sanitation engineering vs mechanical engineering vs electrical engineering

henry71

Hi, ive just finished secondary school and I want to become an engineer. I have an interest in fixing cars and changing the parts, but I have also have an interest in maybe wiring up homes and doing a bit of electrical work. My friend who is in recyling, also mentioned sanitation engineering to me which also sounds interesting.

What road should I go down? Im basically a hands on, dont mind getting a bit of dirt on my hands during work type of guy and I think engineering might be the field for me.

pljudge321

henry71 wrote: »

Hi, ive just finished secondary school and I want to become an engineer. I have an interest in fixing cars and changing the parts, but I have also have an interest in maybe wiring up homes and doing a bit of electrical work. My friend who is in recyling, also mentioned sanitation engineering to me which also sounds interesting.

What road should I go down? Im basically a hands on, dont mind getting a bit of dirt on my hands during work type of guy and I think engineering might be the field for me.

Sounds like you want to be an electrician rather than an engineer.

How are you at Maths, Physics etc?
What did you put on your CAO form?

henry71

pljudge321 wrote: »

Sounds like you want to be an electrician rather than an engineer.

Arent they not one and the same? Their trades do seem very close to each other.

henry71

RoverJames wrote: »

How are you at Maths, Physics etc?
What did you put on your CAO form?

Ive engineering down on the cao.

Offy

henry71 wrote: »

Arent they not one and the same? Their trades do seem very close to each other.

They are very different in a lot of respects. Engineers tend to design whereas trades tend to implement. Engineers do lots of maths, trades dont do a lot of maths. We design something and check it with maths to ensure it will work, trades take those designs from paper and make them physical. Theres a whole lot more to it than that but I think that gives a very basic description of the differences.

kilkennym

probably showing my own ignorance here but heres my 2 cents...


sanitation engineering = janitor

best pick one of the others...

pljudge321

I'm sure if you go to the electrical forum (it's hidden under rec -> home & garden) you could get an electrician to chime in.

An Electrical Engineering degree will touch on all of the following, some topics more in depth depending on your specialisation.

Analog Electronics/Circuit Theory
Digital Electronics
Electromagnetism
Micro-controllers
Electrical Machines (Transformers, DC/AC Motors)
Power Electronics
Power System Analysis/Design
Digital/Analogue Signal Processing
Control Theory & Systems Analysis
Maths, a good bit of it
Communication Systems/Theory
Programming

iColdFusion

I did electrical eng in CIT, about half the class made it to second year and the other half went to FAS to become sparkies.
I blame macgyver for tricking people into believing engineering was all super awesome practical applications when really its mostly theory and calculators.

iColdFusion

iColdFusion wrote: »

I did electrical eng in CIT, about half the class made it to second year and the other half went to FAS to become sparkies.
I blame macgyver for tricking people into believing engineering was all super awesome practical applications when really its mostly theory and calculators.

Elec Eng courses are dry as feck, anyone who reads the course info should realise that. I would think MacGyver was more of a Science man to be honest.

00MARTZ00

op you might want to check out a course run in DIT called electrical services engineering its probably the closest engineering course to an electrician trade. its also the type of course that you can get a job thats fairly hands on aswell. of course that is if you can get a job in the current climate! hope that helps a bit.

bren2001

If your looking to physically do the work then go do a trade.

If you want to design and oversee the work then become an Engineer. There is many options. My advice would be to do the omnibus in Trinity/UCD/DCU i.e. you do all they have to offer in first (all) and second (Trinity). DCU offer mechatronic engineering which is a cross between mechanical and electronic engineering (chips mainly).

langdang

henry71 wrote: »

Arent they not one and the same? Their trades do seem very close to each other.

Electricians make more than some engineers, probably make more than electronic engineers for many many years...
Plus you get to do foxers/nixers as a spark. Very little demand for electronic circuit design "on the side".

I also think your friend was winding you up with the "sanitation engineering" thing. If it does exist as a field then it's surely only a very limited aspect of Civil Engineering. There's probably loads of them that would jump at a "Sanitation Engineer" position at the moment...

If I had my time gain, I think I'd go for mechanical engineering, specialising in mechatronics maybe.

Daniel S

I love cars, someday I want to be an F1 engineer, or at least building cars. I'm doing MechEng in UL next year.

dvcireland

henry71 wrote: »

Hi, ive just finished secondary school and I want to become an engineer. I have an interest in fixing cars and changing the parts, but I have also have an interest in maybe wiring up homes and doing a bit of electrical work. My friend who is in recyling, also mentioned sanitation engineering to me which also sounds interesting.

