New university student in aerospace engineering program

[russ_watters]

Now a days, I think you'll be a bit hard pressed to see things operating like that now. I, for example, am an engineer who is his own designer and draftsman. It is definitely becoming more of the norm. I think the role of draftsman is pretty much gone and taken up by the designer and engineer.

People are no longer content to do the same intellectually vacant job for 40 years. When my boss got yelled at by his boss, the guy pointed out people in the drafting room who had been doing the job for decades.

So the way he runs his business is by recruiting young, bright people straight out of high school. They learn drafting and if they have the aptitude, start designing. A junior-to-mid level designer is about the most profitable person you can have on staff. Since drafting isn't as time consuming as it used to be, some engineers will do it themselves. But while I know a lot of engineers who do the design work themselves, they want to be billing and getting paid at $100+ an hour while a designer can bill at $65 while being paid $20. And at the same time, some engineers I know are really just working as overpaid designers. That's why my next degree will be in business - if I get to the point where I can have my own little business, I'd spend probably only 25% of my time doing actual engineering/design/drafting.

 

[JoeO]

Dear InfernoSun & rocketboy:

Personally, I consider your questions valid, but then I am not blessed with fixed focus. Fundamentally, DuncanM's question, "What gets you excited?", was very valid. To be truly successful in your career, and I'm measuring that from the way you will look back on it, you have to not only be willing, but be completely and fully committed to problem solving. As they say, you must be willing to eat, live, and sleep with problem solving.

It is true that most accountants work in the accounting departments, doing some aspect of accounting, very similar to the human resource types. My experience is probably far different than the others chiming in, for I was graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics from a major US university. Prior to that I had attended an Aircraft and Engine (A&E) Mechanic's school and worked as an aircraft electrician and technical writer. Upon graduation, I obtained a job with a major space engineering firm, not a bird farm, Hughes Aircraft Company. I worked on testing, mechanical and electronic, spacecraft instrumentation, and the first gyrostat. I took additional evening courses in engineering subjects, such as stress analysis, machine language programming, and researched in the library the latest progress in the fields of tribology, a subject with which engineers were totally ignorant. I became involved in ball bearing technology and the mathematics related thereto. Because I lived, breathed, and slept what I was working on, I was able to readily identify the source of problems when they occurred and mathematically prove my point if needed.

During my career, I have worked in electromechanical design and test, control system engineering, testing of various and asundry control system components, testing of completely integrated spacecraft (in and out of a thermo-vacuum chamber). At one point, I instigated the surreptitious integration of personal computers into a testing laboratory so as to automate the testing process. I was involved in the performance testing of the first Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and ended up developing a large experience with GPS.

Due to my interests in performing Fourier Analysis on the noise produced by operating rolling element bearings, primarily ball, when Wavelets emerged, I dived into studying the subject. Admittedly, the mathematics did give me many problems, but I continued to pursue the subject.

Based upon my experience, to be anywhere successful, you must be fully committed, body and soul. Like any profession, you are at the whims of economic conditions, et al. Whatever you decide to do, you should try to obtain as much of a mathematics background as you can.

Unfortunately, life's crystal ball is too fractured to read, you will never really know what area of engineering that you will have to adapt to, but a strong mathematics background coupled with a broad understanding of fundamental physical principles will provide you with an ability to bring yourself up to speed, independent of the situation.

Best of Luck
JoeO

 

[FredGarvin]

People are no longer content to do the same intellectually vacant job for 40 years. When my boss got yelled at by his boss, the guy pointed out people in the drafting room who had been doing the job for decades.

I'm not sure you can break it down quite that plainly. I work with plenty of people who are in their comfort zone. Their job doesn't challenge them. They do, basically, the same things year after year and they like it. That is exactly what they want. As a matter of fact, our company is going through changes and people are being asked to do different things. The reception to that notion was not a welcome one. I will grant you that the average age at my company is probably a lot higher than most, so it may be old dog / new tricks phenom at work. In my business, a designer has to have the same, if not more experience than engineers. The designers and engineers, on a lot of components, are working so closely that you almost really can't tell who is who anymore. I honestly think that as products become more and more technologically advanced, we'll see a shift to this blending of roles.

That's why my next degree will be in business

Ahhhh! Tell me it's not true! Not another one. Lured in by the charms of the MBA.