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Author Topic: Advice Needed for Career Decision David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 10-09-2005 10:10 PM                        quote: Bobby Henderson One month you're making lots of money. Another month the company is getting bought out and everyone is getting fired. Not to to be disagreeable, but speaking from personal experience, that can happen to anyone, at any time, regardless of position, experience, or education.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-09-2005 10:19 PM                     I will add that out of all my friends going clear back to High School only two people out of that bunch that have degrees actually has a great job that has high pay, my sister being one of them. The rest that have degrees today are not employed in any field or job that relates to the degree they got, one friend drives a garbage truck! The two most important things I will add is to follow your dream and don't let anything including a famly stop you... you can have a family and still accomplish your dream. Also, visit as many places in the world as you can take in, when you help out or volunteer for something do it for the betterment of the world, not with the attidude that its for your betterment. Being a worldly person makes you a better, more diversified person. Mark  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-10-2005 07:07 AM                     quote: Bobby Henderson Another feature I don't like about sales is some areas of that trade require you to leave your morals and scruples at home. That is one thing I would be expected to do from time to time at my job. They have tried getting me to do it in the past when dealing with customers over the phone.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 10-11-2005 12:49 AM                     Well, I suppose that I am lucky: I am able to get a degree in a field that I love AND where I can make good $$! Our program has a 100% job placement rate, and starting salaries w/a BS are around $45K - $55K. My prograsm is also ABET accredited. Hell, I had my first internship job interview a weeks ago in the Tool and Die/Aerospace industry. Unfortunately, I was not hired: the company turned it into a full time position, so obviously my school schedule interfered. However, they are still interested in me and we shall see what transpires over the summer. I will say this, the internship salary was quite handsome!!!! The only thing I dislike about college is having to waste my time with some bullshit classes that I will never, ever use in industry, or as a means to earn a paycheck! But that's college life, and every student who has ever graduated high school or college has had to do the same! Cheers K.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-11-2005 04:53 AM                     I know what you mean Will. I am taking a cultural diversity class right now on Africa. I was enrolled in another class at the beginning of the semester called "The Geography of Cultural Diversity". The first day of class the instructor told us that we would be writing a group ten page paper and making a presentation, a five page paper that detailed our family's arrival in America, and several other major assignements. For only two credits. I don't think so! I dropped that class and picked up the Africa class the next day. We only have three tests all semester and one was a take home map that we had to draw. When I am enrolled in classes like Calculus 2, Physics and Statics, I don't have time to dick around with all the general education requirements they want me to do. I understand it is to make you a more well-rounded person, but like you said we will never use it. What will I ever do with the philosophy class I took for my humanities requirement or the psychology class for my social sciences requirment? Nothing.... We had a job fair on campus last week and I handed out 18 resumes. This was before the job offer. I haven't heard anything yet and plan to e-mail them all this week a thank you letter for talking with me. I told them all I was looking for part-time work rather than a co-op because I don't have time to take semesters off to work. Most of them weren't hiring for anything like that. I figured I could get real-world experience while going to school even though it wouldn't be a formal co-op position. We will see.....By the way, some of the employers there were the NSA, CIA, NASA, Timken, Diebold and of course Goodyear (Akron being the rubber capital and all). I still can't figure out why the NSA or CIA would hire engineers. Anyone know?  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-11-2005 05:56 AM                     Probably for analysis. Need someone to figure out if the sat photo they got over Whatchamacallitstan is a nuclear missile or a milk truck.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-11-2005 06:50 AM                     I know in our IEEE lounge at Maryland...the General Education classes were part of the discussion...that is...the ones to take that would only help the GPA and not take too much time. I am a big believer in summer school at the college level...you can use the summer to take a really difficult course you need to devote your full attention to or to nip off the GE requirements without it interferring with your core classes. However, at least at Maryland, there were so many classes one could often find a GE class that was at least interesting. Like philosophy...I took philosophy of science...made more part of what I was doing anyway. My favorite was RTVF314...Film appreciation....I mean, they actually gave me credits to watch movies! What a deal! As it turns out, the professor (a grad student at the time) is now the director of film at the Library of Congress...a customer of ours now...I remembered when he started at LOC too...makes the world a bit smaller and more familiar. I wouldn't poo-poo the GE classes completely...there is truth to the well-rounding business. While you may not need the details on what you learn in all of your GE classes...they can often help you in different ways to think about things and you never know when that information might help you out. I also claim that if you don't live on campus (not practical for someone with a familiy) you also missout on learing about the diversity of people and how to get along with someone that is probably quite different than you. In many ways, that was the most valuable education of all, for me.  |  IP: Logged Kelly Skaggs Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Springdale UT Registered: Jul 2003 posted 10-11-2005 08:15 AM                        quote: Bobby Henderson Another feature I don't like about sales is some areas of that trade require you to leave your morals and scruples at home. Hell I use to work for Showcase, we did that at least once a week.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-11-2005 08:56 AM                     Steve, I took classes all this past summer. I took Chemistry 1 and 2 and Philosophy. Next summer I will get the rest of my gen-ed classes out of the way and Differential Equations. It was nice to only have five week long courses. They move so much quicker and cut out all the peripheral stuff. Also I have to take one more humanities class and I am taking Intro to Film and Theater. Probably the same thing you took just a different name. I am looking forward to that one.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-11-2005 09:57 AM                        I'd recommend choosing the general-education classes by professor, rather than subject matter. An enthusiastic professor can make anything exciting, while even an interesting subject can be killed by a boring lecturer. If you can find a good professor, I'd recommend taking an art-history course; it's an incredibly wide-ranging subject, which covers not only art, but also history, religion, engineering (e.g. architecture), technology, etc. As another example, I'm currently showing films once per week for a film class which is fantastic. Every week is like working at a film festival, with an electic mix of shorts, features, animation, documentary, experimental, current, historical, etc. For me, personally, this is much more interesting than a standard "intro to film" class because the material consists of relatively obscure (but good) films, and not the standard "classics" that everyone has seen multiple times. I love "Citizen Kane" et al. as much as anyone, but don't really feel the need to see it again anytime soon. The students seem to enjoy the class, too.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 10-14-2005 06:29 PM                     I am in an applied technology engineering program that is ABET accredited. However, in my field of engineering, I will seldom, if ever use Calculus, Physics, Statics, or Thermodynamics. In the workplace, I will be concentrating on areas such as Process Planning, CNC programming/machining and manual machining, Materials Joining, Tooling Design (injection mold, jig/fixture, die), etc. However, those classes are required, despite the fact that they do not serve as prereqs for any other class, and actually, there are no Calc based classes in our department! What I despise is the sheer amount of energy these classes require, and these general ed classes can SEVERELY distract from being able to focus on ones core classes that will eventually mean a paycheck! While I do see Educators views that a University should expose students to a wide variety of subjects as a means of broadening a students mind, not to mention the philosophy that gen ed classes can be used to "weed-out" the slackers and underachievers, the fact is that this time and energy would be better spent focusing on ones Major so that one can really be proficient in the workplace! Cheers K.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-14-2005 07:32 PM                     Will, I am actually surprised that the subjects you listed would not be useful in your field...any "engineering" without calculus just seems like writing a book without using verbs. Again, I'm surprised but then again, I don't know what exactly your field of work does.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 10-14-2005 09:32 PM                        ABET uses the term "engineering technology" for those degree programs which do not have as rigorous a mathematics requirement as a full engineering degree. Such degrees all end in "ET" as opposed to "E". ABET accredits both two-year and four-year ET programs in several disciplines. For instance my AAS degree is an EET--Electronics Engineering Technology. Essentially it was a two-year EE program without the calculus. All of the courses were taught with a college algebra and analytic geometry math base. Many companies hire BS EET or MET degree holders for jobs that don't require a full engineering background yet are more demanding than technician positions. At Hughes Aircraft we recruited such people for many operations positions such as spacecraft controllers, communications and network controllers, and spacecraft test team members. Four-year ET degrees are not considered full engineering degrees--holders cannot sit for the EIT exam nor can they earn a PE designation. AFAIK no state will license an ET degree holder as an engineer. For that, one would have to go back to school and take the courses that would qualify for a four-year degree that ends with an "E", then get a job and take the EIT, put in the necessary professional work hours, then finally go for that PE shingle.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 10-14-2005 11:36 PM                     Hi Paul Actually, in our program, we are eligible to take the EIT exams, and the faculty encourages us to do so. Engineering Licensing is really more important to Civil Engineers than to my area of engineering. For us, more important than EIT license would be the SME Certifications, which we are also qualified to take. And yes, Steve, I've gotten that response about the Sciences from many people! Our program is about practical applications. And there are many areas that we delve into that go far beyond an AAS degree. For instance, I went for an intership interview a few weeks ago. One of the first things the interviewer asked me was how to estimate machining costs. Pose that question to a Calc. genius, and they'll give ya a stupid look! Interviewer also asked me about my manual maching, cnc machining, welding and process planning experience....all directly related to my core classes. Cheers K.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 10-15-2005 12:00 AM                        quote: Mr. K. I will seldom, if ever use Calculus, Physics, Statics, or Thermodynamics. ... In the workplace, I will be concentrating on areas such as ... Tooling Design (injection mold, jig/fixture, die), etc. You sure about that? That'd be news to me. Injection molding is all about thermodynamics and statics. A little physics and calculus along with it wouldn't hurt either (unless you want to rely on charts for everything). Josh, stick with the schooling. If anything, you'll appreciate the lower blood pressue later on.  |  IP: Logged

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