OT... I'm at a crossroads, need advice

Don't quit school. Stick it out, maybe add a minor or double major with Industrial Design. I know it sucks, believe me I know. Hell I turned down GMI because I was dumb and young. Keep with the FSAE it gives you real world experience to go with the theory. But finish the damn degree, it's only 4 years. Later on you'll look back at it and be thankful. But the degree will help, and it'll give you a foundation to build on in the real world.

Seriously don't give up.

As for the guys getting all down on Humanities degrees (you know art and stuff), blow it out your ass. There are lot's of things to be done with those degrees, but of course you have to sell out to the man. Think advertising and marketing....

 

this is good advice

zman - my degree is in fine arts... and i have a pretty good job making cool stuff

 

Get the paper, someone earlier said it gives you choices, which it does. Who says you cant be an artist with an engineering degree? Use your high paying job to provide you with the where with all to pursue your passion.
My summer job is as a firefighter, I rate out higher on the pay scale than many others with more firefighting quals. just because I have a degree, one that has nothing to do with firefighting.
So much of life is jumping through hoops and playing the game, don't fight it, learn how to take advantage of it and make it work for you.

 

I've only been out of school for about five years, but my advice would be to stick it out. Get a degree in something just to say you have it. If you decide you don't want to work in that field, don't, but a lot of jobs (here at least) require a bachelor's degree. They don't care what your major was as long as you graduated and can do the job. Case in point, I studied sociology and got a job as a unix sysadmin right out of school.

In the mean time, find the stuff you like to do, learn as much as you possibly can, and don't worry about locking yourself into a career path just yet.

 

I'm not gonna tell you if you should stay in school, or not. That is up to you. I will tell you that you are a stupid moron if you quit, though. I'm fairly bright myself unless I'm trying to fix an old car. And pretty much the only way I have found to make good money is by working til 8 at night and every Saturday. I missed my own freakin' car show last year because I had to work. I garuantee that every guy in the club, with a college degree, can go to whatever car show they want. Point is, that stupid piece of paper is really powerful.

The reason I quoted the part I did, is because it reminded me of me. I did zero homework in High School. Well, I did one paper my Junior year on a Sunday night. I NEVER studied for a test, except right before that class started on test day. In fact, I almost failed out of High School for to many unexcused absences. But I breezed by.

I got into UT on my SAT scores alone. But failed out in my second semester. Guess what, college is harder than high school! You have to study harder, go to class, and pay attention. Suprise!

And an Art Degree? Please, what a copout. I don't mean it's bad for everybody. But it totally sounds like you are saying " This is too hard, art should be easy"

 

Thanks for all the advice guys and the PM's, theres alot of good stuff in this post.

I never once thought about quiting, just changing my major. And classes now are fucking hard, but thats not the reason I'm considering changing, its because I dont want to spend the rest of my life using Coulomb's Law and Deuschbag's constant and all that other crap.

I kind of realized today that maybe one of the reasons I'm not enjoying this at all is that there's no creativity in it. So far, at least. Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea of what real engineering is like... is it this anal-retentive and math based? Or will i get a change to be creative. I think thats what I'm worried about.

And for those that asked... I'm at UTA... I love the FSAE shop...

 

I refraned from posting in this topic because as you can see this is my first post and I have not wanted to make an intro till i thought i was ready. But now i've decided to post because i thought my $0.02 might help, I'll mkae sure to hit up the intro room before my next post.

Moving on, if you think your burned out, man ive been burned out for the last 3 years I've thought about changing majors/ quiting/ changing schools more times then i can remember. I'm half way though my Junior year in Mechanical Engineering. Let me explain.

I did pretty good my first semester, even though i went to classes with hang overs and drunk, drank jack 'n' coke in class, would smoke up with my idiot buddies before classes, etc, etc. Second semester freshman year, i was arrested for manufacturing false identifications. Got kicked out of the dorms, had to move into an appt Which correlates to loss in $$$$. I thought i was going to get kicked out of school, then i just thought about droping out of school, but i decided to stick it out to see how i did. Then i had to deal with the university sanctions, which was a disciplinary suspension for the summer session. So that sucks. Then i had to pay for a laywer to get all my legal problems take care of. While i was in this situation i was driving a '66 mustang. well, i finished the spring semester with about a C average. Not bad for taking PY206 Scale-up, calc2, nad something else hard.

after i finished the semester i was still hanging around untill my lease ran out on my appt, the night before i was supposed to go home, i was going to go meet a couple of friends of mine, and i got hit head on by a drunk driver in my mustang. Killed the car, and almost killed me. I spent the night in the hospital and then in the morning i had to catch a cab home. It sucked. At this point i thought God didnt want me in school here.

Now by this time i had eaten through a majority of my college fund and my GPA was mediocre at best. So i started working about 3 hrs a week, i got a new appt, and signed up for classes. And i took statics before i had my calc pre-req for it, so i had to work my ass off to teach myself statics, not to mention complete all my other classes. I pulled C's again, not good since i need 2.5 to start taking my engineering courses. By this time i am seriously considering droping out of school again. But i took my second semester which were mainly non-core classes and GC 211 (Graphic communications) and the teacher was cool as hell, and then i decided to minor in Graphic Comm. That may have been the best decision i have ever made, It is the sole reason i have not quit now, especially since i am .02 GP's from matriculating.

