Making the switch from ME to EE 3

[puttyME]

Hey everyone, (not sure if this post belongs here)

I currently work for a major water/wastewater/environmental consulting firm. I'm doing mostly building mechanical design- HVAC/plumbing/fire protection for facilities. Its more of an industrial type application and the money is good. Although, its not perfect.

I feel like I'd be happier doing electrical design (probably power distribution) but I do plan on staying in consulting. Electrical design just seems more interesting to me and more challenging. (Any EE consultants care to comment?)

I graduated few years ago and have been working in mechanical consulting since that time. I guess Im just feeling somewhat dissatisfied with my career choice. Some aspects of it I really enjoy... like calculating boiler exhaust plume heights, or modeling hot water piping systems, or evaluating system acoustics... but there's more to be desired. I am now considering going back to school for a second bachelors in EE. Is it worth the extra time and money for another degree? Or is this just a "grass-is-greener" moment that i should ignore?


I graduated a few years ago, Im 28, I have no mortgage, no GF, no kids, no debt. I have a little money saved up that i could put towards school. My current employer would not be too happy and more than likely Id have to find new work. And I live in northern CA and no CSU schools are admitting for a 2nd bachelors at the moment.

Thanks for the responses

 

[JohnRBaker]

Gee, I did the exact opposite, but I was still in school at the time so it was not as traumatic as it could have been. Anyway, good luck.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
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To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[TheTick]

Why not get a masters? I've seen lots of guys go from BSME to MSEE.

 

[lacajun]

I've known others to go from ChemE to ME but no added compensation went with it other than being able to find work in the early to mid 80's. The masters will bump your pay increase.

If you want more excitement as an ME, get into a production facility. If you love mathematics, EE may be a better choice for you. You'll get a drenching of LaPlace transforms, Z-transforms, Fourier transforms and series, etc.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[JohnRBaker]

You'll get a drenching of LaPlace transforms, Z-transforms, Fourier transforms and series, etc.

Hence my switch from EE to ME

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Comcokid]

A ME doing Civil Engineering type work wanting to become a EE doing power distribution? The thing is with what you're doing now you may be closer to your goal now than going back for another degree.

We all know that most of what you study in school has a lot of theory and math that is unimportant unless you go for a Masters or Phd and eventually a teaching position. My opinion is that 50% of a EE degree course work does not apply to the typical end EE job. But for power distribution probably 95% of the course work does not apply to the end job. Do you really want to study a lot of electromagnetic field theory, communications theory (applied statistics), semiconductor behavoir & desgin, software programming languages, digital design, analog design, control systems, FPGA programming, and throw-in some art appreciation and sociology just to get a few courses in phasor diagrams, transformers, and motor theory?

Now, I'm not in power distribution, but to me it seems to be a EE field where most of it consist of hands-on knowledge (i.e. experience) of the practices, construction techniques, equipment, documentation (contracts, list-of-materials, specifications, construction diagrams/specialized schematics) vendors (who-to-go-to for the proper parts), and business associations (contacts). Extremely little of this is learned in school, but is learned in the field working with those experienced in the area.

I would check into getting a few courses from school, and finding job opportunites in power, and after a few years of work getting a PE with this emphasis.

 

[lacajun]

Comcokid, you left out filter theory. ;-)

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[Comcokid]

Oops! and Filter Theory!

And, of course, there is the fact that more math is required for a EE, so you will have to take a course or two in differential equations, and maybe a course in advanced applied mathametics. After I finished my BS, I was only a couple courses shy of a degree in math.

The problem with watching a TV show like Numb3rs is that I understand too much of what he's talking about !

 

[TheTick]

I seem to recall having math for BSME. Or is it that diff eq doesn't count as math? Or maybe math doesn't count if your widgets don't blink?

 

[JohnRBaker]

When I was still a EE major the joke was that Electrical Engineers were nothing more than "Mathematicians with brains". The irony was that I had already slogged through pretty much all the additional math classes before I switched to Mechanical. The issue I had at the time was that I was actually more interested in 'electronics' being that I had tinkered with radios and such during high school and had already assembled a couple of shortwave radios, a tube tester, signal generator, VTVM, etc and was even working on my HAM license (which I never got around to taking the tests for). Unfortunately, at the time that I entered engineering school back in 1965, Electrical Engineering was still concentrating on such topic as 3-Phase power, 'Delta' and 'Y' circuits, phasing transformers and calculating generation and transmission loses. I other words, they were still teaching, at least at the undergraduate level, too much 'Electrical' and hardly any 'Electronics' (I suspect that I was just a couple of years ahead of the curve on that one).

