Advice for getting into the Engineering profession.

[TheFabricator]

Hi all,

I am after some advice and insight about the engineering profession. I am 20 and I have just finished an apprenticeship in the engineering fabrication industry. I left school at 16 to peruse my apprenticeship, and did not complete my final years of schooling. I have become bored with the fabrication side of engineering (I build structural steel components), and have always been interested in the design of mechanics of how things work. From my research on the internet I have come to the conclusion the mechanical engineering is for me. I would like to know what skills I need to be proficient in for me to be successful in an engineering course at university, and what kind of duties I would undertake everyday in a mechanical engineering job.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Reguards
Stefan

 

[FeX32]

Good to hear you are interested in the mechanical engineering field. We need good, hard working, intelligent people nowadays.
From a schooling point of view, I suggest a solid background in mathematics is essential to be successful.
For an undergraduate degree in engineering you must be dedicated to your work and manage your time wisely. (at least this is what I found to be essential). An understanding of fundamental physical concepts is also necessary to perform well. ( a good engineer is one that has a deep understanding of physics and how it applies to pretty much everything)
Furthermore, a graduate degree is a more independent research based curricula, where you will use all of your built up knowledge and skills to do research. (to put it simply). Some graduate degrees are more course based, but from my experience, the masters really helped to put the theory to work. It also broadened my scope.

TTFN

Fe

 

[HamishMcTavish]

Stefan,

you don't say where you're based which will have a bearing on the educational requirements you will need to meet in order to start a degree and in order for your degree to be accredited.

In the UK there are now several universities which run "access" courses for those with either no formal exam results or for those with poor results or for those who sat the exams so long ago that they may not be applicable.

FeX32 is correct that a lot of what you will need to do well at a university course in engineering is maths and to know how to apply it.

I wouldn't start off thinking about graduate degrees yet - cross one bridge at a time! Perhaps go and talk with some people at your local university to see what sort of hurdles you have to get over for entry and whether you might qualify for some sort of bursary / assistance with fees.

All the best, HM

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam

 

[IRstuff]

Calculus and physics are the foundation of mechanical analysis. So, good community college with those courses will certainly get you start.

Additionally, you should take writing and communications classes, since engineering is not all about the numbers. Not much point in being the smartest guy around if you can explain your ideas to another person.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[TheFabricator]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies, I understand math is a major part of engineering but I wasn’t sure about physics.
I am based in Australia in a medium rural town, where there is no community college and the closest university does not offer engineering as part of their curriculum. I understand I would have to move close to a university that offers the courses but I would like to develop a good understanding of the required skills( advanced maths, physics) before I make the move. Can anyone recommend some good books for self learning such topics.

Regards
Stefan

 

[mgtrp]

Hi,

Several expat aussies I know have upskilled from electricians to some sort of engineer via TAFE distance learning course, completed while continuing to work. That may be another option.

 

[TheFabricator]

mgtrp,

I know a few electrian that have done just that was well, they complete two more years after the regular four years of their apprenticeship and become electrical engineers. Sadly in the engineering fabrication trade this isn’t an option.

Regards
Stefan

 

[GregLocock]

Your best bet to find out might be to work through this via a TAFE and whichever university you wish to attend. Get a written statement of what you need to do to get on the degree course.

One approach my employer uses is that our local TAFE (Gordon in Geelong) runs an engineering course for time-served mechanics, some of the credits of which can be used towards a full engineering degree at Deakin U. I am not specifically recommending those institutions.

BUT I don't know anybody who has actually got a full engineering degree via that path.

The maths is likely to be your biggest stumbling block. Hopefully the required level has dropped since I was at uni.

You are up for something like 6 years of study - not for the faint hearted.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[HamishMcTavish]

Stefan, i'm not based in australia but found the following link which might prove useful

http://www.aqf.edu.au/learn_employ.htm#flexible

As part of your apprenticeship did you do academic as well as practical work? - it could be that you could gain partial credit for courses

Another area you could try is to contact local engineers in your area, maybe via professional groups e.g.

http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/

All the best, HM

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam

 

[csd72]

I would suggest you look into correspondence courses, a few of the universities in Australia offer them and you may only have to turn up for exams.

Alternatively, moving to a new area can be a real adventure and open up your eyes. That is the way I felt first time I went overseas, now I am living in my 5th city and my 3rd country.

In Australia you want a BE, preferably 4 years with an honours course at the end.

The other option is to find out if there are any scholarships that you can apply for.

Many of the old school engineers in Australia started in the shop and worked their way up. While this is not the way it is done any more I am sure they will have respect for what you are trying to do.

