The Should I Become An Engineer? Thread

kdinser

LOL, this is not a paid service, you are not entitled to expect/demand results. You post your question and people answer or don't as it pleases them.

On the other hand, you sound like most of the people in my engineering program. If you can handle the math and or the fact that most of the math involved is presented without rigorous proofs, you may do fine in an engineering program.

Achernar

At least ONE person responded to my redundant demands.
Good man.

Glad to hear about the maths being more practical.

batman394

I decided my senior year in high school to become an engineer after I'd taken some computer programming and accounting classes and decided I really hated CS and Business. I was a good math student up until then, and senior year I started calculus and it was really easy. Out of 20 kids, I was one of the only 2 in there that understood things. I decided I wanted to be an engineer because it heavily used calculus, that and I was a big science student anyway. I graduated with 5 years of it. I settled with Mechanical Engineering because when I got to college Civil didn't interest me too much. I didn't want to build bridges, design sewer systems, or public facilities. I joined solar car team and the alternative fuel part of it was amazing. Here I am in the 3rd year of the Mechanical program and although I don't get along with people in the department the classes I still enjoy.

russ_watters

Sorry, sometimes new posts in sticky'd threads go unnoticed because they are always on top anyway.

Sounds like mechanical would be a nice fit for you - perhaps with a focus in robotics or something that requires computer programming or modeling. Thermodynamics is a major requirement of Mech-E, though not necessarily actual engine design.

electrifice

I am presently a high school student. I am, like a few others here, divided between Physics and Engineering. I really love Physics but I dislike what a physics education is usually geared towards... teaching, research, etc. I like the "job" of an engineer, which is more practical and involves problem-solving, which I enjoy. I want to know how much difference is there in physics education and engineering. How much physics is sacrificed in engineering?
Some institutions offer dual-degree programs in Physics and Engineering which are quite appealing to me. But I have also considered doing undergrad studies in Physics, and then later merging into engineering. Is that wise? It would allow me more time to think about what I want to do, but is the shift from a physics degree to engineering in grad school drastic? There are definitely differences and extra work would be needed, but how much extra work? Would it simply be better to start with engineering?
My questions are a bit broad in scope, but a thorough answer would be appreciated.

FredGarvin

If you wanted to do a grad school switch like you mentioned, you would undoubtedly have to take undergrad courses to bring you up to speed in some areas. I don't think it would be too much, but I doubt you'd go as indepth into areas like heat transfer and fluid mechanics if you went into a mechanical or aero engineering course. I think you'd be really well off if you went into an electrical engineering though. That's just an opinion there.

kdinser

The nice thing is, there is almost no difference the first year between engineering and physics majors. You will be taking Calc I & II, intro physics I & II, and Intro Chemistry I & II. Depending on the school, both may or may not require a an intro programming course. In other words, no need to nail yourself down just yet.

The other thing to look at is how long you want to wait before you start working, you can do a lot with just a 4 year engineering degree, while the options for a 4 year degree in physics might be more limited.

Newton_Wannabe

I'm finally in my senior year of high school and on my way to college. I've been waiting for a challenge since 8th grade and I'm told that engineering is the field of work that may offer it to me. I've been looking into different engineering fields. but the more I read into the one I thought I wanted, the less it appears to be what I wanted. I'm not sure which field I want now, and am hoping for a little advice. I was looking into Mechanical, but now it just seems less of what I want from the different sources I'm looking at.
If it helps you to help me, here are some of my intrests:
Science, especially physics
math, working on finishing calc I
computers and video games
I like to know how stuff works, I'm trying to learn how computers and other electronics work.
Starting to learn Python programming with the help of my physics teacher.
I'm also looking to do more of a design aspect of engineering.

russ_watters

Electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science all seem like a good fit.

Newton_Wannabe

Thanks. I'm starting to find that I only have to worry about the last two years for a 4-yr degree. Can you tell me some jobs within each field?

kdinser

check out this link, it should answer a lot of your questions.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

Astronuc

I went through a MS and started a PhD. I did a fair amount of interesting and practical research, and the first job I had was related to the fact that I was only one of few students who had used a particular code. The research and advanced courses I had in graduate school were necessary, since undergraduate didn't get into the nitty-gritty details. Grad school was well worth it for me.

