I just wiki'd, I'm thinking of SAE, not FSAE. Anyone here an automotive engineer?

Yup, the FSAE team at BYU was almost exclusively MEs.

+1. Although they're sane compared to my programmer friends!

Holy crap, I had no idea that so many people on this forum were ME's. It's really encouraging

I'm on my last stretch of finishing up my AA at FKCC(actually I have over 60 credits and Calc 1&2 done), but I still need 4 electives classes to get my transfer. Hooray for pottery!!!

I will be going to UCF for Mech.Engineering in August. I was planning on leaving in January but decided that going to college in Key West isn't all that bad.

I'm a design engineer. Mechanical engineering, with speciality in tooling/fixture design. My degree isn't in engineering per se, but actually in CAD/CAM.

One word of advise: go contracting at first. You'll get to work in a lot of different areas, and learn what you like and hate. I've done everything from piping diagrams for nuke power plants to electronic PCB design for the F-15 nose radar. I've worked on subway cars, for small prototype houses, at major corps like Xerox and a couple of dozen others. I worked in automotive design for a while; that's where I learned that car companies will chew you up and spit you out. BTW, I designed those cup things in the rear shelf of GM vehicles that cover the child tether loops. I also designed the process for making the rear shelf cargo floors for Subaru.

Along the way I developed a lot of contacts in the industry, and was hired on my last couple of jobs sight unseen (no interview) based on my years of experience and the reputation I've built. #1 rule of contracting: never burn any bridges, ever. It will come back to haunt you. If, however, you leave on good terms, that may come back to give you the edge. As a contractor, your reputation determines whether or not you get the better jobs, and also your salary.

Once you find a place you like, and that's a good fit, you'll probably be asked to go direct. I'm now at an employee owned company that makes lenses for the solar industry. Decent pay, great place to work, and small (so your contributions are apparent to everyone, not just a face in the crowd) plus a really cool boss and work that is interesting. Took me 20+ years to get here, but it was worth it.

I'm digging this thread from the grave. Mostly because I just started week one for my degree last week. It's been 12 years since high school and other than that lets just say the military didn't really give me transferable skills. Spine and ankle are to F-----d to be a cop still. Was a machinist/car mech before military.

Anyways, I'm going in for the MechEngineering degree and just curious what to watch for. I'm just about starting over in math so I have to go from intro math all the way up. Yeah for 5 years of math class every day. Vol State for 2yrs and then to Tenn Tech for the finish is the plan. Any info or "for the love of god don't do XXXX" would be helpful.

You'll have fun. I had to put school on hold due to money issues, but I'm going to start working on it again after some time in the military.

If you really need help in the math classes, just PM me. I've been tutoring for a few years now.

Good luck and enjoy it.

I'm an ME but I'm guessing my experience is quite a bit different than most. I did ROTC in college and commissioned into the Air Force. I did flight test for the first three year s(flying and things that go *boom* are awesome) and now do something different. My job is much more management than engineering but the background is critical to having intelligent discussions with the contractors I manage. The sad thing is, after you've gone four years without doing any design work the skills really atrophy. That being said ME is by far the most versatile degree although I do occasionally wish I had gone to med school so I can live in a tiny town somewhere in the mountains rather than big cities where engineering jobs tend to be located.

I'm in school to be a "Mechanical Systems Engineer" apparently my program has a greater focus on electricity and hands on manufacturing than comparable ME programs. As such I do 8-9 courses / semester vs 5 courses / semester when I was in business school. I love what I'm doing, I'm pulling a 3.75 GPA because it's engaging and interesting work at school.

I'm also doing FSAE, it is kinda trying where many drop their responsibilities there because of course work and leave it for others that have the same course load. I'm told it's a great thing to have done when applying for jobs early on especially if you maintained high averages while participating.

I don't know about now, but in the old days, they used the statics and dynamics courses to thin out the class. It may be that there are so many fewer people going into engineering that they don't do this anymore. It is hard to find new engineers these days . . . even harder to find new engineers that were born here. All of our interns this year are from India. We only had one applicant that was born here.

That's because we are now in the middle of generation "me", who's greatest aspiration is to appear on an MTV reality show "fist pumping" and demands instant gratification. I judged a middle school science fair a month or so ago and I now have serious concerns for the future of the human, or at least American, race.

Yep, they're all happy to spend uber-bucks on completely useless degrees that require no work. Then, when they discover they are unemployable because they are ignorant, they join an occupy movement to bitch and moan.

Sigh.

Well, it's nice to see one young person willing to put in the effort required for an engineering degree.

I just feel behind the curve being 30 and essentially starting over school/career wise. Math help wise I might hit ya up Viper. My dads an electrical engineer and helped my mom through accounting so I'll bug him first. I'm in a mil program called Vocational Rehab and am required to maintain a 2.5gpa. I laughed when she told me cause without a 3.5 I'll be hard pressed for a job in the upper levels. I've got about 5yrs to go due to my lack of math the last 12yrs and not exactly doing a lot before that

Do you learn ladder logic and a decent amount of PLC programing with this major? I work as an ME in a company that makes automated packaging systems. I am finding myself doing a lot of electrical work too which I love (I started out studying EE), but It is mostly system design rather than the stuff EE's at UCONN learn. Just wondering what majors teach that stuff.

The profs tell us it's very similar to Mechatronics so yeah we will do plc / and what not. We built robot arms this past semester and will build PLC's for them in the fall.

Voc Rehab put me through law school. Decent program. I've paid it back many times over with income tax -- so a big net positive for the country. Glad to see it's still around for you guys.

Don't worry about being 30. Still plenty young. Make sure you take a few classes out of major to meet some hot young things. IIRC, hot chick pickings in engineering class are pretty non-existent. The hottest girl in my engineering classes was the diaper astronaut -- I ---- you not. She was really cute back then -- quiet and shy.

30 years old here wanting to go into ME, terrible student in HS, never took any upper level math classes. I've been in retail managment for about 8 years making decent money but, working lots of hours and all holidays and just had a kid so that craps geting old fast. Just waiting for my house to sell to get in a cheaper living situation to get started. Scared as hell of the math and starting over.

Anyway, can't wait to join you guys soon.

Are you serious?! Where, Texas?

I need to go to Texas.

The DFW area in particular. There just seems to be an overall shortage of engineers from talking to others looking to hire.

With oil and gas up, I'm sure there's a lot of action in Houston too.

Headhunters are out in Houston. Tons of jobs.


Funny to check in on this thread almost 3 yrs later....OP...if you have any doubts or still haven't started working towards your goals then DO IT NOW!

I can't even begin to describe how much I've had the opportunity to do or be a part of since my last post here. Currently designing directional drilling equipment, doing mostly analysis with Algor, but a project here or there I'm involved in from brainstorming to prototype.

I come into work everyday with a big smile on my face because I love my work, love that I'm using my education, love the company I work for, like my office. I also love going home feeling like I actually earned my salary, and knowing it's more than sufficient to keep my family comfortable.