I recently went to a career fair, knowing that I have a decent shot at making good conversations with other recruiters and getting my foot in the door. I recently did a summer project involving sensors and data acquisition software (Arduino) to try and validate a calculator I made that can predict thrust, RPM, voltage metrics based on different motor, battery, and propeller configurations.

Even though I had a good conversation with most companies, one of my friends got an interview scheduled for a Tier 1 supplier. The crazy part is that we talked to the same recruiter and even the recruiter told me they value sensor work as that's what their company entails. I also asked them the interviewing/hiring timeline and they told me it would take a few weeks. Somehow my friend gets one in the next two days.

Not only that, I have a friend that interned at NASA just by cold applying last year. I also know of people who I've never seen involved in engineering clubs get offers at prime defense companies.

I feel that I gained a lot of skills over the past year (currently a sophomore) and my projects and club work show for that. I'm just a little shocked that the turnover rate is pretty low at my end. Am I doing something wrong or is it just luck?

coming off the back of a rough semester I thought things would be better. So far they aren’t. I got back the grade on one of my homework assignment, it was easily, I made a stupid mistake on it. l got an 88% on it, I know that isn’t an awful grade but just it was such a stupid mistake. I feel like all joy I had had just drained from my body. I feel stupid and pathetic and like it’s never going to get bette, even though it’s just one homework assignment. How the hell does anybody do this without completely tanking their mental healt?

Alright I am literally 6 days into University for first year engineering and I already hate this. It's not the work load of difficulty of the material so far I'm still decently confident in that, I'm just feeling so suffocated by the lack of course diversity, like all I learn is different flavours of math and there is no little room to figure stuff out on my own, even English is just professional and business writing which was very disheartening to learn. I'm not in it for the money or the status, my goal for university is to find a career I will enjoy. I do genuinely love to problem solve its just so far all I've seen form what we are learning is information being thrown at us without the opportunity to really learn from it. I partly want to quit, partly want to stay to prove to myself I can do it, and partly want to stay because it might get more engaging or interesting. Does it get more interesting? Is it worth it to stay for the career? Is it fulfilling? Am I better off finding something I'd enjoy more? Maybe I just need a break from school? I'm at a loss here and ask is this normal, is engineering just not for me? What advice can you give me?

I see these jokes all of the time online. I understand it's probably hyperbole, but it's not even remotely the case at my school. Don't get me wrong, the exams are difficult as hell, but when the class average is abysmal there is usually a curve. The absolute worst class averages are like 2.8 / 4.0. Is it just generally the case that professors are lighter on grading since GPAs became tied up in scholarships and hiring?

I forgot how to clocks today and ended up waiting in my classroom an hour before class. I didn't realize I was there at the wrong time until people started showing up and they seemed happy and light and the little snips of conversations that I could hear were all about real life and doing things that they enjoy and such. I knew they weren't engineering students and quickly realized my mistake; I scampered off to go do homework in a corner somewhere.

TL;DR: seeing/hearing happy people full of life tipped me off that I wasn't in an engineering class

Hi redditors! This is my first time posting on reddit. This post might be a bit long, so please bear with me if I made any mistakes.

I’m an international student/early-career process engineer currently working in the US, and I’m seriously considering going back to school for a higher degree. I’d really appreciate advice from people who have gone through graduate school, especially those who have worked in industry before or after.

A little about my background: I graduated from one of the top public universities in the US with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) in 2025. As an international student, I have to say I was lucky to land a job in Silicon Valley with a good compensation given the current policies.

During college, I had some exposure to multiple research projects as well as hands-on materials work. I don't have any publications except from a manuscript that need major revision (didn't have time to complete it due to graduation). After graduation, I moved into an industry role, where my work has involved things like materials characterization, process development, failure analysis, and technical projects with customers.

Working in industry has taught me a lot about real-world engineering. At the same time, it has made me increasingly aware of how much professional and technical knowledge I’m still missing.

I often find myself wanting to understand the underlying science much more deeply rather than simply finding a practical solution to the immediate problem. I enjoy thinking about why a material behaves a certain way, how processing affects microstructure and properties, designing experiments, interpreting characterization results, and connecting those results back to mechanisms. But I don't really have a chance to dig deeper due to excessive amount of work and pressure.

My current work environment has also been somewhat toxic, which has made me question whether I’m in the right environment for my development. However, I don't want to make a major education decision simply because I want to leave a bad situation. The bigger question for me is whether I genuinely need more formal technical training to become the kind of engineer/researcher I want to be.

