OT mechanical engineers...

[Dropt72Shortbed]

please tell me youre making a lot of a money..... im here at school and have been since 8am and will be here till 7:30pm tonight, the kicker being that my last class of the day is a calculus class. its my 2nd day this fall semester and im already going insane... not to mention i just spent $600 on books and supplies that i would have much prefered to spend on my 72.

[lofly'a]

i don't quite make 6 figures, but i ain't starving either.

[stllookn]

It's all worth it...trust me...LOL! It will the best investment you will ever make!

[Slammed67]

If you want to work a regular schedule (8:00 to 5:00) and never work past 5:00pm, I'd suggest finding a new major! I'm not a mechanical engineer, but I work with them. I'm a CAD Technician (drafter). I'm still at work and it's going on 7:00pm. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines....... You'll also have to deal with the stereotype of being a nerd/geek Personally, I wouldn't want to do it, but that's just me!

[XXL]

You'll be done before you know it! I've been out 10 years... and am now about 13 hours into an MBA program. Apparently I didn't get enough school the first time. BTW, I just picked up 2 books for my 2 fall classes (new, of course... they NEVER have used books ). $111.95 each! Holy cow. It's only paper!

Kenneth

[Jesse 67 c-10]

Hey thats what I'm going into too! my sched isn't quite as crappy as that though! Also first year is supposedly designed to weed out all the non serious ones, I think at least 50% drop out! Hang in there, I've heard it gets a lot better!
Jesse

[Mike C]

I started out as an ME major and got upside down with my grades. Transferred and got a degree in Advertising, lost my job last year after 10 years of working, and I am back to the Engineering degree. I'm only 12 hours short of an English degree, so I'm working on that as well. It will be finished in the spring. School starts for me tomorrow. If you are interested in it, it is worth it. Just don't do it ONLY for the money. Same reason as you don't want a Dr. that's in it ONLY for the money!

[LAP]

Been there, done that! I had to take 21 hours of math classes in college! Everybody says that college was the best time of their life, I quess their dad was a lot richer than mine! Anyway, now I'm making over 6 figures and can do pretty much what I want. Stick in there, those four or five hard years will be replaced, hopefully, with many much easier years.

One thing I learned in the Army was that I could always picture myself in a worse situtation. If you think hard enough you can to!

[my new 72]

I am traking the same stuff as you. Today was my second day too. I am pretty lucky that all my teachers seem to be pretty cool. My cal teacher is laid back and wears blue jeans and a T-shirt to class, and my drafting teacher is a short German man that told me I was his GUY since I am going for the Mech. Eng. degree just lime him. Sometimes you just luck out. Oh yeah, I am taking 16 hours this semester too. I have been out of school for five years and I look at school as a priveledge now and not a burden. I guess that helps a little too. I really like school now, it's alot of fun and there are hot chicks to look at everywhere. There is even one in my drafting class. Tube tops and a drafting table are cool together. Living in Cali you can do internships for cool places like McDonald Douglas and JPL, so consider yourself lucky.

[68Custom]

Dropt

Don't worry about it.... I'm in Architectural Drafting finishing my associates degree. Its worth ride. I just spent close to the same amount as you but i walk this may and go back for 1 class in fall of 03. Im excited as ever to get done with school and start designing some homes and i hope the mechanical field goes good for you. Good Luck!

Aaron

[Custom 68]

I finished up 10 years ago and have a good job. That is all going to depend on what or where you work. You should have lots of choices. Just take your time and enjoy school. Dont rush it.

[Dropt72Shortbed]

just got home.... 11.5hr day at school. thanks for the words of wisdom/encouragement.

at least my last class, calculus, is my best class after all. i was dying laughing at the teacher all night (and its hard to laugh when youve been at school that long). the guys persian, listens to metal and does the best austin powers/dr evil impersonations along with his smart alec replys to every students question, hows that for strange?

[dkirsch]

If the full cost of paying for books is hurting you...then do what I did. Find out the ISBN numbers at least 4 weeks before the new classes (you can call the bookstore and get them) and order them online...I saved at least 40% each quarter=40% more for the truck. A great side is www.addall.com. It is a search engine of online bookstores and gives you straightforward, quick results. You can search any book on there....good luck

[Scott70Chevy]

I'm not making 6 figures, but like I was told once: "Engeering won't make you rich, but you won't go hungry either".

