Engineering Degree - The Reality?

matthew1998

I want to enter into a level 8 honors engineering degree next September probably mechanical/civil, but I have a few questions?

From what I gather so far. There is lots of maths and physics in and engineering degree which is grand :pac: but how much of your time is spent doing maths and physics?Is it 60% of the time? More? I like these subjects at school, but I don't know could I handle 8 hours a day for 4 years?

How much is spend designing projects?Is there much time leaning CAD? Is there much hands on experience/practical assessments? How much is spent doing engineering technology (mechanical testing , materials ect.) ?

Thanks.

mikhail

Generally, engineering courses start out maths and physics heavy, and progressively introduce more specialist subjects.

Take a look at "What will I study" here:
http://www.myucd.ie/courses/engineering/mechanical-engineering/

Here's a more detailed breakdown of the current years 2-4:
https://sisweb.ucd.ie/usis/w_sm_web_inf_viewer_banner.show_major?p_term_code=201500&p_cao_code=DN150&p_major_code=NMS1

For instance, third year seems to be:
ACM30030 Multivariable Calculus Eng II
EEEN20090 Electrical Energy Systems II
EEEN30150 Modelling and Simulation
MEEN30030 Mechanical Engineering Design II
MEEN30090 Materials Science and Engineering II
MEEN30100 Engineering Thermodynamics II
MEEN30140 Professional Engineering (Finance)
MEEN30010 Applied Dynamics II
MEEN30020 Mechanics of Solids II
MEEN30040 Measurement & Instrumentation

You can see there's only one outright maths course (calculus). There are two courses delivered by electrical/electronic engineering, one of which (modelling) looks programming-heavy. There's a design course, a finance course, an instruments course (which could be anywhere on the spectrum of theoretical to practical), two courses that are pretty much specialised physics for mech engineers: thermodynamics and materials (possibly a little chemistry to this too), and two courses that are essentially applied maths for mechanical engineers: applied dynamics, and mechanics of solids.

The breakdown will vary from place to place, but I'd expect that's fairly typical.

If the theory sounds overbearing for you, maybe consider exploring a level 7 course at an IT - they're usually more practically focussed.

TheChizler

Also no course is going to be 8 hours a day every day.

mikhail

TheChizler wrote: »

Also no course is going to be 8 hours a day every day.

With labs? Yeah, engineering is.

Digital Solitude

TheChizler wrote: »

Also no course is going to be 8 hours a day every day.

Definitely would be, I had 32 hours a week in first year, just in college, assignments and study brought that closer to 40. Second Year Biomed Eng is 35 hrs a week in college alone.

OP Undenominated Engineering is a good idea in first year, not sure about other colleges but in NUIG to switch denominations after first year, you need to have gotten the CAO points for that course. A real life example, I got 465 points and went into Electronic Engineering, my friend got 450 and went into Undenominated. We both had a common first year (This is the same in most places I think, all Engineering degrees have a common first year).

Anyways, if I wanted to go into Biomedical for the remainder of my degree, I couldn't as I was 30 points short, but my friend in Undenominated could despite getting 15 points less than me. If you're unsure of what you want to do either ace the Leaving Cert (500 points+) or do Undemoninated.

Regards maths and stuff, I had 12 modules in 1st year, 4 were maths and one Physics, so a lot of your time is maths but not all of it.

CAD isn't overly hard, there's a silly amount of tutorials online to spell everything out for you if you're struggling with it.

Designing projects I didn't find overly taxing, within a group you can generally come to your conclusions pretty quickly, in Uni we don't do feck all practical, three projects in the year and then CAD, Mathlab etc is all hands on. You'd have more in an IT, though I think I have a lot more practical stuff this year. You won't have much engineering technology in first year. All this is based off my experience obviously, can't say it's the same everywhere

TheChizler

mikhail wrote: »

TheChizler wrote: »

Also no course is going to be 8 hours a day every day.

With labs? Yeah, engineering is.

Which course in particular? I think I tipped about 40 one week ever but that was with making up for labs that had to be rescheduled.

TheChizler

Digital Solitude wrote: »

TheChizler wrote: »

Also no course is going to be 8 hours a day every day.

Definitely would be, I had 32 hours a week in first year, just in college, assignments and study brought that closer to 40. Second Year Biomed Eng is 35 hrs a week in college alone.

Exactly my point. None of those equal or exceed 40 hours per week every week. 30 to 35 on average is more realistic.

eeguy

TheChizler wrote: »

Exactly my point. None of those equal or exceed 40 hours per week every week. 30 to 35 on average is more realistic.

Yeah 35 contact hours.

And another 15 or 20 doing reports and labs.

TheChizler

As above, contact hours is what I'm saying; timetabled hours. Which is what someone looking at a course would be looking at.

matthew1998

Thanks for all the replies guys! Really appreciate it

sugarman wrote: »

Im not trying to sound smart but have even you tried looking up your course syllabus?

There should be a full break down of semesters and modules.

I have many times , but a Calculus Module could be an hour a week or 10 hours a week ...

TheChizler

matthew1998 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies guys! Really appreciate it

sugarman wrote: »

Im not trying to sound smart but have even you tried looking up your course syllabus?

There should be a full break down of semesters and modules.

I have many times , but a Calculus Module could be an hour a week or 10 hours a week ...

Timetables for the current year are available online in most institutions.

