Getting Started

Well, some might say that the coursework is easy-it's the imagination and determination that are difficult. That is not true. The coursework can be very challenging in its own right.

You do need to decide, at least at this time, your area of work once you finish university. Bear in mind that plenty of CADD drafters are out there, and those jobs tend to not pay well unless one has unique skills or works in a leadership mode.

So, I suggest that you enroll in the university, complete at least your freshman year, and then look for a co-op or internship-whatever is available. I would not try to seek this until you have completed at least your freshman year. Employers need to view you as a serious individual.

You do need to care about what you do as you work towards your degree. You can certainly learn some bad habits or obtain poor training from the internal operations of some businesses, as they may not be required to conform to practiced engineering standards and hence, "do their own thing."

Meanwhile, I can suggest good reading, study, and working materials to get you started. You will need to complete mathematical training to the level of Calculus, and this corresponds with other studies in Algebra, Analytic Geometry, and Trigonometry. Eventually you will be required to take Physics of course, as well as some Chemistry.

So, go online and purchase as many Schaum's Outline manuals as you see fit. Most of these are available used for just a few bucks each, and are very easy to undertand. It is a low-cost investment for materials that can be used for a lifetime.

To some degree I know the feeling, as I am completing a BSME after a quarter-century of working as a non-degreed mechanical engineer. So, I can offer the advice of things that helped me recover some of the training that I lost or missed.

Good Luck!

Ing. Robert Forbus

Awesome advice. The only problems I see rightnow are my math skills. I seem to have hit a wall at Algebra, don't know why either. Maybe my like of determination when I was goin' through culinary school just to get the degree done. I did however start off with mech. eng. but I think being young and immature I lacked where goals in life were. My only other guestion to those out there are that I want to eventually start my own business. Forbus you brought up a good point about bad habits. And being in the restaurant industry I see A LOT of those, being an ethical man I do not want nor will tolerate that for my hopeful future career/ business. My other dilemma is that I flip around with certain interest. I can be into automotive performance one day, and obsessed with upgrading my paintball gun the next. Although my passion is for how things work and making them better and more efficient, along with the basic of taking an idea, putting it on paper, and creating it.

How have some of you decided what it is that you really wanted to do in the mech. eng. field? Or what certain products that you really believe in and what to make better?

Michael, check out the Schaum's Outline series, and you will find some good books for Algebra. I will also suggest a software programme that I have used, and it works very well. It is called "Algebrator" and can be found at http://www.softmath.com/ I use it for graphing more than anything else, as it is cheaper than the Minitab software. It will show you the steps used to solve problems, and that is really the important thing. Algebra is just lots and lots of rules to remember-that is what make it tough.

Perhaps there is a local math teacher who would not mind making some side money now that summer is here? Check that out as well, and see if any math teachers, even high school math teachers, offer a tutoring service in your area.

Best Regards,

Ing. Robert Forbus

It's often difficult for people starting later in life to change direction. H.R. use the maxim "Past performance is the best indicator of future performance".

Lots of people talk about studying/moving/changing but most don't. So you have to show prospective employers that you're different and will do whatever it takes to succeed.

I'd suggest you go to school first (night school if available) for at least a year (to show you're serious), get excellent marks and take any related job that comes along. Once you've got a track record it'll be a lot easier to move to a better job.

Best of luck.

You do not say how old you are but if you are going to be 40+ when you graduate, you may have a hard time getting a job. Engineering firms have a tendency to discriminate when it comes to age.

Perhaps, but much of that is salary driven; we 'old folks' know what we're worth. Ask yourself: "how old would i be if i hadn't gone to school".

Re: Focus on project. Deadlines have a way of helping here. Working full-time on a project allows you to see progress, where, if this were an 'amusement' it would appear as if nothing were happening. Employment in the field offers the luxury of support (sometimes, anyway) of your firm.

Re: Math skills. Start now; even now, start w/ simple things, like manually balancing checkbook (or card bill). The brain develops ways of thinking; maths need to be nurtured.

Best Wishes!

Lol, I'm 24 now. As with school I was just goin' to start with a couple classes so I don't beat myself up with a full load.

I returned to school to receive my degree in Mechanical Engineering and man I can tell you it was harder than I expected it to be, I really had to study. During high school I could get by with a summary look over the text book for tests and could memorize a list with hardly any effort but something has changed since then. I received my first diploma in computer engineering from a local technical college and thought I was doing well but the work wasn't all that thrilling for me, I wanted to design things. I also loved drafting and after picking up a bit of AutoCAD LT 2000 on my own and having produced a few drawings for my employer for contract as-builts, drafting was added as part of my contract so I did pretty well at it.

I graduated from our local university two years ago with a Mech Eng degree and have a pretty good paying job pretty much right out of university. While at university the road was tough and some Christmas's were lean, (ie. one year the tree was a blank sheet of newspaper roll with a tree drawn on it that the kids and I coloured) but we stuck together and got through. In our family, we all agree that it was worth the effort but while going through it with a family, yeah, it was a bit tough. But it depends on where you are at, how much money you have saved, if you really, really want this and have the support of family and friends, it is okay (the support part is important).

Math, very important and I use it all the time. I sometimes use calculus and often use algebra and geometry. I find that my mental calculation skills are not the best so I have a TI-89 as a crutch. Yeah, it would be nice to be able to do mental math gymnastics but that's not where I'm at and even though I have to make sure the batteries are always good in my calculator, I find that it works for me. As one person already said, there are a lot of rules to remember when it comes to math. I find that if I even just remember where to find the rules, it is enough because I just look it up in my old text books which I still use.

For me, it was worth it, I love engineering and I always have. I love designing things and I use SolidWorks 3D CAD now instead of AutoCAD and I like drafting more than ever. I have found during job hunting that my prospective employers were not so much concerned with my age as they were with my willingness to do the job. I think, too, that having more life experience and ability to interface with other people is a big part of any engineering job and having those things right out of university are also a big plus that employers may see as a benefit.

I hope any of this rambling has been insightful and I hope you dig around enough to make a decision that is good for you. What I've said is my own experience and yours will be different but the gist is the same, I think, about going back to school after being out in the "field" for a few years. Good luck.

24 is very young. You can do anything you want. Engineering is determination. You have to want to be working in this field and love it to have a lengthy, rewarding career. Grades show more discipline than intelligence, usually. You don't have to be that smart. I suspect this is true of any technical field.

24 is not old for starting a new degree- I was 30 when I went back to university for my ME degree. One aspect of engineering that is very important is understanding the processes necessary for manufacturing the things you design. Some experience in a machine shop (if you can find one that does other than CNC) can provide a significant store of knowledge that will serve you in good stead as you pursue your studies...

This all has been the best friggin' advise I've ever recieved. I think I did say this before, but when I was a couple years younger, my mind wasn't there with the amount of determination and responsibility the field required. So I thank you all for the responses.