What road should I go down? Im basically a hands on, dont mind getting a bit of dirt on my hands during work type of guy and I think engineering might be the field for me.

how about becoming a calibration / instrument technician, they are needed all over the world for oil, chemical and pharma etc companies, very hands on, i think CIT cork institute of technology in cork offer training

dvcireland

Offy wrote: »

They are very different in a lot of respects. Engineers tend to design whereas trades tend to implement. Engineers do lots of maths, trades dont do a lot of maths. We design something and check it with maths to ensure it will work, trades take those designs from paper and make them physical. Theres a whole lot more to it than that but I think that gives a very basic description of the differences.

there are plenty of "hands on" engineers out there, doing valdiation, commissioing, qualification.

dvcireland

henry71 wrote: »

Hi, ive just finished secondary school and I want to become an engineer. I have an interest in fixing cars and changing the parts, but I have also have an interest in maybe wiring up homes and doing a bit of electrical work. My friend who is in recyling, also mentioned sanitation engineering to me which also sounds interesting.

What road should I go down? Im basically a hands on, dont mind getting a bit of dirt on my hands during work type of guy and I think engineering might be the field for me.

heres an example, I dont know this person but that project he is working on Pearl GTL is huge, Ithink its been running for years:

http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/donal-kennedy/17/3b6/44a

Offy

dvcireland wrote: »

there are plenty of "hands on" engineers out there, doing valdiation, commissioing, qualification.

As I said young blood "Theres a whole lot more to it than that"

kirving

If you want to build cars, Mechanical Engineering is not really what you should be doing to be honest.

Parapharsing, the first thing my MechEng course hand book says is:

"Many people think MechEng is about fixing/building cars, but it's not. However, many mechanical engineers would proably be very good at fixing cars due to the combination of subjects covered"

Although it might be a potential stepping stone into F1(I'd love to go that route myself), that is not the purpose of the course.

Looks at the modules list online, and see what you think.

Daniel S

What would you do then if you wanted to become an F1 engineer (or even a lower class)?

iColdFusion

mtb_kng wrote: »

What would you do then if you wanted to become an F1 engineer (or even a lower class)?

Motorsport engineering, a friend of mine served his time as a mechanic and is over in the UK doing this now at brooklands college.
Wouldn't think there are any jobs in Ireland for him though.

Daniel S

iColdFusion wrote: »

Motorsport engineering, a friend of mine served his time as a mechanic and is over in the UK doing this now at brooklands college.
Wouldn't think there are any jobs in Ireland for him though.

I have no intention of staying here, regardless of the economy. I went to Switzerland last year and since then, I've been set on Sauber F1

Any motorsport engineering courses in Ireland?

kirving

As I said, Mechanical wouldn't be a bad start, but to be honest it's more to do with power systems(refrigeration, steam power plants).

We do "Mechanics and Materials" too which has elements of balancing engines, gearing systems but primarily deals with vibration analysis. The Materials side of the module covers material selection, composites, polmyers and that kind of thing, which would be helpful in motorsport design alright. It doesn't deal heavily with the production side of this, which would be better covered my manufacturing engineering.

CAD is also it's own subject, which would be valuable in a design situation.

(Remember, if you're thinking of going to DIT and don't have higher level Maths, DT006 Level 7 Mechanical Degree leads on to Manufacturing or Mechanical Level 8 Courses.)


Studying Engineering is not just about the various modules you cover, it's about developing the ability to analyse a "problem", develop the best solution possible, and succesfully implement that solution.

I chose to do Mech however, because I believe it to be one of the broader courses available to me, and allows more scope for change than say an electronic/computer degree.

sharkbite1983

As an electrician, my advice is stay the he'll away from it. Crap work & pay ain't nearly as good as everyone thinks. Dirty cold dark mornings on a miserable building site. I don't mind getting my hands dirty & doing a bit of work, but it's terrible work.


Engineering is generally more computer based work for designing. So if a contractor was building a hospital for instance, they'd get a engineer to design how many smoke detectors go in, emergency lighting, cable sizes etc. Its a big pressure job where leaving 1 line out of a drawing could cost 100,000's. I've seen it happen.

Personally if I had the chance I'd go back & be a mechanic. Working from 1 area, tools beside you, not walking up & down housing estates, being indoors, radio on & to not have foremen, safety officers, plumbers, plasterers, chippies, & god knows who else breathing down your neck annoying you.

iColdFusion

There's too many sparkies in Ireland anyway, loads of lads were leaving school in the boom and becoming electricians because it was the trade that paid most :rolleyes:
Sparkies have it easy compared to roofers, blocklayers, civils lads etc who are out in all sorts of weather.

I did plenty of on-site electrical design work back when Ireland actually had a construction industry and it was never the design or subbies or snagging or anything "in-house" that got to me but all the site politics of dealing with clients/ consultants/ main contractors/ other contractors who were ready to stab you right in back if there was €5 in it for them or more often if it would draw attention away from their mistakes :rolleyes:

Mechanics get it plenty tough too, loads of awkward poxey jobs that should take 10 mins until you find half the nuts seized on/ cross-threaded or trying to find out what that goddamn electrical problem on that brand new car is while the owner is watching you from the waiting room and the service receptionist has promised him it would be ready 30 mins ago because he/she is not a mechanic.
Plenty scope for nixers though.