Pages: 1 2

 

2008-04-02 21:54:50
DrunkFace
Germans did 911
+427|7103|Disaster Free Zone

CommieChipmunk wrote:

DrunkFace wrote:

HurricaИe wrote:

I'm a Junior in high school.
Then you can forget about it for the next few years and just enjoy school.
He's not in junior high school, he's a junior in high school (dunno if you read that wrong), but he should probably be drafting his application essay over the summer and probably be starting to look at schools now.
Stupid Americans, there are only 2 types of schools, primary (k-6) and high (7-12)... get with it.

And why do you need an 'application essay'?

Last edited by DrunkFace (2008-04-02 21:57:12)

2008-04-02 22:05:01
CoronadoSEAL
pics or it didn't happen
+207|6939|USA

DrunkFace wrote:

CommieChipmunk wrote:

DrunkFace wrote:


Then you can forget about it for the next few years and just enjoy school.
He's not in junior high school, he's a junior in high school (dunno if you read that wrong), but he should probably be drafting his application essay over the summer and probably be starting to look at schools now.
Stupid Americans, there are only 2 types of schools, primary (k-6) and high (7-12)... get with it.

And why do you need an 'application essay'?
wait, so you knew he only had 1 year left in school when you gave advice of "forgetting about it for the next few years"?  interesting.

application essays are essentially the same as cover letters for jobs.  it's just a way to gain a better insight on a person's values, character, writing skills, etc.
2008-04-02 22:22:45
DrunkFace
Germans did 911
+427|7103|Disaster Free Zone

CoronadoSEAL wrote:

wait, so you knew he only had 1 year left in school when you gave advice of "forgetting about it for the next few years"?  interesting.
Yes.... that exactly what I did. Or maybe like normal person I assumed 'junior at high school' was year 7-10 and maybe your comment about 'junior high school' reminded me that America is stupid.

CoronadoSEAL wrote:

application essays are essentially the same as cover letters for jobs.  it's just a way to gain a better insight on a person's values, character, writing skills, etc.
Entry into Australia Uni's are based solely on the marks obtained in the last 2 years of schools (or more accurately just the final exams of year 12). You may have to have an interview to do medicine or get a scholarship but that's as far as it goes.
2008-04-02 22:27:33
SenorToenails
Veritas et Scientia
+444|6551|North Tonawanda, NY

DrunkFace wrote:

Yes.... that exactly what I did. Or maybe like normal person I assumed 'junior at high school' was year 7-10 and maybe your comment about 'junior high school' reminded me that America is stupid.
Translation:  "Hey!  Our schools use different terms than your schools!  Your country must be stupid!  lolz!"
2008-04-02 22:32:07
DrunkFace
Germans did 911
+427|7103|Disaster Free Zone

SenorToenails wrote:

DrunkFace wrote:

Yes.... that exactly what I did. Or maybe like normal person I assumed 'junior at high school' was year 7-10 and maybe your comment about 'junior high school' reminded me that America is stupid.
Translation:  "Hey!  Our schools use different terms than your schools!  Your country must be stupid!  lolz!"
Exactly, at least one of you gets it.
2008-04-02 22:51:56
nukchebi0
Пушкин, наше всё
+387|6745|New Haven, CT

DrunkFace wrote:

SenorToenails wrote:

DrunkFace wrote:

Yes.... that exactly what I did. Or maybe like normal person I assumed 'junior at high school' was year 7-10 and maybe your comment about 'junior high school' reminded me that America is stupid.
Translation:  "Hey!  Our schools use different terms than your schools!  Your country must be stupid!  lolz!"
Exactly, at least one of you gets it.
That doesn't change the fact it is a stupid statement.
2008-04-02 23:42:04
stratozyck
Member
+35|7053
You got the right choices, there are so many majors that are utterly useless.  Basically anything that has math involved is good - so few people are willing to take math head on.  I know so many communications majors that are waiting tables. 

I am an Economics major that has decided to go back for a PhD - even with just a BS the jobs I could get were bs.  I was a computer programmer at my last job before I got laid off.  Again, you've narrowed it down to real majors not the fake ones.  You've got the right mindset.  I don't know of any unemployed engineers or computer science majors.  Having a college degree does NOT guarantee employment.
2008-04-03 00:49:19
kylef
Gone
+1,352|6915|N. Ireland
Cam is right; a form of engineering is definitely the way to go. Global warming, machine technology and so much more - the possibilities to engineering are pretty broad. I've been looking into a career into Electronic Engineering for a bit now and it certainly has its appeals.

Also, if you can find a way to store Hydrogen safely - you'll make a lot more than just "big bucks" in the car industry
2008-04-03 02:41:01
BVC
Member
+325|7117
Do what you enjoy.
2008-04-03 06:10:57
mcminty
Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.
+879|7143|Sydney, Australia

HurricaИe wrote:

Engineering: I know it's a shit load of math and a shit load of work, but I also know you're pretty much guaranteed to get a job and guaranteed a nice pay. Any engineering students / grads here wanna give their two cents on studying this?
I'm currently studying Civil Engineering, although at the moment is just all the maths, physics and computing that will serve as the basis for my studies later on.

