I was just chatting with an old friend who is, in every way, shape, and form, an engineer (hobbyist) but was unable to get through a college program. This question isn’t for him, but for future kids like him.
In my company, we have a lot of people who are working in some type of engineering capacity who did not have formal college educations as engineers. Many came through the technician route by getting some sort of electronics certification, fixing machines for a few years, and then moving into an office job doing 3rd level support. etc. we also had some who were med tech’s who made a similar transition.
I’ve been told (no offense intended here) that industrial and biochemical engineering programs are little bit easier than mechanical/chemical/electrical. I’m assuming they still require a few years of calculus?
Any thoughts? Or is it the same: get your foot in the door, do your best, add a dash of luck.
It’s not that you use calculus every day, or maybe ever, but if you are not capable of understanding calculus and doing the work, you probably aren’t cut out to be an engineer, regardless of your hobbies. Calculus homework is a piece of cake compared to what I’ve been doing at work the last 30 years. If you don’t find math homework to be at least somewhat interesting and fun then you probably don’t have the problem solving gene that good engineers have.
Engineering Technology courses are still math-heavy, at least when I was in college. The only way I know of to be a practicing engineer without getting a degree (and thus many years of college math) is to start your own company.
Adrian Newry wrote about this in his autobiography
He said he was not particularly good at it. Eventually he had to bite the bullet, knuckle down and study.
It worked out pretty well for him. Not sure how much mathmatics he uses today, thoigh he wrote that when working at Redbull he drafted by hand and had two younger members of staff that took his work and put it on a computer
People play fast and loose with the term engineer.
Are those people at your company doing actual engineering in their “engineering capacity”? And by that I mean design based on actual scientific evidence and theory?
I’m an engineer, but spend less than 5% of my time doing the real engineering. The rest is design, “catalog engineering”,management, project coordination, documentation, QA, etc. But I’d say that 5% is what separates the real engineers :).
If its just the math that is hard, and the limit is being able to pass the classes. Take math courses over the summer / places with small class sizes, where you will know the teachers.
Especially take a class where the teacher will be teaching ALL of the hard maths. If you know a teacher, they are not going to fail you. Back in the day I struggled with physics. I just couldnt wrap my head around it. Took it with smaller classes, and it was easier to understand (teacher could see where I was failing), and also made sure I knew what i needed to for the tests.
You can do a lot of learning outside of the classroom. The internet and youtube have world class teachers and courses for free that you can self pace yourself. Then when you do hit the classroom for credit, it will be a joke because it is so easy.
There are also private tutors available 24x7 on skype at very reasonable rates or there are online forums where you can seek help for free.
"…compared to what I’ve been doing at work the last 30 years. "
Yes, but a lot of engineering related jobs don’t require much math at all. Technical support engineering would be an example, where I know people making 6 figures near the end of their careers. Most of them worked their way into that role through other means in the company. One guy got a degree as a high school chemistry teacher. A couple others were med techs. Some were field engineers with electronics certifications.
I’m just curious what good avenues there are to getting into tech/engineering related roles if one can’t hack higher level college math courses.
I was just chatting with an old friend who is, in every way, shape, and form, an engineer (hobbyist) but was unable to get through a college program. This question isn’t for him, but for future kids like him.
In my company, we have a lot of people who are working in some type of engineering capacity who did not have formal college educations as engineers. Many came through the technician route by getting some sort of electronics certification, fixing machines for a few years, and then moving into an office job doing 3rd level support. etc. we also had some who were med tech’s who made a similar transition.
I’ve been told (no offense intended here) that industrial and biochemical engineering programs are little bit easier than mechanical/chemical/electrical. I’m assuming they still require a few years of calculus?
Any thoughts? Or is it the same: get your foot in the door, do your best, add a dash of luck.[/quote)
There are engineers and then there are engineers. To my mind a true engineer is a basement tinkerer always trying to invent a better mouse trap who could fix anything. My dad is like that, has a mechanical engineering degree but knows his way around tools and the practical world of fixing things. In contrast we had a neighbor who was a PHD in mechanical engineering teaching at the local university, strictly a math theory type guy who couldn’t change a spark plug on his own car, etc.
I was in industrial… I took as much math as all the rest… up to something called Advanced math for engineering… which was post 2 quarters of Diff and 4 quarters of Calc. The only thing missed or had the option to not take was Thermodynamics… still had to take statics and dynamics and strength of materials.
Yes, my friend is a “true engineer” except for the hard math. Other than that, he’s got everything. Reading speed and comprehension through the roof. Super creative. Soaks in everything he hears. Ended up with a history degree with a really high GPA. Always tinkering, inventing, etc.
Much more of an “engineer” than I ever was. I eventually realized I was much more of an analyst/calculator kind of guy. My mechanical ability is well above average, but pretty pedestrian for an engineer, and probably more on the “doesn’t stick with it” path for an engineer (hence why I’m now programming databases).
But the math was always easy for me without really even trying. And there’s what I’m getting at. What does the engineer who excels at everything BUT the math do?
Yes, my friend is a “true engineer” except for the hard math. …
Does he have an engineering degree from an ABET-accredited university? If not, he’s not a true engineer, and will have to settle for being a tech or some such.
Circle back to my first post. I work for an engineering company with plenty of people in high paying white collar engineering related jobs who don’t have engineering degrees. I know how they ended up there. I was just wondering what the best paths are for someone graduating in HS in 2019 or 2020.
Yes, my friend is a “true engineer” except for the hard math. …
Does he have an engineering degree from an ABET-accredited university? If not, he’s not a true engineer, and will have to settle for being a tech or some such.
Depends on the company. Depending on the state, you can even be a PE without an engineering degree.
Depends on the company. Depending on the state, you can even be a PE without an engineering degree.
In Canada an engineering degree does not make you an Engineer. You need to pass an examination and get a license to be one (parallel to a law school grad needing to pass the bar or med school grad needing to pass medical board).
It is possible to get engineering license without the degree. But there are additional requirements.