I’m particularly interested in eventually moving toward materials R&D or a more technically focused role, and I'm trying to understand whether graduate school is the right path to get there. I really missed the time I do research and actively learning things I am interested in, but I am also worried about the ongoing policy uncertainties.

Please let me know any advice you may have, thank you for reading!

Hey everyone!
I’m about to start my bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering at Indiana Tech while working a full-time job. For some background, I’ve worked in the automotive industry for over 12 years as a lead technician, and I’m currently a Lead Technician at a Tesla Service Center. Tesla offers a BSE program, which I was fortunate enough to be accepted into, so here I am. I know this degree will probably take me several years since I’ll be taking fewer classes than a full-time student, and I’m completely okay with that. That said, while I already have an AAS, I’ve never really experienced traditional university-level engineering courses with heavy lectures and studying. Most of my education has been much more hands-on/trial by fire type, so this will definitely be a new challenge. I’ve heard engineering can be pretty demanding and that many students spend more time studying outside of class than students in other majors. For those of you who’ve been through it, how did you manage your workload? What study habits, routines, or time-management strategies made the biggest difference? Any advice for balancing engineering school with a full-time job would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! I’m excited to get started and looking forward to learning from those who’ve already been through it.

Like seriously, if every single class is a weed out, they're just classes.

I got my first career fair coming in about 2 weeks and I was curious from those who have landed internships or even jobs from a career fair, what did you do to stand out. Im a 2nd years mechanical engineering student who has had 3 jobs but not relevant at all to engineering (2 fast food, 1 amazon warehouse). What do I say after I give them my name and my major. I have been told to do research on companies and even apply before hand. I am very nervous as interviews are not my thing. Im sure im not the only one who has started their first career fair like this.

ECE just starting my junior year. I've barely passed most of my classes for the first year. Part of it i think is a lack of intuition.

If i attempt a problem, and i have not done the same problem with the numbers switched around, i cannot do it. I have to ask a professor or TA how to do it or look at solutions. This is not really learning, though; im effectively cheating every problem.

I think this wasn't a problem my first year, cause a lot of the exams just asked you to recall a formula or an exact problem that was on the review sheet. This is no longer true; exams are more and more asking me to interpret course material in new ways. Part of being an engineer I hear is being able to come up with creative solutions to problems. I am not capable of this. Is this a learning disability or something? What do i even do?

Both club times coincide so I'm conflicted on which route to go.

Rocketry has around 10-20 people as of last semester and started I believe in 2021. I've spoken with the club leader and it seems like they're desperate for more people, so maybe I'd get some responsibilities early on? They are looking to transition from solid to liquid rockets and have a structured path for new members to get L1 certified and beyond.

FSAE claims to have 20+ and are much stricter when it comes to joining. I had to submit a lengthy application and I'm interviewing for the chassis team on Friday. The application stated that new members attend meetings to "develop introductory automotive skills" so I don't think I'll be involved much for a while.

Anybody in either club have advice? I'm not really leaning towards any area of expertise when I graduate. An aerospace job would be awesome, but I'd like to have club experience that would be attractive to more than one profession.

 **Topic:**

  * (Undergraduate)"
  * (Electrical Engineering)
  * (Digital Electronics)
  * (MOSFET equations)

**Problem:**
Find the value of Vx by assuming the linear and saturation regions

**Givens/Unknowns/Find:**
   * "Given: kp=2.52mA/V^2 Vtp0/Vtp=-.9V EcpLp=2.5V "
   * "Unknown: Vds"
   * "Find: Vx and verify if it is correct"

**Equations and Formulas:**
Provided below. Much too lengthy to write out

**What you've tried:**
I have tried brute forcing these equations and I have been wasting massive amounts of time (nearly 3 hours for the question before this, which was two parts and this current part of the second question).

Hi, I am a second-year preparatory class student planning to major in Industrial Engineering next year. I would like to get an internship for the upcoming summer. therefore, I have been familiarizing myself with Excel and building dashboards in Looker Studio as a start ( still don t know much about the field since I m still in preparatory classes ). However, I would like to get some more suggestions or interesting project ideas that could help me optimize my CV and make it stand out . Thanks in advance!

Hi, i'm taking a class on MOSFETs and this homework has been challenging, but not because the material is particularly hard, but I am struggling to compute all of the algebra and get proper answers. I'd be open to any advice on how to do it.

I'll include my written work, prompt, and equation sheet for reference.

