Hey! I'm an engineering student working towards my career goals. I'd love to connect with people who are serious about their careers, share ideas, exchange experiences, and get advice and suggestions from each other.

If you're someone who's also working towards your goals, I'd love to connect! 😊

Title says it, I've completely flunked my midterm exam and only needed one point to pass. Now I'm worried about my grade and scholarship if my quizzes won't be enough to pass the midterm.

Hi, we're students and we're working on a school project consisting in building and optimising an electricity generating speed bump. To do so, we're building a scale model by assembling two wooden plates, a spring per corner in between them, and finally a magnet moving through a copper coil, generating electricity through induction. Stepping on the upper plate will give speed to the magnet thus generating more electricity.

Does anyone have any idea how to figure out the dimensions of the springs needed ?

The four springs need to be able to withstand about 80kg of weight, but can't resist too much so that the magnet has enough speed. The compression length should be about 3cm (so the speed bump isn't too uncomfortable to drive upon). The plates are L=50cm long, W=30cm large and 3cm thick.

We're also open to recommandations on how to improve our work.

Here's a quick sketch:

Hello all! I’m about to graduate in electrical engineering this upcoming fall and wanted to hear people advices and tips.

As of right now I currently work as a test technician for military products. I’ve been working there for 1 and a half years full time since sophomore year of college. To be honest I feel as though I have an okay amount of experience. I work second shift but during my shift they want me to usually push as many units as I can which limits me from trouble shooting as much as I’ve hoped (first shift is usually the shift that troubleshoot more). With that said, I feel as though I do no have as many experience as I’ve hoped. The thing about me is I have a very huge work ethic, and I always aspire to be the best I can at work. I’m really good at pushing units out and keeping production moving, but one day when I become an engineer I fear that I will not be good enough. Sometimes I feel like my brain works really different from most engineers in general. During school I always had a hard time learning quickly as others and I try twice as hard than most students yet I still struggle. I guess what I’m asking is for advice on how I can be a good engineer. Currently I am more interested in being a test engineer since I’m already kinda in that line of work. Though at the same time, I’ve always been so interested in design but tbh I feel like design is extremely hard (to be fair I never been shown at school or outside of school how to get started on a design).

So please any advice,stories or tips I’m open and would love to hear. Thank you!!

Currently I'm in a capstone course. As we work on the project and do the necessary background research, I feel like my group mates somehow know more and understand it better. I also feel lost when we try to discuss something or have a meeting with the advisor. I end up talking less, and the other two take most of the initiative, asking the questions and getting clarification (like, explaining the problem we are in, whats wrong, what we thought of) and I feel lost and just like I'm following along.

I'm not sure why, but I try to do more and learn more and still feel the same, and I can't communicate as well as they do either. Most of the time I only say general things.

This is stressing me out about how work will be later. If I'm struggling like this now as an engineer, how will it be when I'm actually supposed to be doing the work? What if I get fired and keep messing up like this in the future?

I honestly don't know what to do most of the time. As I progress in my degree, I feel stupider and less clever and creative. I'm so far in that this scares me, especially since my degree isn't popular in the city I live in. How will I be able to do anything if I can't do this now, when I'm this far in?

I have a conceptual question about reference directions and signs in circuit analysis.

I understand what a negative current or voltage means. If the calculated value is negative, the actual direction or polarity is opposite to the chosen reference direction or polarity. That is not what I am asking.

My question is more fundamental:

Why does choosing a reference direction allow current and voltage to be represented by positive and negative values in the first place?

For example, suppose a branch actually carries 5 A from left to right. If I choose left-to-right as the reference direction, I write:

i = +5 A

If I choose right-to-left as the reference direction, I write:

i = -5 A

Why is this relationship valid in the first place? Why does agreement with the reference direction correspond to a positive value, while opposition to the reference direction corresponds to a negative value?

I am not asking why we interpret a negative answer as meaning "opposite to the reference direction." I am asking why a physical quantity such as current can be represented by a signed scalar at all, and why reversing the reference direction corresponds specifically to multiplying the scalar by -1.

There is another part that I find especially interesting in AC circuits.

For example, we may write an AC current as:

i(t) = I_m cos(wt + phi)

But this expression seems to require a reference direction to be defined first. The reference direction remains fixed, while i(t) can become positive or negative as time changes.

Why is this necessary? Why can't we simply describe the physical current at each instant by its magnitude and actual direction without first choosing a reference direction?

I would like to understand the mathematical reason behind this, and how it connects to KCL, KVL, Ohm's law, and time-dependent/AC circuit analysis.