In my GC minor i took a class called TED122, Technology education, Metals Technology, The class is all machining, welding, sheet metal work and plus it counts as 4 credit hours. My other classes are GC420, Graphic thinkging, all we do is sketch and draw and its pretty fun, the teacher just tries to make us think outside of the box.

Anyway, all I'm saying is if your considering quiting after failing 1 test, then you better toughen up or your not gonna make it, I think about quiting everyday, but then i would feel like a quiter and people i dont like will talk about i am a failure. And, well, i dont know about you, but nothing makes me happier then see people i hate eat their words.

Sorry for the novel of a post, just thought i'd let you know that now matter how tough you think you got it, someone else has got a tougher time. Oh yeah by the way, im SAE Mini-Baja. and your guys shop is much better then our current shop, but were about to move to a new one

later
Good luck

 

It's kind of like Basketball, they're trying to teach you the fundamentals before dunking. It'll get more creative later, though you can end up with a job with none. I think if you stick it out through your core courses and into the heavy duty major related stuff you'll dig it...

 

Voice of experience here.. went to college, never used the degree, but I learned a LOT, including the most important thing...how to THINK. My hobby (cars) got me into a few jobs, eventually getting into research and engineering. Believe me, even though it still pertains to cars, it sucks. I think any passion that you try to make into a living will eventually take it's toll on you and you'll eventually hate it. There are some exceptions, of course.
Better to keep your passion as a hobby. I have always been able to make a few bucks with my "hobby", on the side. The job pays the bills and allows me to play on the side. Whether it's to make some extra money for tools, cars, or vacations, I always have my car building skills. Even to get out of bad situations, and layoffs.
But in the real world, a good education, and good job makes life better. Then you can have your toys. Most of the guys I knew out of high school who didn't go to college, or luck out working for a good company are still scrounging around, working in gravel driveways, busting their asses and dont' have much to show for it. I may hate my job and boss, but when I look out into my back yard, and see all the trees, property, and my shop, and all the cars in it, I can justify suffering a bit for it all!
While most companies advertise that they want experience, once you get in, it's the PAPER that will get you promoted. Experience just gets you more work! You can't believe everything that companies demand in their job descriptions. They are more than willing to comprimise, and accept less, especially if you have enthusiasm, intelligence, and drive.

 

Eric, I read your post and it reminded me of myself. I'm 6 years into my engineering career. Got the ME bachelors and an Automotive Engineering Masters. I am pretty bored sometimes. I have no advice because I can't figure it out for myself. I go through phases of mild discontent and others of mild apathy. Sometimes it's really fun - kind of.

I got halfway through reading everyone's posts and thought all the advice was good. And then I saw Four Thirteen's avatar is a They Might Be Giants cover. That distracted me from all this serious-ness, and I stopped bothering to read the rest. My job has paid me enough to afford tickets to several TMBG concerts. It buys my daughter's diapers. It bought my VW, it keeps me autocrossing, and it'll buy my ticket to Autorama. It keeps me and my wife happy through all the evenings and weekends and holidays when I'm not at work. It pays the bills for the things that matter. And sometimes it's pretty easy to forgive your job for being so mundane as long as it affords you the time and money to do all the other things that matter.

For some reason, we can't all be Ed Roth, David E. Davis Jr., Chip Foose, Juan Manuel Fangio, Zora Arkus Duntov, Jesse James, John Force, Bob Lutz, Joe Isuzu, John Flansburgh, or John Linnell. But if you get an education that gets you a job that lets you enjoy the loves in your life then you are further ahead than most people.

Oh. And get some good summer internships. They pay better than Arby's and look good on your resume. And, the classes will get easier toward the end of your degree if you ask me. And you'll have more time to party. And hot rod something.

 

I'm 52 been doing engineering work for the last 30 years after school. Stay with it, it will get better. Right now you are doing the grunt work, you will progress into fun stuff when you pick electives after the basics. You may never find your ideal job, but your options will be wide open with a degree in M.E., you will also find that work options are endless and you will get to decide what you want to do, whether it's design or management of a team, it will start with that degree.

Yes you can become wealthy without a degree, some of the most wealthy people in the work didn't have degrees, Ford, Edison, etc. but nowdays it helps to have one. Stick with it it will try you, but so will life in general.

 

What Tingler said, word for word.

I have a B.F.A/graphic design emphasis. Graphic design is the only art avenue that schooling can enhance. Of course I now use my thousands of dollars worth of graphic design to chop tops and fit wheel and tire combos onto rods.

I was in your shoes at the end of my college career, stick it out you will probably be sorry if you drop.

 

I went through the same thing you are right now. I'm actually sitting in my CAD class right now.

