Topic: who's an engineer on the forum?

[greasy j]

I know there are a few because I remember seeing the engineer jokes thread.

I just got signed up to go back to school full-time after turning 35 and realizing I've put this off long enough. I always planned on it, but I got side tracked after high school. having fun, traveling and being a hobo, doing things most people wouldn't believe if I told them.

anyways, at this point I've gotten all that drinking, drugs, crime, sex and fun out of my system and am ready to dedicate the next 4 yrs to study. I plan to get a degree in mechanical engineering and would like to do something bike related. maybe at some point go back for electrical engineering, was thinking maybe I could work with electric vehicles at some point with those 2 degrees. there will be more electric bikes sooner or later.

just wondering what people have to say about their jobs and their schooling, experiences as an engineer. especially if anyone is doing anything remotely related to motorcycles for a living. what do you do now? what did you do straight out of school? are you working on, or have you worked on, anything interesting? any advice?

I do have one concern. I have a criminal conviction from when I was young and having too much fun. it's been 15 yrs now, and will be almost 20 yrs by the time I am done with school. I know I can't be a public school teacher, bummer. but I can't see this being a prob as an engineer. I doubt there are many engineers out there with felonies. but I also doubt there are many covered in tattoos and scars. I can always be the 1st. we still believe in 2nd chances in this country(USA), don't we?

thanks, guys. I know this is a weird place to ask, but it's the only site I look at.

[wannabridin]

I'm a Metallurgical and Materials Engineer and graduated from Colorado School of Mines.  all i can say is if you aren't interested in one for of engineering, don't do it JUST to get your degree.  also, go to the best school your money can.  i LOVED golden, CO, and had a good time there, but i could have had a lot more fun, which i wish i had done.  oh well, live and learn!  i picked metallurgy because honestly i had never heard of it before going there, and it was a LOT more interesting than mechanical or electrical or whatever...  plus it's one of the schools most recognized departments.  now my job right now doesn't use the degree much, but if i had it my way i'd be doing failure analysis for an aerospace or automotive/motorcycle manufacturer.  that's the real physical side of metallurgy when things start getting REALLY old school and fun!

either way, do what you're passionate about, regardless of the degree and do the best you can to get as good of grades as you can!  and have a good social life!!!  nobody likes someone that's all books or all street smart!

and about your tattoos and scars, people WILL judge you from it, but you throw it right back in their face by being a badass and smart guy!  and be prepared to have your ass kicked by classes the first 2 years!  my "core" courses that were required for all disciplines at the school, no matter what, were: Physics 1, 2 (hardest course at the school, 4.5 hours) and 3; Calc 1, 2, 3 and Differential Equations; Chemistry 1 and 2 w/ full labs; A geology class w/ field and traditional labs; Engineering econ, Circuits (real #$%* of a course); then there were some other courses unique to the school that were still a bugger to pass, but i pulled a 2.92 and could have easily made a 3.3+ if i had put in a LITTLE and i mean little bit more effort...

[gmonkey]

Tattoos and scars shouldn't be a problem.  Engineers aren't all Dilbert.  As far as 20 year old criminal record, could give you problems if you're trying to get government contractor work, otherwise wouldn't worry about it but I'm assuming it's nothing too major.

[sangyo soichiro]

I know there are a few because I remember seeing the engineer jokes thread.

Dukiedook, MickeyX, MarkCB750, wannabridin, (maybe TwoTired...), and I was one once upon a time (but non-degreed).
(Sorry if I forgot anyone...)

I just got signed up to go back to school full-time after turning 35 and realizing I've put this off long enough. I always planned on it, but I got side tracked after high school. having fun, traveling and being a hobo, doing things most people wouldn't believe if I told them.

I think this is great!

anyways, at this point I've gotten all that drinking, drugs, crime, sex and fun out of my system and am ready to dedicate the next 4 yrs to study. I plan to get a degree in mechanical engineering and would like to do something bike related. maybe at some point go back for electrical engineering, was thinking maybe I could work with electric vehicles at some point with those 2 degrees. there will be more electric bikes sooner or later.

