Hey all, I'm looking at retraining for a different career. I have been a welder and auto tech, but my physical condition doesn't allow for that any more, basically, my low back is shot. I have difficulty standing for any real length of time (5 minutes can be too much sometimes) lifting is troubling, on a good day I can do 50# ok, on a bad day, I can hardly do it. Sitting for long periods can be an issue as well, if the chair or seat don't work for me. So what I am looking into is one of 3 things: Engineering, electrical or mechanical, or electrical tech, mainly towards like communications equipment. I don't mind computers, but not entirely sure that's where I want to go, but I do have some interest in communications technology, slowly working towards my amatuer radio license. I would like to hear from those of you out there doing it what you like, dislike about your field, and opinions whether I could pull it off with my back issues. Thanks!

 

As far as mechanical engineering goes, how familiar are you with materials? What I mean is, alot of ME work deals with properties of materials, so if you're not really interested in that, I'd stay away from it. On the other hand, you can get to work in a variety of environments (design, manufacture, research) so there's alot you can choose from depending on what type of work you'd like to do.

 

Well I can speak for the electrical engineering, Its can be a high paying career, only most employers only higher one, so you have to be at the top of your game. It includes a LOT of math and calculations, and depending on which way you choose to go, it could very indepth programming, in PLC's, CNC machinery,Fanuc drives. Or It could be that all you do is bid electrical jobs for construction Elec. which also includes a lot of math. A good job that requires the same calculations and math would be for the local power company, calculating transformer sizing, reading a grid finding where a power outage is, or as little as building a CT meter cabinet. Whatever its wide open depends on what you want.

 

I haven't gone into a lot of formal teachings on properties, but as a welder/fabricator, you have to learn some of it to be able to weld it up effectively. I have understanding of it, just not formally taught in the metallurgical sense.

 

Just a quicky from an EX-Engineering student. . .Engineering is boring as hell Crunching numbers all day long. . .oh whoopy freakin' do I swapped a bunch of credits over and now work as a CAD drafter. . .its not too bad, but its definately not "gotta go hang myself becuase I just calc'd the load bearing capacity of 1,000 beams in a office complex".

Oh yeah, make sure your math skillz are TOP notch if you do go engineering.

Just my personal opinion

 

yeah, the math will have to be relearned... been away from it long enough, that I will have to retake some of those classes. Math was one of my better classes in high school, but that was about 12 years ago... haven't used but basic algebra and such since, so I have to start over there. Hmm maybe drafting would be more the way to go, may have to check that out as well. But that is why I posted this, to get ideas where to go with things, and maybe redirect as necessary. Thanks for the input!

 

Ok, I guess I could phrase my question differently. Right now the project I'm working on has me reading weld procedures that require different materials. As an ME, you might go to work with this kind of stuff. With your welding background, you have a serious advantage in that department. So I guess what I meant was, could you see yourself looking at material properties and picking which ones to use for different applications?

The reason I ask is because most people (I was one of 'em) have the idea that they're going to get a degree in ME and work for Ford designing engines. So, when some people find out that a majority of they'll be working with is basic materials science, they don't like their job as much. I'm just trying to keep you from being sucked into that.

And formal MS classes are just another math class.
ex-Find the stress in a rod if the elasticity is X psi, the weight applied is 5400 lbs, and the rod is 1/2" in diameter.

Not exactly a chem class...

*edit-Now that you mention drafting, it sounds like that's something you might be more interested in. I was kind of curious when you asked about ME & EE, since they're not really similiar in the way the field work plays out.

 

I had a similar experience to Franken Truck's. Was attending a university and studying for an EE degree. A 4 year degree that everyone agreed took a minimum of 5 years AND you would not see an EE class till the 3rd year. I remember the day a guy 3.5 years ahead of me (in an elelctrical engineering program) came into the dorm all excited because "we get to use the o-scopes for the first time tomorrow!" I dropped out that term.

I did eventually end up at DeVry in Kansas City. Acreddited 4 year bachelor's program in electronics engineering technology. Complete in 3 years. Taking electronics classes from day 1 of term 1. World of difference. That was 15 years ago. I got a good position and have done pretty well for myself. As an electronics tech engineer, I get my hands on a lot of stuff, but no heavy lifting. It's been good for me, but I've had to travel for work. That doesn't bother me much 'cause I'm pretty much a gypsee.