It may be worth checking out

http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/

Good luck

 

[TheFabricator]

Thanks everyone for the advice,

I’ve been doing a bit of looking around the internet and have found many good resources for learning physics and math. I understand that online website can’t replace a course in such subjects but I’m hoping that it will give me the basic skills I need to be proficient in any future course I undertake. I’m of the understanding that to be able to understand calculus I need an in-depth knowledge of Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry, is this correct. Also with physics, once I have learnt the basics should I be looking to understand Classical mechanics, Statistical mechanics, Electromagnetism, Special relativity and Quantum mechanics or can I get away with only knowing a few of the topics in an engineering course?

Regards
Stefan

 

[GregLocock]

calculus - essential but I think you may be taught that early on

Algebra -essential ,

Geometry and Trigonometry -some but these days triangles and parallels and areas is probably enough, not euclidean constructions

Classical mechanics - definitely

Statistical mechanics - what is that?

Electromagnetism - they'll teach you

Special relativity and Quantum mechanics NO

Having said all that, buy Feynman's Physics lectures, volume 1. It's a pretty tough read, figure on an hour per page minimum just as revision, but sets out the general landscape better than anything else I've read.

So given that it isn't a state secret, where are you, which uni are you hoping to go to, etc?







Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Gumpmaster]

Calculus is foundation for much of the engineering disciplins.

I'd recommend "How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide". I used it when I went back to school to get a grad degree. It was pretty funny, and I learned a lot. It was way better than my freshman calculus teacher.

 

[GregLocock]

We may be a victim of culture and age differences - I was taught calculus at high school, including ODEs, pretty much the only new calculus at uni was PDEs.




Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[KENAT]

As to the second part of the OPs question,

what kind of duties I would undertake everyday in a mechanical engineering job

this is difficult to give a meaningful answer to. The mechanical field is very wide and overlaps with a couple of other specialties such as Aero Engineering (my degree) & Naval Architecture too.

A lot of mechanicals work in HVAC related to building construction, but then there's machine design, be it industrial machinery or products like aircraft, ships, vehicles etc.

Then within those different industries there can be different specializations some more analytical such as stress analyst, thermal analyst, aerodynamicist etc. others more applied like field engineer or test engineer. Sometimes these fields overlap, sometimes you can spend a big chunk of your career as a specialist in one subset of a field. Then there's the actual design side too, though there's often debate over where the 'real' hardcore engineering ends and the drafting/designing begins, all the way down to just being a CAD Jockey with a degree.

Greg, I too learnt pretty much all the calculus I could ever use at High School, the joy of double math pure & applied A level. My first year of math at uni was basically revision or going into one or two areas in a little more detail. 2nd year math was more challenging with Fourier, Laplace and then Grad Div & Curl, my brain aches just mentioning the last 3.


KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[GregLocock]

Fourier- terrific, a beautiful concept that is also useful
Laplace -nasty but useful
Grad Div and Curl - incredibly nasty - I don't think I ever used them in anger, but I must have squeezed through the exam.

We did a fair bit of PDEs in structures, they were OK

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[ScottyUK]

Laplace - wonderful, makes the electrical world go around!


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[KENAT]

I forgot to mention the Z transforms we did in navigation or whatever it was called.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[FeX32]

Nice. Z-transforms are usually used in digital signal processing. At least that's where I use them.


Fe

 

[KirbyWan]

One of the greatest resources for engineering education (at least for self study that doesn't count for a degree) is MIT's Open course ware at

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/av/index.htm

specifically I would suggest checking out the physics I/II/III. This is a set of physics lectures given to MIT engineering and physics students and is exceptionally well done. A great refresher for anyone. It looks like they finally have some Calculus lectures up now as well, but I haven't seen them yet.

On a personal note about my collage experience. I disliked the first two years of Engineering ed, because I was taking all the foundation classes such as chemistry (not always required) calculus, physics, english, public speaking, etc. I really enjoyed the last two years when i was taking my technical electives as those were more about what I wanted to do. So don't get discouraged at first. A university education is as much about being well rounded as about learning a discipline, and that value will not really be apparent for a long time.

Concerning mechanical engineering, there are three broad focii. Thermo/fluids which involve everything from designing heaters and heat sinks to those super elite engineeing gods who design space stuff. I envy them so. Structural which covers everything from trusses to fatigue analysis and failure mechanisms. They make parts strong enough. Finally there are the Controls engineers. They study how mecanisms react to movement. They worry about problems like flutter and harmonic oscillation and are responsible for making those manufacturing robots so darn accurate. There are also many applications. Some do new design, some fix problems that arise on the factory floor, some do systems work which fits all the different pieces together.

Simply there are a lot of options. Sorry for the novel but I wanted to give you some encouragement and options. Sorry to those engineers who think I may have oversimplified.

Best of luck,

-Kirby