Get a Bachelor's in one, and a Master's (or Ph.D.) in the other.  My 2¢.

just wondering what people have to say about their jobs and their schooling, experiences as an engineer. especially if anyone is doing anything remotely related to motorcycles for a living. what do you do now? what did you do straight out of school? are you working on, or have you worked on, anything interesting? any advice?

I did it backwards.  I went to work right after high school and eventually ended up in engineering (tool and machine design) without a college degree.  Then I left that line of work and got not only a Bachelor's degree (two actually - math and physics), but a Master's (physics) and Ph.D. (astrophysics).  Anyway, I think engineering will suit you pretty well - especially given your hands-on mechanical skills.  The only advice I can think of at the moment is just to get the best grades you can in school (and more importantly, try to learn the stuff as well as you can).  And don't get behind on the math.

I do have one concern. I have a criminal conviction from when I was young and having too much fun. it's been 15 yrs now, and will be almost 20 yrs by the time I am done with school. I know I can't be a public school teacher, bummer. but I can't see this being a prob as an engineer. I doubt there are many engineers out there with felonies. but I also doubt there are many covered in tattoos and scars. I can always be the 1st. we still believe in 2nd chances in this country(USA), don't we?

I don't think the tattoos should be a big problem, but of course, on the job interviews, cover them up.  The better you do in school, the less you'll have to worry about your past and ink.  Of course you can't erase either, but an outstanding college record will help out a lot I think.  Try to get straight As and graduate with honors.

thanks, guys. I know this is a weird place to ask, but it's the only site I look at.

This is a good place to ask, I think.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Long sleeve dress shirts take care of tatoos. Find out what school you want to go to first for what degree you want to get.
Mech and electrical degrees will not be easy, they are not impossible but not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

Find out what courses you can take at your local community college like chemistry to get warmed up for the real thing. I would recommend holding your math, physics, statics and dynamics for the 4 year if you go mech or electrical- these subjects are more math and physics heavy than other engineering degrees. If you go to a good 4 year the community classes will seem like easy high school stuff, but the credits are cheaper and some classes are not essential (as in need to retain and build on) to your degree. Just make sure those credits will transfer readily.

When you do get to that good school expect 30-40 hours a week of studying for a 12-15 hour schedule if you want decent grades- that is about the norm for engineering schools- 3-4 hours for each hour of class work.

Get ready to give your cranium a workout.

[SD750F]

Electronics Engineer here with a minor in Physics.

Got my third job as a punk with died hair and all. And that was a nuclear engineering position for a company that made shut down monitors for power plants.

So if you have any questions, ask directly. You can achieve just about anything you want with time and persistence. At any age and several times throughout a lifetime.

Scott

[greasy j]

wow, thanks for all the advice guys. as of now I am enrolled at Laney Community College in Oakland, they have a 2 yr transfer to 4 yr program. after that maybe Berkeley.

as far as math and physics and being hard, etc. I am very up for it. I took AP calculus in high school. I've always been a math whiz, that's one reason for choosing engineering. also because it seems like a job where I could use my brain power, but still be doing something tangible, making things, testing things, whatev. despite being a hellion when I was young I got really good grades in high school. I take a 'B' very personally. haha. I also did well on the SAT, etc. aced the math section of the military test. forgot what it's called. funny thing is I originally planned to be a writer. wanted to be Jack Kerouac. still do at some point, but I really want to build things, design things. make things happen in the real world. not just shuffle papers or manipulate systems like with some other careers.

anyways, I appreciate all the info.

and SD750F, that's awesome that there is a punk rock engineer here! I don't know if you're still into punk/hardcore but paulages on the forum is in the band 'Tragedy' which is pretty popular as far as modern hardcore bands. I dig em a lot.

[gmonkey]

... it seems like a job where I could use my brain power, but still be doing something tangible, making things, testing things, whatev. ... I really want to build things, design things. make things happen in the real world. not just shuffle papers or manipulate systems like with some other careers.

