Engineering

MindGate

I've been trying to figure out what I want to be for a long time. I've gone through so many ideas, and now I'm onto engineering.

Pros:
*Involves my love of science.
*I believe that my logical/critical thinking skills will help me in it.
*I can help make the world a better place.
*Only 4 years of college needed.
*Jobs seem to be in a good supply.
*A decent wage of 50k-80k dollars.
*Engineering degrees, I've heard, can go help with jobs other than just engineering.

Cons:
*In school, I suck at math. Though, I believe its because of the way its taught in schools.
*Not sure what the job completely entails.

I was thinking about being a biomedical engineer or a chemical engineer.

What are your guys' thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea?

MindGate

*edit* By wage, I mean yearly average earnings.

zidangus

Engineering is not a science, but the money and job prospects of an engineer can be better than a scientist, much better.

So go for it if you think you would like it. Nothing worse than doing a job you hate, been there done that and it sucks.

ThailandTom

If you are not good at math, it is just probably because you are not good at math. The way it is taught will affect your ability to a degree, but not enough then everybody would be sucking at math in the school.

I cannot remember the facts of this study that was done on males and testosterone that they were subjected to in the womb, but it seems to determine if they are say better at math and or english. Also, there was a simple way to find out how much testosterone you were exposed to in your mothers womb, well two ways. But the way I shall explain is probably best for the forum. If you look at your index finger and compare it to your 'ring finger' (near the pinkie), you can judge if you were exposed to a lot or little testosterone. If the ring finger is bigger in length then that suggests you were exposed to more testosterone than average, but if the index finger is longer then that suggests the latter.

Going back to your thoughts on engineering, if you want to give it a whirl, go for it. But just try to remember that almost every path we take in life is never how we see it, it never takes us the way it is says on our map. If you find that you do not like it or you need to be an ace at math, then just move on to something else. I think often people when they are about to leave school they consider the next move to be ultra-super-mega crucial. At the time it probably does seem that way, but from my personal experience it isn't something as huge as most people make it out to be.

Good luck anyway, I will try and find the results of that experiment on testosterone and english/math/science.

ThailandTom

Here it is

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-456994/Length-fingers-pupil-maths-English.html

Ada_B

For most forms of engineering, you need to be very good at maths. However, Chemical Engineering might be worth you having a look - still a lot of maths, but less so than many other forms of engineering.

Biochemical engineering is definitely where it's at at that moment - you could work on things like producing synthetic medical hormones without the need for using animals, or brewing microbes to 'eat' oil pollution or any number of other worthwhile activities.

(My original degree was in Biochemistry)

MindGate

You see, this is how math is taught at school.

Problem we learn in class: 5 + 2
Problem we see on test: X/%40=E*2-ad

I do fantastic at math in class, but as soon as I get a test, I suck.

zombiegirl

@Ada_B i don't know that it's less math than others. my girlfriend is going to school for chemical engineering and she has completed every math offered. but if you mean in the field, i suppose that could be true... i honestly have no idea. that sorta stuff is beyond me, lol.

@MindGate be careful which type of engineering you look into and check the job prospects carefully. i keep hearing that mechanical (the most common) is a completely over-saturated field. a good friend of mine is an out of work mechanical engineer. but also know that with certain fields, like chemical engineering, you should be prepared to move unless you happen to have a booming industry near you. as far as MI goes, there is really only one company that would hire my girlfriend out here and if that doesn't happen, we are planning on moving wherever she can find work.

which math are you currently struggling with? as far as college is concerned, math is very important and you will be expected to take very difficult calculus courses(i think she took all the way to differential equations, which i think is after calculus 3. don't quote me on that). personally, i always did extremely well in school until i hit pre-calculus(then i got like, a B, lol). i couldn't get past the theoretical aspect of it. if you're like me and the basic algebra, geometry, and trig were really easy until you hit calc, just know that it gets MUCH worse.
also know that the chemistry portion of chemical engineering is very difficult as well. my girlfriend asks me to help her study every once and a while and to my artistic left brained eye, the complex chemical equations look sorta like math to me, lol. if you're struggling with math, this may also cause you trouble.

do you have tutoring sessions offered in your school? sometimes you just get a shitty teacher. or perhaps i should say, one whose teaching style doesn't appeal to you. math is one of those things that you can either wrap your mind around the concept, or you can't and you're screwed, lol.

zidangus

Come on @MindGate maths is fun , and the level of math needed for engineering is not so advanced, if you can get a grasp of mathematics to the level of intermediate calculus then I think that should be a good enough level for engineering.

MindGate

Well, I get A's and B's in math. I was in pre-Algebra in 7th grade because I was in the advanced class (I got an A). Then I was in actual Algebra in 8th. Though, I got a B in Algebra so I retook it in 9th grade (Algebra Extended, in which I think I got an A or a B+. I'm not sure). Currently I'm in Geometry and I have like an 88, I believe.

Mountains

Why is it "mathematics", but "math" in America, and "maths" in the UK? And is it proper to say "maths is", or should it be "maths are"?

ThailandTom

And you stated you that you sucked at math... :wtf: lol, so I guess that is not really an issue at the moment then

zidangus

Why is it "mathematics", but "math" in America, and "maths" in the UK? And is it proper to say "maths is", or should it be "maths are"?

It does not matter since math/maths/mathematics is/are a universal language

MindGate

It does not matter since math/maths/mathematics is/are a universal language.

Except for us Americans who don't use the metric system.

ThailandTom

In the UK, we use both lol.. Cannot seem to decide. :coffee:

Ada_B

It's 'maths' because its an abbreviation for 'mathematics', which of course has an 's' at the end. But this might be reflected in how various accents say that long word. Americans tend to put the emphasis on the first syllable: MATH-ematics, whereas the British tend to put the emphasis very slightly on the short 'e' in the middle and final syllable: math-e-maTICS.

Then again, it depends on your British accent. My BIL comes from Northern Ireland and I cannot even begin to write down his way of saying it. He often calls it "marth".

compassionate_warrior

MG, you like computer tech, don't you? You could be a computer tech engineer. There may be less math involved in that. In any case, you could look around for engineers to interview, and find out more about the education and job prospects. Do your parents know any engineers?

Mountains

Except for us Americans who don't use the metric system.

I use the metric system all the time. I can think in metrics much better than I can think in English units. Ask me how big 25 mm is, then ask me how big 11/32 is... Or what's the result of adding 15.6 cm + 38 mm vs. 5 19/64 + 3 11/16.

Mountains

It's 'maths' because its an abbreviation for 'mathematics', which of course has an 's' at the end. But this might be reflected in how various accents say that long word. Americans tend to put the emphasis on the first syllable: MATH-ematics, whereas the British tend to put the emphasis very slightly on the short 'e' in the middle and final syllable: math-e-maTICS.

Then again, it depends on your British accent. My BIL comes from Northern Ireland and I cannot even begin to write down his way of saying it. He often calls it "marth".

I've never heard an American use that pronunciation. In American English it's pronounced "math-uh-MAT-iks" just like in English English (english..). You guys say someone is arrested on "drugs charges", while we say they're arrested on "drug charges". And you if you guys get hurt tomorrow morning, it might require going "to hospital" "in future", vs. in America, where you'd go to *the* hospital in *the* future, perhaps if you were on your way to *school*. But if you weren't actually a student, but rather just had some kind of business there, you'd be on your way to *the school*.

English is such a wonderful language, n'est-ce pas?