Advice on new career path
- Thread starter mikecobra01
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hehehe
I agree with this 100%. IMO get a degree in mechanical engineering. It will open almost all doors to better opportunity and compensation. BTW- I've got a Bus Degree from Chico State, but my current profession is manufacturing engineering. I work in the semiconductor equipment industry. We make the machines that turn cheap silicon wafers into expensive computer chips. In our industry the mechanical engineers use CAD to design the parts using SolidWorks or NX or any number of CAD programs. Once they have a design they like, they have more junior engineers (typically in India since our company is in dozens of countries) take those CAD models and create engineering drawings with tolerancing and datums defined. The fun part is in the actual design/engineering of the parts, IMO. Mfg Engr like what I do is not as exciting, but at work I'm paid like a design engineer. I just wanted you to know a typical product development workflow for CAD. Beyond that, we have Dfx Engineering that review the designs in both CAD and 2D drawings to apply principles of Design for Cost/Lead Time/Serviceability/Transportation/Safety. These folks usually just knock cost out of the parts, which is in fact the best way to improve margin on a product.
I agree with this 100%. Also, you have to be willing to get outside the old comfort zone. I've been at my company for just over five years, get a good yearly bonus, and a total comp package close to $200k- but I'm going to meet a guy about a job next week. Why? Because you only live once and I want to retire someday! Proactively changing companies every few years will grow your salary more than anything else.
You make close to 200k a year and you don't think you can retire someday? Where do you live or where do you plan to retire? Seems like a special situation and plan you have going on.
same thing I thought....
I live on the southern edge of Silicon Valley. I bought a home two years ago for $900k. Even putting ten percent down I still owe ~740k and my mortgage, homeowners insurance, and property tax totals $4400/mo. And I need to pay that for the next 28 years, actually it'll go up since it's a 10/10/10 loan, but that is another story.
In the end I'll almost certainly make a ton on the real estate, but for the next couple of decades I'm locked into some pretty high monthly payments. On top of the loan I've got car payments of about $1300/mo and I like to have a good time. It all adds up. I want to retire and do more than I do now in terms of car events and even international car events.
In the end I'll almost certainly make a ton on the real estate, but for the next couple of decades I'm locked into some pretty high monthly payments. On top of the loan I've got car payments of about $1300/mo and I like to have a good time. It all adds up. I want to retire and do more than I do now in terms of car events and even international car events.
Depending on where in the country he lives 200k isn’t all it sounds like it is.
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I’d definitely like to start an internship while taking classes for sure.
That's what I was asking since most of the country, that is more than enough. Just wanted to check.
Silicon Valley explains it all. Best of luck in your endeavors sir, that’s a heavy backpack to carry.
Do it! An internship with legitimate experience is worth a ton in the engineering community.
Thank you! I was born here, just trying to make the best of it. They say, "May you live in interesting times." Well, it's hard to beat Silicon Valley in the Information Age. Our company makes a machine that will etch a line in Silicon that is 1/20,000 the width of a human hair. Then our other product will deposit some copper atoms and make a circuit. Our new machine for making displays has a material cost of $120M. Not sure how much we're charging for it.
When I was first hired out of school, the deciding factor between me and another guy was the internship I had at a motor home factory!
Many of interns hire directly on after graduation. We tend to give them first priority in hiring.
if you're going to get an engineering degree, go for the full BSME. A 2yr associates you will be treated like pond scum and will be limited to entry level cad positions with no upward mobility. In addition you will have to compete with a crap ton of h1b1 visa holders from india who may be willing to work impossible hours for little to nothing to keep their visa status.
If you're going to learn a CAD package stick with the big 4, pro-engineer (now called CREO), NX/unigraphics, Catia and solid works. AutoCad is very dated and limited at this point as it is not a 3d solid modeling packaging.
If you're going to learn a CAD package stick with the big 4, pro-engineer (now called CREO), NX/unigraphics, Catia and solid works. AutoCad is very dated and limited at this point as it is not a 3d solid modeling packaging.
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