**The Official Engineers/Engineering Thread V2**

[SouthDakotaBrah]

Dat feel when u skipped 2 months of electric circuits and have an exam on Wednesday that you are completely unprepared for.

Tour's over boyos unless I pull an all nighter tommorow and master 3 chapters worth of material (thevenin/norton, op amps, capacitors/inductors)

You skipped two MONTHS of an EE course? I skipped two days for a class once and felt like I was going to drown, RIP

[Ownster8932]

Company offered me a job over the weekend. And this monday morning at 7 A.M. they are asking me for a decision. I want to take a month of between school and work and they are bombading me with questions emails and calling me. Thing is theu want me to start asap.

what do?

Hard to answer for you as everybody's circumstances and standards are different. For me, I wasn't dead-set on working after finishing my BSEE. My mentality was well, if I find a job that I really want and it pays good, then I will go work. If I don't find what I want, then I will stay an extra year and finish an ME degree (I took 1/3 of ME). I found a job I wanted (and also extended me an offer) and I told them I wanted the summer off and would be available at the end of July. They were fine with that. They also gave me several weeks to respond.

If I were in your position, I would be asking myself:
1) Is this a job I think I would enjoy?
2) Is this my only job offer? (if not, is it my best offer? If so, by how much?)
3) Have I gotten a lot of opportunities/interest for interviews/jobs?
4) How much effort have I put forth relative to the amount interviews/offers I have received?
5) Is this job in a place I want to live?
6) Do I think this job would be worth sacrificing some rebound/relax/reboot time that I really want/need?
7) Are you a very career-oriented person? If so, how does this job seem in regards to progression and you being able to work up the corporate ladder?
8) Similar to 7- how does the company culture (from your limited exposure) go with your own personal culture and philosophy on life? (Are they slave drivers or do they value a balanced approach to life where they know your job is simply one part of your life?)
9) How good of a candidate am I? (sort of ties in with some of the other questions)

IMO, you have the next 40-50 years of your life to work. Unless you get laid off, fired, decide to quit, or whatever else that gives you time off, you won't get another time for getting 1-3 months off until you retire. If you are interested in the job (and not desperate) then I would tell them you accept, but only under the condition that you get 'X' time off. If they really want you, they'll be ok with it. If not, they won't. Maybe they're in desperate need of somebody, which is why they want you to start ASAP (of course, if they were really desperate for somebody to come in and contribute immediately, I doubt they would be hiring a new grad for something like that).

I feel a lot of people in general (and even moreso for new grads) get a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to things like this. They start thinking that the company is fully in control and that they have none themselves. Omg, if I don't accept/get this job then there won't be another one. (spoiler alert: there will always be another job.) Also important to remember, just because you are offered a job does not mean you have to accept the job.

Your comment was very vague and so it is difficult to really give you specific (rather than general) advice. Good luck.

[KingofLifts]

Sometimes 10 sometimes 60 a week. Gotta be there for 40 though. Miss being on call kinda. Brb getting paid to play video games.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have worked more than 40 hours and it was something like 41-44 hours (I also don't get paid OT). I sincerely doubt my per-week average is 40. If I had to guess, probably 36-38 range. On the downside, I have to work 5 days/week (no wfh days or 9/80 schedule or anything; very oldschool at both of my FT engineering positions. This seems to be in contrast to what my friends are experiencing with their jobs). Some of my friends have it really good (a lot of my friends are engineers too)- two of my best friends work-from-home at least once/week (sometimes 2-3 and both are engineers).

So it's not a stretch to expect a decent work/life balance on my first job? I was really expecting 60+ hour weeks for several years until you gained experience.

[Mirrors]

You skipped two MONTHS of an EE course? I skipped two days for a class once and felt like I was going to drown, RIP

I actually think I did pretty well on it, considering I studied an entire 2 months worth of work in around 12 hours.

