Mach1 Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Well, doesnt seem like things are getting too tight for him yet. If things do start to get tight and bad, let me know, I will be glad to look and see what I can find here. As well as put a resume in the right hands. He still has his job that he had while attending school, but his hours have been cut to almost none and he's about to lose it due to the business' lack of business (it's a graphic & sign design company). His wife is full time at Walmart and they have insurance through her luckily. ---- It's rough out there for everybody. Like I mentioned in my initial post, I'm currently out of a job and have been since last March. I've applied for many jobs related to my degree and experience and some not as closely related, but the only two I've been offered are a temporary one that wanted me to go to Wyoming for two months with only a 2 day notice and then be on-call for future work (can't do that with a 2 year old at home and a wife that works nights) and one that wouldn't pay enough to cover my gas money to drive to work and daycare. Luckily my wife is a nurse and makes a good wage and her parents are allowing us to live in their basement. Going back to school this fall is looking like my future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfletch7441 Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 I'm a Civil Engineer. Mostly work in stormwater management, but also do a lot of roadway with a little development design work thrown in for flavor. I've been in the field for around 10 years and got my degree during those ten years and I just passed my PE exam last October. Civil's won't make the money Electrical and Mechanical's will, but the work is very gratifying and steady. You know all that infrastructure money the Government keeps talking about? Yeah, Civil's will be spending the majority of it. I would encourage anyone to at least take a look at Engineering. It's not near as hard as some make it out to be, even though there is a lot of Math and Physics, and chicks dig nerds, even though they don't want to admit it! Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 My degree is in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University. Auburn is the oldest and most respected engineering school in the state of Alabama. That's why I went there. Not just to play basketball. Lot's of Math/calculus and actually into some graduate level stuff. Applied math eigenvalue problems (Differential equations on steroids!) Piles of physics and chemistry. The core mechanical engineering classes are Statics, Thermodynamics, Dynamics, Fluid dynamics, mechanical design and Strength of Materials. I also took Materials Engineering(composites), Metallurgy, Industrial engineering, linear circuit design and electronics. On top of that I took a bunch of computer science classes. Drafting (board) and computer aided drafting. The end result is a very flexible engineering degree that is a fit for many career options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PotashRLS Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 There is a lot of good advice in this thread Chris. I personally have an Associates Degree in Civil Engineering and Land Surveying. With that I am a Licensed Wisconsin Land Surveyor and can handle land law, surveying, civil design and construction layout/staking. This degree is 2 years and a summer from a Technical College. The main difference education wise is that you are able to skip a lot of the gen. ed. courses(the stuff our high schools could be teaching if they wanted to) and get right into the main degree courses. However, legislative language for licensing requirements favors requiring a BA or higher for these fields. Math haters need not apply! I also agree that civil engineering is one of the lowest paid disciplines in the engineering field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcot2773 Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 So what I am understanding here is that people with Physics, Calculus, Statistics classes and common sense will do well in the field? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92xj Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 So what I am understanding here is that people with Physics, Calculus, Statistics classes and common sense CAN do well in the field? See the correction in your quote above. The classes are a good portition but not all at all. Experience and self motivation are huge. Experience will come with time and the classes will help you get a job after schooling, but its a tough field so self motivation is one of the biggest things. There are a ton of different routes to take when it comes to engineering. First, figure out which way you want to go, because they sometimes do not overlap with education. A Chemical will not learn too much in the electrical field nor the civil field and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 A good degree can help you design stuff like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Like 92xj suggests. Being a good student and a good employee are sometimes not related. Some of the best and worst engineers I have ever worked with were fantastic students in school. I strongly recommend an internship for engineering students. Personally, I always looked for that when interviewing graduate candidates for employment. Co-workers at an internship are your first real world references. They can really help you get a job. Let's face it. Getting a job is why you are going to school in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m gardner Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 You need to remember that college courses are designed to train people in disciplines that others did with God given talent and commonsense. Basically there are people who were and are great engineers that are self educated. Colleges try to create this by offering coursework that will mass produce this on a large scale. It's like baking cookies with a recipe. Sometimes the cookies are good sometimes not. Good ingredients bake the best cookies. That's why the areospace shop I work in has no engineers. Just grumpy old guys that know what to do. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfletch7441 Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Remember, you don't learn to be an Engineer in college. All college does is teach you how to be a problem solver. Learning to be an Engineer happens after you graduate. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'm pretty confident in my math skills. In high school I've taken Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry, & will be taking Pre-Calculus this coming semester. I've also taken & done very well in Physics which had A LOT of math. My physics teacher, who is also my Chemistry teacher, actually told me she believes I would do very well in a math-related career..... That's great! When you go for your degree you'll want to be able to move right into Calculus and calc based physics, along with college chem. So it's important that you've taken what you have in HS. You won't be "playing catch up". Sounds like you're headed in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) Remember, you don't learn to be an Engineer in college. All college does is teach you how to be a problem solver. Learning to be an Engineer happens after you graduate. Ben Yea not all engineers are good problem solvers or good at communicating and dealing with people. Those skills are imperative for your success. I hate it when people have a bad experience with these "engineers" and then think all engineers are "educated idiots". I've worked on a farm most of my life, but many see me in a suit and think i've never worked a hard day in my life. such a silly idea! Edited January 24, 2011 by dbHunterNY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramie Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 It really depends on what you want to do for a living, not what type of Engineer you want to be! Keep in mind your region is HUGE. Here in the Midwest we have a bunch of oil, refineries, etc. so a process engineer (Mechanical or Chemical) makes VERY good money. Structural comes in a close second and there is a close second with structural. I do not have a degree but I have done engineering from Structural to Mechanical and or Chemical. My job now is essentially an Applications Engineer for a combustion company (Refinery Equipment). We currently have openings for Mechanical and Chemical Engineers. They typically get a sign on bonus of somewhere around $2k just for accepting the job. They also range in pay from say $50k - $125 a year. Finding a job is never that hard to do either. A lot of engineers in this business drift back and forth between companies and get more money each time to do. One guy in particular that left our company about 6-months ago got a $110,000 sign on bonus for going to a competitor. Again, keep in mind, oil is very big in this area so its a great field to go into. Even when things were horrible we didn't lay off a single person! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramie Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Yea not all engineers are good problem solvers or good at communicating and dealing with people. Those skills are imperative for your success. I hate it when people have a bad experience with these "engineers" and then think all engineers are "educated idiots". I've worked on a farm most of my life, but many see me in a suit and think i've never worked a hard day in my life. such a silly idea! This does have some truth! We have engineers here that have more brains than personality. However, we are a worldwide company and a vast majority of our engineers are Applications Engineers and sale equipment. There is a host of people that are both intelligent and able to function in proper society. However, there are those that have somehow internally swapped brain power for personality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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