I have questions for my Engineering Interview.

[StudentQuery1]

I'm currently a 10th Grader at my high school, My name is Anonymous Student and I've got an assignment I have to complete for my principles of engineering class for the PLTW (Project lead the way) Program. I consider myself very proficient at theoretical math, but I do have some trouble when it comes to applying it to real life, thus making these classes very challenging at times. I've been looking a lot in the engineering field and airplanes absolutely fascinate my entire family has been in the Air Force and I think it would wonderful if I became an Aerospace Engineer. I've got some questions to ask if you could answer that would be fantastic.

First off these are general questions and nothing too personal, if you would like to state your name and were you currently work that would certainly be helpful.Questions
• Where did you go to college?
• What degree(s) do you have?
• What field of engineering do you work in?
• What are some specific jobs in this field?
• What is your specialty in this field of engineering?
• Describe the duties and responsibilities of someone working in this field of
engineering.
• What are the advantages of this occupation?
• What are the disadvantages?
• Do most people work for themselves, private industry or the government?
• Are there advancement opportunities?
• How much of your time is spent on the computer?
• Does your job deal mainly with people, data or things?
• Did your degree prepare you for the work you are doing now?
• Is it possible to work at home (like if you’re sick)?
• Are there many women who work in your workplace? In this field of engineering?
• What is the beginning, average, and top salary one could expect to earn
working in Aerospace engineering?
• How many hours do you work per week?
• Is this what you thought you were going to do in high school?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and answer. Once again if you find any of these questions too personal please do not answer them.

 

[Tristan_Boore]

I usually roam around the boards and just look but after I saw that no one had answered you I felt compelled to answer. Here is my interview.

My name is Tristan Boore as you can probably tell.

I went to MIT
I have a bachelor's in Science
I work in the Aerospace industry
They call me the number cruncher actually, I'm really good at math and I always solve the math problems
My duties include making sure all of the calculations are correct, if they are not correct, then many people could get hurt.
You can tell all your friends and they could think your cool! But there is a lot of prestige with being an engineer especially if you contribute to something very important.
Some disadvantages include: A lot of time sucked away from your personal life.
It’s pretty hard to work on your own but private industries, such as Lockheed martin also hire, as well as NASA
The field of aeronautical technology is rapidly improving every day.
We spend a lot of time in 3D modeling programs coming up with designs
Mainly with things, there’s a lot pieces to a puzzle that you need to figure out.
Yes MIT prepared immensely for this job, it's one of the best schools in the nation!
You can certainly come up with designs on your own and show them to your coworkers after you return!
Contrary to popular belief there are women in our office.
It’s around 40 thousand a year when you start out and it goes up if you have a masters, or doctorate.
It depends on the project, and how involved you are.
Yes I’ve always wanted to be an engineer, I found out my love for aeronautical engineering in high school.

Well, that about wraps it up! I hope you got all that you needed, and good luck with your future!

 

[Pkruse]

• Where did you go to college?
UCF, Orlando, FL, USA

• What degree(s) do you have?
BSE, Mechanical

• What field of engineering do you work in?
Aerospace, mechanical design of the power plant

• What are some specific jobs in this field?
All aspects of engineering are represented in engine design.

• What is your specialty in this field of engineering?
Mechanical design.

• Describe the duties and responsibilities of someone working in this field of
engineering.
The customer tells us what he/she wants, and we give it to them.

• What are the advantages of this occupation?
For most people, none at all. For me, I love it.

• What are the disadvantages?
Pretty much redundant to the above answer.

• Do most people work for themselves, private industry or the government?
Both. But the ones actually doing the design work mostly work for private industry. The government workers are more like contract managers much of the time.

• Are there advancement opportunities?
Yes.

• How much of your time is spent on the computer?
Most of it.

• Does your job deal mainly with people, data or things?
All of the above. We must have the technical ability and creative skills, but if we can't play well with others and communicate our ideas effectively both in person and in writing, then we would not last long.

• Did your degree prepare you for the work you are doing now?
No. I've worked many and highly varied jobs in the engineering profession over the last three decades. I've never seen a job yet for which my education prepared me.

• Is it possible to work at home (like if you’re sick)?
A few people can, but most cannot. We have to attend too many meetings and interface with many people. In my first job, for example, we had 15 engineers designing the detail parts that fit into a 15 inch sphere. I had to have many detailed discussions with most of them every day, and we both needed to be working on the same piece of paper or computer screen to do so effectively.

• Are there many women who work in your workplace? In this field of engineering?
Very few. Less than 10% has been my experience. But we are beginning to see more.

• What is the beginning, average, and top salary one could expect to earn
working in Aerospace engineering?
I only know what I make, and I won't post that.

• How many hours do you work per week?
As many as it takes. Sometimes when things get slow, you can cut back to 40 hours per week. If that continues for too long, then consider updating your resume.

• Is this what you thought you were going to do in high school?
Yes.

 

[Pkruse]

BTW: The math is much easier on the job than in the class room. A few analystical jobs might be very math intensive, but I've never had a need to know anything about Calculus in any of my jobs. I just needed to learn it so I could understand what to tell the computer to do, and to determine if I was getting reasonable results back again. I can't say this is true for all engineering jobs, but it has proven true for me.

 

[berkeman]

I'm currently a 10th Grader at my high school, My name is Anonymous Student and I've got an assignment I have to complete for my principles of engineering class for the PLTW (Project lead the way) Program. I consider myself very proficient at theoretical math, but I do have some trouble when it comes to applying it to real life, thus making these classes very challenging at times. I've been looking a lot in the engineering field and airplanes absolutely fascinate my entire family has been in the Air Force and I think it would wonderful if I became an Aerospace Engineer. I've got some questions to ask if you could answer that would be fantastic.

First off these are general questions and nothing too personal, if you would like to state your name and were you currently work that would certainly be helpful.


Questions
• Where did you go to college?
• What degree(s) do you have?
• What field of engineering do you work in?
• What are some specific jobs in this field?
• What is your specialty in this field of engineering?
• Describe the duties and responsibilities of someone working in this field of
engineering.
• What are the advantages of this occupation?
• What are the disadvantages?
• Do most people work for themselves, private industry or the government?
• Are there advancement opportunities?
• How much of your time is spent on the computer?
• Does your job deal mainly with people, data or things?
• Did your degree prepare you for the work you are doing now?
• Is it possible to work at home (like if you’re sick)?
• Are there many women who work in your workplace? In this field of engineering?
• What is the beginning, average, and top salary one could expect to earn
working in Aerospace engineering?
• How many hours do you work per week?
• Is this what you thought you were going to do in high school?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and answer. Once again if you find any of these questions too personal please do not answer them.

Sorry, but for privacy and anti-phishing reasons, we no longer allow intervie-type threads on the PF. But it looks like you got some good responses before this thread got supported, so hopefully you got what you needed.