I doubt that you were deprived of this knowledge before you signed on.

"let my mind play with?" Play with the task at hand, even if it's not your assignment.

If you find a better way to do it, tell the boss.

You'll end up using only a small percentage of what you've studied.

give it time, it sounds like your more of a facilitator....good for you.

In the mean time learn from the outside consultants. Even if you need to be hands on, ask them questions and develop contacts, for the future.

Even double check their work, pump sized correctly, piping correct, expansion joints met and such...remember that nay also be your job....but don't be a pest about it, by questioning their every move, or interfering with their work. Unless it is wrong. Be sure.

You are in a very good position, but be patient.

phoenix911

I've meet looking on YouTube for specific subjects in engineering and mathematics; you can find postings from some of the prestigious colleges and universities, many of which have sample problems that can be done, along with course materials for study and review.

As said above, Patience is important. Your degree is used simply to get you a job in the field of your choice.

Once you land the job it is your skills and intellect that will dictate your future positions. I worked 4 years as a 'troubleshooter/technician' before I was ever assigned a project to engineer.

Use this time to develop both knowledge and skills. You will be assigned more and more responsibility as long as you are handling the responsibility already given.

The paper work you are 'pushing' is your first responsibility. If there are big problems, with a project you reviewed, you may be accountable to some degree, in fact at this point you are probably performing as a firewall for someone else a few steps up the ladder. Thus every 'i' needs a DOT, and all Tees need crossed, do not waste time with computer math games.

very well put.

and your comment;

Your degree is used simply to get you a job in the field of your choice.

graduates tend to think after they graduate, the work stops because they received their degree...when it actually just begins.

I had an engineer that I hire fresh out of Michigan tech, He thought he could do my job. I took a weeks vacation (which was rarely) I let him have his chance, it was fortunate that it was only for a week. ended up working 70+ hours/week for over a month just to catch up.

phoenix911

Well said...One enters with prioritized components; two ears, two eyes and one mouth...

Hi Dan Man,

To most of the replies, I can say "ditto", but what you say doesn't regard just the formal education process, but all you will learn throughout your career. Things come and things go, things are important today, but less important tomorrow. Technologies change.

It's a little like the brain-bucket only has so much capacity (sadly, a little less as one gets older), and it becomes necessary to put some 'items' in 'storage' so there is room for the 'new'.

Although not in your field, I can relate to this possibly by telling about using MS Excel. Like a lot of software, it seems to be the end-all of 'do this and do that' resources, but most folks only tap into about 20% of it, based on what they are trying to accomplish. No different for me. First are the basic elements, then another 'set' of skills based on the things I do most, but that leaves another 80% I have little knowledge of, and very little capability with. Now and then, something is required that pushes me to learn something 'new', and the brain-bucket fills a little more, but without a doubt, there is something that new knowledge will replace and be put in 'storage'.

If you think all of that is routine, wait until you are 'pushed' to step outside your training to know more about finance and accounting, sales and marketing, corporate management ... if not yet, you will be, and that really pushes you out of your comfort zone.

You asked, "how to keep challenged" ... well, that depends on the individual mind and motivation, but generally, there are things of 'interest' that are not aligned with your career. For me, it is the creative process of mechanical design, including the wonderful process of 'making sawdust' (some call it woodworking). If your career doesn't 'scratch your itch', that doesn't mean you give up your career, but you just need to find another place to 'vent' your desires. Just because some don't associate with calculus as a 'hobby' doesn't mean it's not a hobby for you. For me, it might be the challenge of cooking (actually more a challenge for those who might have to eat it), or the challenge of solving a form or process problem for another department (I recently had a situation where our finance department was tasked with creating some document from the ERP data that the ERP system wouldn't do ... I had a ball creating the process and implementing for them ... ahhh, geekdom ).

One final CAUTION, however ... your employer pays you to do some particular task, and you should focus on that when you are in their employ. It doesn't (or shouldn't) mean you don't occasionally 'play' at work, because the nature of most play benefits the mind, AND often leads to improvements in what IS your career. Just do so with caution as not to make those who might be your adversary have opportunity to cause you trouble.

Kind regards ...

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH CALCULUS AS A HOBBY! I find it quite relaxing, working through a problem in a new calculus text I have acquired- puts the mind in a different frame, gives one a real break from the mental stresses on a project where one has hit a brick wall. The further away the problem is from the work-a-day world, the better!

MIT has open coursework that might be of interest...

GA and I gave it one.

My background and degrees were like the original poster in Chem Eng. While I am in complete agreement with most of the comments I've read, I am somewhat surprised that recent grads are put in positions such as the one he describes. When I started working back in 1964, it appeared to be more normal practice to have recent grads work with a "seasoned" engineer sort of as an apprentice for a year or two, generally learning the process(es) they were working with. Typically, the newbie would handle areas such as writing operating instructions for process equipment, cost engineering estimates to identify process costs and often process technical feasibility calculations. There was always an adequate supply of targeted useful technical work to provide brain stimulation and a sense of learning something new. The above track was typical even after I returned to University and received my doctorate. One never enters a job having the appropriate skill set to do it properly without at least some technical oversight.

Ultimately, learning never stops and science always has some new aspect, so even today (after being retired for 8 years) it is exciting to me to find a scientific topic and try to learn as much as I can about it. In fact, thats why CR4 is such a great resource to me. So many bright engineering/science types where ideas and such technical accuity.

...to me, sounds like you are in the wrong job with the wrong company.

Source where your employer gets those "outside consultants" from to do the work you like doing and apply for a job from the company that provides those consultants.

