thats why you become a engineering/project manager

 

thats why you drop out of school and work for mcdonalds and hope that you make it to the top like the lady in the commercial.

 

I wouldn't say you need super math to do ME, EE. For all engineering you'll need to have a good grasp of visualization and logic. A lot of people who aren't good at math choose to do structural engineering (prison break ftw!) - cause it's all statics, the forces balance out for the most part, less stuff to get your head around.

but for those "hard" engineering majors as opposed to computer science it's not like you have to be math genius - you just have to understand WHY the math can describe physical phenomenon, WHAT the math is modeling. For example,

- How does fourier analysis help me analyze signals?
- How do differential equations help me model higher order effects?
- How does multivariable calculus help me solve for attributes of a system?
- How do analytical and numerical methods help me model a system?
- WHY DOES MATH (something purely theoretical) accurately translate into physical phenomena? Why is it that if I alter my equations and obsfucate them into some seemingly different form - they still translate into the physical world?

In the end you won't be doing math in your job as an engineer - it's understanding WHY things are. YOu've got modelling software to do the dirty work for you in a work environment


But still, this is something think about: if you go to a large school that has a lot of students to take care of and end up scraping by in engineering - you are in a hard spot. Think of how many engineering grads there are + grad students from foreign countries.



Also think about career aspirations - mechanical engineers don't get paid a lot compared to CS and EE's, especially in the Silicon Valley (say for BS in engineering, starting salaries Ford - low $60k range, NVIDIA - $80k). Do you want to use your engineering degree to go to law school, business school? Or maybe you want to use your ME knowledge to design car parts and sell turbo kits and make a lot of money that way -

the important thing is that you are proactive and endless vigilant in your goals. THAT is what you need to ask yourself

 

You will need to take a lot of math classes, but the math used in your engineering classes will be minimal. I only had to take one extra class for a math minor...and 4 more after that for a double major. I took one of those 5000 level math classes and said F it. The material got really abstract and you talk about some freaking NERDS in those classes...good lord. Decided to quit with the minor.

Engineering generally stresses your ability to grasp basic concepts and problem solve with them. The equations will all be simple, and if you can think analytically, you'll be fine. The math you'll need in the engineering classes themselves will be mostly algebra with some calculus tossed in for flavor. The hardest part is setting up the equations, but you don't need any math to do it.

 

That's a good option for people interested in the process but aren't technical.

There are a lot of product managers at Google who had little technical background, or were engineers but marginal background in software.

The other thing to consider though, is that when markets go sour, PM's who have less hard skills are usually the first to go. So if you do go into engineering management, make sure you have the hard skills as well

 

Majors such as industrial engineering and manufacturing engineer are the ones where its more business oriented rather than physical engineering. Not a lot of math is required and most of the classes are straightfoward. It is actually easy enough for you to double major. IE/ & Business = $$$$$$$.

 

Well that really depends on the field. Some of the best hardware engineering managers, are in fact very good engineers themselves. Customers tend not to like managers without technical background, its funny seeing them get blasted by customer engineers during meetings

BellR, I think your assertion really depends on the school. Some schools are more hands on/practical. Others are much more theoretical, and therefore involve a lot more math. I went to Berkeley, a school commonly cursed by the industry for being far too theoretical. I recruit for my company there, and throw out resumes of nerds who have 3.8s but zero hands on experience

Bottom line, to do well in the highly competitive engineering/tech field, you gotta be on top of your game, well rounded, and well polished

I still use my education, but not as much as many would think. However, knowing the theories and concepts behind the equations and such is fundamental

 

Well, it really depends on what you want to do, but in college, you have to know the math or at least have some competence in learning and understanding it.

In the real work world however, the math is usually really simple depending on what you work on. Its algebraic for the most part since they don't want to spend the money for you figuring out long winded solutions to PDEs or ODEs (youll learn what those are later).

SJSU i thought, was a more practical school than that of say UCB/UCD or UCLA. Actually for mechE, I'd rather go to SLO if you choose a CSU. Working on the projects for me were a lot of fun however. Even the year I spent doing Aerodesign and the summer I spent helping FSAE when I was at UCD was a lot of fun. They even had Futurecar (which also later involved Future truck) which was our hybrid electric vehicle. Once you get past the math (impractical or not), it actually turns into some fun!

