What engineering discipline are you in?

If I remember right on the afternoon test for the PE exam you could take an environmental versions. I could be totally off. I took the transportation one.

 

Seems like Environmental is connected to Water resource.http://ncees.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Civ-WRE-April-2015_Combined.pdf

 

I'd fail that test so fast.

 

That's the test I took

 

Man there are a lot of ME's in here. I have my BSME. I'm a design engineer working with fiber optics mostly. I work with mounting LED's and lasers to heat sinks, designing lens fixtures, and a bit of robotics. It's a pretty interesting job. Keeps my mind busy. We do some government work and internal design. It's a small company. I'll start with the concept and take it all the way to finished product.

 

ME here. I worked on alternative energy systems while getting my Bachelors. Started moving into building efficiency (LEED etc.) as a senior. During graduate school I worked on energy modeling for residential buildings as well as researching thermal energy storage systems for residential buildings. Now I work for an OEM doing R&D for commecial HVAC equipment. Anything mechanical and related to energy is interesting to me! I also grew up with an outdoor background. Off roading and motorcycling are some of my interests as well. Glad to see so many MEs in this forum!

 

Descendents is one of my favorite bands. Hoping to see them in a few months here in Dallas.

 

They still sound as good as ever live. Glad Milo finally came to his senses and quit his nowhere job to concentrate on music, haha.

 

First time outside the 1st gen only forum and this is great stuff! Love all the types of people here and now I have found an engineering community inside too lol

I just graduated as an ME from UT-Rio Grande Valley (border of Texas and Mexico aka REAL south Texas) and just got my first job at Newport News Shipbuilding in VA. I start in January but I really can't wait to get going, gonna work on aircraft carriers!

And honestly it wasn't what I thought I was gonna end up doing. I was a baja SAE member and Toyota recruits heavily from here but 3 years and 3 shots later I was not accepted i have a bunch of friends that work at the San Antonio plant working on the Tacos and Tundras and they love it but I guess it wasn't for me lol you know what they say, never meet your heroes.

 

The new Ford class of carriers are going for ~18 billion a pop. There is only one Ford in the water and they plan to replace all the Nimitz class. You got some work to do.

 

anybody provide any input? thanks

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/mechanical-engineering-q-a.525089/#post-16725596

 

I don't have a degree but I'm a software engineer. I'm lucky enough to have a Bay Area salary will living in San Diego and working from home.

On the side, I've been working on a project the past few months for fellow automotive enthusiasts called Buildprint; it lets you create/manage your own build page for your truck, here's mine:
http://buildprint.io/mb/pluto

 

BSEE that works for a biotech company

 

Mining engineer from VT. I have worked in mine ops, readi-mix concrete, and I now work in technical services for a mining company. I spend most of my time working on new plants and existing plant upgrades.

 

Agricultural Engineering from Iowa State, worked with oceanic oil exploration now working as an engine engineer in ag.

 

MET and spent most of my time in the steel industry and shipbuilding with the last 9 years in nuclear before the VC Summer plant shut down and 6000 of us lost our jobs because my company Westinghouse went bankrupt and I got furloughed. Now in the Fiber Optic business at Corning in Wilmington NC. doing 3D modeling and AutoCAD for 30+ years

 

Wow I was about to make a thread on this!! Would you guys mind answering a few questions?

I’m 26, thinking of doing engineering. Would you guys say I’m too old to start this?

Also, is it what you expected? For example, I’ve heard people say they go in thinking they’ll build and engineer a car but end up doing the hinges or something not as as big as inventing the light bulb, so to speak.

I live in California, thinking of mechanical or aerospace if that makes any difference.

 

Definitely not too old.

Based off my schooling I thought it was going to be non-stop math and science and equations, this was the farthest from the case for me. But this is different for everyone. As far as building and engineering cars or something big, that all depends on the company you work on and your experience. I started at a very small, R&D company and got to do a lot of interesting designing and manufacturing on cutting edge technologies. Now I work for a large Tractor company and I don't play as big as role as I do, but this is because my fellow engineers have at least 10 years, each, at our company - I've only been there for almost three years. It's what you make of it as well; I did a co-op with manufacturing company that was very unionized and I couldn't handle that so I didn't enjoy my experience, now I work at a union facility and it's not bad because I enjoy the work. Just challenge yourself with your work if you go into engineering.

 

I’d recommend mechanical between those two. Many of my college friends are now working for a wide variety of aero companies doing engineering and we all have ME degrees, with some of us having a minor in aerospace engineering. I would say it’ll be more important to find internships and stuff in the aero field if that’s what you want to do, and if you decide not to go with aero after you’re done with school, ME is a more diverse degree that has a huge number of applications across just about every sector you can think of.

 

I finished my degree after 10 years of night school at 38 years old. let's just say this, statistically, a degreed person roughly makes a million more over their lifetime of working. I didn't do it for that but one of my sisters challenged me to finish school. It has paid off but I have also been through challenging times when certain jobs ended and I was out looking for a job several times in my life. Just make sure your degree is marketable and in a field that will only continue to grow..

mechanical and aerospace are both good fields, but I would also give you advice and learn 3D modeling software, that is what I have been doing a long time and everything has and is going that way especially with robotics. good luck and stay positive..