If you want to be an engineer, there is no ‘real’ way around it. You’ll find yourself at college. It stinks, it sucks, but its a necessary ‘check’ on your resume. If you want a PE, a BS is minimal ALONG with experience - and a MS is preferred. Just understand the you don’t have to spend a shit ton of money on a high end school, you can get an associated on the side and then work that up to a bs to keep cost low and to work the whole time, but you’re only kidding yourself. Not only that, you’re financially setting yourself back - as an engineer you will NEVER catch-up to what the engineer with a degree you would make.
Without a degree, the best you can hope for is a technician - and even in that - some schooling will be requested/required.
Don’t let folks with non-science degrees fool you - college is a GOOD thing for engineers.
No you’re probably right, was overwhelmed by the civil opportunities when I first started looking. Specialize in mechanical atm, with some electrical/electronic in there too. Had a brush with design engineering when working with Boeing on a project a few years back and really enjoyed it, but I know I’d have to go back to college before selling myself as a design engineer.
If you want to be what we think of as an engineer, you’ll need college. Start as cheap as possible and try to work while going.
Now that aside, there are a LOT of cool jobs you can do without a degree. A lot of the problems people have during and immediately following high school is they weren’t shown any options. Stuff like vocational training during high school, IMHO, should become mandatory for all public schools.
It shows people you have options. Right now it sounds like you’re not sure (you’re 18, duh) and you need some experience to figure it out.
My humble advice is to do basic stuff at a community college while working. Read a lot and try to get jobs doing stuff that seem like fun. Experience is the only way to figure it out.
edit:
OMG I just saw a commercial from England and their “life skills” program. The guy was talking about wearing the appropriate dress for an interview, it says a lot about you. He takes off a sweater, implying he should have; also says don’t wear a tie to a job interview for a life guard.
The guy was wearing a sweater with a penguin on it, or so most people would say. It was a LINUX penguin!! <3
You sure you have to do that? I’m really skeptical you have to do that. Just learn geometrical tolerancing (from that book I referenced) and 3D modeling. Dawg, just show you have technical know-how. You seriously want to go into debt? Just stick it out at your current job, then once you find something close, just get that.
I myself am trying to pick SolidWorks and/or Pro-E. Anybody know where I can get a bootleg copy? I don’t think Comcast allows torrenting. msh
Just experience(I’m too poor right now to buy stuff like that aaaaaa), I read up on the basic principles/keep up with the trends well enough. It’s not a very simple investment; you run the risk of not getting one that meets your needs if you don’t spend enough, and as you mentioned, you can also easily overdo it. The printer you SHOULD get is very dependent on how often you’re gonna use it, how high you want the limit to be on the size on the things you print, what kind of material/toner you’re gonna feed it with, and if you want to be capable of making very small stuff too.
And special thanks(lol) to @pedoviejo for some of the stuff I’ve asked you about. Things haven’t gone quite as planned(for me) since our last PM exchange but there’s no longer anything else to discuss and frankly none of my troubles can reduce the exceptional joys I find as life flips by like the pages on a book. =]
You can be a licensed professional engineer in NY without going to college. You need 6 years of qualified experience to apply for the FE exam (college-level math), then 6 years of more qualified experience under other engineers, apply with references and experience description, get accepted, then sit for the PE exam (more practical, still math based). The road is a LOT longer without college than with, but not impossible.
manbehindthewires - have you looked into HVAC engineering jobs?
HVAC is good money in the UK, but still requires a lot of travel from what I can tell, friend of mine runs an A/C fitters company and does more miles than me haha
I’ve only just started looking outside of aircraft, even looking into becoming an engineering lecturer…
A lot of pipe manufacturers and machinery maintenance firms up here looking for intermediate/senior engineers. Anyone here got any insight?
I love my job, don’t get me wrong, it’s purely the travel thats pushing me away. When I signed up for college I was told I could work anywhere in the world with aerospace.
Fact is, you can work anywhere with a major international airport and an approved maintenance facility that happens to have your aircraft/engine combination, which, per aircraft, is only a handful of places.
If you don’t want to travel, you’d have to get into design. You can do design from anywhere, but that also means you’ll be expected to work from anywhere (no excuses).
You don’t necessarily have to go back to school…if companies really need the manpower, they will take a less qualified individual and mentor them into what they need. If they are not willing to do that, they are not that interested in your career growth and that should be a yellow flag for you.
I would suppose moving closer to work is not a choice you would consider, or is not possible? It feels as though changing jobs would be detrimental to your career.
I’ve hit the peak of my career in aircraft engineering, without taking a management grade - something I’m not interested in. When I first joined the industry I moved to my jobs, but wanting to be closer to friends and family now. No point earning money when there’s nobody around to spend it on!
Provided I certify aircraft 6 months out of every 2 years, the licence will remain valid. Or, I can renew it by working as a mechanic for 6 months and reapplying if I’m ever absent for 18 months. Not sure if I’ll persevere with that yet, but it’s always an option.
I moved to Pennsylvania for a short stint and good grief I missed Texas. I missed the Chinese people, Vietnamese people, my Korean waifus (women da bes) people, all of my Mexican homeboys, the food, the family, the friends, and etc… Ideally, you want a job in the right area, doing the right stuff. That’s honestly extremely rare. I got super lucky with my current job. It hits all the bases reasonably. I got friends that make more than six figures, sure; but man I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. Screw that.
What I would do (not that it’s advice rather, it’s what I see myself doing in your shoes) is just look at the local companies and just try my luck. You never know. My friend when we were graduating went to design valves. It couldn’t sounded more boring and I went on to work on “exciting” stuff. That could not have been more false. Things are never what they seem to be. Maybe you’ll pick up a stint for HVAC and get so good at it you’ll start your own company.
Haha nope! It’s a very old tool which has since been superseded by a fancier tool, and even a fancier method. Not a measuring device of any sort - this type was affectionately known as a “twizzler/twizzle stick” back in the day, if that helps
