Advice needed - about completing my degree

Thread Starter

Nathan Hale

Joined Oct 28, 2011
159
Hello Friends, hope all is well with you guys.
I am creating this thread with a dilemma I have in my life. Ever since I was little I always loved electronics, radios, wireless communication etc.
A few years ago I started going to school to get an Engineering degree in Electronics. I loved it. I could work full time in the mornings and work on the degree by going to evening classes. I maintained a constant 4.0 GPA. That was the level of my dedication. I have a family to support and need to work a full time job.

I am at a point where much needed 4 more courses will earn me my degree.
The school I go to has suddenly stopped offering evening classes leaving me hanging with an unfinished degree. Semester after semester I look at the school calendar hoping that they will offer the courses i need this semester , but time is flying while I am unable to finish my degree. When i spoke to the director of the program he told me that they don't offer those courses during evenings any more.
Very frustrated with the school I even thought of changing my degree and going for an ASE certification to become a car mechanic.
ASE is mostly self taught material where I can take a test at their test centers.

Then it dawned on me if there was an ASE type certification for people who want to build a career in electronics. Do you guys know of any such type of certification that I can get in electronics? All replies will be much appreciated.
Thank You
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Enroll in a reputable on-line EET course and finish your degree. Make sure you check graduation and job placement percentages for any you consider. Be wary of any that sound too good to be true.
 
See if you can find a way to take a course elsewhere and transfer the credit. Investigate on-line courses if they exist. Make sure the course will transfer before taking it.

Having a 4.0, you might be able to CONVINCE an employer to hire you and then let you take those 4 courses you need. Unfortunately you could find yourself in a 4 year cycle before they are all offered.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Have you spoken with your present employer about the situation to see if they will accommodate the time off during the day to let you take the courses, perhaps in exchange for making up the hours in the morning/evening/weekends?

Another possibility is to talk to the school about the possibility of taking the courses as independent study. With a 4.0 GPA they should be comfortable with your ability to do so.
 

Thread Starter

Nathan Hale

Joined Oct 28, 2011
159
Have you spoken with your present employer about the situation to see if they will accommodate the time off during the day to let you take the courses, perhaps in exchange for making up the hours in the morning/evening/weekends?

Another possibility is to talk to the school about the possibility of taking the courses as independent study. With a 4.0 GPA they should be comfortable with your ability to do so.
Taking hours off from work will my income. Moreover ( I hate to say this) but my employer needs me there continuously. I am a Rabbi at a Kosher Meat Plant. I will definitely talk to the school about independent study or transferring courses. thank you all for your replies. Happy thanksgiving.
 

Thread Starter

Nathan Hale

Joined Oct 28, 2011
159
Enroll in a reputable on-line EET course and finish your degree. Make sure you check graduation and job placement percentages for any you consider. Be wary of any that sound too good to be true.
Can you please name a few online reputable schools? There are so many and I am not sure which ones are borderline bogus.Thank you.
 

tindel

Joined Sep 16, 2012
936
What's wrong with this gig? Make electronics your hobby?
My guess is pay... Most EE's I know make between $80K and $120K. Depending on the company, and their level of badassity. I wouldn't think a rabbi would make that kind of cheddar, but maybe I'm wrong.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
The chemical industry pays rabbi's quite handsomely to come in and certify food ingredient manufacturing processes as Kosher. 120k should be very possible - working just 3 days per week.
 

Sensacell

Joined Jun 19, 2012
3,432
Forget worrying about degrees.

When I hire someone to work for me - EE- ME etc. I don't give a rats ass about the paperwork, just show me what you can do!
People fresh out of school with fancy degrees are often useless until they have done some real industry time.

Get a job in the field, by any means necessary, spend the time learning to do real stuff, get paid while you learn.
Study on your own in the mean time, build stuff, leverage your passion for electronics.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Forget worrying about degrees.

When I hire someone to work for me - EE- ME etc. I don't give a rats ass about the paperwork, just show me what you can do!
People fresh out of school with fancy degrees are often useless until they have done some real industry time.
Unfortunately you are in the minority. At my last job, you had to have a PhD to get a phone screen.
 

Brevor

Joined Apr 9, 2011
297
When I hire someone to work for me - EE- ME etc. I don't give a rats ass about the paperwork, just show me what you can do!
It's not like that in the US, if you don't have the papers no one will even talk to you.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Can you please name a few online reputable schools? There are so many and I am not sure which ones are borderline bogus.Thank you.
That is not an easy question to answer. Every school is going to put their best face forward and want you to believe that they are a superior institution. Few of them will be truly giving you the straight dope, however. In some cases it will be nothing more than wanting to put their best face forward, but in other cases it will be all-but-outright fraud.

If you can find an online program that is affiliated with a reputable mainline public or private university and that is ABET accredited, that can give you some confidence, but even there you have to be a bit careful because a university's on-campus and on-line programs may differ from each other dramatically in quality even when administered by the same department. Also, unfortunately having the ABET imprimatur is no longer the stamp-of-quality that it used to be, but it is generally better than not having it.

Be careful about looking at reviews of schools because many of them, including many of the ones you always hear about, are little more than tallying self-reported surveys sent to the faculty and, sometimes, students at a particular school. Huge self-selection bias in most of them.

Possibly the best, but probably the hardest, way to get good information is to talk to the employers that typically hire a given program's graduates.
 
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