Only thing I messed up on was finding the Norton equivalent resistance, which is weird considering that was the easiest thing you can possibly do on the exam. For some reason I didn't realize that two of the resistors were in parallel and added them up in series. But we'll see once the exam grades are back.


Tfw the only company to call you in for an interview went N/C on you, and the company that was supposed to give you an interview because its through a school program also went N/C on you.

Feels batman

[peteypistol]

Any machinist entrepreneurs here? Me and my brother own a machine shop and do production for some aerospace/optical companies locally. 2 cnc lathes, 2 cnc mills and a lot of old school manuals.

This beast was delivered recently:

[Rayaarito]

EE brahs, i need your help. Doing a lab and this is the schematic to our power amplifier. There is zero problem in MultiSIM, works perfect; no distortion. We set it up on the protoboard EXACTLY like this. For some reason, when we increase the amplitude of the function generator passed a certain point, the DC power supply starts to decrease. And that messes up our voltage divider because it has to be 6 volts at the base.


Do you guys have any idea as to why the DC power supply voltage would decrease when we increase the function generator amplitude?

edit:

asked the brahs at stackexchange and they say it's because the power supply is limited to how much current it can put out. Googled it and it turns out you can change the limit. But i'm not in lab till next monday. Wish i had my own function generator and oscilloscope at home.

BUT, i still think it might have to do something with the grounds. We shall see on Monday morning

[cncman]

Any machinist entrepreneurs here? Me and my brother own a machine shop and do production for some aerospace/optical companies locally. 2 cnc lathes, 2 cnc mills and a lot of old school manuals.

you guys iso compliant? Keep at it, all shop owners start somewhere. Its keeping work rolling and getting customers to actually pay for the chit you make. I still write programs for people from time to time as I have Mastercam and Solidworks access. I was an all around lathe man inc live tooling and 5-axis for the better part of a decade. Optimized a turning process not long ago actually as a consult. Made a little money, and saved them a CHIT load yearly as it was one of their bread and butter jobs. Loved going from being used as a setup/program/troubleshoot guy to college to engineer, but I think starting your own is the way to go. Congrats, wish I had the stones.

[Rayaarito]

bros this sucks. Im graduating from college this semester and I ahvea lot of job offers. BUT none of them are my dream job offers. feelsbadman

EE, ME, CpE, CE, ChemE, BME?
GPA?
Any internships?

Us still in school brahs are interested in this brah

[axiom15]

Any machinist entrepreneurs here? Me and my brother own a machine shop and do production for some aerospace/optical companies locally. 2 cnc lathes, 2 cnc mills and a lot of old school manuals.

This beast was delivered recently:

Looks sweet, did machinist work for about 5 years for local oilfield companies. Although I did all my work on manual lathes, and Mills

[cajone5]

What if its a part time MBA paid for by your company? At a typical state flagship school, not ivy league or anything.

Can't hurt. Would do it if I were you.

[KingofLifts]

Thermo Final tommorow, and Dynamics final on monday. It's a make or break grade for me. Looking at somewhere between C+, and B in thermo, and around a C+ or B- coming up on dynamics, so hopefully not that bad. If I fuk up however, it's gonna be Goodnight sweet prince for me. Almost done with thermo topics covered, just hoping I'll remember how to do problems lol.

Dynamics is looking worse, still got 6 major topics to re-learn and practice. Crunch time.

[RH709]

bros this sucks. Im graduating from college this semester and I ahvea lot of job offers. BUT none of them are my dream job offers. feelsbadman

Yeah, what disipline?

Where are you and what do you want to do? I'm an ME in Sacramento and I work in hydro-electric. We will be having an opening soon.

[cajone5]

Got a question for you practicing engineer brahs: How many hours do you work on average?/How many did you work when you first started?

Thanks y'all.

Been out of school for close to 10 years now...