Could just be my personal luck but you might be disappointed.  You design a small part of it, it gets reviewed, you correct it, it gets reviewed, you review some other stuff, you document it, someone else makes it, someone else tests it, at some point you might find out how well it worked.  Unless you're the one testing it, in which case, someone else designs it, someone else reviews it, someone else makes it, you test it, you write a report about it, someone else fixes it.  Then if you're the one making it, chances are you're not an engineer.  Allow some leeway for size of company, complexity of product and so on.  Either way, it takes away from the making something tangible aspect of things.  It's not black and white, there's exceptions but paper shuffling is a big part of engineering.

Sorry for being the pessimist, people.  Feel free to contradict me with your own experiences.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Yep, sounds like you want to be a tech, most engineers don't dirty their hands (Or are not allowed to).

[ZanVooden]

Im a Mechanical Engineer just out of school. Went to Milwaukee School of Engineering.  I know a couple guys you graduated who went to work for Harley and yes they do mostly design work. I personally do Mechanical design for buildings (HVAC). When I was in school I interned at Caterpillar at their Proving Grounds. That has been the only experience I've had with actually being in the field doing the testing and getting my hand dirty on a regular basis. I've found those jobs are few and far between.

If you're really looking to be the testing/building guy, then research companies with Research & Development groups though you wont be building or testing; more likely designing and overseeing the build, and developing test and overseeing the test.
To actually do all the build/test work, look in to mechanical engineering tech. It requires much of the same school. Much less of the higher level class (FEA, Upper Calc, upper thermo) and but gives more practical knowledge of on the job building. They dont do as much design, but generally recommend design changes as they know how the designed item reacts and such.

[kslrr]

I graduated in 1985 with a BSEET (Electronics Engineering Technologies) from DeVry Phoenix.  23 recruiters came that year vs. the usual 85+.  I found work with a mom-pop robotics company in late '85 early '86 for 3 months until Chrysler decided not to introduce air-bags.  Interviewed with Hughes Aircraft for a position testing satellites when the shuttle blew up putting a hold on satellite production.  I then discovered the Building Controls Industry and have been doing that ever since.  I can design both the hardware and the software, prepare submitals, deal with the contractors, etc.  It's like playing with a huge video game, but it's with a live building.

Though not directly related, my schooling taught me how to take large systems, brake them down into small sub systems and make it work.  One thing that I learned, Transform Analysis, the design of digital filter circuits using 3 dimensional math, I have not used since school.

[scottly]

Go for it!!! While you're at the CC getting the basic stuff out of the way, take a few practical courses like electronics, automotive tech, welding, and machining. This will give you a more well-rounded outlook, and may help you set a final goal as to where you want to specialize.
(PS Tats can be faded, if not totally erased, with a laser. There was a plastic surgeon in AZ a while back that was doing it pro bono for gang related ones.)    

[RAFster122s]

The odds of working in your degree's field 10 years after graduation is often pretty small. Many move into other fields and the like.

I went to school for an Electronics Engineering Technology degree and did well enough (3.3 overall 3.6 in engineering classes) to be looked at by some big companies.  I went to work for TRW Resistive Product division as a Product Engineer on a wirewound resistor line. (wirewound resistors are used in power supplies and used to be heavily used by Television and as ballast resistors for electric fans in cars.)
My boss designed & oversaw production of a resistor ring to discharge any static charge for the Apollo space capsule when the Apollo Soviet space docking I can't remember how to spell the Soviet capsule's name.
They didn't know if there could be a problem and it was a late in the game add-on to be integrated into the Apollo docking ring.
That was fun work but I felt so ill prepared for the work and was stressing big time to not screw up. Learning curve was steep as I was having to learn a lot about materials I wasn't familiar with and bone up on calculating circular mils in the wire to theoretically determine the amount of wire and then the pitch for winding on the core material. Wasn't hard stuff really but it took a bit of math and then some experimentation to see if it came in as expected and then rewind by tweaking the winding specs until you came within tolerances.

I learned a lot in that position. The economy tanked and orders slowed and that ended my product engineering career.  I moved into technical writing for AT&T which spun off into Lucent Technologies.
I did the tech writing thing on international projects for about 10 years before I grew bored and then moved into Software and Hardware Quality Assurance for ISO  9001 and SEI's CMM.  
I worked for AT&T and then Lucent for about 171/2 years before Lucent screwed up and set their projected profits too high for the expected  sales. As a result the stock plummeted every quarter and mgmt was shedding people like water. We started 2000 with 90K employees worldwide. In 2003 when I was laid  off we were down to 34k.

