kirubel
How did you choose that major from all the other majors out there?
its hard for me to settle down and actually pursue mechanical engineering. #mechanical-engineering #stem
3 answers
Glenn A
Glenn’s Answer
For me, my mother was my biggest influence. I have a knack for math, science, and understanding of how things work. I was looking at Accounting, as that is what my father was and I know I would be good at it. My mother worked in the local college in the Engineering School. She got me looking at Engineering and let me talk with some of the teachers.
I recommend that if you need help, then you should reach out to people who know you and work in different professions. The trick is to get people to help you explore where your interest are and how the career will be a fit for you. You will want to be careful of the people who try to sell you on why their career is the best one period. Because it works for them, does not mean it will work for you.
Also, you school guidance counselor can provide your with tests that match your interests with possible careers.
Nicole Baillie
Nicole’s Answer
While I was in college, I tried to stay informed about what companies wanted. I would read tech magazines and look at job ads to get a sense of what was in demand. I had a pretty clear sense of what my debt was going to be when I finished college, so I also took some time to research what the salaries could be once I graduated with my degree.
More at it's core though, I have always been interested in understanding how things connect. For me that meant having a focus in data communications. At the time that I was working on my engineering degree, there was a lot of overall focus on IP (internet protocol) technology. There was also a lot of interest in hardware like routers and mutiplexers and bridges. I had the opportunity to take classes in IP but i didn't configure my first router until I got my first job :) So part of what helps you to choose is to have a bit of a vision of what you want for yourself. At the risk of oversimplifying, it's almost like setting a goal and working on the tasks needed to meet that goal. And the idea of setting goals and working towards completing them...not a bad practice to have :) Best of luck to you!
Patrick Kremer
Patrick’s Answer
I chose pre-med first because I thought I was going to be a doctor. They brought all 300 of the pre-med folks in a room our first day of Freshman year and said "Look to your left... and look to your right. Statistically speaking, neither of those two people will be in the program by Junior year." And sure enough by Junior year I had transferred to a different school and I was going to school for IT.
My particular major is a bit of a strange on - my degree is in Usability (Human Computer Interaction) - this is how user interfaces are designed, with a minor in Information Systems. To be completely honest, a significant chunk of why I went the HCI route was to avoid a bunch of math. I'm not all that great at math and never really liked it, and the thought of going through Calc II was enough to start me looking another way. The nice thing about college is that for the most part, general education classes make up the majority of your first two years. And you do take some of your in-major classes, but many times those can transfer to another college anyway and satisfy some requirement. I completely switched my major and transferred schools, and I was only two classes short at the end of senior year... so I did have to go to college part-time as a 5th year senior.
The reality is I don't think most kids really know what they want to do and it takes some college classes to figure out what they do and don't like.
If you don't like mechanical engineering, if you're just doing it for the challenge, or because a parent is an engineer - probably not a reason to go through a mech engineering program.