My company prefers graduate students, but we would consider hiring 'high performing' undergrads with the expectation that they would go to graduate school.

Yes, engineering can be hard - but I personally enjoy hard work - both physical and mental.

There are many interesting technological challenges coming at us, and we need sharp, bright minds who don't mind rigorous work.

batman394

No matter what you like. You have to be willing to put in the work. Just because you enjoy learning how things work, doesn't mean you'll succeed. My last fluid mechanics assignment took 9 hours. It was an 8 problem assignment. No one in my class got #8 done. And my 9 hours was spread across 5 days. You have to understand that it's a big committment. Engineering is exactly what it sounds like. You engineer things. For most of us we're going to go out in the world and take research that other people have done and make it into something useful.

gschjetne

I have International Baccalaureate exams in six weeks, and I have already applied for the faculty of Engineering at UVic and UAlberta in Canada.

Back when I was just a little kid with large ambitions I was a great admirer of a friend of my dad's - a professor of cybernetics at NTNU in Norway. When someone asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up I always said 'inventor' - mind you, I always thought Gyro Gearloose was a god damned idiot, making the real guys look bad

In junior high I did have a period of confusion - not whether I was straigt or not - but something worse; I wanted to start making documentary films! (No jobs, no pay, just a lot of kids hooked on the latest trend)

Luckily I got back on track by two great senior high science teachers, the only people who have actually understood me in all these years

I guess the modern inventor is in fact the engineer, so I pretty much had it all figured out from the start. Lately I've been fiddling with electronics, and if I don't make it to Engineering Physics at UAlberta, I'll go for EE at UVic (warm climate + Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy & Cotton Tail )

Anyway, please excuse all the digressions and smilies...

My impression is that EE is mainly about telling all the stuff the girls and boys over at ME make how to move around. Signal processing, servo controlling, sensors, etc. Pretty close to cybernetics, eh?

While the only reason for choosing this is my pure interest in the field (and not enough mad skills for theoretical physics), I have some "backup justifications" for my choice:

• Making a difference
• Providing for a wife and kids some day
• Easier to get jobs (my sister at the road dept. says they are practically begging for engineers)

Edit: Mixed up 'Gyro Gearloose' with the French name for the same character

batman394

hrm.. theres a lot more to it.. simply power transmission.. like the fact that the powerlines running to your house supply a lot more than 120v at X amps.. and theres a down transformer in your house that converts it into something you can use...

your field can have almost nothing to do with my ME field. think about tvs.. thats a purely electrical phenomenon.. besides the manufacturing portion of it... but you are designing the circuit boards in it, the tubes, the lcd display etc... think of an EE more in that way.

gschjetne

Control engineering is of course a sub-discipline of Electrical engineering. I might also be interested in electronics and signal processing. Power transmission doesn't seem too interesting to me, and I'm not sure about microelectronics either, as I'm not a big fan of chemistry.

At least it gives me peace of mind that I don't have to chose that yet.

Astronuc

Well, the original controllers, like the governor on a steam engine were entirely mechanical, so there is control theory in mechanical, and by extension, aerospace and power engineering. Basically, any dynamic system require a control system, or regulation, and certainly in the modern world, many control systems are electronic (and digital).

In addition to nuclear engineering and materials, I did course work in power systems and control, and two interesting courses involved digital and micro-processor based relaying systems. Basically one designs various transducers to monitor system states, e.g. flow, temperature, power, etc . . . , and these are processed into electronic signals, which are sent to a computer which compares the states with a model. The actual states are compared with the predicted states, and thus stability is maintained. The interesting part is when a fault occurs and the system must be protected from gross failure and otherwise returned to stability 'without (or perhaps with minimal)' disruption to operation.

The closer to physical or technical limits a system operates, the greater the challenges - being able to control the system effectively (and preventing catastrophic failure) and being able to model the system well enough to design a robust controller.

One of the more interesting aspects of power engineering is the generation of electrical power and the attendant control systems.