>btw, 45 of us were laid off on a Friday and they put 40 positions with Lucent in Poland the next Monday. Just the beginning for that product, if you have Verizon or AT&T cell phones the voice mail system is the product I worked on before parting company with Lucent. Those I've kept in touch with on the program tell me about 10% of the staff remained and 90% of the staff were in Poland and it was awful going through that.

I decided to pursue government contracting as nothing was happening in Ohio or anywhere E of Mississippi for  me interview-wise for 2 years. I moved to Tucson and hired with a gov't contractor doing SEI's CMMI software and hardware quality assurance on a satellite program. A little over a year ago I moved to Sierra Vista to work on an Army project for a field deployed product helping identify the bad guys.

The felony conviction might not keep you out of gov't contracting but it would work against you until you were vetted and received your clearance.  Drug use doesn't keep people out of Top Secret work as long as it is in the past and not the present and you've dealt with the issue. Any work with a clearance and you are subject to random testing for urine and blood so if they suspect anything you will be found out.

You won't make as much as a Engineering Tech and Engineers will often treat you like crap or think less of you if they are snobbish but the hands on side is worth it sometimes. Devry is a pretty good school for an Engineering Tech degree.

BTW, I've had friends in aerospace and it isn't a good field to pursue in my opinion as  you are moving alot chasing the work and many of the companies (big  ones) have  toxic internal politics to deal with.
Not to mention is highly unlikely for one to work  themselves up to  chief engineer on a program to be able to design and control a design that can make from design to production on an aircraft these days. Look at how often and how long fighter design programs are as well as cargo or transport aircraft.

GE Energy does battery technology and charging systems as well as electric car motors and the like. Have a buddy who works in that area and has gotten to work on some cool stuff.
  
David

[scottly]

The odds of working in your degree's field 10 years after graduation is often pretty small. Many move into other fields and the like.

I went to school for an Electronics Engineering Technology degree and did well enough (3.3 overall 3.6 in engineering classes) to be looked at by some big companies.  I went to work for TRW Resistive Product division as a Product Engineer on a wirewound resistor line.

TRW Vidar division here, started as a production test tech, and was promoted to tech support engineer after 18 months. My cubical was next to an old tech writer; taught me a lot!


 I moved into technical writing for AT&T which spun off into Lucent Technologies.

I ended up working for Contel, who merged with GTE, who merged with Bell Atlantic, to become Verizon. I loved the technical work, but the politics during the mergers got so bad I bailed on the whole business... 

[tomkimberly]

Mechanical Engineering degree, Washington State.

Many good jobs all over the world! I currently work for a oil tool company but could easily work in minning or transportation (trains, trucking, heavy equipment) fields. Math is a must. The lure of oil tools is the amount of hands on time one gets from each project. When you start out, you will be locked into your cube performing all types of calculations but as you gain experiance, you will get to interact with the shop floor and customers. Sometimes that means a field trip out to a drilling ship or drilling rig. If you want to stay in the bay area there are several good employers who make castings that support these fields and a whole lot of medium sized machine shops who need ME's.

BTW I've been doing this for 35 years now.

Tom

[greasy j]

what a lot of great info! wow, you guys really come through.

The odds of working in your degree's field 10 years after graduation is often pretty small. Many move into other fields and the like.

I went to school for an Electronics Engineering Technology degree and did well enough (3.3 overall 3.6 in engineering classes) to be looked at by some big companies.  I went to work for TRW Resistive Product division as a Product Engineer on a wirewound resistor line. (wirewound resistors are used in power supplies and used to be heavily used by Television and as ballast resistors for electric fans in cars.)
My boss designed & oversaw production of a resistor ring to discharge any static charge for the Apollo space capsule when the Apollo Soviet space docking I can't remember how to spell the Soviet capsule's name.
They didn't know if there could be a problem and it was a late in the game add-on to be integrated into the Apollo docking ring.
That was fun work but I felt so ill prepared for the work and was stressing big time to not screw up. Learning curve was steep as I was having to learn a lot about materials I wasn't familiar with and bone up on calculating circular mils in the wire to theoretically determine the amount of wire and then the pitch for winding on the core material. Wasn't hard stuff really but it took a bit of math and then some experimentation to see if it came in as expected and then rewind by tweaking the winding specs until you came within tolerances.

