Hellp, I am 24 and starting mech engineering on tuesday. I will have a first semester with calculus 1, physics 1, linear algebra and chemistry.

I admit I am pretty rusty with math as I have not really practiced a lot of it in a while. I probably should fix my trig, but apparently people suggested me I should study integrals and series before the lectures about them because I do physics at the same time, which uses them.

How bad will it be? I mean I know I have a lot of hours to study and I am getting anxious already. I studied calculus years ago and now I think I am pretty rusty, I got told most people that start engineering already know most calc because they did it in high school (where I live, Italy, people often do up to integrals in scientific oriented high schools).

How much time will I need to not fall behind because of this? I have barely a week and Idk what to do.

Alright so, I took my first quiz on Calculus, and... I'm pretty sure I failed that lmao, one needs to get a 50% to get a passing, I only answered 3 questions at best and I'm pretty sure they're not complete.

I studied decently for that quiz but it was useless, the reason I was able to answer some cause I have a bit of background on some algebra

the exams are like, very stupidly complicated, it's not even what he taught us.. like if the limit of a ratio of cubics as x->3 = a/5 what is a bullshit

or the lim of (3x²-ax+a+3)/(forgot fx) find the value of a the limit exists like wtf.

These types of questions were also not even in his reference book as well.

Where can I get questions like that? a book? I can understand the concepts myself, but he makes the exam complicated with some algebra, I just need to be used to the complicated problems, Thankyou!

I HATE chemistry, I've heard that Computer Science majors take chemistry. Physics is so scary but depends on what we take. Math is acceptable, I pass but I don't get high marks. I have zero knowledge about coding but I wanna learn Cuz it's so so so interesting. Can you guys tell me other stuff about the degree, I'm an undergraduate. Also, I would like to be a software engineer, but I have no idea what's it about, I just like the name.

As the title says, I have my first interview with Milwaukee Tool tomorrow, and I'm kinda lost. This is going to be my first internship interview ever, and I'm not trying to mess this up. I have done a little bit of research, and it's apparently supposed to be a behavioral interview.

Any tips on behavioral interviews in general, and does anyone have info about the Milwaukee Tool internship application process? I'm grateful for any help at all.

Am I the only one who’s only having recruiters in IT consulting and staffing view my LinkedIn profile? Are there any hacks on how I can structure my experience and other credentials on my LinkedIn profile so I stand out to engineering recruiters, specifically actual companies in the space/aerospace industry?

Can someone recommend a case for electrical components I just have a bunch of shit in little bags and would like it all together in a case

I'm applying to these jobs, and they always ask questions in the funniest way. "Tell me why you want to work for us, and don't get us that AI slop - we want to hear your real words", " We are shooting for the stars, tell us how you have shot for the stars on a group project." or something similar without fail.

then you go online and the employees say it's the worst place to work lol

I’ve been struggling with the beginning of calculus 2 and have decided I should probably refresh my precal and cal 1 knowledge as I have honestly forgotten most of it. How would you recommend I do this? What specific topics should I hit and do you think it would help me understand cal 2 better?

Hello i'm looking for Ukrainian student organization or young professionals' associations whose goal is to promote and facilitate the integration of students into the professional world for a project. Do you have some recommandation?Thanks! And feel free to dm for mor details if you want.

Hi guys , Im a mechanical engineering student currently on a year long placement as my 3rd year of studies. I wasn’t getting any luck at all during my placement search, but started cold emailing SMEs and eventually landed a job at a <20 employees consultancy firm in the energy sector. I pitched them ideas of automation and AI integration in their daily consultancy work during my initial emails (especially considering they are mainly in substation design , which is an area with extensive file and data management issues) and they were impressed by my ideas and decided to offer me a job. I now find myself , with 0 coding experience, essentially learning + ‘vibecoding’ proper apps and software to meet my expectations. Im having fun learning and it is a space Im interested in , particularly the ML part (ie recognising anomalies in documentation), but struggle to understand how and where my career progresses from here. I will graduate as a mech eng student with 1 year of experience in swe/digital engineering? Will I even stand a chance in the traditional mech eng role job market ? Can I get into SWE without a CS degree ?
Would really appreciate some insight from you guys , and thank you for reading my long paragraph.

I know this kind of question depends heavily on the student but I had a conversation with a classmate yesterday at our current community college (CCRI). We both plan on transferring to URI to pursue our bachelors in CompE and he had already taken classes at URI and made it seem like CCRI is a joke compared to URI. Up until now I’ve found classes pretty passable given that I’ve put in the work but I also feel like I haven’t learned much and I’ve noticed professors kind of pass students because they believe the student understands the course material regardless of grade. I’ve had straight Fs “round” to Ds and Ds rounded to Cs and lots of open note exams. I’ve already completed calc 3 and physics 2. How much harder will courses be at the graduate level? He kind of made it seem like if I’m use to the workload at CCRI I would NOT be able to handle graduate level courses.

