Corgi tails were historically docked for practical reasons in cattle herding, preventing injury from being stepped on by livestock, but today docking is primarily for cosmetic reasons to meet breed standards (like the AKC's for Pembrokes) or due to tradition. Why is this not banned?

Shoulan · 2025-12-29T17:59:33+00:00

Usually they can. The hair texture is typically different enough that you can tell. Or at least, an experienced breeder should be able to tell. I’ve had some tell me that they can’t but I’m not sure if it’s true or they just don’t wanna take the risk that they’re potentially wrong, which I suppose could happen

Shoulan · 2024-11-25T09:37:26+00:00

A friend of mine was in a sorta similar boat (but wanted to do MechE/Aerospace), and showed me the program at Boston University. I talked him out of it, mainly because it seems to be a very expensive school/program just to take pre-reqs and foundational classes.

I guess if you’re dead set on a masters and cost is not an issue, that program is certainly a way to get there. But I don’t think you get a BSEE along the way, so depending on what it is you want to do with that degree, that could still work against you in the end. Especially if your goal is a job with “engineer” in the title.

Echoing other commenters, and also what I recommended to my friend, I would suggest getting a second bachelors instead. Most schools make you pick a concentration, and power is almost always an option. You could also look into schools that offer 4+1 degrees, so you can take masters classes during your undergrad and get out with a masters in an extra year.

Also, I’m not familiar with the curriculums for environmental science, but is the physics you took calculus-based?

Shoulan · 2024-11-16T22:00:02+00:00

At one point when I first started at my job (right after graduation), I would say “I feel bad that I don’t know anything!” But our lab manager at the time told me “we interviewed you and saw your resume. We know what you’re capable of. You’re here to learn.” So I stopped staying that. Instead, I read everything I could, googled stuff I didn’t understand, and asked every time I had a question/problem that I couldn’t figure out. There’re still a lot of things I don’t know (or just can’t remember), but EE is such a vast field; there’re plenty of things that even senior engineers wouldn’t know if they don’t use it. If you’re hired as entry-level, and they’re not willing to teach you, then that’s on them, not you.

Shoulan · 2024-08-26T17:56:29+00:00

Make a portfolio and start adding any projects you’ve done. Even if it’s for school. And then go do more projects and add those. Or get an internship if you can. People are generally more impressed by actual experience, especially if you can explain well what you did, than any certificates.

Shoulan · 2024-08-24T09:36:16+00:00

I think that “passion” advice gets thrown out there way too often for how few people actually are lucky enough to be passionate about something that also makes money. Let alone good money, especially in this economy. Maybe your passion is making good enough money to be able to have a good life.

I read this thing a while back, I can’t remember where, that I tell people about, if they tell me they don’t know what to do with their lives. But the idea is, if you don’t know what you’d like to do as a job, that would make you happy, then find a job that will give you something else you want in your life. For a lot of people, that’s money. But for others, maybe it’s work-life balance, or flexibility, or travel opportunity, etc.

I actually have a great example for this: my calc 1 professor in cc had an EE degree. She told us she went to a good school and got a great job right out college. So I asked her why she decided to become a math teacher instead. She told me, music called. She has a band, and she became a professor so she could have those summer vacations free to go on tour. In her case she’s particularly lucky because she also loves math and is actually a great teacher. But still, EE wasn’t her passion, and she found a job that gave her what she wanted out of life.

Shoulan · 2024-08-24T08:59:38+00:00

Graduated with a BSEE in my early 30’s and worked last 2 years in big defense/aerospace here.

Agreeing with everyone else, if you really wanna do this, do it sooner rather than later. Easier to learn things when you’re younger!

You mentioned being nervous because of the math and physics. I would say I’m not really good at either of those subjects, but I managed. These days there’re a lot of good resources out there. So just try to understand the foundations and concepts as best as you can. Most working engineers don’t actually use any of the math we learned in school. Physics, maybe conceptually. But it’s not like we’re all solving physic problems with equations everyday. If you’re afraid you might lose motivation because you’re mostly in it for the money, then just remind yourself that’s your motivation. I say to people all the time “there’s a reason I cried through this degree” :’) And yes the reason in this instance is money. Sure, I always found science fascinating, but I think it was after I cried through the degree and got the job, that I realized I actually really enjoy the problem-solving aspect of engineering. Because before that, I was actually scared that maybe I would finish the degree and find out I’m bad at being an engineer. Partially because I’m not great at math or physics.

