Kind of broad question: What do engineers do?

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Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
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I've been told by a few people that I might be good at engineering. My dad, whose opinion is likely to be biased, as in his eyes, his kids are simply excellent at everything they do, was amazed by my Scanner PC, and that I actually got it to work.

But not just that - I'm generally good at fixing mechanical or electrical things that I know very little about; I've also dabbled in electronic circuit design. I'm getting just a wee bit sick of working at Walmart (just a little bit), and I'm looking at escape routes. Going to college for engineering might be nice, but thing is, I don't really know what kinds of engineers do what. I know there's electrical, electronic, mechanical......all kinds. How do I go about finding out more information? I really don't even know where to start to look for this. So, I did what any intelligent person would do, and I sought out the best possible place to ask a question. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it, so I'll just have to ask here. :)
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
Welcome to the other side. You will never have sex.
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I reached that conclusion a long time ago, so you'll have to try harder to shock me. :p

Engineer is kind of a broad term.
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Exactly - I really don't have much of a starting point for knowing what to look for.
It's blind exploration - there's a goal I seek. I don't know what it is, and I don't know how to find it, so I don't know where to start.


Odd; when I posted the message, I got some OutofMemory error from the Anandtech server, but it posted the message anyway.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: cyclistca
Use paragraphs.
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Actually, I did. Damn formatting isn't the same from the text box to the post.

And geez, it's not like it's a very big section of text. Get a longer attention span people!
 
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oneshot47

Senior member
Aug 6, 2004
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Go to your local university and talk with an advisor in the engineering department, or check out their website for curriculum descriptions, etc. Generally its going to be a lot of math and specialized engineering courses based on your particular field.
 
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scorp00

Senior member
Mar 21, 2001
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At my school all engineer's had to take a class called ENGR 101. Which a representative from every dept in engineering came and gave a presentation about the particular discipline. You might see if a school near you has such a course.
 
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Ranger X

Lifer
Mar 18, 2000
11,218
1
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Don't do it. Most likely, you won't have a social life and you will live a depressing life. You could be asked to work overtime, weekends, and it won't be pleasant when you're surrounded by piles and piles of sausages. Many engineers have the stink of desperation around them and when they'll fsck just about anything with a hole. :laugh:
 
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TechnoKid

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2001
5,575
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Engineering is generally a lot of math and theory and design. Mechanical engineers take a full course of calculus, from calc ab/bc to multivariable and vector calculus. You take probably at least 3 or four semesters of physics. Engineers basically design things.

Engineering technichians are the ones who do a lot of the hands-on work, in other words, they build the engineer's design. Technichians don't do nearly as much math and science as an engineer does (it basically stops at Calculus BC and Mechanical Physics), and a tech doesn't have to take a really long and expensive test to get an engineering license.

But, it also depends on what type of engineer you want to be, civil (about the easiest), mechanical, electrical, chemical (about the hardest imo, but chemists make a lot of money), bio-engineer....
 
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CanOWorms

Lifer
Jul 3, 2001
12,404
2
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Well, lots of people like assembling computers or computers in general, or like the idea of working in engineering, but they end up HATING engineering.

Getting a degree in engineering requires a lot of math courses. However, whether or not you use that math is dependent upon what field you enter.

Electrical engineering is very broad. You have EEs that work with signals & communications, systems & controls, materials (physics), emag/photonics, etc. I think people don't realize that EE encompasses those. You also have your more 'familiar' EE disciplines such as chip design, etc.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: Ranger X
Don't do it. Most likely, you won't have a social life and you will live a depressing life. You could be asked to work overtime, weekends, and it won't be pleasant when you're surrounded by piles and piles of sausages. Many engineers have the stink of desperation around them and when they'll fsck just about anything with a hole. :laugh:
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That has been addressed already. And I'm used to it. So *nyah*. :p

Mechanical engineers take a full course of calculus, from calc ab/bc to multivariable and vector calculus.
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That's what I was afraid of. I had calculus in high school. I was a B+ to A+ student all along. I got a C in Calculus, and failed the final (67%). That, and Prob & Stat were the two most screwed up maths I'd ever seen. From Calculus, I remember that Sigma was used a lot. Prob & Stat used Chi and Chi-squared. That's about all I remember from those classes. I might eventually be able to learn it, I hope. But it seriously never made an microgram of sense to me. I learned enough patterns in the numbers to know sometimes what the answer should be close to, but I never really "got it".
Physics though - that I always loved. Physics I and II in high school though never seemed to use Calculus; they stopped at Trigonometry.

Well, lots of people like assembling computers or computers in general, or like the idea of working in engineering, but they end up HATING engineering.
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I had pondered the idea of doing PC servicing, and it seems more trouble than it's worth. I did a little of it for a few people already, but that's it. They know as much about computers as I know about cars (give it gas, change the oil sometimes, and it should work). So I try to keep PC's as a hobby for the most part, otherwise I fear I may start to hate them.


I'm wondering if I should look for a job counselor, if they're even useful. My dad tried a few back when he was around my age, and they reviewed his schooling and whatever else it was they look at, and told him that he could do whatever he wanted. Which of course didn't help him find direction. History may be repeating itself.
 
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Dedpuhl

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
10,370
0
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Originally posted by: TechnoKid
But, it also depends on what type of engineer you want to be, civil (about the easiest), mechanical, electrical, chemical (about the hardest imo, but chemists make a lot of money), bio-engineer....
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It pisses me off when people call CE the "easiest" of the major disciplines. I knew some dumbasses that easily graduated in ChE and I knew very gifted students that had a hard time getting through CE. It depends on what path you take.

CE is very broad. It covers Environmental issues, Geotechnical Design (a.k.a. dirtwork), Materials Modeling, Transportation, Structural Design, Surveying and Water Resources. Some areas are easier than others.

I'm sure I could find an "easy" path through any of the main discipline groups.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: tweakmm
They engineer things.
A broad answer to a broad question.
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Well I do hope to narrow things down a bit in time. :)

Heading to bed for now; I'll sift through the stockpile of responses tomorrow morning after another night at the insane asylum of Wallyworld.
 
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TechnoKid

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2001
5,575
0
0
Originally posted by: Jeff7

Mechanical engineers take a full course of calculus, from calc ab/bc to multivariable and vector calculus.
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That's what I was afraid of. I had calculus in high school. I was a B+ to A+ student all along. I got a C in Calculus, and failed the final (67%). That, and Prob & Stat were the two most screwed up maths I'd ever seen. From Calculus, I remember that Sigma was used a lot. Prob & Stat used Chi and Chi-squared. That's about all I remember from those classes. I might eventually be able to learn it, I hope. But it seriously never made an microgram of sense to me. I learned enough patterns in the numbers to know sometimes what the answer should be close to, but I never really "got it".
Physics though - that I always loved. Physics I and II in high school though never seemed to use Calculus; they stopped at Trigonometry.
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Heh...in college level physics, it is nothing but calculus based physics. Completely different than what you experienced in HS, though there will be familiarities..
 
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