I learned a lot in that position. The economy tanked and orders slowed and that ended my product engineering career.  I moved into technical writing for AT&T which spun off into Lucent Technologies.
I did the tech writing thing on international projects for about 10 years before I grew bored and then moved into Software and Hardware Quality Assurance for ISO  9001 and SEI's CMM. 
I worked for AT&T and then Lucent for about 171/2 years before Lucent screwed up and set their projected profits too high for the expected  sales. As a result the stock plummeted every quarter and mgmt was shedding people like water. We started 2000 with 90K employees worldwide. In 2003 when I was laid  off we were down to 34k.

>btw, 45 of us were laid off on a Friday and they put 40 positions with Lucent in Poland the next Monday. Just the beginning for that product, if you have Verizon or AT&T cell phones the voice mail system is the product I worked on before parting company with Lucent. Those I've kept in touch with on the program tell me about 10% of the staff remained and 90% of the staff were in Poland and it was awful going through that.

I decided to pursue government contracting as nothing was happening in Ohio or anywhere E of Mississippi for  me interview-wise for 2 years. I moved to Tucson and hired with a gov't contractor doing SEI's CMMI software and hardware quality assurance on a satellite program. A little over a year ago I moved to Sierra Vista to work on an Army project for a field deployed product helping identify the bad guys.

The felony conviction might not keep you out of gov't contracting but it would work against you until you were vetted and received your clearance.  Drug use doesn't keep people out of Top Secret work as long as it is in the past and not the present and you've dealt with the issue. Any work with a clearance and you are subject to random testing for urine and blood so if they suspect anything you will be found out.

You won't make as much as a Engineering Tech and Engineers will often treat you like crap or think less of you if they are snobbish but the hands on side is worth it sometimes. Devry is a pretty good school for an Engineering Tech degree.

BTW, I've had friends in aerospace and it isn't a good field to pursue in my opinion as  you are moving alot chasing the work and many of the companies (big  ones) have  toxic internal politics to deal with.
Not to mention is highly unlikely for one to work  themselves up to  chief engineer on a program to be able to design and control a design that can make from design to production on an aircraft these days. Look at how often and how long fighter design programs are as well as cargo or transport aircraft.

GE Energy does battery technology and charging systems as well as electric car motors and the like. Have a buddy who works in that area and has gotten to work on some cool stuff.
 
David

very interesting career.

Go for it!!! While you're at the CC getting the basic stuff out of the way, take a few practical courses like electronics, automotive tech, welding, and machining. This will give you a more well-rounded outlook, and may help you set a final goal as to where you want to specialize.
(PS Tats can be faded, if not totally erased, with a laser. There was a plastic surgeon in AZ a while back that was doing it pro bono for gang related ones.)   

I've actually been taking fun classes like this for the last 10-15 yrs on and off.

and to remove my tattoos would require a full body scar basically. besides it would be the equivalent of wiping my memory or throwing away the xmas stocking I've had since i was born. never happen.

Im a Mechanical Engineer just out of school. Went to Milwaukee School of Engineering.  I know a couple guys you graduated who went to work for Harley and yes they do mostly design work.

this is good to know.


thanks you guys. if anyone else has an interesting story, I'm still listening.

I know careers can change and I know I might not be doing exactly what I dreamed of, but right now I paint houses and bikes while listening to audiobooks on my ipod because I'm so bored. and I enjoy a challenge and have given up on my social life, so I think engineering might be for me. and if I go to school for something that I don't end up getting paid for I don't see it as a waste. the more stuff I can stuff into my head the better. I like school. crazy, right?

[Duke McDukiedook]

I enjoy a challenge and have given up on my social life, so I think engineering might be for me.

Get this man a slide rule and log table- STAT!!!!!   

[greasy j]

I enjoy a challenge and have given up on my social life, so I think engineering might be for me.

Get this man a slide rule and log table- STAT!!!!!   