 

I think most people have second thoughts about what major they chose so don't worry too much about that. It pretty much comes down to if you are willing to stick it out through some classes you aren't good at to get the degree in what you really want to do.

Engineering is pretty math intensive, though. You'll have to take multiple calculus classes on top of your mech-e classes...and most of your mech-e classes will essentially be applying equations or using equations to describe how/why things are.

The best way to help get through tough classes is to have support and invest some time to the classes. The good thing is that you're sitting in a class full of people that are in the same boat as you. Also, you have a professor and TAs who are willing to spend extra time with you to help you along.

I'd highly suggest getting together with kids in your class and doing study groups. Just get together and hammer out the homework together. 90% of the time a group of 3-4, of you will be able to figure out all the problems and you can go to office hours to get help on the rest . It sucks because it's sometimes a hassle to meet up and you have other commitments (job, etc), but I found it very very key to get through college.

Also, the professors are a good way to land internships/jobs if you get to know them. When the understand that you are willing to put in time to understand their class, most are more than happy to help you out so you can do well in their class and others.

I had a pretty tough major at Univ. of Colorado in aerospace engineering where it was one of the flagship programs at the university. Though I wasn't a mech-e student, I took a lot of the same classes that mech-e students did (statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials, fluid dynamics etc). I definitely had second thoughts of switching majors to something else. Same as you, though, I couldn't see myself doing anything else. Yeah, there was some all-nighters and some stressful times, but I found it worth it when I got my diploma (just 1yr ago).

Once you get out into the field and start working, the amount of math you use does go down. Most companies have computer programs that have all of the math already in there. Sometimes I have to crack open my old textbook for an equation just as a sanity check, but nothing close to what I had to do in college.


GL with the decision and keep us updated!

 

This is true...I got 1.5years into ME and wanted to quit, but it was too late to turn back so I toughed it out. I'm glad I did though

 

Finish off you BS in Business Management, then contact Union Local 39 (Stationary Engineers) out of San Francisco. Get into their Apprenticeship program (4 years +) and finish it. By the time you are done with all this stuff, hourly rates will be over $50 an hour for a Chief Engineer, plus over $7.hr into a pension fund for every regular hour you work. Plus whatever benefits offered by your particular building. (Think hospitals, Data centers, manufacturing facilities like Intel in San Jose, TransAmerica, etc.) Great money, great benefits, ALL mechanical stuff, and with your degree....you'll be management in no time.

With OT and raises I regularly (always) break 100K per year plus benefits. Its a decent living.

 

I'm a ME currently working in the aerospace industry. I TA'ed thermodynamics, numerical analysis, and computational fluid dynamics (3rd year courses) at UC Davis. I taught mechanics of materials (2nd year course) at Univ. of Texas.

In my experience, if you do not have a firm grasp of calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra by the end of your freshman year, you should steer clear of pretty much any engineering curriculum. The mathematics isn't just vital for understanding the theory behind the processes, but to solve the processes themselves. I have several students during my TA and teaching tenure who were weak in just one of the 3 main math subjects, and that was enough to set them back severely. I do not remember a bad math student ever receiving anything higher than a B- in any of the courses....and I was definitely the type that empathized with them and helped them out as much as I could since I wasn't a real prof. Real profs would've ripped them a new whole.

In the working world, I find the math skills to be equally necessary. I do lots of finite element analysis and while the software does the bulk of the heavy lifting, it is very common to debug and verify results using hand calcs. And oft times, especially in the aerospace industry where you're building a one-of-a-kind vehicle, you encounter problems that haven't been solved before and thus are required to come up with your own solution. This is where the math skills become critical.

Yes, you can get by a MechE program with minimal math skills...but ultimately you're gonna end up being little more than a CAD monkey. It's almost clerical work and the pay sucks big donkey *****. On the other hand, good MechE's are always in high demand (it's probably the most basic of the engineering fields and the skills can be applied across a variety of industry) and the really good ones outearn even CS guys (I do ) And the worst part is, if you're not a good ME, nobody is gonna let you design ANYTHING.

 

lol yes indeed. There are MEs, and GOOD MEs as you stated. If you aren't good, have fun designing brackets and boxes

 

so whats a good ME and a bad one?

 

You aren't either
Go make a bridge, ****