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Ask Slashdot: Best Second Major For a Mechanical Engineer?
Scarred Intellect writes "After attending DigiPen Institute of Technology and deciding that I liked the idea of programming more than programming itself (I still do enjoy it a bit); after getting my AA at a community college with no direction; after much tinkering with engines growing up; after 4 years of service in the US Marine Corps infantry; I have finally decided what I want to do when I grow up: mechanical engineering. The reason is simple: I believe our automobiles can be a lot better (in terms of engine/propulsion) than they are now. Better technology exists, and there's more technology to develop for them. I've taken an intense interest in biodiesel and other clean, alternative energy methods (fuel cells being one of my favorites — second is solar, with wind being last). I figure mechanical engineering will give me a broad understanding of the more specific engineering disciplines. My uncle, also a mechanical engineer, suggested I get a second major in computer science to complement ME. It sounds like a good idea to me; I could mate mechanical processes with computer controls pretty effectively. It should take me 3 to 4 years to complete. What do you think? Is ME + CS a good option, or would ME work better with something else? I'll almost definitely have a math minor coming out of this."
Best degree (in addition to ME) to work on consumer products would be something involving reading/speaking Chinese.
Have gnu, will travel.
I work part time as a contract consultant for a giant company. The division I work at requires 2 separate degrees for their second flor elves. One in computer science, the second in either mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. They also require at lest one of those to be a masters or doctorate. They prefer a masters & a doctorate both.
One discipline is no longer enough to get the really, really, good jobs.
The bad new is out of 65 guys and 1 woman in that second floor cave, only 1 guy is caucasian and speaks English as a 1st language.
The VP in charge said it was just sad that American kids didn't want to put in the work and take the time to get the educational requirements of that group.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Cars have complex electrical and control systems and an Electrical Engineering degree may put you closer to your goal. EE's do a fair amount of programming as well. It would work for Aeronautical and Medical Device Engineering as well. Tough you may have to take some pre-med courses. Also weapons engineering. Since you are a vet, you already have at least a minimal security clearance. That boosts your employ-ability, if you decide weapons are right for you.[1]
Note that you may have to get a Masters degree to do any serious design work for a car company, aircraft company, or a medical devices company. That's what a ME student once told me. You should investigate.
One thing to consider is that ME and EE are easy to offshore. Anyone with solid engineering training can do it anywhere on the globe. For job security I would recommend Civil or Environmental. As one CE I knew once put it "There are always jobs in roads and commodes".
Math minor is OK, but I think you should focus more; either EE and ME or ME and Math.
[1] As an undergrad in CS I had a Math prof once offer to do a letter of introduction to a guy he knew working at the China Lake Naval Weapons Testing Center in CA. I decided that I did not want to pursue that path, so I was under employed for a few years. This was during the 1980s Reagen "prosperity". But I still think it was the right decision for me.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
You can mock all you want, but English or Communications would definitely be helpful for an Engineer. I know someone working on an MA in English, and part of that is teaching a basic writing class for freshmen. A lot of the students who struggle are those from engineering or science programs who just don't know how to write down and communicate their thoughts academically and professionally. You have to at least be able to communicate effectively with other engineers, and being able to organize your thoughts and convey them to non-Engineers is probably as essential if not more so, since your bosses will likely not be engineers themselves.
I hear it often from math, science, engineering, and technology majors that they don't see the point in having to take humanities courses, especially English, and while I agree that detailed study of literature and theory is probably unnecessary for them, one should at least be exposed to those ideas as part of a liberal (meaning broad) education. Studying literature is as much about learning how humans communicate through the written word as it is acquiring the ability to appreciate it as a form of artistic expression.
tl;dr, everyone needs to be able to communicate effectively, NOT everyone has to (or can) be an engineer.
Mechanical Engineer working in the automotive industry here. (3 years out of school, about half of that time in automotive.)
You're 100% correct about needing computer science skills. I'm not sure going for a second degree is as beneficial as a minor, or just being skilled with computers. Many schools are shifting their focus for mechanical engineers toward computers anyways. You can expect to learn finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics and a programming language in a ME major. It's a really broad major, and the nice thing is that (in a good program) you will be exposed to all of the fields you mentioned above, and given opportunities to pursue them.
A math minor could be useful if you're going to use it. I know a few people who got one, but it's not useful for most of them. Minors in materials are also common, and much more useful in my opinion.