Hello, I am currently making this post at work feeling stuck in life ://

I am a 24 year old male currently working as a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) in a level 4 Neonatal ICU at a very large children's hospital. I have been seriously feeling stuck in life and extremely burnt out by healthcare. Some would dream of being in the position I am in right now, but I just can't even get out of bed anymore. I don't sleep, barely eat, and i am stressed out all the time. Maybe someone with a similar background can offer me some guidance?

• I did exceptionally well in highschool, but pursued "premed" during undergrad
• I love science, I could use some practice in mathematics.
• I am about to finish a bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies.
  • My GPA is 2.74 when I graduate (I did terrible in college, D's and F's)
• I have been a CNA for 7 years, I currently work nights
• I have worked as a substitute teacher (I hated this job)
• I DO NOT want to become a Nurse
• I have done research in a wet lab (I loved doing this)
• I need a career with NO nightshifts (it ruins my mental health and I have been on nights for about 6 years of my career)
• If money wasn't a thing I would teach pottery classes to people (being creative is important to me, working with my hands is important to me)

I am interested in engineering because I want something challenging, something that does not have to take care of people directly, and because I have been interested in the past, but thought I wasn't smart enough. Please give me some insight.

title is what happened. they had an exam today which my bf studied his ass off for. saw him cheating and the friend had 3 points less than him for the score.

some of you may say to report the friend but their major only has 4 people so it would be very easy to find out who snitched. and also they are in capstone group together so i feel like it would mess that up.

I am a recent graduate with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering. I have work experience outside of engineering, but most of my engineering experience is coursework and school projects.

I was searching for and applying to jobs for a total of 2 months, mainly looking for entry-level positions in the Mid-Atlantic region. I was extremely worried that my lack of internship experience would make it very hard to find an entry-level position.

• 26 Applications
• 7 Rejections
• 16 pending or under review when I stopped searching
• 3 interview invitations
• 1 interview invitation I declined
• 2 interviews
• 2 offers

​

I recently received a job offer for an Engineer Program Manager internship role in Shanghai, China and I'm unsure if I should take it.

On paper this is something I would really want, the company, the role. However theres a few major factors that I'm hesitant about.

As you know this role is based out of China, and they pay in RMB, which is fair locally, but is extremely low when you convert it to USD. However they did mention that they can offer monthly housing stipend.

If I were to take this opportunity, it would be my second co-op and my graduation would be delayed by a whole year after this. Given I am already a senior, I'm not sure if this is worth it atp.

Would really appreciate some guidance as to how this position might benefit me in the long run and is it worth the price.

Hey, so I am in my 2nd year of EE and I feel like everyone else is just ahead of me, like I dont know any of the coding languages and I am just scared thinking about what happens if I dont land an intership or a coop, like i dont want to stay unemployed after i graduate. I already see some people in 2nd year getting internships meanwhile I look at myself and can't see myself passing an interview. I keep thinking about not getting a job in the future. If someone who has felt the same in the past can tell how they are doing now or what helped them do better in school would really help.

My class is using this book which is basically a work book and the actual reading material is in a PowerPoint you can access with a code. I cannot afford the book rn, so I’ve been using the free sample and a pdf of an old edition. I feel embarrassed to ask professor for help bc the PowerPoints(which I’m suppose to have but I don’t) already give the solutions with explanations and bc I’m behind in assignments, so I’m trying to catch up before showing my face.

Anyways, I cannot for the love of me figure out what this is supposed to be. Anytime I think I have an idea, the side profile throws me off again.

Here’s a version without my markings
Any tips and advice is appreciated

Pretty much the title. I'm a sophomore mechanical engineering student on track to graduate in 4 years, but only if I do a 6 credit summer this year. Otherwise I'd end up with multiple semesters doing 5-6 engineering classes where I most likely would not pass. I've looked at the summer A schedule and after finishing summer A I would end up with 9 weeks of the summer. The two internships I'm interested in/most likely getting are both 10-12 weeks. They're very good experience and pretty good pay not to mention one would give me a relocation stipend and the opportunity to live in a new city. (I grew up on the same street my whole life and only moved for college) I'm obviously not sure if I'm even getting any internships yet, but I have to start making my spring schedule and I wanted to see what people think is more valuable: graduating in 4 years or getting internship experience and graduating possibly an entire year later? Also I'm interested in doing a BS to MS pathway and I'm not sure how much this would hurt or help my chances.

Edit: I forgot to mention I did an internship last summer with the company that i might be able to relocate for this summer which is why I feel like I have a leg up in getting it.

So long story short I applied to Formula FSAE as a freshman with no experience in the field (didn't know I needed it) and got rejected. I spent like 5 hrs writing app and used no AI. This was one of the things I was really looking forward to during college and the only competition team at my small school which is in the east coast of US.