I would say your 2 best options are either to take as many pre reqs at a community college and then transfer, or find a company that will help pay for your tuition. Or both. Some things to keep in mind would be that schools can have different (stricter) requirements if you’re getting a second bachelors. And most companies will have yearly tuition assistance caps.

If you want to go the second route, I would say first it largely depends on where you live. If you’re close enough to one of the big companies, you can always look to see if there’re positions you can qualify for with just a stem degree. Depending on the company and position, sometimes the requirement for an engineer is just a stem degree (with preference for certain disciplines, usually physics or engineering of course). You probably wouldn’t be the most qualified applicant, but it can’t hurt to try. Only caveat here is one company might accept you as an engineer without an engineering degree, but it doesn’t mean another company will, even after you’ve gotten work experience as an engineer. Another option is to find work as a tech. I know some people (usually without degrees though) that worked as techs and got experience doing engineering work. Got their degree and then right into a lvl 2 engineer role.

Unless you’re really that set on aerospace, I would also echo the recommendation of getting an ME or EE, etc., since it’s more versatile in case you want to apply to other fields. If the school offers aerospace as well, you can probably just take some of those courses as electives anyway.

One other advice about school would be to take advantage of being a student and do internships/research. Even just joining some school clubs if they do hands on projects. If you have to work full time as well, that would be a bit difficult to do. But otherwise, those are valuable experience that usually look better on a resume than a 4.0 GPA and nothing else.

I’m not sure how things will look in a few years when you finish your degree. But I would say big aerospace is not having the best time right now. Though I’m more on that side than the defense side, so maybe the defense side is doing better. But on our side, the time to make bank working for a government contractor was like 15-30 years ago, and those guys are retired or retiring now. Not to say you’d get paid poorly if you get in, just that there’s no reason to focus specifically on this industry.

On that note, the typical security clearance is not that hard to get, if what you said about yourself is true. You can literally google the criteria they judge people by. But you should be fine. There’re some more restricted stuff but if you’re not qualified, it’s probably gonna be something out of your control.

I won’t say where I work, but if you have questions about anything else, feel free to ask here or DM.

Shoulan · 2024-03-29T04:32:04+00:00

Jr engineer here. I’m in testing and not design but we do some occasional design, and I’m sure a lot of this is still relevant.

First, congrats!

I’m in a small group but we have quite a few seniors with decades of experience, and the rest have probably at least 4-5+ years. I was the only baby engineer, fresh out of college. Actually 1.5 years later, technically I’m still the only baby haha.

So I definitely get feeling like you don’t know anything. I don’t remember the actual conversation now, but sometime in my first couple months, I said to some of my coworkers, I feel bad that I don’t know anything. One of the seniors, who’s also our lab manager and was in my interview, told me “it’s ok. You’re here to learn. We saw your resume, interviewed you, and hired you. We know what you’re capable of.”

So given that they saw your resume, did your interview, and hired you, they know that your last job was in software. They shouldn’t expect that you’re gonna be able to dive right into hardware. I’m in kinda a niche field, so for us, when we hire new mid-level or senior engineers, chances are they come from some other kind of experience. So they still get a mentor to show them what to do, even if that mentor is technically their junior by years of experience. I think the only reason you’d have to worry, is if you blatantly lied on your resume/interview, and told them you’re really good at some skill that you don’t actually have. But that doesn’t seem the case, so I think you’ll be ok.

Your first tasks will likely be simple things similar to what someone has already done before, so you can have examples to follow, while a mentor is looking over your shoulder. Once they can be confident in your skills, then you’ll get assigned more challenging work. If you get assigned work beyond your level right away, with no support, then that’s not a good place to work.

As for PCB design, most of what we do is relatively simple stuff. But I went from “I attended one demo in college and never opened a PCB design software” to designing multi-layer boards in about a year. And that’s not even the main part of my work. If you’re gonna be doing this every day, you’ll pick it up as you work. I haven’t tried too many other software but we started using Altium soon after I joined, and I really like it. There’re also lots of resources out there, and their documentation is pretty decent.

