Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Engineering career
- Thread starter Lammchop93
- Start date
I forgot to mention all the pocket protectors and black horn rimmed glasses too
Oh right. I forgot to tell the original poster.
You can't be a good engineer without a pocket protector.
I'm interested, let's take a poll.
For those engineers that have graduated, when was the last time you sat down and derrived a calculus equation from a problem you've been working on? Then used calculus to solve that equation?
For those engineers that have graduated, when was the last time you sat down and derrived a calculus equation from a problem you've been working on? Then used calculus to solve that equation?
My degree is in Computer Engineering.
I've been out of school for 12 years.
I spent the first 6 years working as a design engineer on the Pentium 4 at Intel.
I've spent the past 6 working as an Electrical Engineer.
...it's been at least 14 years since I actually, really, used calculus.
Sure I've solved some integrals, or pulled some equations out and solved them... but real, derivation and solution of calculus based problems? Not since probably my second or third year of school.
Dude! I just got out in April of last year, after 10 years as an Aviation Electronics Technician, and am starting college this fall for my Electronics Engineering degree. Small world!
To the OP: NEETs modules helped me advance very quickly, loads of good information in them. Also worth mentioning that the military has several programs to put you through school, and they're always looking for people. Talk to a recruiter or two, talk to friends and family, it's really not a bad career starter.
For Electrical Engineering, classes like Chemistry, Physics, Fluid Dynamics, Thermodynamics are part of the curriculum. But, they really don't apply to the major. When I took EE, I had to take these classes, but they were not at a level as they would be for Chemical Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, or other engineering degrees.
The math builds on itself as you go and can get pretty intense. Algrebra, Trigonometry, Calculus (I, II, and III), Linear Equations, Differential Equations, Statistics, and so on. Fourier Transforms are really fun animals in the math world
. When you get into Electromagnetics, it seems you use it all.No kidding! Were you I-level or O-level? Where were you stationed? I was West Coast the whole time myself, Lemoore and Pt. Mugu, with cruises on the Stennis and Connie.
This morning. Total power consumption, in kWh, is the integral, with respect to time, of power, in kW. Not that hard, really.
Ty, just because we do not deriive equations or develop proofs every day does not mean we do not use higher math. I might have incorporated these equations into a spread sheet that I custom wrote to expedite my work. Just becasue I do not re-write the spreadsheet every morning before I use it does not diminish it's usefulness.
Now did you really do the integration, or did you just feed it into a computer to numerically estimate it?
The latter I do. The former, never.
I have one question about this. I cannot actualyl join the military becuase I am a diabetic and have other physical problems, so I can't do much there, but I want to work somehwere that contributes to the Military. Would talkign to a recruiter still help with this?
Sounds like you want to do what I am doing. Personally, I found Thermodynamics to be the single most valuable course in my college education, despite my emphases on electronics, control theory and programming. Point is, its hard to predict while you are in school what you will need the most later on in the work world. So learn everything and don't blow off any of the sciences, or English for that matter.
One thing is for sure - as an engineer you'll be able to afford bass gear!
One thing is for sure - as an engineer you'll be able to afford bass gear!
I've done it both ways, it depends on a few factors, like what data I have for power usage, whether the customer already has an estimate for power usage as a function or not, and how soon the customer needs it.
Today, I turned real power usage data into total power consumption, in Excel. But I also created a pair of formulas to estimate both power usage and power consumption as a function of time, to project cost savings.
It's not that hard, it's just calculus. At least differentual equations have a modicum of difficulty to them, calculus, even multivariable calculus is pretty easy once you learn it.
I have one question about this. I cannot actualyl join the military becuase I am a diabetic and have other physical problems, so I can't do much there, but I want to work somehwere that contributes to the Military. Would talkign to a recruiter still help with this?
You can work for a Department of Defense contractor, so long as you're a US Citizen; You'll have to get security clearance to work there. But they don't give out scholarships like the military does, they're just companies that happen to produce military products.
It can be interesting work, but projects take years and years to complete, and the DoD always wants you to document the hell out of everything.
Hm, sitting writing is not my cup of tea. I can do it, but I'd much rather prefer to be out doing something with my hands.
It's a misconception that calculus is just about deriving equations. My neighbor teaches high school calculus and physics. He uses modeling software alongside the traditional equation based curriculum. I typically use numerical or symbolic math software to work with equations, unless they are relatively simple. Lately I have been working on a numerical model of electrical and mechanical noise in a complex system under development. If I am right about a hunch that I am following, my work will result in either higher performance or lower costs in a market where there is steep competition.
Now I will have to admit something. I have an engineering job title, but I am as much of a scientist as an engineer, so my perspective might be a bit different. My education is in math and physics. I studied these subjects because they are fun, regardless of whether they would lead to lucrative employment -- musicians, does this sound familiar? I am deeply interested in understanding how things work at a fundamental level. I also want to work in multidisciplinary areas that are not covered by mainstream engineering tools, but which are fertile grounds for innovation.
Fluency in math lets me solve a lot of problems in my head. This gives me a leg up in management meetings and brainstorming sessions, because I can quickly give a quantitative estimate of the merit of an idea. Having to model something just to know if an idea is worth pursuing can be pretty time consuming.
As I've said before, not every engineer uses math. Like Barbie said, "Math is hard." But I think there will always be plenty of engineers worldwide who are willing to do the hard work for us.
This discussion has parallels with threads about whether bassists should learn reading & theory.
Hm, sitting writing is not my cup of tea. I can do it, but I'd much rather prefer to be out doing something with my hands.
Then you don't want to do DoD work. It's seriously 3 years in an office, designing and documenting, and 1 week on site, demonstrating. The work can be very interesting, but extremely tedious.
Hm, sitting writing is not my cup of tea. I can do it, but I'd much rather prefer to be out doing something with my hands.
There's always research. It usually takes a bit more education (perhaps PhD instead of MS) but you can be a lot closer the hands-on stuff if that's what you enjoy.
There's also science.
