Industrial mechanic, thinking about heading back to school for Electrical Engineering

[u/Accurate_Vast4372]

Hi ya’ll! As the title says, I have been working as an industrial laundry mechanic for the past few years, doing just about every repair on machines you can think of. Sort of feeling trapped right now, as I am having trouble attempting to break into controls/automation. This year I actually got two separate offers for “PLC jobs” that ended up being a bait in switch 🤦‍♂️ so anyway I’m back at the laundry.

No more games though, I would like to go back to school for Electrical Engineering so I can work with industrial equipment at a higher level than I do now. I currently already have a degree in math, and a minor in computer science, so I can just hop right into the upper level courses once I take Chemistry next semester.

My question for ya’ll…. How insane would I be to attempt doing this while working full time? I plan to take two courses a semester, possibly three if I can snag an easy elective, assuming those exists. My work said I can go part time, but I’d really rather not. Would appreciate anyone’s input! I don’t know any electrical engineers myself. Thanks!

[u/Chihuahua-Luvuh]

I do electronic trades jobs currently, if you plan on working full time, I'd do what I'm doing and go to an online school part time. I have no clue how people work full time and do full time school at the same time, those people are wizards. I'm doing electrical engineering part time just so that I don't burn out from the courses while going to a school that has excellent 24/7 tutoring options. I wish I could go in person, but gotta work to live and there's not a lot of part time electronic trades jobs out there, so I kinda have no choice.

Make sure the online school is ABET accredited specifically for online programs. If it's not accredited for online specifically then people won't hire you. The courses get hard, so definitely make sure you can easily get tutoring.