studying... i dont wanna freak you out, but i've known good smart ppl get broken by engineering. the class gets smaller and smaller, no joke my faculty started at like 600+ students and final yr (4yrs later) was like 150 that actually ended up with a B.E.
anyway, as was said the options are huge, and the pay good... i suggest you work on getting in first, and then after first yr, get in on a studentship in some industry somewhere - thats the best way to see exactly what they do in any given field, thats why they have studentships in the first place..
i think hs is pretty easy, i just dont do hw , i am currently a junior in hs might be early to some, but for me right now is the roads of choices of what i want to be when i grow up, since the fields i am interested in go in completely different paths, need different classes, and different colleges, and right now im seriously screwed, i have no clue which path i want to take more and knowing it will haunt me till i retire kinda scares me
Yeah same here...not to get off subject but my current plan is the same....get most out of college then transfer to university.
Where I'm going now it used to be a community college...it's one of the best in the US...however, it's not a community college because they now offer a bachelors in education. The teachers that teach at the college also teach at the local university. They say the only difference is the cost and the funding.
Assume that regardless of what path you choose, you don't like it. First, let's say you choose mechanical engineering, and you've graduated with that degree. How hard will it be for you at that time to change your mind and pursue something else like construction or automotive technology? Now, assume you choose to go into construction, or automotive technology, and decide you want to go into engineering. How likely are you to do that, and how difficult will it be? (consider not only yor own personal ambition, but also the likelihood of eng. faculties to admit "mature" students).
IMO it will be harder to get yourself back into school to get that degree than to get it first time round. Essentially, which path will give you the most flexibility in your future. For me, out of the options you've mentioned, that's engineering. My reasoning may sound stupid or even arrogant to some, but I think it's a factor you have to consider.
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), i declined, no freaking thanks. thanks to the rigor of the engineering school, MIS degree was cake 
accounting, HA. finance, ISM concentration courses DOUBLE HA. too easy 
, i havent taken calculus, i had the option to go up in math to pre calc if i took summer school for advance algebra, but decided not to because i thought it was not needed, boy was i wrong 
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