<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by drchulo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> anybody have any suggestion i wouldnt mind picking up a book for some late night reads during the weekday.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't recommend any mechanics books yet. At this point, you don't know enough mathematics to understand the books. You'll get confused and end up disliking it.

I suggest you read "Engineering Ethics" (second edition) by Charles B. Fleddermann. That gives you an overview of what engineering is about, and the general thought process.

 

Not that anyone cares but i should be joinin both ASME and SME tommorow. An with regards to the above post i agree engineering books are boring, more often than not my school books will have pages and pages of intergration jus to show how they came up with or derived a formula.

 

That's a really good point, at least calc 1 is pretty handy for any of the engineering texts. PDE and linear algebra for the more serious ones.

Flip through them at a bookstore though, a bunch of those books don't have much math in them at all.
And I think reading a book on engineering ethics is a fantastic idea and freshmen everywhere should be made to do it. I've heard people describe engineering undergrad not as being taught what you need to know, but learning how to think like an engineer.

 

a question for you engineers in here. How often do you actually use paper and pencil to work out calc 2/calc 3 type problems?

 

i got throught pencils and engineering paper like nobodies business.the point of cal 2 and 3 is to be able to do it by hand. Thats how they test you in the cal classes yea your ti-89 is good for checking the answer but u wont past the tests in those classes with just the answers if thats what u mean. In fact my cal 1 teacher was all about calculator use but again mainly for checkin what we did by hand...

 

i totally understand that. im in calc 2, no calculator or cheat sheets at all. everything is done from memory.

But how often do actual engineers use this stuff? (as in do the answer yourself, not on a comp program or calculator)

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by adictionbass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i totally understand that. im in calc 2, no calculator or cheat sheets at all. everything is done from memory.

But how often do actual engineers use this stuff? (as in do the answer yourself, not on a comp program or calculator)</TD></TR></TABLE>

You won't use Calc I and II as an engineer. Engineering problems aren't about solving the intergrals or differential equations. That's for mathematicians. Engineering is about setting them up right. Once you have the problem setup the way it's supposed to be setup, you can use Maple or MATLAB or any other program out there to solve it for you.

Calc. II problems are very easy, and very limited. You won't really use any of calc. II for your future engineering work. It's a foundation for Calc. III and differential equations. Most of your classes in the future (mechanics, dynamics, statics, circuits,....) will be based on the stuff you will learn in your differential equation and calc. III classes. Statics classes deal with 3D space a lot. Dynamics deals with differential equations and 3D space. You'll have some differential equations and very basic linear algebra in the circuits class.

Calc. II is probably the hardest math class in college. At least that's how I felt when I took it. Calc III and Diff. EQ. won't be nearly as hard. Linear Algebra is going to be a breeze. Once you get past all the math classes, you'll see what's really going in the engineering world as far as math goes. By the time you're in your first or second mechanics class, you'll really get a feel what's out there. If you're a little worried that your calc. II concepts don't really make sense and you have a hard time understanding them, don't worry. Everything will make better sense once you go to Calc III.

Soroush

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Motorhead_AZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Calc. II is probably the hardest math class in college ... Calc III and Diff. EQ. won't be nearly as hard.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I disagree, I found diff eq to be terrible. Calc III was definitely easier than II, but I personally wouldn't call calc II the hardest. Diff eq is definitely teh suk.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dwolsten &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

This doesn't seem all that useful. GM and Ford are both rated "junk" by Wall Street; GM is on the verge of bankruptcy, and Ford isn't far behind. Both are laying off thousands of people (including engineers). All the best cars are designed in Germany or Japan, with Korea and China coming up behind them. Outside of specialty work, I don't see a lot of employment for automotive engineers in this country in the future.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You do realize that many import automakers have engineering facilities in the US, right? Maybe not as large as their home operations, but still significant. Additionally, many of the european and asian automakers are opening manufacturing faciliteis in the US. You do realize the new Toyota Tundra was designed in the US??

Moreover, there's a significant number of suppliers in the US as well. There's more to working in the auto industry than the Big 3.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Don't go into engineering if you have any dreams of a large income.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Large income? No probably not as an engineer. Comfortable income, yes. If you want large income, get a BS in Engineering, then go back to school and get an MBA. Then go into management or marketing.


