Discover Top Posts Tagged with #engineering is awesome

New Job

Hey so I am back after a short hiatus from staring a new job a few months ago and getting some home projects done. Expect to see more posts showing up on your dashboard here soon.

Also don’t forget there is a submit page to share interesting projects.

#engineering is awesome #eia #engineering #personal

New material can fold itself into hundreds of shapes

I can’t wait to see how this research develops. From Science Magazine.

#photo #engineering is awesome #science magazine #what will they think of next #scifi just got real

#1 Frequently Asked Question

Do you have advice for someone starting in ______ engineering?

Getting Started:

The only things that we can really recommend for someone looking to get into engineering is to take all the science and math classes you can if you are still in high school. Research all the areas and consider what you might like to do whether it's building electronics, programs, machines, or buildings, etc.

Also check out your school's STEM programs. Stem stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. There are many high school stem programs as well so ask a science or math teacher about them and they should be able to direct you to a few different programs your school might offer. FIRST Robotics is one of these programs a great way to learn about physics, mechanical, and electrical engineering while still in high school.

If you are in college and not in an engineering major and thinking about switching majors talk to other students and professors in the engineering department. Again take as much math and science as possible.

If you are thinking about going back to school for engineering the same information applies.

Definitely get a tour of a close college engineering department and talk to a professor about enrolling. They work with many students and should be able to answer your questions or direct you to someone else who can.

Apply for scholarships. School is expensive and while engineering pays well, you do not want a massive amount of student loans to pay off when you graduate. If you are able to get multiple scholarships, any extra over the tuition will go directly to you.

Some cannot get into a large university so they start out in a community college. If you have to take this route, take the time to make sure all or most of the classes you plan to take will transfer with the university. Go to its website or talk to someone with the school to double check.

Types of Engineering:

Deciding your major doesn't have to be done before you start, most engineering disciplines have extremely similar first year curriculums that introduce you to a variety of fields. From there you can decide which area you enjoy most.

On that topic, we would suggest avoiding the trap of choosing a discipline based on job opportunities and pursue the field that you enjoy most. While a well paying job is nice, money will not make you like a job that you do not enjoy.

Engineering - Wikipedia and List of Engineering Branches

note: there are many subbranches of engineering and many overlap between two fields.

Coursework:

If you have made into an engineering program you are not stupid. There will always will be someone smarter than you. Do not try to outperform them and beat yourself up. Try your hardest but don't try to match someone else's performance.

Just embrace it early that you will lose most of your social life when getting into engineering. It is possible to balance both school and friends but school will rule much of your life.

You will want to quit many times while getting your degree, just keep working. Early classes are meant to weed out the ones who do not want to put in the work. You will have multiple tests the same day, loads of homework,and projects that turn into all-nighters regularly. Just prepare to make caffeine your friend and work with your classmates.

Develop study habits. You should work with friends as much as possible, and talk to the professor or a teaching assistant if you have a question.

Do the homework ASAP so that you can ask for help when you need it. Also reading textbooks is a time sink, but they can be extremely helpful if your professor does not speak english as a first language.

Attend class even if you do not understand the material or the professor. Take notes. Boring material is often a lead-up to a big logical jump that may catch you by surprise.

Pick up a graphing calculator like a ti-89 and a regular scientific calculator, because a graphing calculator on some exams are considered cheating.

Projects:

At any level, you should be working on as many teams and projects as you can. These are great for learning more teamwork, leadership, new information and skills. Also they look great on resumes. Here are a few of the most popular engineering societies. Each of them have projects and competitions you can help with.

Engineering Organizations: AIAA, ACM, AIEE, AICE, ASCE, ASME, IEEE, EWB, SAE, and SWE

Do not be afraid to get your hands dirty. Get into the lab and get a feel for what is going on. You will have lots of labs during classes and these help you apply the theory you learn in class to the real world. Be sure to put in plenty of work on outside projects. The bare minimum will let you get by but diving in and seriously helping will help both you and the other students in both grades, friendship, and the reward of a successful project.

Talk to professors about research opportunities (where you conduct remedial aspects of research for them) and internships. Look online or at career fairs for internships. Make sure to be doing something engineering-related during the summer before your final year.