 

[rhos1355]

I work as a draftsman in a Civil/Mechanical Engineering Consultancy. I work very closely with engineers and have come to the conclusion that there are 2 kinds of engineers out there; the practical ones (the ones that have gotten their hands dirty to get the experience they have) and the theoretists (these guys only have a vague relationship with reality, and rarely visit site).
I much prefer working with the first kind. The latter kind are right snooty "I-can-reinvent-the-wheel" types.

[greasy j]

I work as a draftsman in a Civil/Mechanical Engineering Consultancy. I work very closely with engineers and have come to the conclusion that there are 2 kinds of engineers out there; the practical ones (the ones that have gotten their hands dirty to get the experience they have) and the theoretists (these guys only have a vague relationship with reality, and rarely visit site).
I much prefer working with the first kind. The latter kind are right snooty "I-can-reinvent-the-wheel" types.

my hands are dirty as we speak.

[rhos1355]

You dirty dirty man, don't you DARE touch my lovely drawings with those hands

[little49]

I work as a draftsman in a Civil/Mechanical Engineering Consultancy. I work very closely with engineers and have come to the conclusion that there are 2 kinds of engineers out there; the practical ones (the ones that have gotten their hands dirty to get the experience they have) and the theoretists (these guys only have a vague relationship with reality, and rarely visit site).
I much prefer working with the first kind. The latter kind are right snooty "I-can-reinvent-the-wheel" types.

I'm a Structural Engineer and work as a designer/drafter/site supervisor for a private firm. We do both government (bridge & roadway) projects as well as industrial (Caterpillar and ADM buildings) projects. I get more satisfaction out of seeing my projects in the construction phase than I do the actual design part. I completely agree though, those are the 2 kinds of engineers hands down. My boss is the latter type and I am the "dirty hands" type. I actually did CC first (got the gen. ed. classes out of the way) and transferred to Southern Illinois University for my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. If you are going into the Mechanical Engineering fields and have a creative mind you can always seek out a job in the R&D sections of different companies. I had an internship when I was in CC at a company that manufactured farm implements (not exactly my cup of tea) but I was in the Research & Development section and had my free run of creative thinking and got to see the products thru from start to finish. It was one of the best jobs I've ever had. If I had been thinking ahead I would have gone that route and tried to work my way into an R&D department at a motorcycle or auto company...

[RAFster122s]

Automotive engineering is largely a supplier management job unfortunately. Way too much plug and play...
Doesn't make for innovative designs, does make for reliable designs. Body Structure, that's almost an entirely different branch of auto engineer...

I'm a hands on engineer and when I spent a decade doing tech writing I did a lot of hardware related manuals and was able to have plenty of hands on time but I started working on cars and rebuilding and restoring.
Picking up 4 cylinder iron block Volvo motors ('57-74 motors) (with the head still on) by myself on did some damage to my low back that I'm paying the price for now. So, I moved to motorcycles again.

Engineers are creative people and many don't recognize their creativity as such. (viewing it more as logical engineering) You need a creative outlet or two.

J, I'm sure you'll enjoy college and you know there are a few engineers here who can give you guidance or possibly talk through tough math topics and the like.
Good luck!

David

[CBJoe]

EET from Purdue Indianapolis.  Personally I'm a terrible student ( I always did better with real life as opposed to school).  I started with EE but soon decided that I like the break/fix technical side so I moved to EET.  If you've got the brains for the EE or ME, then go for it.  But if it's the hands on break fix stuff you like, don't be too stubborn to move to the tech degree if it gets to be too much.

Started for my current company at age 20 doing repair on small medical diagnostics devices while going to school 6 days a week.  Still with the same company at age 29, but now i'm 3rd level support between all of our field technicians and our manufacturing division in Switzerland.  I love it as I get to dirty my hands with equipment and also deal with the managing and implementation across our entire equipment base in the US. 

GreesyJ.... I see that you're located in California.  Keep in mind the Diagnostic Medical Equipment field when dreaming about the future.  There are tons of start-up Molecular Tech companies in that region that could be itching for design engineers or equipment technicians. 

Cheers, Joe

[Duke McDukiedook]

Medical, you can't go wrong in the medical field right now.