Old SStroker

I agree with the ME degree.

I guess they use CEs when they are test mudding with the 4X4s.

I've heard that only squirrels understand fluid dynamics.

Edrummr

iTrader: (1)

I've heard that only squirrels understand fluid dynamics. [/QUOTE]

I resent that.

Old SStroker

We may have different definitions of "squirrel" when it comes to auto engines.

It was an inside joke. No offense intended to anyone who works with compressible fluids outside of an auto engine, nor to anyone who imbibes incompressible fluids. Hell, no offense intended to the "squirrels", some of whom do awesome work. I wish I were as talented.

Edrummr

iTrader: (1)

...no offense taken. I was just playing.
<-- Apparently I'm "On the tree", so I'll give your regards to the squirrels if I see one.

joecar

yeh, they make the engine spin... ...among other things.

BigE

iTrader: (2)

I disagree. Several companies recruit from certain schools because they know the quality of the program and the type of student they produce. Georgia Tech is one of the top 3 engineering schools in the country and holds a reputation for that very reason. I will say that in your above scenario, no, it wouldn't be an issue because the employer has already 'discovered' the TN grad. But I don't think you can deny the fact that certain employers go to certain schools looking for engineers to fill their available slots prior to recruiting elsewhere or interviewing unsolicited résumés.

For the record, yes, I went to Tech. BSME.

BanditTA

iTrader: (3)

Haha true, but dirt is soo much easier to work with. Concrete and Steel get a little touchy but dirt rocks haha. Where abouts in upstate NY are ya? I'm in norwich, 1 hour south of utica.

Old SStroker

90 miles SW of you in the Elmira area.

Dirt rocks???? Ouch.

FWIW (and on topic), a good engineer/physicist/civil engineer/chemist can many times pickup other disciplines fairly easily. It's the individual more than the degree. In the Air Force any degree qualified one to attend pilot training. One of the top guys in our class was an art major and one of the bottom guys was an aerospace major. Generally the engineers/physics majors did well in the classroom. Having a nodding acquaintance with Bernoulli sometimes kept some guys out of trouble in the air.

Smartest carguy I ever met is a particle physics guru by education, but a major player in making wellknown engines work very well.

treyZ28

Recruiting at certain universities and turning someone down for coming from another school is very different. Many big companies actively recruit at my university. Certain universities and certain employers just have a long standing history.

My company actively recruits from Tech, but I didnt go there :shrug:

Louie83

iTrader: (3)

We have some nice technical electives.

400 level class - Vehicle Engineering
400 level class - Internal Combustion Engines.

Guess which two technical electives I will be taking.

treyZ28

I wish I didn't take intro to ICE. I learned more from reading the book myself and wasted far less time doing so. Plus it cost a lot less.

After that, I started taking diversified electives like biology, an ind. study on jet propulsion and a 500 level buisness class

ZCAMARO

I was wondering when someone was going to finally say this. Being in the industry for 16 years I've seen engineers come from very good university's that were absolutely worthless, then I've seen some engineers that don't even have degrees (that worked their way up through their company) that were absolutely outstanding.

I'm not discounting getting a good education, by all means get into the best school that you can, because it does help. But 16 years down the road your success will depend mostly on what you make of it.

Old SStroker

Absolutely! In most cases it doesn't take too long to separate the cream from the skim milk. I've seen that everywhere I've worked. Some folks I thought were excellent in their field or in any field when I first met them have continued to prove their excellence as much as 40 years later.

If beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone, intelligence and competence sure are "ugly"! Did you ever notice that the most competent people you know often have the personal motto: "I'd rather be lucky than good." ? Without exception, the ones I know are GOOD, and a few are also lucky.

treyZ28

Engineers are just flat out terrible at some things though. Specifically, anything involving a grey area.

SStrokerAce

iTrader: (2)

That's mostly because they are stuck in a box in terms of thinking.... I honestly think the point of education is to teach you how to think, not what to think. When people say things like "what can art, philosophy, classics, economics, etc... teach you about engines, cars or mechanics" I honestly feel sorry for them...

One good example is a head porter I know, along with me part of the ADHD generation. He also has the problem of not exceeding or doing well at something unless he has a interest in it, to the point of gross failure. It could be astronomy, criminal justice or in his case head porting but as long as there is a interest in it he "gets it". I still think that if he took some classes in scuplture he would excell at that and it would help him even more in his day to day work of cylinder head R&D.

For all the guys/girls in school be it a tech school like SAM or a BSME degree DON'T look at the extras that the school forces you to take as bad things, there is a lot of valuable lessons to learn there.

Bret

T/A KID

iTrader: (12)

That wouldn't be old Bill over at comp would it?????

Old SStroker

Old? He's a LOT younger than I am!

T/A KID

iTrader: (12)

Oops, meant to put OLE, lol. Yea I think he is closer to your sons age, lol.

treyZ28

If you can somehow make it out of engineering school and didn't learn to learn or how to think...well, that’s ******* Impressive. Nevertheless, I agree with what I think you meant to say. An education should teach you to think in more than one dimension. For this reason, I don’t think I received an education; I got engineering training.

I can go out there and figure out any engineering problem, even those I have no experience with. I'll read the book, figure it out and solve the problem. That is the ONLY place I’ve learned to learn though. If I had to do the same with philosophical problem, I'd be lost. Well, personally...I wouldn't be, but I'm a rare breed as I’m sure you can tell. Not many engineers can even see any value in any liberal arts (I used to say liberal arts classes in college are like plots in pornos).

My university's liberal studies department is terrible; some professors are unfit to teach high school. I'd (no lie) say they could teach 6th or 7th grade at best. In my senior year, I realized that I didn't write one DECENT paper in college. You'd think that through 5 years, Id write one decent paper (aside from technical reports), but nope. I wrote an awesome final paper in my last liberal studies class so I could have ONE paper I was proud of. I had to proof read 7 of my classmate's papers and it was just then that I realized why I got good grades on my shitty papers. 13 page papers with 16 paragraphs. "Why does it need to be broken up? It’s all about his life before he converted to Islam."

Engineers learn to learn as do liberal arts majors do (or should), but they are taught to do so in different ways. "Think out of the box" is not a correct way of putting it; they both think outside the box, they just have different boxes. Engineers come up with some pretty damn creative ways to solve problems, but their creativity in say.... designing a car (cosmetics) is terrible. An artist will make this beautiful car but won’t think of any other way solve the engineering problem than the obvious.

I've sat in some brainstorming meetings for new designs with some very nerdy engineers (not many that aren't in aerospace) and they've come up with some stuff that was pretty "out of the box." I wouldn't trust them to pick out the color of my car though. A certain former employer of mine was very big on the cosmetic appearance of his product. Whenever in doubt, he'd walk into the engineering office and ask an engineer "which one looks better?" and do the exact opposite

edit: ADHD sucks. My grades for 400 and 500 level classes are awesome. I almost got kicked out of school when I had all "intro to," 100 and 200 level classes.

PSU_Engineer

I don't think that anyone has mentioned this yet; but I think that it would be prudent to mention to our "future mechanical engineering" student to inquire if the major that they are interested in is accredited. It is my personal opinion that if you've spent years in college, (and many thousands of dollars) for an engineering degree that you can go for your professional engineering licensure. Engineering is a profession, not merely an occupation. An engineer is required to possess and exercise a vast summation of knowledge. That type of expertise, and the fact that the public’s welfare is reliant on the engineer’s competence, elevates the amount of responsibilities.

I would recommend checking the state’s law regarding engineering, in particular license regulations. But here in Pennsylvania, you must have graduated from an accredited college or university before you are allowed to take the first part of the license procedure.