Thread: what type of Engineer for college major?

Hello good day.I'm Adikboy kindly asking for advice,I Just finished my high school,Im interested in transportation machines like car,trains,cool robot development,and cool weapons for military,turbine engine, I have 2 months left and I dont know what type of engineering suits, my interest, and how should I prepare for it, and if you may recommenced books for my fundamental preknowledge, thank you

Mechanical engineering would be your best choice. IMHO



Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the design, production, and operation of machines and tools.^[1] It is one of the oldest and broadest engineering disciplines.
The engineering field requires an understanding of core concepts including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics, materials science, structural analysis, and electricity. Mechanical engineers use these core principles along with tools like computer-aided engineering and product lifecycle management to design and analyze manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and machinery, heating and cooling systems, transport systems, aircraft, watercraft, robotics, medical devices, and others.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...45107431,d.dmg

It depends WHY you want to get into engineering. Seriously.
If you're doing it because you like the cool stuff then it doesn't matter which branch you pick: if you're doing something you enjoy then you're not actually working.

If you're doing it for money then, apart from hiring a hitman to take out anyone whose reputation looks like rivalling yours - thus making you top dog and able to command your own salary, you're not going to get far.

I'd go for cosmic's answer: a good background in mechanical engineering will at least let you work for different companies on vastly different products (although, truthfully, the majority of day-to-day engineering jobs don't have much "cool factor" attached to them ¹).


1 I mean, how many fabulously sexy groupies am I going to get if I make public that my "finest hour" professionally is probably this and its cousins?

Yeah, I had a few offers to go work on nuclear weapons, but despite it being much cooler, you tend to get officious little (correction: official very large) men making polite requests that you don't use it as a chat up line.
Life sucks all round.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

1 I mean, how many fabulously sexy groupies am I going to get if I make public that my "finest hour" professionally is probably this and its cousins?

Well, I'm impressed, but then I'm not a fabulously sexy groupie.

Originally Posted by adikboy

Hello good day.I'm Adikboy kindly asking for advice,I Just finished my high school,Im interested in transportation machines like car,trains,cool robot development,and cool weapons for military,turbine engine, I have 2 months left and I dont know what type of engineering suits, my interest, and how should I prepare for it, and if you may recommenced books for my fundamental preknowledge, thank you

Electrical would fit pretty well, too, considering that there will probably be more electric vehicles in the future. Also, all those really cool machines will have electrical controls.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

It depends WHY you want to get into engineering. Seriously.
If you're doing it because you like the cool stuff then it doesn't matter which branch you pick: if you're doing something you enjoy then you're not actually working.

If you're doing it for money then, apart from hiring a hitman to take out anyone whose reputation looks like rivalling yours - thus making you top dog and able to command your own salary, you're not going to get far.

I'd go for cosmic's answer: a good background in mechanical engineering will at least let you work for different companies on vastly different products (although, truthfully, the majority of day-to-day engineering jobs don't have much "cool factor" attached to them ¹).


1 I mean, how many fabulously sexy groupies am I going to get if I make public that my "finest hour" professionally is probably this and its cousins?

Yeah, I had a few offers to go work on nuclear weapons, but despite it being much cooler, you tend to get officious little (correction: official very large) men making polite requests that you don't use it as a chat up line.
Life sucks all round.

Why would you waste your time trying to design a merry-go-round for luggage bags? Seriously, I don't think bags enjoy the same carnival rides as human beings.

Originally Posted by shlunka

Why would you waste your time trying to design a merry-go-round for luggage bags?

Er, I got paid for it.

Although I did have one extremely funny (to me at least) moment because of that work.
I'd just arrived back in the UK after a holiday in Malta and saw something weird on the conveyor while I was waiting for my luggage.
I picked it up, looked at it (it was a machine screw - bolt to most people) and then threw it in a rubbish bin.
Another passenger started to berate me and said "That might have been an important piece of the machinery! What makes you think it's safe to throw it away?".
And I replied "Simple - I didn't draw that. But I did draw every single piece of this particular conveyor when I designed it, so I know that not only is it not important it's not even off this machinery".

Thank you so much that really helped.