College/Career Advice

[warrier04]

so i'm finishing up my freshman year at the university of texas. i'm currently majoring in electrical engineering, but i've found i'm absolutely horrible at anything that has to do with programming. I got a c in last semesters class (binary and assembly language), and it's looking like i'll get a c in this semesters class (c language). not only do i not enjoy programming, i just don't understand all of the s*** i need to to do well. so many of the kids i go to school with have been programming for years, and i feel like i missed out.

i'm taking physics this year, and been doing suprisingly well. that class, as opposed to every other one, is actually interesting to me. it's much more interesting to me analyzing blocks sliding down a ramp than it is to do any type of programming at all.

because of my success in physics, i'm leaning towards switching my major to mechanical engineering. i know that the job prospects for electrical engineers are very good, but i don't know about ME's. i'm also unaware of the types of jobs that ME's can earn - i think it'd be awesome to work for an automovie company of some sort, but i just haven't had much experience in looking for jobs in that field.

anyone here a ME or EE and have some input to my situation?

 

[Rawyzf]

I say go with what you like. If you go EE, you might not be happy 2 years into your career and have to go back to school to learn more.

My opinion at least....gotta be happy with your job, or at least get paid a lot to make up for how much it sucks .

-Ryan

 

[warrier04]

that's what i think - do what makes ya happy.

i can tell ya that i'm not feelin the EE curriculum, and ME seems really interesting.

i also wanna make sure that the time i spend is school isn't a waste, and that the classes i take i take because they're useful and productive.

 

[JunkPunch]

I did the complete opposite (15 years ago, yikes). I was a Mechanical Engineering major but my school focused on thermodynamics more than mechanics. I hated it. But I kicked ass as the programming stuff since I had done it for a long time. So I switched to Computer Engineering and did very well, although I suck at math.

Along those lines, before you switch to another major take a look at the core coursework and where it is focused. Also look at which engineering electives are available to you once you find an area that you are interested in. Our school had a cool lab where they built cars and other things, but that was for senior design projects and I could not slog through the other crap to get there.

Any interest in civil engineering? I think that's an interesting field and might have gone that way if things were different. With a crumbling infrastructure in the US and rapid suburban sprawl, there is going to be a LOT of civil engineering work in the future. And it's also something that isn't going to be outsourced out of the country.

 

[SciFiMan]

You can do a lot with a ME, in many different industries. Way back when I was at Motorola in a chip fab, lots of EE's, but also plenty of ME's doing several functions, including one girl that was in my dept. (IT) that was a SAS specialist. Before that she was at US Steel doing quality control.

But I agree with the others, don't worry about the money right now, go after what you enjoy doing, be passionate about it, and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[KYMP5]

Go where youre happy, because if you dont like your job or what youre doing, no amount of money will make you happy. On the other hand, making less money in a satisfying job that you enjoy will be much more rewarding.
Too many people focus on money when deciding a career and end up doing something they dont like or get stuck with that feeling of "im stuck in a dead end job". Im not saying the moneys not important, but think long term and take a personal economics class, learn to budget well and you will be fine.
As far as classes go, take a variety. Dabble in a little bit of everything and see if something peaks your interest.
Remember, you dont have to know everything to get a job, you can find something you like first and take some related classes as needed.
Just my .02

 

[warrier04]

thanks for all the good input guys.

facing a small dilemma as of now .. i have to pick classes in a few days, but no one in ME seems to have time to talk to me, and i'm about 95% sure i don't wanna do the EE curriculum anymore, so i gotta start gettin people to listen and answer my questions.

here's a thinker: what's the main thing you would've done done different in college? (mainly in terms of academics .. but other stuff is cool)

 

[Alpinejwl]

You can probably sign up for the basic ME classes first. talk to some other ME students and see what you need to do, then make an appintment with the ME dept to do a change of degree form. Good luck man

 

[mp3moose]

I switched majors 5 five times before I decided on something so don't worry about that. My best friend is a senior EE major at UT and he's is actually going to law school in the fall because of poor job opportunities in EE.

 

[CGCG04]

I'm gettin a dual degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. Just finishing up my freshman year as well. The dual degree gives u so many more options and greater opprotunity for jobs, plus its only like 5 extra classes here, so its not bad. But yeah, i really have no idea what type of job i'm gonna get after college...I've just always been real good at math and i love flying as well so this seemed like the thing for me.

 

[SciFiMan]

You school likely has a dept that helps grads find jobs or helps place interns. You should ask them, and get a list of recent ME grads and see if you can contact them.

thanks for all the good input guys.

facing a small dilemma as of now .. i have to pick classes in a few days, but no one in ME seems to have time to talk to me, and i'm about 95% sure i don't wanna do the EE curriculum anymore, so i gotta start gettin people to listen and answer my questions.

here's a thinker: what's the main thing you would've done done different in college? (mainly in terms of academics .. but other stuff is cool)

 

[warrier04]

i'd like to start taking ME classes, but what i'm unsure of is if i don't technically transfer from EE to ME, will those classes count as 'engineering' hours? i need to take some certain amount of hours specific to my college to be able to stay in .. if only someone would actually speak to me about it - EE people are just gay, and the ME people are too busy advising current ME students to give me time of day.

ME is not only more interesting to me, but it does seem like it gives you a much broader array of job opportunities post-college. my dad is an empolyee at Intel and a EE graduate, and he says he has ME's working with him, so it seems that you can earn a position in almost any type of field with the right determination.

my neighbor is actually an ME graduate who works for, i beleive, applied materials, and this weekend i'm going to try to get at least a few minutes in with him to try to get a feel for what exactly a ME is.

thanks for the great input guys!