mech engineer questions..

[nl12]

Sounds like you have a plan, most engineers (in my experience) do not do most of the building and testing themselves they have a machine shop or assistant do it for them. I would suggest the military but it sounds like you have a kinda serious relationship... If you go the ME route the best suggestions I can give you are
1. Dont give up
2. Dont party too much
3. Have fun but dont forget #2
4. Do as many internships and Coops as possible, look for then as soon as possible. They will get you a good job faster than good grades alone.

I have a BS degree in engineering management and taken many ME courses.

Good luck

[t-maxxracer32]

Originally Posted by nl12

Sounds like you have a plan, most engineers (in my experience) do not do most of the building and testing themselves they have a machine shop or assistant do it for them. I would suggest the military but it sounds like you have a kinda serious relationship... If you go the ME route the best suggestions I can give you are
1. Dont give up
2. Dont party too much
3. Have fun but dont forget #2
4. Do as many internships and Coops as possible, look for then as soon as possible. They will get you a good job faster than good grades alone.

I have a BS degree in engineering management and taken many ME courses.

Good luck

ya i would say that i do have a serious relationship. been together for almost 2 anda half years

im moving to NC to be with her not join the military her dad is a captain or something high up in the marines and it doesnt seem like something i want to do (be away from my family)

also i dont party... never been a fan of being drunk. hell i havent even tried more than a sip of alcohal before.

once i move down there i am going to look for internships at places. i hear charlotte is HUGE for MEs.

and ya i could not IMAGINE being away from my g/f or family for 15 freakin months... thats unreal. i was away from ashlee (my g/f) for 3 months and it was INSANELY hard on us. i feel dumb saying that when you were away for 15 months but ima kid. lol so i still have alot of time to mature

but the army, marines, reserve none of that is for me.

What I did in grad school as a univ wide research assoc was prototype development - my 1st proj was a 1/125th scale gas augumented water jet propulsion engine. After ONR approved where we were headed, I then got to build a 1/25 scale - developed 1300lbs thrust and just about wrecked the test stand it was bolted too - maxxed out the load cell we initially used. I drew all the mechanical drawings, revised them until everybody in the dept and ONR was satisified, drew up bill of materials, located and purchased equipment. I did about half the machining and supervised the other half. Dream job - only prob it didn't pay crap! Wonderful hours, but lousy pay - typical univ job.

In the real world, I've build huge pieces of complex machinery - but basically through supervising crafts on the how and the where and in what order. That pulp machine was 600' long , 16' tall and moved a sheet of finished cellulose at 45mph, cranked out a 1.5ton finished roll every 15minutes - took almost a yr to built it. Other jobs have been much more on the intellectual side - NASA - my work and recommendations are flying every time Shuttle's on orbit. Things I never got to see other than on paper - the cargo compartment bay door radiators that manage heating and cooling are largely mine - god what a struggle that was. MEs tend to design stuff - someone comes up with a need in the business you're in and you go figure out how to make it happen.

You start in pre-engineering - thats usually the 1st year, get a taste of a few things - math, chem, and physics. You may need some remedial math work to make up for what this last bozo has failed to deliver. Its critical to get a good solid start with the math. If it takes semester to bring your pre-calculus skills up to par, so be it - it'll be time well spent. Who knows, you may find something you like more that 1st year, I saw many leave engr for other fields in the 1st 2 yrs and saw a lot of switching disciplines. I never wavered and I guess I was the one the dean talked about when we had orientation - the 1 of every 3 that actually graduate in ME.

I'm working as a senior consultant now on my own, self employed, and never dreamed I'd be doing this well. I can quit right now and never hurt for money, but I love what I'm doing and the folks I'm doing it with and for. I look forward to getting up everyday and going to work - I usually get to see or learn something new almost every day. I credit the ME background with making all this possible.

[Hickoryhead]

Wow! Do I feel Inadequate now. I don’t want to brag. That’s not my way but this will come out sounding like I am. I am a month away from my 27th birthday. The only bill I have is for my 4800 square foot house. I only owe 1\3 of what its worth. I make $86,000 a year doing a hobby I like. I am on my way to being debt free by the age of 28. You want to know my education level? High School. No I am not a rich kid. I make more than my father ever did. He will retire at the age of 65. I will by 30. If that falls through 35 IT WILL HAPPEN. My 2 cents don’t really matter here but I have no college education what so ever. Didn’t care for school at all. Not that it was hard. My senior year I had a 4.0 GPA. I just didn’t care. Through high school and after I worked for some great men. I learned hands on from people that know their field. I was running a machine shop at the age of 16. Yes I mean running it. I then tried my hand a wood working at a cabinet shop. I learned the building stages and moved into installing multi-million dollar jobs on the west coast. I managed the install crew there before I left. Then I changed to the largest Stair company in the US. I ran their decorative parts department before they were sold. I have worked every stage of residential and commercial construction and then some. The one thing I have found is that there are 2 ways of getting into a great career, a degree OR experience. Don’t get me wrong, I am encouraging you to go to college. You should. They have a lot to teach. I choose a different route. I have lost a job interview to guys with a degree but every time I have lost the interview I have had a call back simply because of my experience with what I do before the next job is posted. I have a mechanical mind. Engineering would have been great for me if I went to college. I had an economics teacher in high school that put it very simple “do what you love and the money will follow.” I did and is has. I bet a lot of RC nuts on this forum did just that. They went to college for what they love and it’s worked out great for them. Do what you love. Money will never buy happiness. That I know. I have enough to live on and that’s what matters. My family time is worth more money than a bank can hold. Here is my 2 cents in a nut shell: find a job you love to do and do it. Let it make you money but don’t work so much you never see your family. After everything’s said and done you will not have anything but your family. Hope this helps.

[JERRY2KONE]

That was a great layout of how some people differ in the way they live their life and work their way up the food chain. I to had the opportunity to spend my time in school, but I just wanted to work with my hands. I hated wasting my time sitting in classes with teachers who had no ambition to live their own lives the way that they wished they had. I can learn how to do just about anything, and that has served me very well. I left school at 16 and worked odd jobs until I joined the US Navy at 18. I was thrown into a leadership position going onboard my first commmand running a shipboard power/propulsion plant, and wow did I learn fast. I was scared to death, but I refused to fail. I moved up through the ranks quickly and had a blast doing what I wanted to do. Working with my hands and then eventually teaching young men and women basic engineering skill on their way to the naval fleet. I retired in 1997 at the age of 38. I work now just to keep busy while my wife works on her retirement.

I have to say the most fun that I had was as a boot camp drill instructor for 5 years at the Orlando Naval training center before it closed in 1995. I put in over 20 years and as an engineer did less than 45 days at sea. That is just unheard of, but that is the way I guided my career. I wanted to work, but going to sea was the last thing that I wanted to do. I have always been at home taking care of business. I was very fortunate and now I have an impressive resume that lets me take any job that I want in my field. Don't get me wrong I had schools to attend, but they were practical on hands type classes with lab training except for the senior leadership training stuff. I hated going to school so college was not my cup of tea either Hickoryhead.

There is definitely more than just one way to skin a cat as they say. You don't have to love your job, but you need to love what it is that you do on that job. Too many people go to work every day and they hate their job, and their lives. The one thing that I am sure of is that if you commit your efforts to doing a great job you will succeed and enjoy the fruits of your labors.