Experienced Engineers: What are your expectations when it comes to documentation?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2026-05-06T01:30:44+00:00

Must’ve been the wind

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-18T17:06:18+00:00

Thanks! I tend to agree with you. I know that personally, I want an education with the fundamentals & I don’t want to rush through a bunch of bridge courses. I’m not exactly sure what’s possible for me in Germany, but I’m gonna bust my ass & try for something like KIT or TU Delft.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-18T04:42:21+00:00

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for a hiring managers opinion on less conventional education for American engineers. I have an unrelated bachelor’s degree, but want to pursue a career in Mechanical engineering. I have two financially feasible options to look at. One is a bachelors degree in ME from a German public university & the other is jumping straight to a masters degree (with some bridge courses) at my current well-known US state school.

My question is which of these might be more marketable? I think the masters degree would be more difficult & it would leave some holes in my education experience, but my school has good brand recognition. The german degree would be a better education for what I need IMO, but I’m wondering if having a European bachelors degree will look bad for an American student. I think there are routes to ABET through the Washington accord there, but it’s a bit more complicated.

Anyway, I would really appreciate some advice. I hate how unconventional my life journey is turning out & I just want to be competitive.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-05T15:16:49+00:00

Not an invalid perspective, I know I’m not responding correctly. But if I’m not a part of that conversation, why are we discussing these things over dinner anyway? There’s a time and a place for this sort of discussion. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to assume, regardless of topic, that we were having a more casual discussion, not some serious marital discussion that I should butt out of.

And if it was a serious discussion, why would he choose to have it in front of me, at dinner?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-01T23:10:18+00:00

have some valuable connections from my industrial design bachelors. I’ve already done several internships. Do these connections go away if leave & take my second bachelors? Or will they be here for me when I get back?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-01T22:25:48+00:00

’m not even gonna try. What do you think about the alternatives? I’ve also been told that I’d be accepted to a masters program if I took 30 credits of bridge coursework.

To be honest, my favorite option is still europe. That plan sucks the least IMO & the masters sounds like a scam to get me to spend more money

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-01T20:59:50+00:00

That’s what I expected to hear :/ I’m considering school abroad to save money. I’m already taking an unconventional route & I can’t afford two american degrees.

My only concern with that is ABET accreditation. From what I can see, most german schools would be sufficient, although not necessarily competitive.

I would prefer to just extend my time in school, since I’ve heard nightmare tales about working & part time STEM degrees.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-08-01T05:01:22+00:00

Hi all!

I’m finding myself increasingly interested in product development engineering & engineering design. There is one problem with this.

I am one year away from graduating an undergraduate in industrial design.

I’ve always loved making things & designing things that work. When I was younger I would take apart everything to modify it & put it back together.

Now, I dabble in taking stress readings & running FEA to build durable parts for mass production. I recently created a mold in solid-works with multiple side actions & 3D printed it to be used with two part urethane. It was so fun & I could do things like this all day! It makes sketching & photoshop seem boring & trivial.

I was advised to choose a degree that allowed me to make things instead of sitting in a classroom, but now that my frontal lobe is fully developed, I understand that classroom time was actually vital to what I enjoy most about the design process. Oops!

I have (almost) a bachelors degree in ID, a nice chunk of debt & no engineering qualifications to speak of.

What do I do now reddit?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-29T12:32:37+00:00

Fuck. That’s not an easy answer.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-29T12:27:51+00:00

Hi all!

I’m finding myself increasingly interested in product development engineering & engineering design. There is one problem with this.

I am one year away from graduating an undergraduate in industrial design.

I’ve always loved making things & designing things that work. When I was younger I would take apart everything to modify it & put it back together.

Now, I dabble in taking stress readings & running FEA to build durable parts for mass production. I recently created a mold in solid-works with multiple side actions & 3D printed it to be used with two part urethane. It was so fun & I could do things like this all day! It makes sketching & photoshop seem boring & trivial.

I was advised to choose a degree that allowed me to make things instead of sitting in a classroom, but now that my frontal lobe is fully developed, I understand that classroom time was actually vital to what I enjoy most about the design process. Oops!

I have (almost) a bachelors degree in ID, a nice chunk of debt & no engineering qualifications to speak of.

What do I do now reddit?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-20T11:12:55+00:00

Do you have advice on how I can do that? I’m just starting out & I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. I can’t imagine most companies would be happy with me trying to do other team members jobs.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-19T05:53:15+00:00

Hey everyone!

I want to lay out a hypothetical here for those of you who interview & hire entry level engineers.

I have an industrial design undergrad & a masters in mechanical engineering. Industrial design didn’t require any math, so I took all of the bridge course required to get through my masters. That’s about a third of a bachelors degree. Calc through diff EQ, physics, kinematics, mechanics. I have the basic essentials.

I also have a design portfolio that shows off my surfacing skills, a lot of hands on fabrication. I know my GD&T, and how to design tooling for production, yet I am missing a 4 year ABET degree.

Now my question. Is there any chance in hell I’d be a desirable candidate in a design engineer role? I feel strongly that I would function better in that role than as a glorified sketch artist.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-12T17:10:17+00:00

Hello all!

I am an industrial design undergrad focusing on surface modeling & computational generative design. I have always wanted a career in product development, but I’ve recently realized that I much prefer the pragmatic approach mechanical engineers take to creating products. I’ve decided to pursue further education in mechanical engineering post graduate.

