Liam
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| posted on 12/8/10 at 06:30 PM |
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I've got a degree in Elecrical Engineering but now work essentially as a Mechanical at a fluid engineering research/consultancy/testing outfit.
I do anything from designing/speccing/building/operating hydraulic (normally) test rigs, usually for aerospace component qualification testing but we
have clients is all sorts of sectors - oil/gas, nuclear etc. Normally slightly novel/bespoke tests that a normal test house can't manage. I get
involved in product design projects, normally proof-of-concept/prototype stage which is always interesting. I also help out in the insrumentation/data
acquisition side of things thanks to my electrical background. Our work can be for individual companies, government bodies, EU/international
consortiums. I get to do everything from initial client meetings, office based work including CAD, lots of Labview for instrumentation, to getting
hands on in the lab building/operating/even machining ect. Couldn't think of a more varied job.
You say you're thinking of getting another degree - so what's your first one? I've found it's not necessarily your specific
degree, but the skills and experience that is more important. I got my job as a mechanical engineer even with an electrical degree (the locost sure
helped  ), and our place has mechanicals, chemicals, civils, physicists, mathematicians, chemists. You say you're good at the sort of things
you want to get into, so you may find you're successful with your existing degree and skills. Or if you really need more specific knowledge but
already have an eng degree, maybe consider a taught MSc in advanced engineering, for example. Otherwise you may find first year stuff too
easy/general/a waste of time.
Hope that helps and good luck
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beagley
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| posted on 12/8/10 at 07:08 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Liam
You say you're thinking of getting another degree - so what's your first one?
My current degree is in Information Technology and I am a software developer for a major food company. I work on many different aspects of our
facility from inventory management, to signature capture documentation, to database administration, etc... Funny thing is my senior year of college I
really didn't want to do that as a career, and yet here I am.
From when I was a kid to even more recently I've taken some aptitude tests and in the areas of math, problem solving, and spatial reasoning I
have scored in the 99th percentile and above. Those categories would be beneficial if not necessary for an engineer to have I would think.
The allure of being given a set of parameters and trying to figure out how to design/build something to accomplish a task while meeting those
requirements sounds like fun to me (nerd alert!).
Thanks for the replies all!
Beags
I'm not scared!!! I'm just marking my territory.
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mcerd1
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| posted on 13/8/10 at 07:44 AM |
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^^ the maths will really help you
I've never been any good at it and it makes the acidemic side of the engineering hard work for me 
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