Keep a portfolio of projects and papers. An engineering portfolio is a collection of your projects and papers either in a nice hardcopy or a simple powerpoint type file where you can show photos of your work along with technical details including who, what, where, when, and why you did this thing. The portfolio can also include your awards, certificates, and grades as well. Anything that might help you show your skills and accomplishments should go in this. This makes applying for other projects, internships, and eventually jobs a whole lot easier.

Career:

In the spring before summer break while in college you should get in contact with your colleges career services office and try to get a summer internship or co-op in your major. This also applies in high school as some companies with engineering departments have high school internships to introduce teens to the field.

Definitely get your resume on monster, careerbuilder, and indeed. Also check out glassdoor to see what other employs think about the company and its atmosphere.

Watch for your school's career fair and maybe even your engineering department's fair. Plan ahead and print our your resume and be prepared to talk to a lot of representatives of nearby companies that are looking to hire new engineers.

Links:

Girlscounts Imagine Engineering

ASME Early Career Advice

MSU - Engineering is Hard, Notes

Engineering School Rankings

Reddit/Engineering Students

R/EngineeringStudents Compile Bestof Tips

Wolfram Alpha - knowledge engine

Instuctables - Projects

Another reddit question

#engineering is awesome #eia #faq #engineering

How many of you are ready for some advice for getting into engineering?

We have a great post that covers a lot currently queued up.

#engineering #engineering is awesome

EIA

I just wrote a general faq for engineering is awesome, its in the drafts. check it out and add anything that you think should go in there. This is going to be the general response to all questions of "Do you have any tips for getting into _____ engineering?"

#engineering is awesome #eia

Wow I forgot how much I love drawing schematics and diagrams for engineering, figuring out problems with size and shape and whatnot.

Of course I totally want to chuck the whole thing at the wall and scream to the heavens but this is the first time in a long time that my mind has actually been pretty sharp. I love it.

#engineering is awesome #don't let anyone tell you otherwise

Hey, my name is Patrick and I’m about 3 weeks away from getting a degree in aerospace engineering.

In high school I took cad classes where I really made the connection of my new love of engineering with my curiosity of flight. When looking at schools, New Mexico State had just started an aerospace program, realizing this was a combination of my two passions; it was a very easy decision to pursue, and I have never looked back. In a couple of weeks I’ll be wrapping up my 5th year and my degree in Aerospace with minors in math and mechanical engineering.

For the past two years I have been a part of my school’s student chapters of AIAA and ASME, In AIAA I was a member of the Design/Build/Fly team last year, and then was the lead engineer this year. Each year they put out a new set of parameters that schools from around the world spend 8 months designing and building a remote control plane from scratch, coming together in April for a fly-off.

I have a couple of prospects of potential employers for when I graduate, but still ironing out some final details, so if you have a job opening.. In my free time I take my road bike out for a ride, playing with my new pippy Piper, as well as building things in my wood shop back at home.

#engineering is awesome #about the authors

Hello my name is Shah and I have spent the past 7+ years as a spacecraft propulsion scientist/engineer working on liquid and ion propulsion systems for satellites and other unmanned spacecraft. Currently, I serve as a Propulsion Systems Lead (both liquid propulsion and ion propulsion) for a satellite program (the sixth program that I have held the propulsion lead role for). The job has given me the opportunity to do systems/mission design, support the build/manufacturing of the spacecraft, work on space qualification programs, review test data, work on solving some interesting problems, and support as Propulsion Lead on console in a Mission Control Center for many launches and transfer orbit missions. You can read more about that work at the following link.

My undergraduate education was in Chemical Engineering (and Economics, although that isn’t used much). I also went to graduate school for both Systems Architecture & Engineering and Management Science & Engineering.

I have also been very involved in Engineers Without Borders since 2008, serving as the president of our professional chapter for many years and moving on to leadership roles in the West Coast region. I traveled to Tanzania in 2011 to build a rainwater catchment system on a primary school (pictures can be seen at this link).

I also do some consulting for nonprofits working in ocean conservation on how technologies can be used for ocean protection and to improve the work in the field. It is work I started at Stanford University and has allowed me some remarkable opportunities in the last few years.

I am a big believer in the power of engineering to change this world for the better and try to volunteer at STEM events and grade school career days as often as I can.