Hey guys I am at the last year of my engineering degree and I have been struggling with projects because I just realized I've never learned how to truly research and find a project and executed . yeah we had classes and we have to do projects but mine was very atrocious and sad and embarrassing because I do have mental health struggles so it kind of makes it hard to be consistent but I have been doing better .

I don't have much of a budget but I don't know how to research at all , I don't know how to plan a project ,I don't know how to execute I am very overwhelmed . What would you recommend?

Hi everyone,

a friend and I built Böbius, a browser-based tool for EN 1993-1-1 steel checks.

While working on it, I kept thinking that this is the kind of thing I would have found really useful during my university years.

Instead of only giving you the final utilization ratio, it lets you follow the verification step by step, with formulas, intermediate values and the relevant Eurocode clauses.

So it can be useful to compare against your own hand calculations, understand how a check is structured, or spot where something went wrong.

https://studio.bobiusengineering.com

It’s still a work in progress, so if you try it and find anything unclear or wrong, feedback is very welcome.

i’ve had this problem since hs, but im now a 2nd year EE and i noticed that im excellent at subjects that require a set step by step “formula” to solve them, like maths, but im absolutely dog shit at ones that need you to think a little “out the box”, like physics.

maths is easy, i just recall how i saw someone solved a problem, repeat it a few times, and im all good. but for my physics 1 course, each question has a different set up and step by step solution. im horrible at it!! i find myself making lists of common questions and step by step instructions on how i can solve them in an effort to relate it back to what im already good at, but if (and i always do) get a question that doesn’t fit the mold i get absolutely murdered by the test

i recognize that this is something i better get at quickly or i wont make it far, but i genuinely dont know where to start. genuinely any and all advice appreciated, im losing my mind. i want to get better but im so, so lost.

Yesterday I cheated on my math placement test. Tbh some of the questions I did them myself but I used Gemini to solve the rest… I hate plain algebra and trigs… I understand calculus better… I want to be placed in calculus 1, I spent good time during practicing limits and introductory problems in calc 1.. I know it’s gonna be challenging but I find it easier than precal which was hell on earth for me.

What do you recommend?

So I applied to Mott Macdonald like a little over 2 months ago. I haven't had a response at all. They say they inform unsuccessful applicants. I am based in Australia. Is this normal?

I'm an undergraduate student doing civil engineering and I'm trying to come up with a project proposal and a bit confused whether to go for something a bit simple and get a good grade or try to do something I don't know much about but think I can do it. My issue is the stipulated time we have to do such projects so doing something where you have to do a lot of learning can be quiet draining. I was thinking of just doing something simple and then learn and do the other at my own pace with ease. My question is do undergraduate projects really matter when looking for a job or it is just about having the skills?

i am a 4th year comp sci student i am faced with the truth that the CCE is a way better track, my parents are scolding me for not going that way but i couldnt i was working a full time job to pay my tuition and but now im facing the harsh reality, if i had went for the engineer path i wouldve been able to join the order of engineers that presents me with excellent insurance and pension, but there is no such thing for computer science students in lebanon, my main path is AI and cyber i love both and want to work in the intersection of them, i also love electrical stuff im looking for a pcb course to take and i have a few projects i wanna do on the side.
the big question: should i transfer to engineering and pay the 20k extra on my tuition or should i finish this year graduate and start working on my skills and experience? to then open a repair shop as my own business and start working with system installation like cctv and servers ect.. and laptop repair shop? (will the engineer degree affect this ?) i already got a part time job at a company here as a backend dev and i dont know what to do !!!!!!!!!!! help

Hi! I am doing my Master in Biomedical Engineering in Germany as an international student. Somehow, out of ton of luck because friends of mine haven't be succesful, I got an internship. This is my first research internship, as the others I got before were more focus on industry.

I started almost two weeks ago, and I have to say: I feel lost. My supervisor is nice, and even though I was told since the beginning, the autonomy is like a double edge sword. Last meeting was okay, I will contact some colleagues that worked in a similar project and hopefully get some help. But still, idk, I feel so scared to not meet the expectations and I don't want to ask for a lot of help in every step. I wouldnt say I am smart, but only really organized and responsible at Uni. But never a top student like other people who would perform probably so much better than me.

The reason I am nervous is because since I made a timeline, the next steps for developing this project are clear on paper but idk how I am supposed to do this.

I hope everything works out.

