Yeh, I prefer flat black.

 

wtf

 

Some stress venting: Engineers, please learn to properly dimension a part. I have a migraine because of one of you who cant.

 

Datums.. what are those? I thought someone was playing "where's waldo" with the alphabet!

 

Im a Train Engineer for CSX Transportaion . . . is that the same thing . . . . Im Sorry im on a day pass. .

 

I always sucked at math. I think some of it was me. I think some of it was my teachers. I only had one decent math teacher while I was in school. But, in his class math made sense, and I understood. All the other classes I spent my time struggling.

I find it funny that the these days that I dust off the old books for my hobby. I've never used any of the math I took in school for my regular job. But, my hobby forces me to go back and dust off the calc, etc...

Ther eis lots of good advice in here. My only advice is to find a job that you love, and if at all possible, find one that pays well. As has been well stated in here. There are lots of folks that are book smart, but reality stupid. One of the smartest girls in my graduating class couldn't figure out how to put gas in her car (true story). Anyhow, I think there is lots of good advice about which part of the engineering field is best. Add to that, gearhead curiosity, and a good work ethic, and you'll do fine.

Good luck...

 

I'm looking at this drawing that from the end goes Curve--> flat--->curve--->flat

(__(--- Kinda like that. Can you believe that I have to go through about 15 dimensions to get the middle length? THEY ARE EVEN ON THE SAME DAMN PLANE! It gives you dimensions ot **** on another plane. what the crap!

Kinda hard to explain, but imagine trying to find the wheel base of a car by going "front wheel to wheel gap to tip of bumper to back of engine block to T-top centerline to rear tail light to fuel pump to shift **** to transmission to driveshaft to rear diff to center of rear wheel.

 

Man isn't that the truth. I have a friend of the family who was very very book smart. A's in college, honors, the whole nine yards. She is on welfare now.

IQ, test scores, graduating from prestigious schools, all have a poor correlation on how successful you will be IMO. It only helps, but that is all. It all comes down to what you make of what you have..

 

Let's see, your friend collects a "salary" for doing absolutely nothing to earn it. As much as I abhorr that concept, that could be considered by some as being very "smart".

Well said.

 

I'm not sure I would call it a "salary". More like a "handout" which obviously doesn't take much intelligence to get...

 

You get "good" engineers and "bad" engineers, and engineers that are just having a bad day...
But you're right, it's frustrating and time-consuming when you can't get a dimension from a drawing.

 

One thing I HAVE to say:
Being book smart, studying more etc DOES NOT make you a worse engineer, common sense dumb etc.

The more seriously I took my classes, the better engineer I became. It is imporant to note that good or bad grades dont mean, on their own, good or bad engineer. I have had experiences with 4.0 engineering students that have blown my mind. Absolutely no common sense.

I feel this is even more important: Good grades DONT make you dumb. Just because you can make it without good grades doesn't mean grades or classwork is irrelivant. The better I did in class, the better an engineer I became. It adds depth to your capabilities as an engineer. I advise all current and prospective students to take their class work very seriously, you can learn a lot. I also advise you to develop your logical reasoning and practical skills. APPLY school work to experience, both will be more complete.

 

Those all bring back memories. I need to go and drink now

 

No, I don't think anyone here is saying that straight 'A's means anyone is dumb. But there is alot more to succeeding in the "real world" than just making good grades. I believe that is the point that is being made here.

By all means get the best grades you can because it DOES help, but don't get discouraged just because you don't get straight 'A's. Because the rules out in the "real world" change and straight 'A's really doesn't have as much impact on success later in life as many college students tend to believe. Trust me on that one.

 

Engineering schools generally don't emphasis dimensioning of parts (which should change IMO) but rather emphasize engineering principles. I guess the most universities figure that theres plenty of time to learn dimensioning on the job. At least thats the way it was for me.

 

Sounds like you need to place a copy of the ANSI standards regarding dimensioning on that engineers desk. Makes for good lunch reading material.

 

Maybe they don't emphasize practical aspects, but an engineer has to operate in the real world.

 

Most schools don't employ any sort of drafting classes anymore.

 

Sure they do, but it's now called CAD or whatever software...

 

isnt that basicly what CAD is? modern drafting....