Could I still become a engineer despite my disadvantages? 14

[ProblemSolver_imported]

Hello All,

I am hoping someone out there can give me some good advice. I am a mid-30-year-old man, since high school I have always dreamed of being an engineer (Preferably Electrical, Mechanical or Robotics). For the past 2 or more years, I have grown depressed in my current field and I am starting to realize that my dream is just really a dream. The thing is, I have suffered from severe dyslexia my entire life which has hindered me academically. You may know someone with dyslexia that has performed just fine academically or good enough, but there are different levels of dyslexia. I have been evaluated as a child and as an adult, my results are always “severe”. Just to let you know, I am not sharing this for a petite party, I am in my mid 30’s, so trust me I’ve excepted this part of myself a long time ago.

Now that you know a little about me, is there a way for me to break into the electrical, mechanical or robotics engineering fields without an engineering degree? Since high school I have attempted collage 4 different occasions and it always ended with me going on academic probation or withdrawing due to difficulties. Some people can say it’s laziness, trust me... that is not the case, I am the opposite of lazy. I always give 110% sometimes 200% in everything I do.

Despite my dyslexia and without any formal IT education I have been fortunate to have a decent career in the IT field. I never real expected to work in the field long-term it kind of just happened. I started in PC repair for a computer company, I didn’t know the first thing about computers, but I needed a job so I taught myself and learned on the job. The first 5 or 6 years I grew quick in the field getting better and nicer positions, now 10 years later I specialize in VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) and Network Support. The only thing is.. I am not an IT pro at heart, I can do the work just fine and I always get positive feedback from my bosses, but I just get little satisfaction out of what I do. For the past 2 years, I have applied for several product development\engineering technician roles for manufactures and engineer firms hoping to get my foot in the door but I get no response. I guess they see my resume and see 10 years of IT experience and figure I cannot do the job? I really would love a career change but I am thinking it’s not going to happen.. Any advice would be helpful...

**Sorry for all the information**
Thanks, in advanced

 

[JBreunig]

Wow, it's hard to add to these great posts, but I'll give it a shot.

I second the CAD direction. It seems that would quickly get you into an engineering-ish field, where you can work your way into a designer/engineer role. I don't know much about dislexia, but it seems that this would be the path of least resistance for you.

As for formal education, it's important, but not everything. I used to work with a guy at a nuclear plant. He was in the nuclear navy, then operated a few different nuclear plants across the country. He then became a trainer for engineers for years. I worked with this guy for about a year before I realized he didn't have an engineering degree! He was a smarter, and better engineer than most engineers I know! It doesn't directly help you, but it should tell you that an engineering degree isn't the end-all be-all.

Jim Breunig P.E.
XCEED Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
FEA Consultants

 

[Guest0527211403]

Also keep in mind that there is an increasing push among the software and high end hardware vendors (like NVidia) to sell VDI platforms that run CAD and other graphically intensive software applications.

From my experience, an IT professional who actually knows what CAD is used for and how the engineering team interacts with the CAD system is worth his or her weight in gold. I've experienced IT teams who see the CAD/PDM/PLM system as just another piece of software like MS Office and treat it as such, and my design teams have suffered from this as the software would be unstable due to improper graphics hardware or incorrect PDM vault installations.

I would see an IT professional like this as a key member of the engineering team who helps to ensure we're squeezing the most out of our investment. If you can develop (good) custom applications that run on top of the CAD/PDM/PLM systems and help companies better automate their workflows, you'd be part of a fairly rare and marketable breed of IT professional that makes engineering teams better.

Also consider how else you could re-brand your current experiences. If you like engineering as it's an opportunity to develop creative solutions to new and existing problems, there's a lot you can do with your IT background. Further on the thought train of VDI stuff, the company I work for develops medical devices (what I do) and software (not what I do) used by neurosurgeons, including a surgical planning tool that fuses different imaging modalities (MRI, CT, etc) into a single graphical representation of the patient. Today this requires our customers to purchase a laptop to our exact specifications in order to run the software, but moving towards a virtualized desktop style application that can run on any machine is an obvious goal of ours. So, we hire people with skills like yours to develop these solutions and eventually integrate them into hospitals.