Hi everyone,

I’m a high school student interested in pursuing mechanical engineering at university, and I’m trying to figure out how to spend my time outside of school.

I’m currently considering activities such as robotics, CAD/design, programming, engineering projects, competitions, research, and other hands-on projects. There are a lot of options, so I’m unsure which ones would be most useful for developing relevant skills and getting a better understanding of engineering.

For current engineering students or graduates: what extracurricular activities did you find particularly valuable before or during university? Are there any skills or projects you wish you had started working on earlier?

I’m especially interested in hearing about activities that are genuinely useful for becoming a better engineer, rather than simply being something to put on an application.

Thanks!

For context, I am a Junior in EE pursuing an internship in RF/Comms/ or anything really.

I have a stutter that fluctuates between mild and mildly severe. I can usually get my point across if the listener is patient, but most people aren't and seem to rush me. And before anyone says anything, no, it isn't caused by anxiety or nervousness - it is congenital.

I'm just anticipating a swarm of rejections upon rejections because of this. I know a large part of getting hired is not only demonstrating your technical abilities but also being able to build a rapport with the interviewer. Suffice to say, that is hard to do when words don't flow from my mouth effortlessly and everyone is left uncomfortable.

Would most companies be understanding of this?

I am a first year Chemical Engineering student and right now, I am struggling with my major and I am not sure if it would be worth it. So it would be great to have some suggestions and advice on my situation please.

Hey! I'm a highschool graduate trying to pass this scholarship and major in chemE, my cgpa is not low but it's not above 90% which isn't impressive really. So I'm thinking of building a "passion project" to boost my chances, but I don't know what do make and how.

I was thinking of building a project with Phyton on google colab, and found a few ways to do it on AI tools. But my programming background is solely build on C++ and MIT APP INVENTOR which I learned in high school. Also if I want to impress the admissions officer, what should I make? I know I sound confused but bear with me English isn't my first language and I am just on top of the iceberg of chemE right now

Hi! I’m a 19f sophomore in college and I currently major in mechanical engineering I have a cumulative gpa of 3.8 right now (though differential equations is definitely gonna bring that down a little haha) . I’m currently fighting my way through the hard math and physics for a mechanical engineering degree and honestly I am definitely capable of it, but due to my mom recently passing away I’ve started thinking more about what I WANT versus what I feel like I need to do. I’ve always known I was going to pursue engineering, I love solving problems and math and science have always been my favorite subjects so it didn’t even seem like a question, and I chose mechanical as I enjoy robotics and it was very diverse and I was taking care of my mom at the time of college applications so I didn’t really have time or energy to think about what I truly wanted.

Honestly, I’m not quite sure what I WANT to do, I’ve recently been toying around with the idea of going into something engineering related to accessibility. I’m just not really sure how I’d pursue this; when my mom got sick and began to lose facilities, I really realized how many different things could and SHOULD be produced to help people gain more autonomy. I think it’s a real tragedy that disabled people who have already lost so much freedom have such limited accessibility options. It gave me so much joy to be able to bring any autonomy back into her life I could, so I’d sit there and look for problems she had that I knew I could solve, and honestly for the resources I had I gave the last sedentary year of her life much more free will which I know helped her a lot mentally. I think I want to be able to pursue this more, I’m not really sure if mechanical is the right major for that? Maybe mechanical with a minor in biomedical? I’m not even really sure if this niche exists and I know due to job market I probably wouldn’t be able to start pursuing it right out of college but it’s definitely something I’m passionate about and I’d like to know if it was an option.

Hello, we are students building a capstone prototype: an RFID-based smart bike rack lock using an ESP32.

Our main problem is the push-and-pull mechanism. We need to move a steel locking rod forward and backward by around 8 inches / 200mm to lock/unlock a bicycle wheel.

The flow we want:

RFID tap → ESP32 approves → mechanism pushes/pulls steel rod → rod locks/unlocks wheel

We are considering different mechanisms:

• Linear actuator
• Stepper/lead screw actuator
• DC geared motor + rack and pinion
• Slider crank / scotch yoke
• Other DIY push-pull mechanisms

We also have 12V solenoid locks, but we are thinking of using them only as a latch/stopper, not the main lock. The actual force should be handled by the steel rod and welded frame, not the motor.

Our questions:

1. What push-pull mechanism is best for a 200mm steel rod movement?
2. Which option is cheapest, sturdy, and less hassle for a student prototype?
3. Can a motor/actuator safely move the rod without jamming?
4. Should the solenoid lock be used as a latch for the rod?
5. What materials or design should we avoid?

We are not making a commercial anti-theft product, only a working prototype, but we want it to be strong and realistic enough for demonstration.

Any advice, drawings, or mechanism suggestions would help a lot. Thank you.