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Originally Posted by rocketman1988
Yes, I think, based on my experience, the ME degree is desirable to a larger market of businesses...
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I've heard this as well, from guys much closer to my age. And it's not just engineering--my wife was turned down for a job that she had previous experience in, in favor of a fresh college grad, because her degree wasn't the specific one they were looking for. So I'm not sure how much is really the degree, and how much is HR just not understanding what they're looking at.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketman1988
He said that I might make it there after about 30 years with the company...and they wonder why the GA designs haven't changed in 50+ years...
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I plant that one at the feet of the FAA and market forces. The way the rules around certification and cert basis are written really disincentivizes lots of new designs and encourages maximum use and production of existing designs as long as possible. Couple that with low sales volume (read: high per-unit R&D cost) and you don't see much change in the GA field.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketman1988
Summary of another experience with a structures group at a big company that's starts with a B. They said, "Every engineer knows his nut or bolt", meaning that is about all you get to see of a project. Kind of like the guy designing the shelf...
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To be fair, someone has to do that job; plus, many people lack the desire to do the overall conceptual work and many (most?) lack the skill to do so well. I know I'm not a good designer, but it took me several years designing test facilities (which was more of a big-picture cross-discipline job) and struggling with my own design tasks (workshop, electrical system, panel layout) to realize that. I'm much more suited to my current position, where I do troubleshooting, investigation, and operational stuff. It's more along the lines of what Paul refers to, and I love it for the same get-to-do-a-little-of-everything reasons.
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Originally Posted by plehrke
We (big company that starts with a letter early in the alphabet) now specifically put young engineers directly into adv design since they have great ideas not been tainted by 30 years of Working the details.
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My first job, fresh out of college, was doing the test facility design I mentioned above. For all practical purposes, I was the senior "mechanical" engineer, doing stuff we'd never really done before at this company. I can't tell you how many mistakes I made and bad habits I picked up that I wouldn't have had I spent a bit of time "paying my dues" in another department, or had a mentor/graybeard around to show me the error of my ways. Of course, that position also afforded me the chance to get my hands a little dirty and do/learn things most engineers never have a chance to, so perhaps that colors my view that engineers should spend at least a few months on the shop floor and a year or two in production/service support before they ever sit down at a CAD station. Of course, I'm probably also still a little salty from dealing with a former coworker who followed my path into lab development, but seemed to think he was God's gift to engineering and refused to listen to or learn from anyone who didn't sign his timecard.
In the end, engineering seems to be one big exercise in learning how much you don't know. As a friend and colleague put it, you get done with your first year of college and think "man, I know stuff!" and look for a co-op or internship. Then you work there, and find out that you didn't know as much as you thought.
Then you graduate, and think "
now I know stuff, and I can do things!" And you start your first job, and (hopefully!) find out how little you know, and how much you don't know how to do.
Then you work a few years, and start thinking "ok, finally,
now I know stuff, and I
know I can do things!". And you move up, or change jobs... and find out how much less you know and how much less you can do.
Then you work a few more years...