Modified by BUJonathan at 6:01 PM 3/10/2006

 

CALC I, II, III, IIII, and DIff EQ's and Linear Algebra are CAKE compared to intermediate dynamics/fluids/thermo/ (almost every other ME class out there)

 

good info motor head..

anyone what to throw out some rough est. of what you can expect to make when ur 30-40 in the engineering field?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by adictionbass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">good info motor head..

anyone what to throw out some rough est. of what you can expect to make when ur 30-40 in the engineering field?</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's going to vary widely on what you do (ie, what's your specialization), who you work for, and where you work. Salaries are going to be higher on the west coat (ie, SoCal), and usually Fortune 500 companies will pay higher (atleast intially). Additionally, if you've got advanced degrees by the time you've reached 30-40, then your salary potential will be higher. There's some fields that are just plain "hot" and will pay well, such as chemical engineer, biomedical, or R&D... they're probably also stressful jobs as well.

In short probalby $60-70k. Possibly much higher if you're into project management, or a supervisor position, or in marketing by then.

Jonathan

 

sup guys just finished a late study night for finals, they start on monday. it's 12:00 am and we're leaving the library. And going to study in the 24hr room till 3:00am. And that folks is what engineering students do. and we'll do this again for the next 3-4 days till we graduate. P.S. the math is the easy part! but the reward is oh so good

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cptengineer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sup guys just finished a late study night for finals, they start on monday. it's 12:00 am and we're leaving the library. And going to study in the 24hr room till 3:00am. And that folks is what engineering students do. and we'll do this again for the next 3-4 days till we graduate. P.S. the math is the easy part! but the reward is oh so good </TD></TR></TABLE>

So you're graduating this semster? Congrats bud, and good luck on the finals. I can't wait 'til I graduate. I can relate to the late night studies. They're fun, aren't they?

Good luck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cptengineer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sup guys just finished a late study night for finals, they start on monday. it's 12:00 am and we're leaving the library. And going to study in the 24hr room till 3:00am. And that folks is what engineering students do. and we'll do this again for the next 3-4 days till we graduate. P.S. the math is the easy part! but the reward is oh so good </TD></TR></TABLE>

I finished my finals for this winter about a week and a half a go. Good luck with yours.

 

The Linear that I'm taking is very hard...I think its mostly due to my professor doing his post graduate thesis on graph theory and linear related ideas...so he's got a major hard on for the class. Also this is my first formal proof writing class and I ******* hate proofs.

Whats the salary kick from a BS in ME to a MS in ME?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ~RTErnie~ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">TWhats the salary kick from a BS in ME to a MS in ME?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would also like to know.

 

Bump, I'm thinking about getting into mechanical engineering. I have a bacheolor's in Applied math and was wondering how hard it would be to get into a master's program in ME?

Right now I'm working in education at a k-8 grade school and I am thinking of changing professions.

 

for you it shouldn't be too hard it's applied math but I belive you need the BS first.
But once you hit the stress analysis and the 3-d dynamics, it like ooohh ****, what did he say!?. Oh and the pay increase from the BS to the MS in ME is all relative. they won't pay more to a MS if the same job can be done by the BS, unless you're talking about research. So it might be in the 100-130k range, but doable with the BS. I'll ask on my interview on tuesday LOL. **** luck to all you guys. For all those in the engineering trenches, I have nothing but love for all of you .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ~RTErnie~ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Whats the salary kick from a BS in ME to a MS in ME?</TD></TR></TABLE>

like stated above it wont be a huge increase, most companies are more concerned about the engineer's PE lisence rather than thier ME. Personally i want both...

I think there was a statistic that PEs make 35% more than regular BEs across the board

 

no offense meant, but good luck with that engineering program at UPenn.

 

Wow, I just read through this whole thread. I am currently a freshmen engineering student at Purdue, and the calculus has proven to be very difficult lol. But just from reading through all this, I've learned more about what to expect from engineering than I have in my entire first year here at Purdue. Now I just need to start thinking about what I want to do. Purdue has an SAE team, which I am definitely going to get involved in. They also have a team called Oppurtunity Motorsports that specializes in circle track racing. Link here: http://www.sallgood.biz/opportunity/

However I am really struggling with the theories and workload of ME, so Im thinking about switching to MET. Any suggestions or advise?

 

you might have a harder time getting employed as an ME Tech than as an ME. I would suggest sticking to your guns. The reason engineers get respect is because its tough. you've allways got your honda-tech enginerds here backing you up, you can do it.

When it comes to the complicated theories, one of the main things I took from my engineering education was breaking things down into very small problems, and understanding how each term in an equation relates to a physical quanitity or principal. People often say that engineering school really just teaches you to think like an engineer, instead of teaching you everything you need to know.
Try a study group with some of your friends if that helps, also make friends with upperclassmen, and use their wisdom (and beer).

 

So staying in ME as opposed to MET would definitely be beneficial in the long run? Im just starting to question whether its worth staying in ME, especially since average salary is still only ~$50,000/yr. I was really hoping that the hard work would pay off a little better in the end. Going for an MBA down the road has always been something I've though about, would that still be possible with an MET degree?