Year 1-3: 45-50 hours per week (paid overtime)
Year 4+: 40-45 hours per week (salary)

Occasionally I still have crazy weeks (60+ hours) but that's only 2-3 times a year. I actually track overtime now and I average 10%-11% overtime over the year (average 44 hours a week).

Structural engineer.

[cajone5]

So it's not a stretch to expect a decent work/life balance on my first job? I was really expecting 60+ hour weeks for several years until you gained experience.

No way.

Anyone who says they actually keep those hours is either a liar or literally has no life. Consider that 60 hours a week would be six
10 hour days. Most people have a commute and a lunch. So that's 12 hours a day 6 days a week spent going to work, working and eating at work. Do you know anyone who does this consistently? I doubt it.

Working 60 hours in a 5 day week is doable but it's brutal and is not something you can sustain. No employer would expect such a thing. In my experience I think most people tend to exaggerate their OT.

[DrinkingBull]

Been out of school for close to 10 years now...

Year 1-3: 45-50 hours per week (paid overtime)
Year 4+: 40-45 hours per week (salary)

Occasionally I still have crazy weeks (60+ hours) but that's only 2-3 times a year. I actually track overtime now and I average 10%-11% overtime over the year (average 44 hours a week).

Structural engineer.

Even those year 1-3 stats are daunting to me lol. I worked 45 hours a week for 3 or 4 weeks last summer and it had me feeling like pulling my hair out. Granted I worked at a call center but 9-10 hours days are pretty draining regardless.

Did the company you worked at during the time just require more hours from its employees compared to where you work now or was it just a personal decision to do those kinds of hours consistently?

[morrison816]

Absolutely fked for physics final tomorrow, if I dont pass it ill have to retake the class next semester.

This chit makes zero sense, I can read the book and understand the concept, but when these ridiculous questions come up I have no idea how to apply the concepts

[Rayaarito]

3 internships, 3.95 gpa, civil engineering brah.

I have a lot of job offers but most of them are inspectors/project management. I want to with under a PE or with a PE and design some chit.

Mirin, musta had a busy ass four years bro

[axiom15]

Are there any extremely low level positions you guys would recommend that would be sweet for a mechanical brah? I've come to accept I'll probably never get a job, so I'm just gonna have to start as low as I can and work my way up. Just don't know what positions to look for now, I'm stuck in the town I live in as well for now. So my only chances of employment are fast food places and Walmart, CVS, Walgreen's. Ridiculous..

[KingofLifts]

Are there any extremely low level positions you guys would recommend that would be sweet for a mechanical brah? I've come to accept I'll probably never get a job, so I'm just gonna have to start as low as I can and work my way up. Just don't know what positions to look for now, I'm stuck in the town I live in as well for now. So my only chances of employment are fast food places and Walmart, CVS, Walgreen's. Ridiculous..

Why wouldn't you get a job? What's your resume look like?

[axiom15]

Why wouldn't you get a job? What's your resume look like?

Been applying since around August for entry level (very very few come up) and up jobs with no luck whatsoever. Literally none. It's been a year since I graduated, my tour is over.

Resume is typical for a new graduate I guess? Personal info on top followed by education, work experience, projects (senior design), honors & awards.

[1010101]

Been applying since around August for entry level (very very few come up) and up jobs with no luck whatsoever. Literally none. It's been a year since I graduated, my tour is over.

Resume is typical for a new graduate I guess? Personal info on top followed by education, work experience, projects (senior design), honors & awards.

Resume and LinkedIn should be 100% on point."typical resume for a new graduate" sounds pretty bad lol.

[Ownster8932]

Are there any extremely low level positions you guys would recommend that would be sweet for a mechanical brah? I've come to accept I'll probably never get a job, so I'm just gonna have to start as low as I can and work my way up. Just don't know what positions to look for now, I'm stuck in the town I live in as well for now. So my only chances of employment are fast food places and Walmart, CVS, Walgreen's. Ridiculous..