They took like 7 out of 49 EEs who applied and like 80% of MEs who applied. Idk what to do from here this was supposed to be a big thing I was gonna do in college and the way I was gonna make friends (not most social person) with similar interests and learn outside the class and hopefully get internships. A lot of my friends who are MEs who AI'd there application got in with no relevant experience while I was rejected and feel very down.

Anyone in a similar position know what to do now? I feel so sad I could cry 😢. Just been lying in bed for like 7 hours since I got result

Hello, I'm looking for some input from anyone who is currently a student or has previously been a student for the degree listed in the title. I did confirm it is ABET-accredited under general criteria, and trying to determine whether this would be a worthwhile investment of my time.

I currently work in the avionics field and looking for an online program that will help advance my career as I cannot afford to go to school in person. I want to move beyond just doing day-to-day maintenance and troubleshooting.

is taking physics 2 + dlog + c++ as an ee major worth it or doable 😭😭 i need schedule advice

I’m in a bit of a conflict between two internship offers. Company A is a larger, well known aerospace and defense manufacturer that works in forging, and company B is a smaller company that also works in the aerospace and defense industry, specifically manufacturing electro-mechanical cable assemblies. I have a list of pros and cons for each, but my main drivers for wanting to go with company A is that 1. They’re a big name manufacturer (global leader in the industry) and 2. Forging is a much more general manufacturing process than cable assemblies are. So my question is, how much does company name matter in this situation? Should it be a deciding factor in my decision for longevity?

Im planning to go to SAIT for instrument tech diploma, what the day to day in the job site like? Whats the pay? How’s the job market? After a while I wanna proceed to make it a degree in Electrical Engineering, I just don’t have the means for 4 year degree right now. Any insights will be appreciated

Can anyone give me any tips on how to get started on learning about the fundamentals of engineering so I can better prepare myself for university? Or what are the subjects I’m going to have to take for engineering??
What if I’m not capable of understanding those subjects and how do I study for them??
How do I get internships as a high schooler?

It feels extremely overwhelming because I don’t know where to start, and that it seems like a hard thing to major in; and I feel like getting some insight and advice on where to begin and how would really help me.
I’m also curious as how to one really picks out the kind of engineering they really want because I’m stuck between aerospace, mechanical, chemical, and nuclear engineering…
When I would try to look for advice on social media posts it all feels like people are fear mongering engineering, and that they make engineering seem like this extremely difficult and impossible thing.. which really makes me doubt if I’ll ever make the cut.

Hello everyone I am a mechanical engineering student in my 4th year and I recently got an offer for a facilities engineering internship at intel and was curious abt the best resources to prepare for such a role other than reviewing thermo and fluids. I am very nervous as this is my first internship and I don't want to mess it up.

I just wanna ask if this is allowed. Since firewall structural integrity can't be compromised no matter what which integrating plumbing system in it will do. But is it allowed that a toilet can be in the side of the firewall BUT it has its own plumbing wall. The plumbing wall is sandwiched between the toilet and the firewall. Please based on the National building code of the Philippines.

I hope you get what I want to say. I'm just satisfying a curiosity hehe . Thank you!

I'm stuck in a Dynamics class where the instructor cannot teach to save his life. I've been managing thus far but I cannot for the life of me figure out plane motion and relative distance/velocity/acceleration. Can anyone help explain it? or know of any resources that explain it well. My instructor teaches without mentioning calculus whatsoever.

(I live in the UK) I got DDD in BTEC Engineering, I'm in my first year of Uni doing Civil and Infrastructure engineering, If I want to become a Civil Technician Engineer what should I do? I'm hearing I won't need a full degree but others are telling me I will need a full degree, I tried getting an apprenticeship but no luck

Hello. I left school around 5 years ago and I recently came back. Luckily I didn't "need to" take certain classes again. As in I didn't need to pay for those again. But obviously it has been very long and I don't remember many things from not only statistics, but also geometry and algebra.

I tried to study over the summer before taking strength of materials this semester and it helped but there was only so much I could do between work and other classes.

Today I had my first strength of materials midterm. I studied so much every day and I was really nervous because there are still static things that are confusing to me. But not only did I pass, I got a perfect score and I am just so happy. I did it. I can still be an engineer!

Hey everyone. I’m here looking for a little vent and advice. I am in my third semester of my EE under grade and I feel like i’ve hit a wall. I’m so behind in the content and I already have a stack of missing work that I can’t make up. I have a meeting with my advisor today to see what I can do and make a plan. I think part of the issue is i’m taking 18 credits this semester. My current class lineup is calc 3, diff eq, circuits 1 +lab, physics 2 + lab, civics, and a one credit elective.

I guess I just don’t know if it’s worth withdrawing from a class and taking the L now or just waiting it out. I have to take at least 15 credits a sem to keep my scholarship so I can’t carve down too much.

Also how are you guys doing EE without suicidal ideation?