 

On the travel part, just out to the field, be gone a few days to weeks at a time, but still typically home, or typically gone most of the time... I don't mind traveling, just would rather not be on the road ALL the time, but every so often isn't bad. I do like to be hands on, so perhaps full engineering isn't so much my place, but a bit below... I know that ME won't be going into full design right away, and absolute basic research has to be done, stresses and all that are necessary, but perhaps you are right, may not be what I want. I do well at designing and such, but I do it from experience in the field, not so much from knowing what the stresses really are, and how to plan for distortion and flex. Universities really aren't my thing either, was figuring on hitting the basics of it at a local community college before going on, and maybe not go on if I find my way at the mid point. But I sure do appreciate all of the input you all have been giving.

 

It sounds like tech school is what you would want to do. It's pretty much a hands-on application of the same material. I'm not exactly sure how the tech school curriculum works, but it would be interesting to get the hands-on learning at a tech school and the formal learning at a community/jr college. That's assuming the tech school doesn't give you the classroom knowledge part of it.

 

I did tech school for the auto/diesel, so I have that background already, but I can't physically do that work full time anymore, that's why I am moving on to something less physically demanding. The local comm.college has a program they call Industrial Technologies, which does cover the automtive repair, bothe mechanical and auto body, but they also have low level engineering tech as well. Here

 

http://www.eastcentral.edu/acad/depts/
http://www.eastcentral.edu/pre_eng/frames.html

Here's a school I think has a curriculum you might check out for ME Tech. Since you did the auto/diesel, you shouldn't need anymore tech training. This one has a pretty good curriculum for pre-engineering. The schedule I linked to is for a person starting with a Pre-Calc math class. Just using this school as an example, if you were to go here and weren't comfortable with your math skills, I would spend some time at the library brushing up on Algebra/Geometry/Trig rather than taking a class for it. The concepts aren't very hard to grasp, and it's not really worth the extra time & tuition you'll pay to formally take the classes.

I didn't find anything specifically for ME Tech, most of it was auto tech, which I guess is what you already had. Most schools CAD programs, so you may want to look more into that if you decide it's something you want to pursue.

 

Ok, I'm a electriacl engineer, that works in telecommunications, for a cellular phone company, probably the closest to communicantions tech I've seen posted yet.

1. Its not back breaking, BUT, I'm in the truck a lot. If you can't handle sitting in a truck for 12 to 15 thousand miles a month, then forget it.

2. Not every day, but occasionally, I do have to lift a few hundred pounds.

3. Often, I have to carry 60 pounds of tools and equipment up several flights of stairs to get to a roof top site, to work in cold weather, wind, snow, rain, ice, pigeon poop.

4. This is a rewarding job, you directly see how you affect the stats for a nationwide company. There are some saftey risks, 90% of the time its just riding around checking connectors, sweeping lines, watting out radios. The other 10% of the time can be frustrating and demanding.

If you can get into RF engineering, thats pretty much a sit down job, crunching numbers, deciding where a problem is, and where to build new sites. The electrical and mechanical end of communications is often in the field, and can be hard like I said, but most of the time its not. I make good money, probably 70,000 a year counting the free truck and gas. It is a hard field to get into. Unless you have a degree in Electronics, RF, or some serious military exp, then your pretty much out unless you can get in on the freinds and family program. Jobs easy to learn, I've been here a year, and know as much as guys who have been here for 5.

Good luck

 

The weather aspect is nothing new to me, having spent at least 20 years of my life on the farm... As long as the seat isn't too bad to sit in, seat time is no issue. I just logged over 2000 miles in one week recently in my truck pulling a horse trailer. The lifting at higher weights can be an issue, as I can't even really do that too well on demand, but if I had assistance, I could get it done perhaps. Stairs with no set time lenght could probably be done, productivity on the average job has become a bit of an issue. I can get the job done, just may not be as fast as some others in doing it. The trick I see is the job competition, looks like I would be at a disadvantage there. But I'm not adverse to lower level jobs, such as home satellite service and such.

 

My major is EE, but I'm really a systems engineer by trade (meaning I do electrical, mechanical, and sometimes hydraulic work, along with systems integration). I know many EE's who are hired because they are EE's and have demonstrated they can learn almost anything (from EM Fields, to Power theory, to circuit design and programming). Then they do very little EE work. I imagine the same goes for ME's.