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There may be higher or lower ranked programs out there but if someone gradutes from an ABET accredited program then they're an engineer as far as I'm concerned. ....
You have to interview the particular engineer. I have interviewed many folks with degrees from accredited institutions who were clearly going to be unable to engineer their way out of a paper bag without detailed instructions from someone above. Well, that might work if your aspiration is to be the Third Assistant Left Seat Bracket Engineer at Boeing where all your work is triple-checked and carried out in accordance with a rule book 1000 pages thick; not so great when someone comes to you and says "the customer wants this special variant and we need it now" or when the first 10 iterations of the design are overheating and all you've got is a ten year old Heat Transfer textbook and a seat of Ansys you've never used for heat transfer calculations.
I began my education as a CE major and then switched to ME after working a summer job at a food processing plant. I became obsessed with automation and conveying systems.
I struggled with calculus for the first year and had some doubts that I would not make it through this program. Then in the second year, I just "got it". It finally made sense to me and from then on I prospered. I found the dropout rate for engineers was fairly high for the freshman year just due to this.
The career opportunities for this field are endless and the pay is lucrative. I am happy with my decision.
There may be higher or lower ranked programs out there but if someone gradutes from an ABET accredited program then they're an engineer as far as I'm concerned. For me personally there are areas where I'm weaker and areas where I'm stronger but, there are certain things we all have to know to graduate. And certainly if you pass the FE and the PE you probably know what you're doing for your discipline and specialty.
I've seen that one hotly debated on various forums and groups and have even seen plenty of folks look down their nose and state emphatically that the only "real" engineers are those who have passed the PE. Those debates can get pretty involved at times.
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I have a degree in ME, but at times wish I did EE instead. I simultaneously got my degree, while working in the trades, so upon graduation I was also a licensed electrician doing industrial type work. Bridge control systems, hydroelectric power plants, etc. I loved every aspect of electrical, and the OT was great. Really regretted not doing the EE at that point.
But ME gave me better life balance than the trades, so I hung up the electrical tools and started doing product design work. I love CAD and CFD/FEA work. More routine hours. Weekends always free, and enough pay to not worry about things in life. PTO policy that was generous and now, hybrid/remote work options. Part of me misses hanging under bridges or deep under a dam, and part of me loves waking up and not having to get dressed and leave the house.
I agree mostly with that the guy in the video is saying, but disagree with some aspects of ME based on personal experience. But that's to be expected and not enough to nitpick. I know our starting pay for a fresh ME grad is higher than what he quotes. I think he's in the $60's for starting pay, and we typically start around $80K or so with bonus. 3-4 years into your career you likely exceed the mid-career salary range. But this will highly depend on company and region of the country.
But overall i like the ME career. My wife has no idea what I do, but I enjoy the challenge of sometimes being the first to develop a technology/process. I'm in semi industry now, and a lot of products/tools I have designed are used in the industry to make a lot of the devices you folks probably have. I even have a few patents on using 3D printing processes for some of our products. This is probably the one area i'm having the most fun right now.
I'll probably seek a career change in the next few years. I'm a manager, and would really like to find something non-managerial and maybe work more with electrical. I feel that management is causing my skills to atrophy and need to get away from that. I've had a few projects requiring some controls work and wiring and really would love to do that more.
I've also probably interviewed over 100 engineering interns and mentored a couple dozen at this point. Really happy to see the quality of students some of the local colleges are putting out (I'm based in MA). That applies to even State School level engineering programs. I've worked with some really smart kids and hired quite a few upon graduation.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 12-13-2022 at 09:01 AM..
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wildflower_FL
Thanks for sharing. I mostly work with/train/supervise younger engineers. ...
Another point that he brought up but didn't elaborate on a whole lot was the difference between "engineering" and "engineering technician", though I'm glad he brought it up. Not all engineering programs are created equal and if you graduate but don't have the skill set to do anything other than "cookbook engineering", you're going to more or less be an engineering technician and deal with much lower pay and fewer opportunities, even if you do have an "engineering" degree.
Sometimes it's the Engineering Technician who can deliver the best result (for the best price)
We often encouraged and paid ETs to pursue their BS and PE, but most often it was only for the sheepskin (and available higher pay grades). They knew how to do the job.
Usually, an ET is there because they did not have the privilege of attending FT U. (they were often supporting a family while working FT, on GI Bill).
Each has their benefit. I'm grateful for some excellent ETs during 40+ yrs doing invention, they were very practical and came up with FAST solutions that would keep the factory running and invention rolling forward.. Our 'boot-camp' engineers were often paired with an ET to get up to speed faster. And the boot camp engineers documented the work of the ET, as it was more important to free up the ETs to actually WORK.
.......I bet it is different today, 40 years later. EE and Software E are mature industries today. In the 1980, not even close.
I, too, have to wonder what has changed.
I have an Engineering Technology degree and 40 years ago, we were number crunchers, wore out many calculators doing problems, and had a nice wash out rate. Electronics wise, we knew more things than the non electronics engineering types and we knew it easily. We were miles ahead of the the non engineering types. Granted, we weren't theromodynamics or diff E Q types, that wasn't required for the major, but Calculus III and calculus based physics was. It was a 4 year degree from the engineering college of TAMU.