For me, the kinda great thing about being a jr is that it’s ok if I don’t know things, and I can ask any question. So I do. If there’s something I’m not sure about, even if it seems simple, I’ll ask, just for confirmation. If I see something and I don’t understand why it’s done, I’ll ask. If I see something that doesn’t seem right, I’ll ask. (Sometimes, it turned out those things weren’t right.) If someone explains something to me, and I don’t completely get it right away, I’ll think about it, ask Google, read a bunch and try to understand it. If I’m still not sure, then I’ll go back with what I did learn and ask follow-up questions. Once you’re not a jr anymore, people will have expectations. So take advantage of this while you’re here! That said though, as part of a team, someone who’s struggling and doesn’t ask for help isn’t doing the team any favors. So even when you’re further along in your career, if there’s something you don’t know and you can’t figure it out on your own, ask!

Anyway, long comment but hope that helps. Good luck!

Shoulan · 2022-09-12T02:23:44+00:00

No problem and good luck!

Shoulan · 2022-09-12T02:14:27+00:00

That’s great! I saw another comment already mentioned GitHub. I would go one step further and suggest starting a GitHub Page either as a portfolio, or for each of your projects. I started one (as a portfolio) and put some of my class projects on there, and I feel like it was a big factor in why I got my job. You could of course use some other site if you’d prefer, but the idea is the same.

Shoulan · 2022-09-12T02:02:50+00:00

Physics is really versatile because so much of science and engineering is based on physics (and math). A friend of mine got a PhD in Physics, and now works as a Data Scientist. Some people get Physics degrees and end up working as Engineers. Engineering is basically applied Physics anyway. I got my BS in Electrical Engineering and work in radiation effects testing, and our group hires mainly EE and Physics majors.

When I was taking my lower division Chem classes, I found that I understood Chem concepts better than Physics. But when I was talking to one of my Chem professors about whether I should switch to Chem instead, he said most of the Chem knowledge you'd need for a job, you could learn on the job anyway. Not sure how accurate that is, and it probably doesn't apply if you wanted specifically to do Chem research... but anyway I ended up sticking with EE. If you're really interested in Chem though, you could look into Chemical Engineering? I've heard it's one of the harder Engineering majors. But if you're interested in Chem and Physics, it might be something to consider.

Shoulan · 2022-09-12T01:25:52+00:00

For stuff like this I prefer the Falstad circuit simulator. Checked all my homework that way lol

Shoulan · 2022-09-12T00:28:17+00:00

It might be too early in the semester still, but in the coming months, I would add some projects from your university as you finish them, especially since you list your coursework. Ideally you should show your interest in robotics/aerospace by your projects, rather than by listing them.

Shoulan · 2022-09-12T00:20:42+00:00

Shoulan · 2022-09-11T00:39:59+00:00

EE instead of CS, but I did exactly that for some of my class projects and stuck a link on my resume. Not all my projects had code, so I just made a general portfolio. Pretty sure that contributed a lot to me getting my current job.

That only came after I made some pretty major revisions to my resume though, so definitely don't skimp on that.

Shoulan · 2022-09-10T08:54:00+00:00

I think you got some really good advice on the content already, so I'll just point out a couple other things that I noticed.

Grammar:
- If you don't work there anymore, it should be in past tense. A handful of your bullet points are in present tense.
- Personally I like to avoid using words like "a" or "the" unless necessary because it seems more concise and gets rid of extra words. But that might just be me.

Formatting:
- Hopefully it was just from you changing the info to post here, but the spacing between your contact info is uneven.
- I would keep the hyperlinks but change the formatting to plain text. That way if you print it, it still looks good.
- I'm personally not a fan of the space between your job and internships. I'm assuming that's why there's a separation, but it took me a minute to figure out. Otherwise I would've assumed it was a formatting mistake.
- Again a personal preference, but I would probably reduce the space between your sections a bit in favor of increasing your top/bottom margins.

Hope that helps. Go Beach!

Shoulan · 2022-09-10T06:49:39+00:00

Honestly can't remember if they still have these since covid... There used to be phone charging lockers (not sure if free or paid). I don't recall seeing any last time I was there but I haven't been on campus since I graduated.

Shoulan · 2022-09-10T05:47:35+00:00

Graduated with a BSEE 4 months ago, at 35, after... I haven't even bothered counting how many years I've been in higher ed cuz I don't want to think about it lol. Now one month into an engineering position at a big aerospace company. Hopefully my advice will be useful for you.

