What engineering discipline are you in?

yeah I need to get through a dam career and stick to It haha.

 

Look into becoming an instrument technician for a plant. You could work for the plants in maintenance, or work for a contractor installing in new plant. Great Pay, possibly of great benefits/ pension.

 

If I don’t end up with an engineering degree I don’t have a clue what I’ll do.


Probably just go guide hunts or something

 

I know what you mean man. Im 31, married, and I just now feel like I'm getting into my career. bounced around at some Design/prototyping companies, did some designing and got introduced to machining and 3D printing, then like you, wanted more and wasnt sure if that was gonna work out, so I went to a Offroad Fab shop and learned some metal fab stuff, fiber laser, Press Brake, and realized I enjoyed the design side more, but still wanted some hands on. liked machining, and got in this machine shop I was eyeing.. and its been golden ever since. best of both worlds.

oh, and I'm not divorced.. yet. lol You'll be aight. dont be afraid to branch out and try shit man. If a opportunity presents itself, take it! learn from it!

 

I don't want to give up on it just yet, but I have looked into other things like welding, machining, jobs where I can be around machines and or work on them. I like building, fixing, and working on things with my hands. engineering sounded fun, being able to work on auto cad and then see something come to life. But the math is rougher than I expected... then I wonder if going to school for that long and student loans is worth getting a degree in engineering.. I gotta do more and things less lol

 

I think it’s worth it, it’s not some theater degree. The industry I plan I going into starts engineers at 120k, should being able to pay off those loans in no time.

But I’m sure school in SoCal is much more expensive than it is in good ol UT

 

No need to fear the math. Learn how to tame it. Learn how to apply math to solve problems. Just for practice and understanding, do things like calculate the height of a tree using the position of the sun (look at the clock), and measuring the tree’s shadow (hint: trig and/or geometry). Get a couple of glass beakers, and test the alcohol content percentage in the gas can of your garage (hint: algebra). Use the math you need to learn for everyday tasks, and it’ll come easier.

I worked in a machine shop while putting myself through school. Got over 5 years of practical experience before I “went to the office” to put my education to work. That practical experience has been more valuable over the years than the vast majority of anything I learned in school. Best thing I ever learned, was from a Professor who’d worked in industry for 20 years, before moving to the classroom. His simple advice rings true everyday; “The best engineers don’t have all of the answers. They just know how to find the answers they need”.

 

Look into engineering technology. You only have to take math through cal 2 and the courses focus on an applied approach rather and theoretically approach. My degree is mechanical engineering technology. I was good at math in high school. But ten year later when I went back to get my bachelors degree I struggled with math. So I made it a point to learn and understand it. I spent a lot of extra time at the math tutoring center.

I made the decision to go back to school at the age of 27. Three years and $35k in student loans later I landed a decent job. I worked my butt off for the last three year and then opened myself up to the job market. In two week I start a new job making an amazing salary with amazing benefits that completely justify going back to school and taking student loan.

Push forward. Be driven. Set goal. Be the best of your class. And it will reward you.

 

I appreciate the advice! Im 27 and decided to give this a shot. Im in the medical field, but I only did that because I didn't think I could handle the math and 4 years later I don't think ill ever hate a job as much as my current gig. lol. So fast forward to today, I decided to follow a childhood dream but I'm struggling so bad in geometry that I makes me question my life decisions lol. Im either going to fail, or just drop geo and take the "W" but at least the second time around it should make more sense unless by some miracle I pass my exam tomorrow. These posts were very motivating, working full time makes it hard. Ive even thought of trading in the taco so I can cut back a few hours to help me focus more on school. Just gotta find a way I guess!

 

Where's the Healthcare check box?

I'm a Field Service Engineer for the Molecular Diagnostic Division of a Medical Device Company..

Never seems like we can get enough people to fill positions in this industry.

I was also a Combat Engineer in the Army, but we didn't engineer shiiiit.. but blowing things up that other people engineered.

 

Don’t take the W. Half of college of showing that you won’t give up. Try hard, tutors, talk to professor, study, study, study. You got this. And the curve will be in your favor.

 

I never had to take geo, but I didn’t stuff Calc 1 and Calc 2 into 14 weeks, wasn’t fine.

I think the W is better than an F but I’d definitely stick it out if you can. I know my school with take an F off if you can prove that you actually tried and it just didn’t stick, after you retake it anyway.

 

I’ll try, but taking algebra 2, and geometry together was a shitty idea

 

Hey that’s how I feel with Lin Diff and O chem

 

Sounds worse than my situation, haha.

 

From what you’ve said I think a job in a machine shop or in fabrication may be better suited than going for a full engineering degree. At least in my experience, engineering school is far lass about actually building things and using your hands than it building and developing the theoretical concepts behind design and learning to be a better problem solver. And unfortunately, that is all based heavily in calculus, at least in school. Once you’re done and through the calculus classes themselves, the engineering classes all just assume you know and have no problem with the calculus theories that are being applied so there’s really nowhere to hide from that math.

Don’t give up too quick, but also be aware that even if you do stick it out all the way through the degree might not open doors to the jobs you’d personally enjoy. There’s lots of jobs where you can be involved in design and fabrication, but I would guess that a lot of those jobs don’t require a full engineering degree

 

Good luck. At least in my field as a roadway engineer I do only simple math and a lot of geometry. But I'm slowly leaving the design field all together for more project management. It's funny how the more experienced you get the less you actually do on the design.

Depending on the engineering degree you may use almost no math in your day to day job. Schools generally focus on the theory and less on the practical helpful stuff. School is all about teaching you how to think like an engineer and weeding out.

don't let the math mess with you. Spend the time and get the help you need. There are usually lots of helpful tutors or find a couple people in the class to go over materials. Keep it up and something hopefully clicks with you.

 

Master Journeyman Pattern, Model and Mold maker...40 yrs..Collegicaly studied Chemical Eng. and Geology....Don't let the math get ya down guys..application takes over, you'll remember it and say..HOLY SHITE...can I go back and take that test again!

 

I transferred out of aerospace to civil as that’s were the opportunity was here in AZ. I do way more management than engineering. Still lots of math to be had, but very little design. Mostly just spot checking or quick calcs for field changes.

 

That’s something that’s always been at the back of my mind too. I do enjoy problem solving, I know it’s not the same but I guess one of my hobby's is solving complicated puzzles. I even follow a dude in YouTube that just solves puzzles lol, but I do enjoy diagnosing things and fixing them, I also enjoy building things. Literally anything. I once tried to build a portable battery charger for my phone, it was slow but it worked. Lol. So I enjoy being creative, solving problems, and being able to apply it to something.

Which is why I always thought engineering would be a good fit, but I have heard from many people that most of what they do is meetings and desk work with little to no hands on work, if ever. And that last part is what has me a little worried, so maybe something like R&D where you build, test, build, until something works like it should?