Um, what? More context, please. You're a graduated Mechanical Engineer? How long? What's your GPA? Any internships? Any interviews? Why are you stuck in your town?

[axiom15]

Resume and LinkedIn should be 100% on point."typical resume for a new graduate" sounds pretty bad lol.

I don't use LinkedIn in, and I'm obviously being very vague fella

Um, what? More context, please. You're a graduated Mechanical Engineer? How long? What's your GPA? Any internships? Any interviews? Why are you stuck in your town?

Graduated exactly one year ago, 3.3 GPA , no internships, no interviews, vehicle broke down so I can't even venture out and start on my own anywhere. I get told the same **** every time I post about no internships, etc. I applied during school but never got any calls back accept one which I interviewed for but didn't get. Obviously it's gonna be hard to get a job without any, but Jesus..my degree was basically a waste of time. My connections weren't able to help me out as the oilfield has been pretty **** (they were all oilfield/refinery companies)

Been thinking of getting a bike and riding to the nearest big city (3-4 hours away) and being homeless for a while trying to get any job I can and start over (I live in a small town with no engineering opportunities). Would study to take the FE exam during that time to seem like I'm still keeping busy with engineering stuff. Then go in person to every company i could after completing it asking for a job. Completely srs

[Ownster8932]

Graduated exactly one year ago, 3.3 GPA , no internships, no interviews, vehicle broke down so I can't even venture out and start on my own anywhere. I get told the same **** every time I post about no internships, etc. I applied during school but never got any calls back accept one which I interviewed for but didn't get. Obviously it's gonna be hard to get a job without any, but Jesus..my degree was basically a waste of time. My connections weren't able to help me out as the oilfield has been pretty **** (they were all oilfield/refinery companies)

Been thinking of getting a bike and riding to the nearest big city (3-4 hours away) and being homeless for a while trying to get any job I can and start over (I live in a small town with no engineering opportunities). Would study to take the FE exam during that time to seem like I'm still keeping busy with engineering stuff. Then go in person to every company i could after completing it asking for a job. Completely srs

Not sure why you wouldn't use LinkedIn. Really it's something you should have done before even graduating. So that would be a start. You don't have family or friends who could help you in the short term to get out of your town? I mean are you applying online to places outside of your city/state? Companies will pay to fly you out and everything if you pass phone interviews and stuff for the on-site interview(s). Would probably get a sign-on bonus as well that would give you some money to move or you could have them pay for you to move as part of the deal (or just get a small loan or something to get you there). What have you been doing over the past year? Have you been doing any studying or anything technical to try and keep your skills sharp? What about classmates who graduated with you? How close are you to colleges? You could look up when their career fairs are and go to them.

I don't think having the attitude that your degree is a waste of time is the right one to have- you should be wondering what you are doing differently than everybody else who are getting jobs and how you can use that to be successful yourself. A 3.3 is a good GPA, so that definitely isn't the problem.

[axiom15]

Not sure why you wouldn't use LinkedIn. Really it's something you should have done before even graduating. So that would be a start. You don't have family or friends who could help you in the short term to get out of your town? I mean are you applying online to places outside of your city/state? Companies will pay to fly you out and everything if you pass phone interviews and stuff for the on-site interview(s). Would probably get a sign-on bonus as well that would give you some money to move or you could have them pay for you to move as part of the deal (or just get a small loan or something to get you there). What have you been doing over the past year? Have you been doing any studying or anything technical to try and keep your skills sharp? What about classmates who graduated with you? How close are you to colleges? You could look up when their career fairs are and go to them.

I don't think having the attitude that your degree is a waste of time is the right one to have- you should be wondering what you are doing differently than everybody else who are getting jobs and how you can use that to be successful yourself. A 3.3 is a good GPA, so that definitely isn't the problem.