I started at a four year for Mechanical Engineering but quickly found out that the four year college wasn't my cup of tea. I'm a hand's on learner and always liked drawing. I ended up working for three years at a body shop and finally decided to get back to school and get a nice desk job. So now I'm at a two year for Mechanical Design, getting through it fairly easy (math is not my favorite) and should be able to get into a 35-40K job after graduation. Not too bad if you asked me. Just my two cents.

 

Mr coker,

I came at it from the other side. I was always real good at art so no one was surprised when I started at KU in the school of fine art. I quickly realized that I couldn't make a living painting and drawing, at least not right away, so i went into I.D. 5 years later I have a BFA in industrial design.

I loved almost every minute of school from then on. I still had to take calculus and physics and all the other general stuff, but most of my time was spent drawing, building models, stuff like that.

I use my education all the time. I can solve a problem in my head or on paper pretty quick. Your engineering is a good start to an Industrial Design path, I'd worry if you wanted to be a ballet dancer or something. PM me if you have any questions.

Nate

 

I took a couple art classes and photoghraphy to meet pussy - it worked.

 

Flexikoker-I as a high school dropout ,I shouldnt even say "stay in school"-and have you listen to me.
But I feel since thats the course you chose and are well started on ,it will be the right choice.
I was stubborn and wouldnt listen to good advice when I was young and have paid for it ,many a time over .......
A guy can always live in a cardboard box an be an artist or hot rod builder who is a legend in his own mind..... after graduating from engineering school if he think thats cool, but the real security offered by a degree in engineering will probably make you feel thats a step backwards.....

you are getting a LOT of good advice from your FRIENDS, here on the HAMB -I suggest you take it.

 

ok, so as a former teacher, my 1st instict was to tell ya "stay in school..." but you know, if i learned anything in life it's that the book smarts don't always mean a damn thing...case in point, McDonald's reformatted their employee applications to make space for applicants with "higher education" degrees...yes, you CAN go to a Mickey D's and have a college grad. serve your Big Mac

being smart doesn't come from being in school-- i went to college for 4 years to do "what i always wanted" and when i did, i couldn't get out fast enough

try an internship at something you like to do, somewhere, see how you like it...if you get an in, then maybe you will know just how far you need to go with school...

good luck!

 

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I've got a couple of other options now that I'm looking at, like Industrial Design. I think the only reason I really went into Mechanical Engineering is because I love cars, but that may not be the right reason... then again, it might be. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again,
Eric

 

Finish school...I dropped out my third semester to chase that dream of being a rockstar...you know where it got me? Drunk, broke and a couple diseases that required multiple pennicillin shots, not that I had a bad time but...
Actually, it really changed me as a person. Before going back (for real the last time) I thought I was wasting a lot of time for a stupid fuckin' piece of paper but I didn't realize until later that it made me a more well rounded person. It opened a lot of doors for me which led me to being able to do what I want to do.
My two pesos...tough it out....stay in school...there's nothing more gratifying than knowing that you have something that NOBODY can take away from you. They can take cars, boats, houses and people from you...but they can't take an education!
Good luck...you're a sharp guy...you'll make the rigth decision.

 

my life in six lines:

1. smart dude at school, killed all the accelerated maths classes.
2. liked cars, decided to do mechanical engineering at uni.
3. hated uni.
4. found a job selling CAD software, and dropped out (after two years of a four year degree)
5. was offered many jobs from the hundreds of companies i sold software to.
6. took the job from a guy starting a racing go-kart company.

honestly mate, uni did nothing for me. a couple of years ago i started recognising the "coffee lackeys" at various engineering firms i was selling to.

"shit, did you go to monash uni starting in '98?"
"yep."

here i was, talking shit with their managing director, while they bring coffee. later i'd ask them how much they learnt at uni that they were applying in their jobs, and the answer was often not much. i basically cracked it when we had to learn to solve time variant three dimensional vector fields. that was the last thing i learnt, and it's useless, really... since starting at the kart company, i've learnt SOOO much, it's not even funny.

i honestly think western society conditions many, MANY people into thinking that without a degree, they are nothing. it's crap. i am what i am, and dammit, i fucking ROCK! the degree will help you get a job making coffee in the industry you're interested in, and not much else. if you're hating it, you should stay for only two reasons:

a) you NEED the piece of paper to perform the job you want (like a doctor).
b) you NEED to learn what they're teaching to perform the job you want.

if you wanna build racecars, the degree won't help much. the textbooks and information are all out there, if you want to learn about roll centres or the dynamic response of damped harmonic oscillators, you just look it up...

it's a tough call mate, but i'll side on the "drop out unless you actually WANT to learn what you're in school for" camp...

col.

 

If you want to really understand everything they're talking about in that "dynamic response of damped harmonic oscillators" book it will really help to have a background in engineering. You don't just read a book and learn to play the guitar. You don't just pick up a book and learn to weld. You have to understand the theory behind the surface facts. You have to know the math in order to solve the equations that text pukes out. Experience is more valuable than anything you learn in school. But, if you don't have some studies under your belt, that text is going to look like it was written in Chinese.

You can build a hot rod with the skills your dad taught you. You can build a Formula 1 car with the skills the university teaches you.