One great thing about ME is that you can go into practically any industry or field, you can be design, process, applications, or sales engineer. You can go into engineering management. You can get your PE (professional engineer) license and start your own company. You can do R&D (research & development), but that would most likely require Masters and Doctorate degrees.

If you like it, hang in there. If you don't like, get out now (it will only get harder and harder if you don't like it).

BTW, what year are you in? If this is you freshman year, you may not see a lot of true engineering classes for 2 years (at least, that was the case for me back in the '80's).

Good luck!

[Slammed67]

If you are not 100% sure you want to do it, maybe you could visit a local Engineering company and they can show you what they do. My problem was Calculus..... jsut couldn't grasp the concept. I've been drafting at a consulting engineering firm for almost 6 years now and haven't seen much calculus going on! But I guess you have to learn it anyway. Just like in drafting class, we had to learn board drafting (with a pencil), but in the "real world" it's all computerized. Good luck!

[Big69C20 Toy]

Well i'm a Junior2 status this term and i've been in school this term for 7 weeks so far with 4 more to go and finals. I'm studying to be ME and if you think fresh year is heard, you ain't see nothin yet. I've got 5 core ME classes this term, talk about fun stuff

I totally agree tha with an engineering degree you can do almost anything. I've got my plan and i'm gonna stick to it as i've already made it so far and my school is probably one of the roughest in the country. I'm actually going to talk to one of my prof's tomorrow about becoming a masters student here and just hangin in a bit longer for that degree as well.


Dont worry about the class load man, it only gets worse.... (devilish grin)

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by Scott70Chevy

BTW, what year are you in? If this is you freshman year, you may not see a lot of true engineering classes for 2 years

well actually ive already done two years of community college, 1st year i screwed around out of highschool, didnt take full loads either semester, just couple classes. second year i focused on computer classes cause thats what i wanted to do. well i got a bit sick of web design and finding out what a poor paying/dying field it is i decided to quit that.

now ive finished nearly all my basic general ed. i just have to finish up chemistry, physics and calculus.

i have another 3 semesters in front of me, including this one, before i can transfer to UCI (hopefully i get in, otherwise cal state long beach or fullerton) ive got 3 calculus classes to go, 2 physics classes, 2 chemistry classes, 2 CAD classes adn 2 engineering classes.

my community college only offers 2 engineering classes, the first one which im taking this semester is engineering graphics, basicalll just a whole lotta drafting. i forget what the second one is. but the rest ill have to take at whatever school i transfer to. according to UCI, theyre just concerned with me getting all the physics, chemistry, drafting and calculus classes out the way.

as for enjoying my schooling, my strong side is math so naturally i enjoy math. physics i find really intersting, unfortunetly i cant say i like chemistry at all. as for drafting, i enjoy the computer stuff alot. drafting by hand i dislike, im definetly no artist.

if i didnt have to work to support myself then i guess college would be a much more pleasurable experience, having to work 25+ hours a week AND attend school 25+ hours a week is what makes it a drag, and we wont get started on the extra hours homework takes. but i guess after all this, finding a regular fulltime job thats 40-50hrs a week will seem like cake compared to the hours im putting in now.

[hanssolo]

I heard 90% of Americas serial killers started out as Mech. engineers. I'm sure its only a coincidence. Is'nt it? Just kidding. My brother-in-law is one. A real slide-ruler type of guy. But with hand tools...forget it!

[Dean]

It is worth it, but I do have to admit I hated school from day one.....

University of Cincinnati here

[nosurf]

Hang in there all you engineering students. If I did it anyone can. I have been out for 2 years and I don't miss it though. You think calculus is hard? Wait until Fluid Mechanics! The best feeling is getting home from work (instead of school) and NOT HAVING ANY HOMEWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be proud of yourselves that you are in a very hard study program. Not like those wussy business majors, you know the ones partying on a Wednesday nite!!!

[Shane]

You think calculus is hard? Wait until Fluid Mechanics!

lets not forget "Heat and Mass Transfer"....LMAO!

[Big69C20 Toy]

I'm going to be scheduling for my classes next term, i'm looking at fluids, heat transfer, design of mechanical parts and dynamic systems 1 along with something else i think. should prove to be umm fun

[COBALT]

I recieved my Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1996. I specialized in Advanced Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, and Energy Systems.