It's social media somewhat which I don't use, basically an online resume and you can add people or whatever the hell it does. Aware me on its uses? And no I don't have anyone anywhere, and yes I'm applying all over Texas. I don't have plans to look elsewhere but I may decide differently soon. Past couple of months I've been a bum, I studied for couple of months to take the FE but gave up when things never got better. I plan on starting again and using a CAD software but it's kinda hard to get into a positive mindset. I don't keep in touch with any classmates, but they all pretty much got jobs (they had internships) except one guy who didn't get an internship either, of course. The town I live in has a college, it's where I went. I go to their career fairs when they have them.

What's different is I don't have internship experience, which was out of my control. Obviously now I'd be a waste of a hire, being one year out without studying or anything. But I don't mind starting at the bottom(non engineering) and working my way up.

[SouthDakotaBrah]

LinkedIn is very nice to keep up with industry news and network with colleagues

[DrinkingBull]

has anyone used vhdl or programmed FPGA's in their job or know engineers who do? I learned the basics in my digital logic class and thought it was pretty neat stuff. My school offers more advanced electives on the subject that I can take. From what I've experienced and understand it's big in aerospace which is definitely an industry I wouldn't mind working in.

[cajone5]

Even those year 1-3 stats are daunting to me lol. I worked 45 hours a week for 3 or 4 weeks last summer and it had me feeling like pulling my hair out. Granted I worked at a call center but 9-10 hours days are pretty draining regardless.

Did the company you worked at during the time just require more hours from its employees compared to where you work now or was it just a personal decision to do those kinds of hours consistently?

Well I worked in a small group of 5 doing specialized structural work that carried an office of 20. So 5 of us were working all the OT. The rest of the office couldn't' even stay billable for their 40 hours so it all depends. If you're trying to be in an in demand area where you have potential for growth and larger future salaries, expect to work a bit of OT, especially early on. Like anything, you'll get used to it.

3 internships, 3.95 gpa, civil engineering brah.

I have a lot of job offers but most of them are inspectors/project management. I want to with under a PE or with a PE and design some chit.

What do you want to do? Where do you want to be?

CE (structural) here. I know folks all over that do what you want to do. I can, at the very least, suggest some companies to apply with.

[dd45778]

Mirin, musta had a busy ass four years bro

thank you man. I just graduated and I'm thinking of all the nights and fun opportunities i missed because iw as working throughout the school year with internships and studying my ass off.

But then again graduating with a civil engineering degree, good exp, and a 3.95 gpa with no student loans (dat dere schoalrships) is pretty damn good. Wish i could party a little more and go out with friends =[

Well I worked in a small group of 5 doing specialized structural work that carried an office of 20. So 5 of us were working all the OT. The rest of the office couldn't' even stay billable for their 40 hours so it all depends. If you're trying to be in an in demand area where you have potential for growth and larger future salaries, expect to work a bit of OT, especially early on. Like anything, you'll get used to it.





What do you want to do? Where do you want to be?

CE (structural) here. I know folks all over that do what you want to do. I can, at the very least, suggest some companies to apply with.

I want to be working for a consulting firm design Buildings/structures or anything with transportation. I'm still stuck between choosing between the two but I wouldn't mind gaining design experience in either or.

All i want is to work for a firm/company and design. Design, design, design. Get my Masters asap and my PE, SE asap.

[Mirrors]

Got a phone call today out of nowhere from an internship I applied to online at Sandia Labs in New Mexico.

They did a phone interview with me on the spot which lasted about 17 minutes. None of the questions were behavioral and all of them were about my experiences for the position I applied to. The interviewer asked me if I was willing to relocate to New Mexico, and if I was interested in doing a particular task (something about motion in SolidWorks). At the end of the interview he didn't ask me if I had any questions. I asked the interviewer about the next steps and he seemed kind of lost on what was supposed to happen next, (maybe he was new or something), and just said that it will take a couple of weeks for them to process my application, and that I should call them if they don't get back to me.

Did I dun goof during the interview? Was kinda surprised they didn't ask if I had any questions.