Hi CO, Maybe you are correct, however ... Maybe not the wrong company, but maybe in transition ... many companies grew with no real internal talent, so relied on outside resources. This may be his opportunity to be a part of their new process to do more internally. Kind regards ...

...maybe the case indeed. Felt I should offer my two bob's worth before and offer my opinion. If given no prospect for advancement into "hands-on" work wanted by the OP, it is best to change company sooner rather than later, before the gap between education and work experience relevant to interest widens.

Perhaps the OP may like to start up a hobby at home that creates weird and useful things that only engineers can create...and keep the day job. Jobs are hard to come by, good paying jobs are rare indeed.

Geologists study as geologists and work as geologists...guess engineering is different

Definitely correct ... if the wrong place, then move if possible ... of course, these days, it maybe good advice to bide one's time until the market is a little better :-) Kind regards ...

"Source where your employer gets those "outside consultants" from to do the work you like doing and apply for a job from the company that provides those consultants."

First you'll have to impress them that you are worth hiring. That means knowing enough about what they are doing to ask the right constructive questions (with appropriate attention to politics and diplomacy) without appearing to be a dunce or an obstructionist. You've got suggestions in the previous post on that aspect.

I know an pretty good engineer who works in a position similar to yours. He's got a few years on you and that helps a lot. He's worked the design side and that helps also. He gets or hears 2nd or 3rd hand equipment contractor comments about being the best engineer from his company they have ever worked with. He gets occasional job offer hints from these equipment engineering firms.

That's the path you ought to be on if that looks like a good career objective for you. AND IF YOU ARE WILLING TO WORK AT GAINING THE RIGHT MIX OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE. We're talking work here. It means going home at night and after the household necessities are taken care of sitting down at your desk or the computer and learning instead of opting for easy electronic entertainment.

This is a tough world we live in today and successful engineering careers are not being served up on silver platters anymore. You have to work on it on your own time and have every right to expect your employer to allow you the bandwidth to engage in efforts to further educate yourself however is the best way for you.

Ed Weldon

Following years of intense academic study the banality of the workplace is enough to drive the more sensitive individual into the depths of depression.

"Been there. Done it. Got the T-shirt."

Stay in there. Do the job well. Earn the respect of colleagues, suppliers and customers. From now on, most learning will be of the organic flavour.

Nothing wrong with wanting to keep the moving parts in order mathwise in your head.

At least you are doing some engineering as you serve your engineering apprenticeship.

Most project engineers don't engineer.

Most soldiers don't actually shoot a gun.

Support is crucial to success of a team and a project.

Your degree qualifies you to be trusted with the paper work that you are facilitating.

Keep your eyes open, and look for opportunities to improve using your 'book larnin'

We all had to serve our apprenticeships. At least yours isn't with a shovel!

milo

Your problem is very common. It's difficult to get into what could be called real engineering work.

You need to decide if this is important to you, if it is, then do whatever is necessary to change over. That may mean taking a pay cut, working huge hours, retraining, moving or selling your first born.

Engineers get typecast very quickly and HR are always conservative (if you haven't done it before, you can't do it now), so fight.

You may not have much money but you'll be able to feel good about yourself (and as for doing calculus and eng. problems out of hours, doesn't everyone do that?)

Dan:

Websites like this are a start. You may want to consider (in a few years) studying for your PE, or taking a night class to stay sharp. I would encourage you to take a class in public speaking or speech communication. One day, you'll be a manager and communication will be your most useful asset. (wait until you have kids...they will turn your brain to mush real quick!)

As a recent grad, I'm sure you are anxious to show the world what you know and put all those expensive text books to use. Most of the time, companies hire engineers not so much for their given academic specialty. You are paid to be a problem solver...period. Sometimes those problems aren't mass balance equations. It could be training operators, writing manuals, or being part of a cross functional team to choose paint color for the lobby. Every event is an opportunity to improve, not just as a engineer, but as a productive team member. In the end (whenever that is) that's how you will be remembered. Good luck with your career!

My Background :Project Manager, 17 years. Started as Project Engineer

I graduated in 1976 (Yes I am a genuine old fart). I keep several text books by my bed and rarely go to bed without spending 30 mins to an hour reading. Nerdy? Yes! Effective? Yes! The young guys bring me the problems they can't figure out. Of course at times I think I am the last analog trained EE left on planet Earth...

As your salary goes up and time goes by it will be harder and harder for you to eventually get a job doing real engineering. I'd leave that job at the first available good opportunity.

You're in good company, many seek education primarily.

I'm thinking you didn't have a drive-by classroom and you may yet retain the education.

What the OP is being apprehensive about is losing his knowledge as much as not using it. Sadly, most knowledge tends to become vague if not used on a regular basis.

Good suggestion by Guest to look regularly look at your textbooks to refresh any knowledge you wish to keep "fresh".

On the other hand, the majority of people do not do this, for whatever reason, and do find most of their book learnin' goes by the wayside in the real world of work. But the key is having done it at least sometime in your life. Math can be particularly knotty in trying to recall, because so much of one subject relies on knowing another on which it is founded (or relies on for it's suppositions). So even if you have to refresh several subjects to get the real "grasp" again, it will never be as hard as it was the first time.

Another observation by most students is, the more you learn the more you realize you don't know. At some point in life, you realize that you'll never know as much as you would like and you cross over a threshold where the "drive" to try to stay abreast of all things technical is replaced by the understanding that it is impossible. Learn what you can but try not to fret too much over what you don't have time for. It will help you enjoy the ride of life better.