As for what you can study in engineering, the choices are very wide. You've got anything from civil and environmental, electrical, photovoltaic, aerospace/aeronautical, mining, mechanical, chemical,etc. It really depends on what university you go to as to what you can actually study. On that, I suggest you go the the website of each uni/college and look at the specific course content and the options available to you. That's the only way that you would be able to compare specific courses.

As for job prospects, there is really a global shortage of engineers. Also, with the increased importance of sustainability comes particular demand for people with knowledge in environmental engineering. In terms of renewable energy, there should also be a large demand for Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy engineers.

And yes, the pay should be nice.
2008-04-03 06:17:36
mcminty
Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.
+879|7143|Sydney, Australia

DrunkFace wrote:

UNSW wrote:

What is Computer Science?...
Hmm, you referenced UNSW... do you happen to go there?
2008-04-03 09:03:31
PuckMercury
6 x 9 = 42
+298|6948|Portland, OR USA
I was an aerospace engineer for a while - but I became disenfranchised with higher education and with my particular field due to the fact that I couldn't be what I wanted due to health reasons - an astronaut.

That being said, I love engineering and it's just the way my mind works.  I can't speak to the other two, but I would talk to people who are happy in various professions as well as those who are miserable and see what the common threads lie.  Celebrate your differences, don't celebrate how you're like everyone else.  I say specialize and be exceptional at something, not good at a few things.  Exceptional people are in demand in every field all the time.

Figure out how your mind works and find similar minded people and see what they do - start there.
2008-04-03 11:08:58
Masques
Black Panzer Party
+184|7144|Eastern PA
Whatever you decide to do I would suggest taking a few courses outside of your major/division. Especially, ESPECIALLY if you major in a technical field or pursue a bachelor of science degree (these can be had in fields a diverse as engineering and math or psychology, economics, biology, and political science). I say this because the BSci degree will focus on the particular field only.

In engineering (no matter which branch you decide) you will take specialized engineering courses, physics (or chem or biology), and math. Maybe 2 or 3 other classes will be outside of those categories. You'll probably have to take 2 semesters of literature/writing (maybe technical writing) and another course for some kind of distribution requirement (ie. social science, humanities, etc).

Look at minors that might compliment your field of study. For engineering look at math, physics, chemistry, biology, or even economics, business administration, public administration, or journalism.

I'd strongly recommend taking some electives that get you away from rote memorization and introduce principles of debate and analysis like political science or philosophy.

Be well rounded. If you're an engineer who writes elegant code, can you explain your reasoning clearly and effectively in a company memo? Can you manage subordinates effectively? Can you meet with colleagues or potential clients from outside the country without making yourself or the company look like asses?
2008-04-03 11:38:19
SenorToenails
Veritas et Scientia
+444|6551|North Tonawanda, NY

PuckMercury wrote:

I was an aerospace engineer for a while - but I became disenfranchised with higher education and with my particular field due to the fact that I couldn't be what I wanted due to health reasons - an astronaut.

That being said, I love engineering and it's just the way my mind works.  I can't speak to the other two, but I would talk to people who are happy in various professions as well as those who are miserable and see what the common threads lie.  Celebrate your differences, don't celebrate how you're like everyone else.  I say specialize and be exceptional at something, not good at a few things.  Exceptional people are in demand in every field all the time.

Figure out how your mind works and find similar minded people and see what they do - start there.
This is probably the best advice given in this whole thread.
2008-04-03 11:43:57
CaptainSpaulding71
Member
+119|6778|CA, USA
Hurricane,

i studied Electrical Engineering in college and took many CS courses - so it amounted to a computer engineering degree.  many schools have this program but at the time i went, we did not.  anyway, i studied alot of computer architecture and digital logic design.  for a senior project, my team and i designed our own microprocessor from scratch.  This involved coming up with our own instruction set, designing the RTL for the processor in VHDL, creating the actual layout for the circuits using Magic layout editor, simulating the design using irsim to get waveforms and prove that we could do actual programs that we compiled with a hand written assembler.  it was alot of work for a semester project.  i spent about 42 hours straight laying out the masks for the 16 bit booth encoded hardware multiplier we had in there.  grueling.

anyway, if you like puzzles, solving different things every day, etc, i'd say engineering is a nice occupation.  we differ from physicists and mathematicians in that those professions concern themselves with the why and engineers concern themselves with the how it can be done to make something.  we don't necessarily come up with the theory but more apply the theory.  in school, yes, we derive the equations for all the stuff we do but in practice you never do that after school - the tools do that for you or you look up the equation.  it's nice to know the theory behind the stuff but in most cases being able to know when to apply certain things is enough.

as far as pay goes, i'd say probably BSEE would be 40-50k nowadays.  MS is about 10k more and PhD is a bit more than that.  if you work hard, i would assume that you can be at 6 figs in a bunch of years. 

