Recent content by Ben Espen

Biomedical engineering in practice is the field that designs and creates medical devices and cellular therapies. In many programs, you can take an electrical emphasis, which would focus on medical equipment like defibrillators or CT scanners, a mechanical emphasis, which focuses on implantable...

In my opinion, I do not think you need an internship to pad your resume. The reason I think this is I look for internships with new college graduates because that is where they gain experience in the world of work, in distinction to the world of school. Internships give you an opportunity to see...

Regrettably, recruiters are not likely to help you much at this point. I get cold-called by recruiters on a regular basis, because I have experience. Early in your career, [effective] recruiters are not going to pay much attention to you, for the simple reason that you don't need a recruiter to...

That is a little harder to answer. I might hazard a guess that DOE and SQC are more useful, but it does depend a bit on what you end up doing. DOE has the thing I've used the most, but that is related to the field I am in.

Classes like the ones you have described are very useful if you want to work in industry. In my experience, you really want the courses taught at the graduate level in the stats department, as they tend to be better. Counterexamples may exist, but that is my experience. That kind of thing is...

I don't think it would be accurate to say that I have a job in software QA. I've worked extensively on SQA because it is a part of the current regulatory environment, and because I get the ideas behind it, but my job is in engineering. My degree, however, is not in engineering. My background is...

I'll say it because it needs to be said: if you want to work as a quality engineer, get a degree in engineering. You have the opportunity to make your life easier, you should do so. With that out of the way, my current role is as a quality engineer. I have worked with video inspection systems...

You have your work cut out for you then. Hopefully someone will come along who knows this area.

Controls engineering isn't my field, but I'm not sure it needs to be in this case. Can you direct these questions to your employer? Someone willing to pay for your education probably has some ideas about this.

I cannot recommend the MBTI for this purpose, it really doesn't have good theoretical underpinnings OR predictive validity. Despite it's popularity it is really a rather shoddy piece of work. The first online test that comes to mind that has both of those attributes is the IPIP-NEO. However, I...

Have you looked at any of the available salary and employment websites that compile such information?

I suggest looking at the life and times of Abraham Karem, who might be a more realistic and achievable role model. Karem was an aerospace engineer and entrepreneur who helped develop the drone technology that is widely used in military applications today. Karem strikes me as an engineer's...

I'll second JakeBrodskyPE, take the EIT now. There isn't any downside to this, and the upside is that it may come in handy later. As for what to do, well, you *should* have lots of options, especially if you are willing to move to where the work is. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what you...

Since you live in Germany, my advice may not be relevant. Most of my experience is in the US, so take anything I say lightly. If you really don't enjoy physics, then you have some hard choices to make. If you are close to finishing, by which I mean a semester or two, or whatever the equivalent...

I have seen things like "coursework completed as of [date], expected completion of qualifying exam in August" on resumes for folks in your situation. It isn't all that uncommon for a resume to contain information about when you think you will be done with your degree, even though your case may...