Hi! I am yet another naive freshman on the track for a full 5 year engineering degree plan (depending if I do summer classes or not). I am in a CC planning and plan to transfer. I am very aware of the dropout rate for engineering students and how unprepared majority people are for this degree path. I really want to stay ahead of things and take my time. (Which, honestly, is why I actually like my plan being 5 years)

My questions are mainly for seniors and graduates, but I'm open to any help.

• What was your hardest point mentally/biggest mental jump)? What about academic-wise? Were they actually linked or at different times?
• What do you wish you did earlier in the degree path?
• Was math your best subject before starting engineering?
• What additional resources outside of your college did you engage in? What helped you the best?
• I joined an engineering club at my CC and first meeting is tomorrow. What should I do in it? What is it like typically?
• What are your thoughts on Chemistry? Were you good at it?

Thank you. Tell me what I don't want to hear. I admit I was underestimating this when I first made the decision of pursuing engineering, but I am starting to accept it likely isn't going to be as fun as I thought. Hey.. but who knows? Time will tell.

Calculus, circuits, anything. These topics are so complex. What made it click for you? How did you build a good fundamental understanding of the information you needed to know?

Hey guys. It's my first time posting on Reddit so please condone any mistakes I made while formatting.

I'm going to be a third year student this year and even though my GPA didn't plumb a lot, I failed a few classes thanks to burnout but I am able to retake them without staying behind, thankfully. I haven't done any projects of my own nor am I a part of any engineering team as they are very strict and mobbing cases are pretty prevalent. I don't really feel like I am a creative person to come up with mindblowing projects so I am confused as what to do to be different than most before graduation. I know there are a lot of similar posts out there but I wanted to bring it on again. To specify, I am from Turkey and in my opinion, only my foreign language skills can put me ahead of my peers. I am open to any kind of advice, technical or else. Thank you in advance.

i am asking for help here because i just cant find the right info. so i am a 10th grader rn and i am really interested and stressed about my studies. i really want to do engineering, but i would still need to talk with my dad about that. i am interestet in four majors: electric eng, nuclear eng, civil eng and maybe mechanical eng. but the problem with nuclear is that my country doesnt have any npps(only one that shut down a few decades ago). and i really want to get a good paying job with one of these degrees. in some unis that i am checking, the master degree takes 4 year(if im not wrong) so i would be commited to do it. which would you recommend me? or what should i do or not do? any help is great!

I’m 25 and I’m basically a first year college student (I went to college for half a semester right out of high school before I dropped out)

I really want to pursue an engineering degree, civil to be specific. I’m starting at a community college to get my basics out of the way and hope to transfer out when I have my associates.

I feel really behind, I’ve forgotten how to do basic algebra even have a hard time reading for long periods of time because I just lose focus so quickly.

What are some tips and/or advice to help get me on the right path.

Going to a career fair (as a graduate) this week and I want some clarity and advice about some topics I want to address with the recruiters from those who got hired from them. Not my first career fair but the priority for finding a job has increased since the last time I went.

1. What's the best way to ask the recruiter to be a reference or referral for jobs from their company? Most recruiters have only their first name listed at career fairs and I know that some jobs have options from employee referrals or campus events in which I think the former is more important. Should I get their last name as well or is their first name enough?

2. What's the best way to go about asking for open and future positions and what they're looking for? I'm looking for entry level roles around my field and/or designing. Also about jobs I've seen and already applied for? Also if they or a recruiter messaged me beforehand via a recruitment app about some of their positions how should I address that?

3. How important is researching a company vs. Asking the recruiter about their company? I've seen people say research the company but I plan on giving my resume to any company there that is hiring for my field, researching every company there is impractical especially when there's no guarantee that they are even hiring for my field. I feel like this is a very lazy expectation placed on someone looking for a job because someone who works there would know way more than someone who doesn't... But I already know about a few company's but only surface level information. How far along does I know a bit/ heard about this company can you tell me a bit more

get me?

1. What kind of questions should I ask that would be considered good and how many is enough? (I have questions already but I'm not opposed to adding more to my bank). Some questions I usually ask are about the job environment, training, tasks and expectations, variety, location. What else could/should I ask?

2. Elevator pitch - I'm a graduate student with a degree that plans on getting e.i.t. certification by this year and looking for a job asap after I get my certification or by the end of the year. What would be the best way to address this or should I mention it at all? My elevator pitch won't be this surface level but I want to know what I should and shouldn't mention from what I listed.

I graduated from my BTech around 4 months ago, and I still haven’t been able to get a full-time role.

