Most hands on engineering?

Ranger X

Lifer
Mar 18, 2000
11,218
1
0
What do you mean by hands-on? EE, ME/AE, and ChemE all have lab work and I would consider them hands-on. EE programs differ by school but you do get hands on experience with the labs.
 

TechnoKid

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2001
5,575
0
0
If you want hands on, then be an engineering technichian or technologist. Engineers design more so than hands on stuff.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,402
8,574
126
arch E? go out to the build site and oversee the contractor building your design, making sure it is true to the original? hard to get more hands on than that, methinks
 

illustri

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2001
1,490
0
0
as much as i hate to tell you in most undergrad engineering courses, "hands on" involve pen/paper/keyboard/screen

what you do of course is join engineering clubs or groups, projects extra-curricular, i have friends in sae desiging and building a racecar... for racing! yea dont expect to do more than study theory and application on paper as undergrad unless you intern at a lab

grad oppurtunities are of course always the sheezy
 

ed21x

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2001
5,411
8
81
Biomedical Engineering does a ton of research in labs. The suff that I research on involves nanotechnology, neurobiology, genetics, and optics.
 

illustri

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2001
1,490
0
0
hey ed21x i'm a BE at ucsd
last undergrad year and short of OUTSIDE research projects not one class has given me any lab experience
 

jmcoreymv

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,264
0
0
Im in an undergrad EE program, and pretty much every single EE course I have to take has a lab attached to it. Thats pretty hands on.
 

illustri

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2001
1,490
0
0
i guess im reaching here by assuming you meant by hands on to be INTERESTING work -
all coursework will teach you is technique and theory without a trace of sould

having said that, interning at a lab has been much more intellectually fulfilling than any major track
 

CanOWorms

Lifer
Jul 3, 2001
12,404
2
0
Originally posted by: fyleow
Originally posted by: jmcoreymv
Im in an undergrad EE program, and pretty much every single EE course I have to take has a lab attached to it. Thats pretty hands on.

Awesome! I guess it depends on the school's programs as well.

What about jobs? I remember watching something on TV that showed chemical engineers at clorox and jelibeli and most of their work was hands on. I don't think I can sit behind a desk and stare at a computer 9 hours a day (actually I do it now but I can't imagine working :p).

What kind of hands on things do EE actually have? I thought it would mostly be designing circuits, chips etc. Today most hardware are software emulated during their testing and developmental phase (like Nvidia graphic chips are emulated with large clusters).

EEs do more than just design circuits. That's a very limited scope of EE. EEs can do image processing/computer vision, signals, control systems, optics, materials, etc. If you go into the materials side, you would rarely do any sort of chip design.
 
Nov 5, 2001
18,366
3
0
Originally posted by: ElFenix
arch E? go out to the build site and oversee the contractor building your design, making sure it is true to the original? hard to get more hands on than that, methinks

Construction Engineer/Construction Science....be a project estimator, manager, or superintendent.
 

TheBDB

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2002
3,176
0
0
Having just graduated from UT Austin with a chemical engineering degree let me say in my 4 years I had to take 9 labs. They were basic chem lab, analytical chem, physical chem, 2 organic labs, 2 physics labs, chemE fundamentals lab, and a process and projects (senior) lab. I don't know what my fellow engineers did but that is pretty hands on.
 

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
1
0
I'll probably go Elec Engineering, but Mech E seems more hands on.

That said, I plan to have a metal shop in my garage as soon as I own a house big enough and can afford the equipment. I'm the only guy I know who will drive a 1000.00USD car and have several hundred thousand dollers in machinery in my garage. Heh, maybe I'm just young and stupid, but If I had to set up my life in 15 years right now, thats how I would do it.

With a shop of that caliber, I could probably make my junker car not so junker.
 

SaturnX

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
3,415
0
76
I'm doing Comp Eng right, and just like the notion that CompE is programming all day, that's just a limited scope, I mean if you're thinking that all they do is programming then you've got Comp Sci and Comp Eng mixed up.

Alot of Comp Eng work also deals with designing circuitry, microprocessors etc... but like it's been mentioned it's a lot of design work rather than hands on work. If you're looking for something extremely hands on, but I've got to say Engineering isn't your best choice. A lot of engineering is theoretical work, which you then apply in designs. I mean sure ther are hands-on aspects, but I don't think you'll find as much as your looking for (by the way you make it sound).

Again it also depends on the institution, up here at Waterloo, Elec and Comp engineering are identical with only a 4 core course difference, but other than that are identical.

--Mark
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,613
11,256
136
I am a Mechanical Eng. Senior. I have two hands on labs right now. One I a building a "rover" to go around and pick up rocks in a competition, pretty cool, get to do a lot of metal fabing. The other is a measurements lab, pretty fun, get to build different kinds of sensors, etc. This week we decoded a tv remote :) and designed a warning system for a steam generator. Next semester I will have 4 hands on labs.
 

SuperTool

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
14,000
2
0
Originally posted by: fyleow
Which engineering has the most hands on experience? Here are my impressions, let me know if I'm right or wrong.

Comp Sci: Mostly programming in the lab, not really hands on
EE: Mostly work on the computer? It should be like circuit building etc and not really hands on. Although technically EE should involve soldering I don't think you really do much of it.
ME/AE: More things on paper?
Chem E: Lots of labs? Fun?

Mechanical engineering.
 

spanner

Senior member
Jun 11, 2001
464
0
0
It really depends on the University in General. Here at VT, ME's must take a senior design project which is all hands on (heard of the Darpa grand challenge?). Engineering involves a lot of paper and computer work in general, don't expect to find one that doesn't. Chem E is by far the hardest engineering. AE is a lot of math, not much hands on unless the uni has some crazy facilities. With EE it depends on the path you take. Really, if you wan't to be hands on, you need to volunteer on design projects and teams who in general take people from any major.
 

ajpa123

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2003
2,401
1
0
bra-proper-fitment-engineering.. or brangeneering for short.
It's where you adjust bras and what's inside em on hot chicks all day in your quest to make the perfect bra :D
 

db

Lifer
Dec 6, 1999
10,575
292
126

My advice is to find which field you have a *natural talent* for, then develop knowledge and skill in that same field in order to build your talent into a strength.

Learn from the old guy whom everyone respects, and avoid braggards. Anybody who is really good doesn't have to brag--their designs speak for themselves.