 

[moltenmetal]

I'll jump on board with the others- if you like CAD and have an IT background, that's a very powerful combination. Going in that direction with, say , a Bachelors in mech eng so you can work your way into doing pipe stress analysis as well as piping design, or structural analysis etc., would be a very good way to combine rather than set aside your old career with the new one.

 

[ProblemSolver_imported]

WOW.. I never expected to get so many responses to my post, I appreciate all of the feed back. I have a lot to think about.

Keep the advice coming!!

 

[grunt58]

I'd say you are on the right track; CAD courses then certification. Then night school for that degree. Detailing is a great way to learn. You will just have to bite the bullet somewhere starting pay or temp to hire. Work your way up to a designer then designer with some engineering responsibilities.

 

[grunt58]

Let us know how it goes. I'm curious as to how it all turn out. Also, I second an engineering technology degree if you continue your education.

 

[ProblemSolver_imported]

Will Do grunt58!

 

[JBreunig]

FWIW there's a font called dislexie that is supposed to make it easier for people with dislexia for reading and writing. It might come in handy for writing in school and work in the future.

Jim Breunig P.E.
XCEED Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
FEA Consultants

 

[ProblemSolver_imported]

JBreunig I will have to look into that font, Thanks!

 

[Sparweb]

The first thing I noticed as I read your original question - you can write well and express yourself. You've got a lot of trained engineers beat, right there.
Something that hasn't been mentioned so far, which is an engineering "skill" rather than a specific specialty - troubleshooting.
Like CAD work, it requires working with a lot of information, but what sets it apart is often intuitive or lateral thinking.
If there's something that sets folks with dyslexia apart - it's their way of seeing things differently!
Since technicians tend to do a lot more of this, it may be more accessible to you without a long time spent in school again.

STF

 

[grunt58]

I'd also add that IMO a CAD designer with extensive IT knowledge would be desirable to lots of companies. It's been mentioned but from my experience, IT people think CAD is vanilla software or don't support it at all. Engineering (usually drafters/CAD people) handle CAD software installs and issues. With many companies using network license managers someone who knows IT is very valuable. Could even do double duty at a small company that has no IT department.

 

[Hoxton]

Sorry I'm a little late into this, but I have an English tale to tell....

I'm a now retired electrical engineer, and I have mentored a few young people into engineering as a career.

One of my daughters friends came to me, he would be in his early 20's, he explained he had just graduated with a degree from a good English university, think of Robin Hood, and you will know the city!

He told me that when he looked for jobs, they all involved documentation and writing / reading.

Well, that's a lot of engineering I explained, so what's the problem?

I'm dyslexic, he told me to my surprise, since I'd known him for about ten years and never realized.

He'd got the degree with a lot of support from the university, but was now left floundering.

I told him that he had acheived something that the majority of the population would envy (starting with me!) and they cannot actually take his degree from him! What do do now, he wanted to do practical work.

My advice: go to the local college and enroll on a practical electrical wiring course, that would give him a practical qualification to reinforce his academic degree. Then having got this, he should write to a local power generation company to be a service engineer. I knew them well, I told him, but no need for me to be involved, he'd get a job.

He still with them 10 years later.......

So, the advice above from others is good, you have had the common sense and intelligence to come here and ask advice, again this is a strength. Are there any career planning consultant companies in your area, you have to pay, but they may be of help.

Do you have a local engineering company you could approach for advice? Or an employee or friend?

This is how people found me.

Good luck, but you won't need it.

 

[lacajun]

One engineer I knew years ago graduated from Purdue, Tau Beta Pi, and had severe dyslexia.

I would recommend getting an engineering degree because it covers applications of math and the sciences you will need.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
NSPE-CO, Central Chapter