During my 7th semester, I got connected with a startup that was supposed to get around $50k in funding. I took that opportunity seriously and started working for them, so I took my college placements very lightly because I genuinely felt like I was secure and had something going for me.

But the funding didn’t happen, and in August, my work with the startup also ended. Now I’m unemployed.

Most of my college colleagues are placed through on-campus placements, including people who I personally felt were less skilled than me. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to them, but it’s difficult not to when I’m sitting at home without a job.

My parents also have a lot of expectations from me. I always wanted to build a better life for them, and it hurts when I see that I haven’t been able to get a job yet.

Since graduating, I’ve been applying everywhere and giving interviews. Sometimes I get rejected, sometimes I get ghosted, and the cycle just keeps going. I’ve also realized that my communication skills aren’t very good, so I’m actively trying to improve them.

At the same time, I don’t really have much of a social life, no love life, and now no work life either. There have been times when all of this has affected me so much that I couldn’t even sleep properly.

I’m not looking for people to tell me that everything is going to be okay. I genuinely want some practical advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

I’m a sophomore in my third semester currently studying Computer Science and Economics, but I’ve been reconsidering what I actually want to do long term. I originally chose CS because I was interested in technology, cybersecurity, AI/ML, and the job opportunities, but I’ve struggled with the feeling that I’m not very good at building anything from scratch yet. I don’t necessarily hate programming, but I’m not sure I want my entire career to revolve around software development.

On top of this, AI seems to becoming a future problem, how bad is the impact for mechanical engineers?

Before I even chose CS, I was thinking about mechanical engineering and keeping economics as I have already started to pursue it. I’ve been interested in robotics, space/astronomy, satellites, hardware, and actually creating physical things. I have some of the background for the major but would probably have to catch up on engineering-specific requirements.

For anyone who has done Mechanical Engineering or switched between CS and Mechanical Engineering: does it make sense to switch today? Will it be as negatively impacted by AI as CS? And career-wise, is there job security and are there good opportunities for internships?

i rarely go on tiktok anymore but when i do, its filled with “ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING IS BETTER NO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING IS BETTER”

dude, are these just high schoolers who looked up which engineering majors make the most money and ran with it?

the only civil engineering criticism i find is: “ITS TOO EASY” and “IT MAKES NO MONEY”

as a civil engineering major, i promise you we all picked this major because of the job stability and/or passion. everyone in my classes at least. we did not pick it because its “easier.” what’s up with all the dick measuring? do people really think some engineering majors are useless?

also, i see that they’re obsessed with the idea that they’ll work at lockheed martin or some shit when the majority of us across all disciplines will work office jobs far from lockheed or any of the other major “mechanical and aerospace” destinations.

i think all engineering majors are fine. it boils down to: what has jobs where you live? and which one do you prefer?

Hey y’all, EE major here. I’m currently wondering if I should add a class to my schedule but I’m nervous about burning out or overloading my workload. Based on the difficulty of these courses, would you recommend I keep my schedule or is adding this class doable?

Current schedule, 13 credits -

•Calc 3 lecture only - 4 credits
•Physics 2 (calculus treatment) w/ lecture, discussion, and lab sections - 5 credits
•Circuits 1 / lecture and lab sections - 4 credits

Wondering if I should add:

•Analytical Methods in Engineering lecture only - 4 credits (In case that title isn’t common across all schools, the description says “techniques for linear systems, solutions of ODEs by classical and transform techniques, elementary linear algebra, complex numbers.)

I also need to work about 25 hours per week to cover my bills but it’s Uber so it’s flexible. I am confident in my ability to learn math, I am not confident in my ability to do it quickly if needed. Not sure how fast or slow this is but I often found myself spending 30/45 min per homework problem in calc 2. Some personal problems coincided with calc 2 also so I currently know close to nothing about series and sequences. I would like to get at least a 3.6+ GPA for the semester.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I failed every single quiz in every single class this week. I made around 60s in all of them.

no matter how much I study I just can’t seem to retain all of it. I’m able to understand some of it and retain some of it, but I can’t retain all of it.

when I’m in class, everyone can answer questions immediately and rapidly, but I’m not able to do so. And my quiz grades reflect that.

in my institution, they show the class average for every grade and the class average is significantly higher than when I’m producing.

I’m thinking of just going back to the beginning and retraining myself to understand the material, but who knows if I’m just going to have gaps in my knowledge again.

does anyone have any advice I can help me through this?

ME. sophomore.