another occupation to look at if you enjoy tech is CMOS mask design.  if you like graphics and solving puzzles, this might be interesting.  CMOS mask design is pretty much laying out the different materials on the chip that form the transistors.  so they take a schematic designed by a designer and transform that using a CAD program into polygons that depending on how they overlap and are connected, form the actual inner workings of the design.  then, this 'mask' is shipped off to the fab where they actually make the chip.  mask designers are usually paid by the hour and i have heard of some getting about 80 bucks an hour in bay area.  this is not a misprint!  long hours but you can make bank with double and triple time.

anyway, pm if you have more detailed questions on EE, CS, etc.  good luck
2008-04-03 11:48:10
CaptainSpaulding71
Member
+119|6778|CA, USA

Masques wrote:

Be well rounded. If you're an engineer who writes elegant code, can you explain your reasoning clearly and effectively in a company memo? Can you manage subordinates effectively? Can you meet with colleagues or potential clients from outside the country without making yourself or the company look like asses?
very well said.  it's very important in engineering to be able to communicate your design to other people - if not, that's where you will likely have bugs
2008-04-03 11:58:55
CaptainSpaulding71
Member
+119|6778|CA, USA
one more thing...recently we were trying to hire some new people to help me out in my group - several people left so i was left doing all of their work in addition to my own.  anyway, when we were doing the resume screening, etc, there were so many we had to turn down simply because of visa issues.  i work for a US company.  we didn't get any resumes from US citizens (or maybe like 1-2).  most were from foreign nationals that did not have green card.  it's very frustrating since i would love to see more US citizens taking up these kinds of jobs. 

anyone on this board...why don't more people get into engineering?  is it the money thing or the difficulty of the major or the presumed drudgery of the job?  i know there aren't alot of women in EE - that was a bummer.
2008-04-03 12:36:44
PuckMercury
6 x 9 = 42
+298|6948|Portland, OR USA

Masques wrote:

Be well rounded. If you're an engineer who writes elegant code, can you explain your reasoning clearly and effectively in a company memo? Can you manage subordinates effectively? Can you meet with colleagues or potential clients from outside the country without making yourself or the company look like asses?
I would agree that everyone needs to be able to communicate, but not that you should use higher education to make you well rounded ... well, before I hijack this thread with that rant, I'll just start a new one ...
2008-04-03 17:58:20
DrunkFace
Germans did 911
+427|7103|Disaster Free Zone

mcminty wrote:

DrunkFace wrote:

UNSW wrote:

What is Computer Science?...
Hmm, you referenced UNSW... do you happen to go there?
Nope, currently at UTS, I have quiet a few friends doing comp sci/engineering there though.
2008-04-03 20:28:11
logitech487
Member
+16|6824|From The State Of Taxes
How about computer security systems and minor in criminal justice
2008-04-03 20:39:08
HurricaИe
Banned
+877|6383|Washington DC

CaptainSpaulding71 wrote:

anyone on this board...why don't more people get into engineering?  is it the money thing or the difficulty of the major or the presumed drudgery of the job?  i know there aren't alot of women in EE - that was a bummer.
I'd wager it's the difficulty of the major, and the presumed drudgery as you say. Everyone knows engineering is tough to study.

And really, if you meet someone and say "I'm an engineer" they'll probably figure you do something involving making things... I mean hell, "Civil engineering" isn't very descriptive compared to "aeronautical engineering."

And "I'm an engineer" isn't as descriptive as "I'm a lawyer/teacher/physicist/doctor." So there's that mysterious air behind it, that could be a factor.
2008-04-03 20:53:30
CaptainSpaulding71
Member
+119|6778|CA, USA
when i met my wife, she asked me what i did and i said i'm an engineer.  she thought i drove trains.  lol.
2008-04-03 20:54:58
GunSlinger OIF II
Banned.
+1,860|7065
you dont?
2008-04-03 21:04:08
Ender2309
has joined the GOP
+470|6992|USA

HurricaИe wrote:

CaptainSpaulding71 wrote:

anyone on this board...why don't more people get into engineering?  is it the money thing or the difficulty of the major or the presumed drudgery of the job?  i know there aren't alot of women in EE - that was a bummer.
I'd wager it's the difficulty of the major, and the presumed drudgery as you say. Everyone knows engineering is tough to study.

And really, if you meet someone and say "I'm an engineer" they'll probably figure you do something involving making things... I mean hell, "Civil engineering" isn't very descriptive compared to "aeronautical engineering."

And "I'm an engineer" isn't as descriptive as "I'm a lawyer/teacher/physicist/doctor." So there's that mysterious air behind it, that could be a factor.
engineering is one of the fastest growing fields in the world.

however, the fact of the matter is, compared to a business degree, its hard as hell. but if you like calculus, linear algebra, fluid mechanics, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and earthquake loads on structures, you're going to love it (i have my course syllabus for the next four years sitting in front of me, civil engineering).

considering that about 90% of the population would be either two weak or too stupid to survive natural selection, it makes sense that its so limited though, seeing as its arguably one of the most difficult degrees to attain, along with anything sciency. and i think engineering may in fact be the most popular college degree on this board, since most of us are nerds and all. but cool nerds.
2008-04-04 00:03:19
CaptainSpaulding71
Member
+119|6778|CA, USA

GunSlinger OIF II wrote:

you dont?
lol.  good one.    now i just drive her crazy.

 

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