Political Wall Map

Another option if your really interested in the practical side would be to apply for apprenticeships, the best for mechanical engineering most probably is as a heavy vehicle mechanic. Serve your four years, to get the best experience you can, and then do the degree part time for two/three years.

I know its a long way of doing it, but at the end you would be very well rounded and also very attractive to employers because of the different qualities you would have.

Alot of the theory would make sense because you would have seen alot of it in a workshop or had problems in work.

Just another option. Hope you get the points you need. Best of luck

matthew1998

Political Wall Map wrote: »

An interesting idea , I hear apprenticeships are hard got now a days though. But I see your point. If I knew the components of a truck inside out , might get a nice job with Scania :rolleyes:

eeguy

Political Wall Map wrote: »

Another option if your really interested in the practical side would be to apply for apprenticeships, the best for mechanical engineering most probably is as a heavy vehicle mechanic. Serve your four years, to get the best experience you can, and then do the degree part time for two/three years.

I know its a long way of doing it, but at the end you would be very well rounded and also very attractive to employers because of the different qualities you would have.

Alot of the theory would make sense because you would have seen alot of it in a workshop or had problems in work.

Just another option. Hope you get the points you need. Best of luck

I think that approach is way overrated. 7.or.8 years and you're still a graduate. Granted you've extra experience, but unless you're applying to car related jobs it won't be worth the 4 years of extra work.

Similar to electronic engineering. If you're an electrician as well youll get into the ESBI no problem. But you won't get into Intel or Analog or many other companies since your electrician experience just isn't relevant.

matthew1998

eeguy wrote: »

Probably right, I'd need to do a ME as well to become chartered?

TheChizler

Being chartered isn't always necessary. 5 EEs in my office and one ME, the ME is the only one who's chartered and he doesn't even use it as he's in software for years, it's just handy for networking. Know a good few civils as well and none of them found it necessary.

Digital Solitude

TheChizler wrote: »

Being chartered isn't always necessary. 5 EEs in my office and one ME, the ME is the only one who's chartered and he doesn't even use it as he's in software for years, it's just handy for networking. Know a good few civils as well and none of them found it necessary.

Much more useful looking for work internationally we were led to believe

matthew1998

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Much more useful looking for work internationally we were led to believe

I know in America you need to be a PE to sign off certain structural documents. Surely you would need some sort of state certification to sign such documents in Ireland?

eeguy

matthew1998 wrote: »

I know in America you need to be a PE to sign off certain structural documents. Surely you would need some sort of state certification to sign such documents in Ireland?

Never heard of something like that for electrical or mechanical in Ireland.

Maybe civil?

matthew1998

eeguy wrote: »

Never heard of something like that for electrical or mechanical in Ireland.

Maybe civil?

What i'm saying is PE(Profession Engineer certification) is the equivelant to the Chartered Engineer system over here. So if you are signing off on the stuctual documents for a bridge , surely you would need to be chartered? Even for mechanical engineers, so your prototype doesn't explode ?

Matthew Gleeson

Don't let the workload of an engineering course put you off it. I loved doing it and yeah fair enough I had less time to party like some of my friends on arts courses but myself and my classmates all ended up in great jobs or doing masters in really interesting things. Engineering well worth the extra work and great options after.

matthew1998

Matthew Gleeson wrote: »

Nothing worth having comes easy :rolleyes: At least I have an opportunity to create something new and innovative and maybe even change lives. Unlike those crooked solicitors

eeguy

matthew1998 wrote: »

What i'm saying is PE(Profession Engineer certification) is the equivelant to the Chartered Engineer system over here. So if you are signing off on the stuctual documents for a bridge , surely you would need to be chartered? Even for mechanical engineers, so your prototype doesn't explode ?

Don't know how it works in the US.

In terms of mech stuff, it's all covered under CE.

You need to be "competent", whatever that means :rolleyes:

matthew1998

eeguy wrote: »

Don't know how it works in the US.

In terms of mech stuff, it's all covered under CE.

You need to be "competent", whatever that means :rolleyes:

Probably worth knowing, especially as I would love to travel for a bit ..anyways ...better study or won't even get into a course :rolleyes:

matthew1998

Just one more question! Are the specialized degrees better like Aeronautical , Energy Systems ect. better than the broader Mech,Civil and EE? I suppose you could always specialize with a masters though?

Just looking at UL common entry , they can't join the specialized ones such as Aero or Chem

eeguy

matthew1998 wrote: »

Just one more question! Are the specialized degrees better like Aeronautical , Energy Systems ect. better than the broader Mech,Civil and EE? I suppose you could always specialize with a masters though?

Just looking at UL common entry , they can't join the specialized ones such as Aero or Chem

Not unless you want to do it as a career. At least with a broad degree you have a broad range of options and you can always specialise after. Remember, no matter what you do, you'll be horribly underqualified for ANY job you get. It takes at least 6 months to learn your role in a company. So don't worry.

A specialist degree can pigeonhole you quick enough with regards to HR people, who rarely know what they're looking for anyways.

Ireland doesn't have an aerospace industry, and you'll rarely get a company looking exclusively for energy engineers, unless the company has developed the course in partnership with the college, which is very rare.

boziey

Is it hard to balance social life and doing an engineering degree ?

Like do you find yourself not going out as much as other students

TheChizler

Be grand. Did take me six years though. Social side didn't make a difference really it's about how much you apply yourself in your study time.