I think what you do beyond the classroom is more important. Getting involved in competitive engineering teams (FSAE) did much more for me in the automotive industry than minors. (Admittedly, I was a poor student... Internships and extracurricular activities helped me stand out.) More important to focus on the basics before double majoring and minoring in a ton of stuff.
The Basics:
Get into a good program. You will learn more from smart classmates and good professors.
Try to get good grades. (>3.5 = genius, >3.0 = reasonable, 2.5 = not hirable to many employers.)
Work internships. You'll learn how to be professional, and getting a real job will be a lot easier.
Do extracurricular activities. This is where you learn how to apply your schoolwork.
Skip CS. You won't be doing any kind of upper level programing for 90% of the engines out there. The controllers in those things are really basic.
For engine management systems, go ME + EE, and fill your choices with control theory classes.
This also gives you a backup plan. If you have to find a job, the EE degree will give you a broader choice of positions. The industrial control systems field is an excellent spot to be looking for work.
If you would like to work on automobiles I recommend sticking with ME, and just doing that for now. Mechanical engineering is quite an undertaking on its own and if you double major, plan to spend at least 6 or 7 years in college to get a good understanding of both subjects. If you try to double major with mechanical engineering as one of the majors in the standard 4 years, you will either not gain a satisfactory understanding of the fundamentals and theory or you won't have any time to participate in the practical non-classroom experiences that make a mechanical engineering degree worthwile. I would recommend joining the Baja or formula SAE team at your university or college to get a better understanding of what goes into real world vehicle design, also project oriented teams look great on the resume. You will pick up a little CS and EE in Mechanical engineering if your school is doing it right. You might want to get a green minor if you're interested in biodeisel and low carbon emmisions vehicles, but make sure your university offers this first. Getting the math minor is easy, but probably won't do alot for you in the long run (most mech e's have one by default).
And Controls theory is definately a mech E subject, you can get very in depth in mechatronics and controls courses offered through a mechanical engineering department, and you'll get alot more real world hands on examples than you would in an EE course (EE's tend not to care about mechanisms, and are more interested in the electric theory) I would say if you're interested in cars, go the ME route and stick to it.
(This advice is coming from a practicing Mechanical Engineer who got his BSME in 4 years (at Virginia Tech)) I focused on robotics (CHARLI and RAPHaEL were my pet projects) but had alot of friends who loved cars). I work at SpaceX on rocket stuff now.
Also, you should probably know, the job you get might not be exactly what you planned for or learned the most about in school, but engineering, like life, is an adventure, so stick it out and you'll be sure to have fun.
You and I are very similar. I currently have a B.S in Information Technology.
Next Spring, I graduate with an B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I'm also an automotive engineer working for Mercedes at the moment.
I also founded my school's first Society of Automotive Engineers chapter, and we're working on finishing the school's first Formula SAE Car.
I do not recommend a CS degree. That was my first degree before I switched it to IT. IMO CS will give you an unnecessary study into in depth facets of CS that you won't utilize as an ME. If you want to combine technology with engineering then pursue a degree in IT. It will be easier, give you more practical programming experience, teach you about databases, and allow the flexibility of taking several electives (which can be CS related courses).
You will also be subject to programming and controls classes during your ME studies. Your IT experience will give you a leg up against your peers.
You will amaze your ME friends when you can create a programming solution to an engineering problem on the computer.
1) Look at living beings...at the huge variety of diseases and malformations that can occur, many of them fatal, and you'll see that nature often doesn't do better
2) Look at the speed of our advancement. We typically get a new technology off the ground in 5 to 20 and then make pretty radical changes to it over the course of each couple decades, never mind centuries. Nature, on the other hand, spends millions of year, just slightly tweaking it a tiny bit at a time.
Imagine if, for example, instead of moving on to building skyscrapers out of steel and concrete (and more modern materials), we instead spent the last thousand years just slightly tweaking and perfecting the techniques of gothic architecture. Yeah, we'd probably have made gigantic strides in gothic architecture. We'd probably have it down to a science and be making cathedrals that put the existing ones to shame. But no, we haven't done that. We've moved on to modern materials, designs, and techniques, and as a result, we build things much more amazing.
Instead of spending forever perfecting the old design with slow and tiny changes, we get close enough to perfect and then move on to the next, better technology.