College not preparing meFollow

Was there no sort of internship program through your school? Did you not look for one on your own time? Did you do any research into the field and what is currently looked for?

While your school may have not done much to prepare you, it seems as if you didn't do much to prepare yourself either.

Edited, Apr 16th 2011 11:23am by Spoonless

Download AutoCAD from students.autodesk.com and fiddle with it?

It's what I'm likely going to have to do with 3DSMax after I graduate, and while I'm not entirely looking forward to it, having an expanded toolkit of techniques to complete a project is generally an appreciated quality that employees look for.

I had a local internship for 3 summers in row. It was more on the industrial engineering side though.



Except I never said that. I did admit that yes it is also my fault for not preparing myself better. It might just be the college I attended. But during an interview the department head did with seniors a lot of seniors expressed disappointment in the lack of diversity in programs. If you didn't want to go into an automotive field, you were pretty much s.o.l. A lot of other seniors expressed disappointment in the lack of exposure to the software. So perhaps maybe it was just my school.



I am currently doing this. I downloaded a student version of AutoCAD 2011 and is currently working though, AutoCAD 2011 No Experience Required, by Donnie Gladfelter. It's not the best book, since it's focus is more towards Architects but it has definitely taught me a lot of techniques used, as well as using the 3D modeling at the end of the book.

Edited, Apr 16th 2011 11:29am by Hyolith

Then you should have picked a different college. Again, you didn't take the time to prepare yourself and just let some institution do all the hard work for you and then you ***** and moan about the curriculum after the fact.

That's whiny ***** in my opinion.

I did, I ultimately want(ed) to become a roller coaster designer. I've done research on how to get into that field. It's a very hard field to get into and there is a huge lack of companies in America. I picked the school I did because, well one, they were in state, and two they have a very good engineering program. I wanted to get an intership at S&S Power, but after contacting them they told me that they only offer interships to students from their local school.

I picked the internship I did for convenience and it paid, and well too. Don't get me wrong, it was good experience working in an engineering environment and working with employees and customers. It definitely helped my verbal skills.

Edited, Apr 16th 2011 12:38pm by Hyolith

Internships aren't even supposed to pay well. The best internship I've done didn't pay at all, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.


That being said, I've seen a pattern amongst my friends at good universities: You end up taking extra modules that are relevant to you whenever you can. Not for credits, getting extra credits doesn't work like that (at least it doesn't around here). It's just for gaining knowledge that is relevant. All the courses I've done last year and this that are completely outside my curriculum still improve my employability in the long run, for qualified work. They're a pain for retail jobs because most employers around here would have to give me a bonus (as per their own policies) and don't really want to.

I think the only course I've done that will turn out completely useless is the ICT one I did last year, because I'm currently doing a computer science course that covers everything I did in that and much more, and will do computer science as my second honours subject/major at uni. Meh. I didn't really anticipate that, and it's still a qualification that proves I know some stuff.



One thing, though: In Europe, it's perfectly possible and affordable to do internships for free sometimes. I know that it isn't in the States and acknowledge that. But the system still seems to work, generally.




And if you want a career, staying in state should be really low on your priority list. Hell, I've looked at universities worldwide, I've nearly applied to one in Pakistan (but then was blackmailed into dropping that option), I will try to do my fourth year in the US if I can get my hands on a scholarship that's high enough, and I'm going to Scotland because that's where the joint honours degrees and best theoretical computer scientists are. I have actually come to realise that it's a cool place after I made the decision to study there for career reasons, and my projections say that I can probably come out with more money than I spent at the end, too (no tuition fees and generous grants as well as a cap on loans help).

I tried to go back for a forth summer but it was when the recession hit and they were cutting back pretty hard so they did not hire interns for that summer. As for getting a full time position there, I probably could have and I'm sure they would have taken me. But I moved out of state after graduation.



I've definitely taken classes outside my curriculum. I've actually taken 2-3 business/accounting courses which are well, relevant and irrelevant. I guess in the end they would probably be more for personal investment/finance, they also provide useful knowledge for cost savings. Among other courses that definitely provide some extra knowledge outside of mechanical engineering.

Of course college didn't prepare you! College is a place of learning but it is never a place to know exactly what the real world is doing. That's really up to you. Any smart student would have been aware of the market they were moving into. If not they are fools. I went to college to learn Printing/graphic arts. After the first
year I realized that I knew more than most of my instructors. Being employed in a print shop after school and during the summers had taught me more than the college would. I changed majors to Business the next semester and graduated with a BA in business and a minor in Graphics.

Either bite the bullet and learn what you need to have for your job or take a different job and take classes at night to get your skills you need.

I went to college and got a BS in Electrical Engineering. I worked two years during the summer as a machine operator for an auto factory, then my third year I interned in the electrical department building control panels. Apparently they were really interested in getting another programmer, and the head electrician said I should have looked at getting into the department sooner, rather than waiting til my last year. I told him I felt I didn't have enough experience, and he said it didn't matter. Now I've been working there for five years as an electrical engineer. Everything I learned about programming I learned working here. I took two courses in PLC programming, and did some pretty basic programs, the classic traffic light simulation, etc.

Fresh out of college, I don't think any reasonable employer expects you to be fluent in the subjects and tools used. The degree gives you a basis to grow on, the experience gives you the real know-how.

Obviously since the economy is still recovering employers may not be as willing to start from scratch on a new engineer. But, then again, fresh out of college engineers are cheap (relatively speaking). Just show them a willingness and ability to learn, and you may look more attractive than the ME with 3-5 years experience that is going to be looking for 150-200% your starting salary.

Every company uses the software slightly different. Even a person knowledgeable in the software used will have some time getting used to the way things are done in their new job. The way my boss programmed machines, and the basic way I was taught, were very different. But now I do it better than he does. In my opinion at least. I've worked on a few of his programs and find them to be very wasteful. Mine are more efficient, easier to follow. But he was self taught, I took my basic knowledge and understanding of the programs and adapted his methods to make them better.

I guess maybe I was unclear with what I was trying to say. They definitely provided me with the knowledge, it's mainly just, not even necessarily real world experience but experience with a program pretty much most companies/people use in the real world.

My spring semester freshman year I took a class called "Engineering Graphics" It was all about hand drafting, front, top, side, isometric views of 3D objects, and then later the course moved on to the 3D modeling software Pro/E. After this class, no class, even optional ones really touched 3D modeling. There was a course on FEA, which used the software, but not for developing parts but just doing FEA.



I had an interview with a small local company and he told me they tend to hire people with less experience in some programs because it allows them to mold the person to how they do things, in his works, "not having to deal with their bad habits." I understand about the economy but there still seems like there are a bunch of opportunities out there. I just feel like I'm lacking in one huge key area where I would be more appealing to employers.

I've taken plenty of steps to prepare for interviews/job searching. I'm using all the tools provided by schools, libraries, friends, parents. I even had mock interviews with an engineer from my moms work to help with my interview skills. I've had my resume revamped by a professional who runs seminars. I've been to career fairs and talked to recruiters. I'm not big on social media, but I do use some, like LinkedIn.

No I did not. They didn't offer really much of a variety of clubs/societies. I'm not interested in the automotive field and that's pretty much all they offered. They had like a formula 1 car team, mini baja car, they didn't have enough interest for their solar car. That was pretty much it, for the big societies, SAE, ASME. I believe they also had some sort of airplane team, but that still kind of falls in line of automotive to me.

I expressed a disappointment in their lack of a variety, but this was in the senior exit interview so by the time they would be able to change anything, well I would be gone.