But 10 years ago, when I mentioned it on the Net, I was laughed at, so I had to wonder what changed. It may have been just a coincidence but when I mentioned that I did anti terrorism, they laughed at that, too, saying it was a power point lecture that people rushed thru to go on liberty......but I am sure that is just a coincidence.
I've seen that one hotly debated on various forums and groups and have even seen plenty of folks look down their nose and state emphatically that the only "real" engineers are those who have passed the PE. Those debates can get pretty involved at times.
------
I have a degree in ME, but at times wish I did EE instead. I simultaneously got my degree, while working in the trades, so upon graduation I was also a licensed electrician doing industrial type work. Bridge control systems, hydroelectric power plants, etc. I loved every aspect of electrical, and the OT was great. Really regretted not doing the EE at that point.
But ME gave me better life balance than the trades, so I hung up the electrical tools and started doing product design work. I love CAD and CFD/FEA work. More routine hours. Weekends always free, and enough pay to not worry about things in life. PTO policy that was generous and now, hybrid/remote work options. Part of me misses hanging under bridges or deep under a dam, and part of me loves waking up and not having to get dressed and leave the house.
I agree mostly with that the guy in the video is saying, but disagree with some aspects of ME based on personal experience. But that's to be expected and not enough to nitpick. I know our starting pay for a fresh ME grad is higher than what he quotes. I think he's in the $60's for starting pay, and we typically start around $80K or so with bonus. 3-4 years into your career you likely exceed the mid-career salary range. But this will highly depend on company and region of the country.
But overall i like the ME career. My wife has no idea what I do, but I enjoy the challenge of sometimes being the first to develop a technology/process. I'm in semi industry now, and a lot of products/tools I have designed are used in the industry to make a lot of the devices you folks probably have. I even have a few patents on using 3D printing processes for some of our products. This is probably the one area i'm having the most fun right now.
I'll probably seek a career change in the next few years. I'm a manager, and would really like to find something non-managerial and maybe work more with electrical. I feel that management is causing my skills to atrophy and need to get away from that. I've had a few projects requiring some controls work and wiring and really would love to do that more.
I've also probably interviewed over 100 engineering interns and mentored a couple dozen at this point. Really happy to see the quality of students some of the local colleges are putting out (I'm based in MA). That applies to even State School level engineering programs. I've worked with some really smart kids and hired quite a few upon graduation.
I do think doing some trades work before or even during taking an engineering degree helps the student "keep it real" and also helps them be able to develop better rapport with crafts people who actually implement our designs. I didn't go into it as heavy as Mike did, but I did learn to weld (Oxyacetylene and regular stick electric) and that has helped me in my career.
He doesn't even have an engineering degree and he doesn't even look like he's 30 years old, yet he's ranking all of these degrees based upon numbers thrown around the internet and job growth and salary potential.
Listening to advice like this seems like a smart way to choose what you're going to be doing for the next 35 years...
It is a starting point for consideration by high schoolers thinking about what engineering major to pursue.
It would be great if you could find additional sources to help filter through the disciplines. I am sure any help is appreciated by those considering going into engineering and trying to get a handle on the various disciplines. When you are in high school, it is tought to envision the wide world you are facing in the future. Any help appreciated.
I began my education as a CE major and then switched to ME after working a summer job at a food processing plant. I became obsessed with automation and conveying systems.
I struggled with calculus for the first year and had some doubts that I would not make it through this program. Then in the second year, I just "got it". It finally made sense to me and from then on I prospered. I found the dropout rate for engineers was fairly high for the freshman year just due to this.
The career opportunities for this field are endless and the pay is lucrative. I am happy with my decision.
I didn't have money for college, so I did my lower division at a Junior College. The high drop-out rate for freshmen engineers opened the door for me to transfer to a University. Great money saving tactic over four years at the University.
I've seen that one hotly debated on various forums and groups and have even seen plenty of folks look down their nose and state emphatically that the only "real" engineers are those who have passed the PE. Those debates can get pretty involved at times.
Well I guess since you're an ME then I'm not telling you anything you don't already know but.... only those doing municipal work need to pass the PE. So for CE, ME and EEs doing public sector work such as roads and buildings you'll need the PE at some point in your career if you want to advance or go into business for yourself. (but a person will still definitely be able to find work in their field with only the FE which I thought was technically more difficult then the PE and most people I talk to agree). But there are plenty of EEs out there working in hardware design and other fields that dont have the PE. I also consider computer science and computer systems engineering majors engineers and they dont need to take or pass either exams.
I didn't have money for college, so I did my lower division at a Junior College. The high drop-out rate for freshmen engineers opened the door for me to transfer to a University. Great money saving tactic over four years at the University.
That's exactly what I did. Everything except tuition was the same as it was at my four year college. Books, tests all the same. Even my statics and diff eq teachers were the same, they were commuting from Tempe where ASU is located out to the burbs where our community college was.
I can also attest to the high dropout rate. My Calc I w/analytic geometry teacher used to be the head of the math department at ASU and known to be a hardcase. There were about 20 of us to start the semester and only 6 of us even bothered to show up for the final. He only gave out 1 A (to my close friend who is possibly the smartest person I've ever met and is now a software engineer at Lockheed Martin), the rest were C's mine included. My friends told me to drop and take it again the next semester but I forged ahead and was very proud of that C.
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