I almost got weeded out in the Engineering Physics my 1st year. It wasn't the math, it was the abstractions I had a hard time with. I thought it would be smart to take the harder classes first. I should have allowed myself to learn the process before trying to learn the material. After training my mind to think outside the box I was able to break through my road blocks. I could have minored in math, but my elective of Solving Abstract Vector Calculus with Nonlinear Equations (the last math class I took) was too much work and I was burned out at the end. I was just happy to have my degree.

Right before I was going to finish school I started hitting the job market looking for work. Since Energy Systems and Fluids was my thing I pursued the fuel companies and the automotive industry. Not having any internships (I worked mostly construction and for the airlines while in college to make $ to live on), and no involvement with SAE (building the race car and competing against other schools) I had a hard time finding a job. I interviewed for 4 1/2 months, and started to get scared. I remember an interview I had with Unical (Union '76) that I thought went REALLY well. Turns out they weren't even hiring. They were interviewing to sample the market. They were developing a case study to see how many engineers were out there who didn't have jobs. Unbelievable. I was very upset.

I'd also heard horror stories about going to work for Boeing as an PME just out of college, and wanted to avoid that. From what I'd heard if you wanted to be involved in design and "build things" Boeing wasn't the place to go for a New-Be.

My girlfriend and I were flat BROKE. We had nothing, and I was getting scared. Well, that's when I got my break. I had spent a lot of my spare time computer programming; learning C/C++, Ada, Fortran, and Assembly Language. First, it was for just mandatory projects and testing, but then I decided to take applied courses as electives. Thank God I did.

A company called SDRC wanted to hire Mechanical Engineers who knew how to write software. They were recruiting for a huge project they were contracted with Boeing on called DCAC/MRM (I remember some of what it stood for: Defined Component and Configuration/Manufacturing Resource Management, or something...). It was to implement an enterprise wide application that would help manage the entire Commercial Airplane Group (CAG). I hired on, got trained on how their software worked, and MAGIC! I became a Software Engineer and Consultant. I did that for 2 years before I quit and went to work for SDRC's compeditor (PTC). After 2 grueling years of that I cut myself loose and went to work at a start-up as a pure Developer...now I'm a Senior Dev. and doing pretty good.

The $ is pretty good, and better than it would have been if I decided to be a Professional Engineer in design work, especially if I went with a large company. I hit 6 figures once, but the economy dip took care of that. I had to give up making that much money when I quit traveling and went to work for a start-up.

Yes, you can sample some engineering firms, but that will only show you a tiny slice of what's possible. Engineering is no longer stapled directly to design work. It's applied to everything now. I know people who graduated with ME degrees, who are now Business Consultants getting their MBA. Pick what you want to do and do it, but DO NOT quit studying. If you decide to quit and take a lower level major you'll be sorry you did later. Trust me. The pain now is worth it down the road big time.

[ThreeQuarter]

I commend everyone for cheering Dropt on. If you're just having a bad day, then that's good medicine. However, if you're giving your major some serious second thoughts, I think this also needs to be said:

Engineering isn't for everyone, and the world needs more than just engineers. If you really think engineering isn't for you, and it's making you miserable, then by all means pursue something else that fits you better and interests you more. People are always hiring the best in every field, and if you're miserable you'll never be the best. Don't be afraid that you'll never make very much money, either. I was pretty hung up on salary numbers during school but figured out that some jobs are not worth the money to me. Don't be afraid that you won't be perceived as successful. And DO NOT let anyone look down on you because you're thinking about scrapping engineering.

And yes, I am a freshman engineering "weed out." And that's just fine with me. I did get some pressure from people at the time--I felt they though less of me because I was leaving, and made me feel a little humiliated. But there was no love lost by either myself or the engineering dept. when I changed to the "lower level" major of agronomy. I have never regretted it. Because I became good at it. I know my decision was the right one when I talk to my old roommate (who got his masters in ME so he could be more selective with jobs) and he cannot stand his job for all the same reasons I left engineering. Ah, I love those wide open spaces.

[Erl]

Drop,
If you do not like it get out. As someone else said, it does not get any easier. I loved every day at college, even the tough ones. I liked it so much that I got a BS, MS, and Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering My parents paided for the BS and I covered the other two. I started a business based on my Ph.D dissertation 10 years ago. And to answer your question the money has been good, but it is only a score card. You must find something you like to be happy. The money will come.