Hello,
first of, i wish to say, would to God that this site had existed like 10 yrs ago- maybe i wouldn't be in the situation i am in right now. Ok, thinking about going back and re-getting an EE degree. I graduated in 2000 and worked for Lucent for 2 yrs. Got laid off, work-permit expired, did all types of jobs to pay bills, finally got legal again. Problem now is, i am about 30 with no real experience and worse off yet, i have forgotten just about everything! literally! for the sake of heaven- it took me a while in the forums what the heck a K-map was!
part of the issue i think is that my school i don't think was fully accredited and the teachers - never mind... i won't go into deep details why i am still seething after 8 years, but i will say i have a good share of the blame to carry too....

any advice folks? i have taken from APL 4 courses towards graduate school in Telecom Engr but that was when Lucent was paying for it. Please respond because right now, i am confused, and angry....

thanks for the people that came up with this site.... as i said above if this site was around, boy that would have saved me all those 3-4 AM nights i spent trying to figure out problems in electro-magnetics or other classes

P.s. part of the issue is that i would love to be a preacher, but i don't think the timing is right, because i don't believe i have been given the green light. i still love engr- for the intellectual aspect of it mostly. What i found so disgusting about the field is the students that i went to school with. I found it hard to deal with people that pretty much didn't know how to deal with others in a socially cordial way. In the workforce, i encountered a lot of self-aggrandizement and pompous attitude. So in a sense, i don't even know if this is what i will become, if i still want to continue doing it. but on the other hand, I have a very strong desire to pursue it because of the intellectual stimulation i get from it. I finally have started to sit down and go through the lectures at MIT that are offered for free. we will see....

thanks for the patience for reading this letter...sorry for its length(felt i needed to reach out and get some advice)

 

Question, do you like to design, work with your hands, or both. There is a slightly different degree than EE called Engineering Technology. It has elements of EE, but you also have to be able to build what you design.

 

Question, do you like to design, work with your hands, or both. There is a slightly different degree than EE called Engineering Technology. It has elements of EE, but you also have to be able to build what you design.

i would say i like doing both. if you are hinting if my degree originally was in E-tech no it was not. if you put a gun onto my head, i do prefer the designing aspect of it.

 

Who started poll?

 

"I found it hard to deal with people that pretty much didn't know how to deal with others in a socially cordial way. In the workforce, i encountered a lot of self-aggrandizement and pompous attitude."

Remember, the comic strip "Dilbert" is understood by many, many people, programmers or not.

Part of the problem is that those who are good at electronics or programming are usually not good at the social side of things. Also, when it comes to "manglement" -- err, management -- the Peter Principle is in full effect: "In any sufficiently mature company, people tend to rise to their level of incompetency."


Personally, I would (a) keep praying and (b) talk to a career counselor after (c) getting all the good advice you'll get from here.

--Rich

 

Question, do you like to design, work with your hands, or both. There is a slightly different degree than EE called Engineering Technology. It has elements of EE, but you also have to be able to build what you design.

Is there any other way ????? Why do colleges insist on graduating half-baked "engineers" without manual skills ????

Nothing ticks me off more than a so-called "Engineer" that cannot build what he / she has designed.

Then they have the collossal gall to argue with another who has the same basic degree, with 40 years of building experience, how to go about bringing a design into function.

 

any advice folks?

If you have forgotten most of it, I suggest the best course of action would be to learn it. The best way to learn something is to immediately put it to use.

As for "the calling," my experience is:
1) Vestments and titles are no guarantee of the capacity to lend spiritual assistance.
2) One need no title or vestments to aid one's fellows in spiritual matters.

You owe me two cents.

 

thanks for advice and insight..... is there anyone who knows or personally has gone through this? I have for now decided to enroll in two courses... i am debating what they should be maybe a fundamental engineering course such as Electonics materials and devices...or the 102 course for EEs such as fundamentals of EE or Electromagnetics...any recommendations would be appreciated

 

Can I just confirm something: you already have an EE-degree, but it isn't accredited?

Dave

 

Dave, Is that you pulling Into the driveway?

 

Can I just confirm something: you already have an EE-degree, but it isn't accredited?

Dave

i have a degree in EE, and it's from an accredited school. the issue is i haven't used any part of it in 7 years... forget complex calculus, even stuff from calc II as i was looking at it about a few days ago has looked at times very foreign. my circumstances is a bit more complicated for why i wasn't able to use it. I am debating whether to enroll back into undergrad and maybe re-take all of the core courses or enroll back again into grad school. by the way, after undergrad, i had enrolled in grad school for about 3 semesters part-time, and that ended when i was laid off from my first and only "engr" job-in 2002

 

I would suggest you re-study on your own (with some guidance from this website), but on these conditions: 1.that back in your school days you had a fair grasp of the stuff u were learning, and 2.that you are a fairly intelligent/smart guy.

The reason for this suggestion is that, from my experience (check my profile), when u embark on a journey of re-studying on your own, the journey itself - not neccessarily the final destination - is rewarding.

Often-times the most important thing one needs when striving to achieve goals is the desire to achieve those goals. From your statements it seems you have more than enough of that desire.

So go grab a copy of an EE curriculum, determine how much you still rememder and strike out those parts, then gather the needed literature and immerse yourself in them (according to a maaped-out plan of course). You would find an invaluable source of help on this site, so dont think you are all on your own.