Back To School!

[garvice]

But my impression is that we have too many engineers – NOT too few.

Well there is definitely too few GOOD engineers.

 

I am having my first real holiday in 5 years (just had a son) and just last week had four phone calls for job positions. I am not worried at all about getting a job when I want to finish my break, so much so that I am putting off looking for work until I want to go back, I.E. I expect to get offers within a week of putting myself back on the market.

[jas280z]

2nd day back. Taking thermo, fluids, circuits, mechanics of materials, materials engineering... I already feel behind. haha

 

I was there just last year. I really like thermo, but the rest of those classes take dedication. Just keep your head down and get through the semester, you'll be very happy once you do. As long as you don't decide to start your MBA while still a senior in M.E., then you'll hate yourself like I do now.

[xShodaimex]

Im taking sociology, electricity and child development atm. Going for general ed.

[Challenger]

That is a weird combo. haha

[MAG58]

Microbial genetics

Medical Microbiology

Med micro lab

two useless gen. eds.

 

 

Only 16 credits. Pretty easy semester!

[canammx1]

I am driving the z to college too

[Two80z4me]

Eh, I started September first.

Im taking AP Physics, AP Philosophy, AP Calculus, and English 102, and Hawk Tv (school tv program every week)

 

basically, in highschool taking college classes. FML

[19762802+2]

Eh, I started September first.

Im taking AP Physics, AP Philosophy, AP Calculus, and English 102, and Hawk Tv (school tv program every week)

 

basically, in highschool taking college classes. FML

 

Thats literally what my girlfriend is doing she is going to a college and taking college classes but she receives dual credits for the course so she gets high school credits and college credits for pretty much free. She is taking some pretty hard classes and is almost constantly busy with basketball and school.

[Two80z4me]

yeah its really hard classes, but always make in time for the z and getting plastered on the weekends.

[ktm]

Just like in any field, there is a shortage or surplus of talent depending on your particular specialty. For instance, I am a geotechnical engineer who specialized in solid waste facility design. I have traveled the world due to my specialization (3 years in China, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.) and am now working for one of the largest waste management companies in the world. I am never in want of a job. Whenever I would update (even now) my resume on Monster, I receive over 30 calls a week until my resume falls off the first few pages.

 

Now contrast that with all of the engineers who went into land development. I've interviewed well over 60 engineers for a position with my current company and all of them, save for 3, were from land development companies. Additionally, nearly all of them did not have a grasp of the basics of engineering.

 

There is a dearth of good, talented engineers. Most schools really are doing their students a disservice by not demanding anything from them. When I finished my graduate research project at UT Austin I was a TA for a semester. I could not believe that the engineers could submit their assignments on notebook paper, yellow paper, etc. in pen, and were not held to any grammatical or spelling standards. During my days at Purdue (graduated in 1994), we were required to do all of our work either on the computer (and at that time no one really had their own PC) or on engineering paper. We were graded not only on the engineering content but also grammar, spelling, neatness, etc.

 

I see that I am rambling. However, I will finish saying that I agree with a comment that MAG wrote regarding the relationship between engineers and accountants. It used to be that accountants were simply financial tools of a company. Most accountants can not apply knowledge and think only in black and white. It is not their fault as the requirements of GAAP and Sarbanes-Oxley are fairly stultifying. However, nowadays accountants are running companies, much to the companies detriment, and engineers are just tools. Innovation is being squashed as it costs money, and money results in "poor" returns on Wall Street.

Edited September 26, 2010 by ktm