Is Mechanical Engineering the Best Path to Achieve My Childhood Dream?

[dira_c]

Hi guys! This is my first time to create a thread here so don't get hard on me!

I'm currently on my second year of junior high and I'm planning to go abroad to study. I really want to be like tony stark, cool, intelligent and able to create badass things. "Badass" term doesn't mean ramjet fusion or hydrogen propellant device. Not time machine either. I want to create simple things that actually works on-the-fly and able to repair my own stuff. I don't really know how long my dream will keep going but, I've had this dream since I was a little. My mom told me that I used to take batteries or whatsoever to assemble things. It never works actually but I don't give it a damn! I want my childhood dream to come true. I really wished I could just do imaginary things in my head rather than calculating unnecessary things without knowing the application! Right now I'm living in a place where engineers only do the calculation and work in a bank. That's the main reason I want to move out. And is mechanical engineering the best major for me along with some electrical engineering classes? I know I'm not really good with drawing and hands on experiment, but I will manage it!

Thanks for reading guys,
have a good day!

 

[NNN15]

According to Wikipedia "Tony Stark is an inventive genius whose expertise in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science almost rivals that of Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner, and his expertise in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering surpasses even theirs".

Sounds like something an Engineering Physicist would do. A lot of math and physics with applications in engineering. There are several schools that offer this major. At my institution, engphys students can further specialize into Mech, Elec, or Compsci.

Edit: this sounds like something that should go in Academic Guidance though.

 

[chiro]

Hi guys! This is my first time to create a thread here so don't get hard on me!

I'm currently on my second year of junior high and I'm planning to go abroad to study. I really want to be like tony stark, cool, intelligent and able to create badass things. "Badass" term doesn't mean ramjet fusion or hydrogen propellant device. Not time machine either. I want to create simple things that actually works on-the-fly and able to repair my own stuff. I don't really know how long my dream will keep going but, I've had this dream since I was a little. My mom told me that I used to take batteries or whatsoever to assemble things. It never works actually but I don't give it a damn! I want my childhood dream to come true. I really wished I could just do imaginary things in my head rather than calculating unnecessary things without knowing the application! Right now I'm living in a place where engineers only do the calculation and work in a bank. That's the main reason I want to move out. And is mechanical engineering the best major for me along with some electrical engineering classes? I know I'm not really good with drawing and hands on experiment, but I will manage it!

Thanks for reading guys,
have a good day!

Hey dira_c and welcome to the forums.

Aim for the stars and end up on mars! Mars is quite an achievement! :)

My practical advice for you is to stick at one thing long enough to give you a good foundation for everything else. Moving around to different careers is not only encouraged nowadays, in some ways it's expected so don't feel that you need to be stuck at one thing your whole life: but don't by flaky either: if you jump around too much it might be more detrimental for you than you realize.

My opinion is that if you find the right kind of job in the right place, you'll get to do these kinds of things [don't know about the whole Tony Stark thing though ;)]. Get a good foundation in the hard sciences, mathematics, statistics and programming and I think you'll have a rollercoaster of a ride waiting ahead of you: Engineering is a good candidate.

But yeah make sure that you when you start off (uni, first set of roles) that you stick to one thing for long enough to get a good foundation: I know I repeat this but it's important to do this because it will a) help you reach your goal and b) help you get employed so that you can reach your goal.

Reach for the stars!

 

[jtbell]

I'm planning to go abroad to study

We have people from all over the world here. "Abroad" means different things to them, depending of course on what country they're from. What does "abroad" mean to you?

 

[dira_c]

We have people from all over the world here. "Abroad" means different things to them, depending of course on what country they're from. What does "abroad" mean to you?

Away from asia!

 

[dira_c]

According to Wikipedia "Tony Stark is an inventive genius whose expertise in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science almost rivals that of Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner, and his expertise in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering surpasses even theirs".

Sounds like something an Engineering Physicist would do. A lot of math and physics with applications in engineering. There are several schools that offer this major. At my institution, engphys students can further specialize into Mech, Elec, or Compsci.

Edit: this sounds like something that should go in Academic Guidance though.

Thanks for your advice man!

Hey dira_c and welcome to the forums.

Aim for the stars and end up on mars! Mars is quite an achievement! :)

My practical advice for you is to stick at one thing long enough to give you a good foundation for everything else. Moving around to different careers is not only encouraged nowadays, in some ways it's expected so don't feel that you need to be stuck at one thing your whole life: but don't by flaky either: if you jump around too much it might be more detrimental for you than you realize.

My opinion is that if you find the right kind of job in the right place, you'll get to do these kinds of things [don't know about the whole Tony Stark thing though ;)]. Get a good foundation in the hard sciences, mathematics, statistics and programming and I think you'll have a rollercoaster of a ride waiting ahead of you: Engineering is a good candidate.

But yeah make sure that you when you start off (uni, first set of roles) that you stick to one thing for long enough to get a good foundation: I know I repeat this but it's important to do this because it will a) help you reach your goal and b) help you get employed so that you can reach your goal.

Reach for the stars!

Thanks for your advice! By the way which major is good for me according to your own experiences? Mech. Engineering should be fine along with some EE and CS course in my opinion.

PS:Whoaa guys, never expect this much. I've just created this thread yesterday and so many people are helping me! Thanks guys for your advice!

 

[lisab]

One thing to keep in mind, dira_c. Math is the language of science and engineering - you will need to take the time to learn the language!

Sometimes people who have very high goals are surprised to find lower-level math classes are harder than they expected. Don't let that discourage you! Nearly *everyone* struggles with math at some point.

Stick with it, don't give up!

 

[dira_c]

One thing to keep in mind, dira_c. Math is the language of science and engineering - you will need to take the time to learn the language!

Sometimes people who have very high goals are surprised to find lower-level math classes are harder than they expected. Don't let that discourage you! Nearly *everyone* struggles with math at some point.

Stick with it, don't give up!

Okay! Thanks mate! You guys are so encouraging!

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

lisab's advice is solid and reasonable. However, for engineering you will need to understand structures, mechanics, thermodynamics, and probably fluid dynamics. Note that the term "fluids" actually includes everything from viscous liquids to superheated steam.

No matter what kind of engineering we may specialize in, these are things that we will run into sooner or later in some form or another. Also don't be afraid to use references and to look things up. We can often make estimates in our heads, but the actual performance is a matter that is usually modeled very carefully before we build.

In the comic books, Tony Stark has nearly sentient computers helping him every step of the way. In real life, it is little different, except that there is surprisingly little intelligence embedded in the computers that we work with.

Find the stuff you love to tinker with, and go for it. You may prefer the research side, or you might even find it interesting to do analysis of what broke in major accidents and crashes. In between there is a form of engineering that I like to call production engineering.

There are many facets and many things to study, so get busy and, well, don't forget to be curious...