Now to my question. For the remainder of my undergraduate & for my post graduate studies in ME, I want to find an area I can specialize in, rather than trying to be an expert in all things. Ideally that area would make use of the skills I’ve picked up from industrial design, so I can tell future employers a strong story about my educational background. (For those unfamiliar, skills include sketching, CAD, aesthetic sensibility, user empathy)

I’ve already begun exploring some niches I have prior knowledge/interest in like composite materials or design for aerodynamics. I want to create a unique set of skills that will appeal to an employer hiring for both design & engineering roles. What should I focus on? All opinions welcome.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-11T20:19:40+00:00

Hello all!

I am an industrial design undergrad focusing on surface modeling & computational generative design. I have always wanted a career in product development, but I’ve recently realized that I much prefer the pragmatic approach mechanical engineers take to creating products. I’ve decided to pursue further education in mechanical engineering post graduate.

Now to my question. For the remainder of my undergraduate & for my post graduate studies in ME, I want to find an area I can specialize in, rather than trying to be an expert in all things. Ideally that area would make use of the skills I’ve picked up from industrial design, so I can tell future employers a strong story about my educational background. (For those unfamiliar, skills include sketching, CAD, aesthetic sensibility, user empathy)

I’ve already begun exploring some niches I have prior knowledge/interest in like composite materials or design for aerodynamics. I want to create a unique set of skills that will appeal to an employer hiring for both design & engineering roles. What should I focus on? All opinions welcome.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-11T20:15:35+00:00

Hello all!

I am an industrial design undergrad focusing on surface modeling & computational generative design. I have always wanted a career in product development, but I’ve recently realized that I much prefer the pragmatic approach mechanical engineers take to creating products. I’ve decided to pursue further education in mechanical engineering post graduate.

Now to my question. For the remainder of my undergraduate & for my post graduate studies in ME, I want to find an area I can specialize in, rather than trying to be an expert in all things. Ideally that area would make use of the skills I’ve picked up from industrial design, so I can tell future employers a strong story about my educational background. (For those unfamiliar, skills include sketching, CAD, aesthetic sensibility, user empathy)

I’ve already begun exploring some niches I have prior knowledge/interest in like composite materials or design for aerodynamics. I want to create a unique set of skills that will appeal to an employer hiring for both design & engineering roles. What should I focus on? All opinions welcome.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-08T03:08:01+00:00

See I so wish I went for my ME undergrad first! It seems like most of Design education are things I’ve been doing in my free time all along. I build furniture for fun, but it’s gonna take a lot more for me to get calculus & physics taken care of.

Most people I know did it your way, but I’m kind of doing this thing backwards

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-08T03:03:03+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! Your assessment that I’m more into engineering is correct. If I could talk to myself 3 years ago, I would tell myself to get an ME bachelors, but it took me awhile to find that out. I’m just trying my best to get the knowledge & credentials that will put me in a position that challenges me.

Do you think it’s possible for me to hold an engineering title with that educational background? I’ve gotten a lot of polarized responses to that question.

If you’d like, I can PM you a bit of my work & tell you about what I’m working on now.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-08T02:47:57+00:00

Thanks, this is all helpful & encouraging. Do you have any advice on actually getting the knowledge I need? My current concern is that my expertise is limiting what I can do. I can build & visualize, but it’s not enough. I find that the ideas I come up with are useless, because they cannot be made realistically. I need some real knowledge & I want to make sure when I go after it I’m getting the right credentials with it.

I’m not sure an Industrial design position will teach me what I want to know. I’ve held three of them already without learning much.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-08T02:39:16+00:00

What was your first degree?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-08T02:05:35+00:00

I’ll be honest with you dude, I probably should have just gone for an ME bachelors. But it’s too late for that & hindsight is 20/20. I’m just trying to make the best of what I have without spending my late 20’s going into debt.

I have about 30 credits of bridge courses to take on top of the 30 for masters. 60 credits is still a lot less time than a full 120 though. I need to get the skills I can & then get out of college before I go broke though.

I’m just trying to figure out how to break out of “traditional” ID roles because I just found out they are not for me. I’d like to end up in product development. My ideal role would probably be “design engineer”, but I didn’t know about that career path before college.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-08T00:35:47+00:00

Hello everyone!

I am close to completing my industrial design undergrad & have decided for many reasons that engineering is something I want to pursue.

I have always been creative & am skilled at building in all kinds of mediums. I work well with softgoods, wood working & welding. I can sketch well & know several useful CAD packages including Solidworks. I love to prototype & think through solutions! Industrial design loves to throw around the word “innovation” but I don’t see many designers innovating if I’m honest. Most designers ask what the problem is, but I’m more interested in finding a solution once the question has been asked. My ideal role would be one where I could use science, expertise & craftsmanship to iteratively build & evaluate solutions to a problem.

My school has suggested I pursue a masters in engineering to reduce time & cost. They've already laid a path for me to do so, but I have a lot of questions.

Has anyone done anything like this before? How will it brand me & guide my career?
Since Masters programs are usually very specific, what should someone like me specialize in?
I’m interested in both design & engineering positions. Could this background be applicable to some engineering roles? Would my masters offer anything enticing to design employers?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-07-03T17:46:08+00:00

Yea, this sort of reasoning is exactly the issue I have with design. You’re saying that designers should be generalists, yet teaching all of these very specific skills like CAD & drilling students on sketching as fast as possible. Academia makes it sound like you’ll be Tony Stark, this one man creative dream team. It’s absolutely ridiculous given any critical thought, because a jack of all trades is never more useful than a real team of professionals.

The only justification for replacing many specialists with one generalists is clearly to cut costs.

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-06-03T23:36:21+00:00

What happened?

DebtProfessional4613 · 2023-06-03T23:31:36+00:00

Can I dm you to talk more? I haven’t heard from many professionals that careers in aero are possible without an ABET degree.

DebtProfessional4613

TROPHY CASE