That being said, between my Freshman and Sophomore year a family friend managed to find me a summer job at an engineering firm in Saginaw, MI, as a draftsman. They had no openings in the electrical department so I was assigned to do redraws and detail drafting in a mechanical group. However I was able to observe 'electrical' engineers in action and again all it was more 3-Phase power along with drawing 'ladder diagrams' for relay logic used in machinery control panels and while that did seem a bit more interesting, it was working with the Mechnaical Engineers that really tweaked my interest as it just seemed like the stuff they were working on was interesting overall. Perhaps it was also that several of the ME's employed there had graduated from my university, including the Director of Engineering, while there were no EE's from my alma mater (after graduation I went to work there full time and by then they had hired a couple of EE's from my school), which caused me to take a second look at Mechanical as perhaps a more rewarding career.

So in the fall I returned to school, continued my EE classes, but started to check the Mechanical curriculums. At the end of second year I had decided to make a total change, which included leaving school, getting married and going to work full time as a draftsman back at the place I had worked the past summer. I worked there for a year and half, and at the urging of the director of engineering, who had become a sort of mentor for me promising me a well paying position if I returned to school and got my degree, I went back to school, this time with a wife in tow, repeated by second year, only now as an ME and the rest as they say is history. I never regretted making the change as I really liked my job and of course it put me on track for my current career, which has proven to be very rewarding indeed.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[FeX32]

I did ME and I took many math courses. In fact where I did mine the same amount as the EE guys. Everything up to and including PDE's. About 9 course in math. We had a full course in just PDE's 3rd year. Those of you who know PDE's know that the ODE course didn't help with PDE's either


Fe (IronX32)

 

[FeX32]

Also, I agree with Tick. That one line is all you need to follow.


Fe (IronX32)

 

[ScottyUK]

JohnRBaker,

The 'Old' electrical subjects which you didn't much fancy are the same ones which have fallen out of favour with academia generally, to the extent that the few who do study those subjects - or increasingly where they can actually find somewhere to study them - find it fairly easy to find a job in the 'old' industries such as power generation, transmission & distribution. I find recruitment slightly depressing and hugely frustrating because so many applicants can tell me all about how semiconductors work but haven't a clue about rotating machines or how protection schemes work, and so on.

Still, it makes for a good job market for those in the industry. Don't tell anyone.


----------------------------------

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

 

[puttyME]

Yikes! Thanks for the replies everybody. Its not so much the math that I'm afraid of as it is the additional $20K to go back to school. As well as the lifestyle changes. Having to take a part time job essentially living at or near the poverty line.... again. It would be difficult as now I'm accustomed to a healthy paycheck every two weeks.

I can do the intense math and engineering courses, I think I already proved that to myself. Not that Im a genius or anything, i just put in the effort.

Does anyone know if Financial Aid is available for those returning for a second bachelors?

 

[MacGyverS2000]

After I finished my BS, I was only a couple courses shy of a degree in math.

Same here... I think it was Advanced Calc I & II and some other course I & II. Two partial semesters would have netted me a B.S. in math, but at the time I was more interested in going to grad school. I wonder if it would help me any to go to the local university and get it done...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[racookpe1978]

20,000 isn't small change, but - let's face it - does the idea of buying 3/4 of a car frighten you as much? The car will be worth less after 5 years, and worthless after 10 years.

The time to add a degree is more of an investment that you should be concerned with.

 

[lacajun]

TheTick (Mechanical)
28 May 12 13:04
I seem to recall having math for BSME. Or is it that diff eq doesn't count as math? Or maybe math doesn't count if your widgets don't blink?

No slight to ME's from me and I apologize, if that's what came across. ME's were in the same math classes as EE's from Calc I to PDE. But you don't work with Z-transforms, Fourier Transforms, FFT, convolution, impulse functions, etc. like EE's do to my knowledge, which is darned old now. I could be completely wrongheaded today.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[FeX32]

lacajun, you are correct for sure.

The only acception is the ME guys that go into controls later. This is although not the norm.


Fe (IronX32)

 

[rmw]

Seems odd now, some 40 years later, but all that high powered math, calculus, diffy "Q's", etc, was never really used in my day job. But it was part of an education that was used and used all the time. Like MacGuyver, I was only 6 hours short of a math minor when I graduated, and I credit the math section for getting me through my EIT the first time through.

But I can state one thing with certainty. I wouldn't want to go back and have to take all that math again now.

puttyME, there are plenty of challenging careers inside of ME other than in Consulting. Give some other ME venues a try. I went down 2-3 distinctly different paths that I thought at the time had cost me time in grade, but now at the end of my career, all that experience is coming together to form a perfect storm with respect to value to my present position. I was right about 28 yrs old, single, etc., when I made a major career shift (within ME) and it paid off handsomely. Both those two early jobs that happened 40 years ago have put me in the cat bird's seat now. Try a change without changing.

rmw

 

[KENAT]

Don't know about your typical mech guys but on Aero we all did up through Fourier, Laplace etc. Then those of us that took guidance & control got to do Z transforms +.

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