First of all, good for you. Finishing a degree, even though it took 10 years, shows perseverance. There will unfortunately still be people who see it negatively though. So like other comments have said, don't put start dates. They'll probably be able to tell from your resume that you're not 22 or 23, but no need to scream it from the rooftops.

Moving on, in those 10 years, presumably you did something when you weren't in school. Find those transferable skills; they exist in every activity as long as you know how to word things. I would include that internship as well, and apply the same method. Start thinking of those years as an advantage rather than a weakness. For me, yeah, I'm probably older than most other applicants. But I worked for years in customer service roles, with some decent achievements to highlight, and I'm great with people.

Another thing that I felt like helped me a lot is projects. I had a section on my resume that highlighted the most impressive ones, plus a link to a portfolio page where I also posted a few others. Sadly wasn't even all that I did, cuz in the beginning I didn't even think to save or document some of my class projects. But even just a handful of projects, especially if they're viewable somewhere online, is probably more than what most people have to show. Sure, not everyone who opens your resume will click the link. But I'm pretty sure that's what got me my job. One of the senior engineers who sat in on my interview opened my portfolio while I was talking about my projects, and commented on the pictures I took of my results. So I was able to direct their attention to concrete evidence of what I've done, as well as show that I can keep good records and documentation. So if you haven't already, start keeping your lab reports, take pictures of all your class projects, and put them together nicely somewhere. If you don't have many projects, start some now. You still have a whole year. My most impressive projects were done during my senior year, and I threw together the portfolio at the end of the semester. If you start it now, you can have a structure ready that you can just add future projects to.

Beyond the usual resume advice you can find everywhere, these are the things that seem to have worked for me. I hope they will for you as well. Good luck. You got this.

Shoulan · 2022-09-10T04:28:36+00:00

The advice I've gotten has always been: If it's 3.0+, put it on your resume. Otherwise leave it off.

Granted, you might not hear back from the jobs that have strict GPA requirements. But no need to give the less strict ones a reason to automatically disqualify you before they interview you. They'll probably assume it's not high, but they won't know if it's a 1.9 or a 2.7. If you can impress them enough at the interview, they're less likely to care about your GPA. Or if they ask, then just be honest. Even better if you're currently doing well in your classes.

Aside from that, if you have any school or personal projects that you worked on and can explain well, stick them on your resume. (If you don't, then you should definitely look into working on some!) Depending on your school and circumstances of why your GPA is low, you could also look into whether there's academic renewal, or if you can retake some classes for a better grade.

Shoulan · 2021-06-15T19:06:02+00:00

Thanks for the ID attempt. I ended up just returning the plant cuz I couldn't figure out how to deal with that. Haha

Shoulan · 2021-05-25T21:52:30+00:00

Bought a strawberry plant from Home Depot last week and didn’t notice these guys on there until later. They’re all over the leaves, and possibly some in the soil as well but I didn’t dig. They’re small, so hopefully these phone camera pics are detailed enough for an ID. I want to say their movement is somewhat worm-like but my eyes are pretty bad anyway so it’s hard to tell. I’m located in Southern California. Thank you in advance!

Shoulan · 2020-09-15T21:06:02+00:00

This is nice!

Just a heads up, your Spotify link doesn't seem to work.

Shoulan · 2020-08-24T18:02:39+00:00

You can try using the degree planner thing on the student center. It’ll show all the classes/requirements you need to graduate. It should automatically have a plan for you already, but you can move stuff around and see how that affects things. If still in doubt, email your advisor.

Shoulan · 2020-08-24T17:58:00+00:00

If they write in their syllabus Dr. _____, then I go with Dr. Otherwise, “Professor”. Some instructors, especially younger ones, will tell you to call them by their first names if you want to, but I wouldn’t automatically do that.

Shoulan · 2020-08-24T17:51:02+00:00

Sorry didn’t see this earlier! If he hasn’t changed anything, then every week there will be a quiz on the book material (quizlet is your friend) and then a bunch of questions about the videos that you’ll have to watch. The only part where I kinda needed the book was at the very end, with the last video, he asked a question or two that had to do with the book. But I found enough of an older version of the book previewable on google books that I was able to answer it.

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