At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
(OP)
When I was young during school holidays I was helping my father in his engineering business where I started developing interest in engineering.
Unfortunately, after my school graduation I went to live with my uncle in another country. I couldn’t have an opportunity to go to college to fulfil my passion to study engineering due to fees were very expensive.
Now, after working in catering industry for more than 20 years, I have started to get bored and I don’t have self motivation in that field anymore. I’m thinking again about go back to college and study engineering.
But what is bothering me now, I think age is not on my side, I might be too old for that. I know other professions such as doctor, lawyer, teacher, architect, etc you can still be employed at mid forty from college and work past your retirement age.
-But, to study engineering in that age is too late? Bear in mind, by the time I will obtain all necessary qualifications I will be 44-45 years?
-If the top question is YES which engineering? I’m intended to study Chemical, Mechanical or Electrical engineering. You can mention other branches of engineering as well.
I'm aware of the equality legislation but that it doesn’t stop employers not to hire you because of your age.





RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
There are other companies, typically smaller, who benefit from the involuntary mobility of experienced engineers, and are happy to have them.
You might think, "Well, who is going to hire an old but inexperienced engineer?".
You are experienced, differently. If you've been paying attention at all, you've been exposed to a lot of kitchen and foodservice and material handling equipment that could be engineered better, and you're about to learn how to do just that.
So, start.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
thread731-166424: How old is too old ? (to begin a BS in ME) ?
thread731-323190: Am I too old to be doing this?
thread731-225672: At a disadvantage due to my age?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
So the question you start your thread with is part of the same thing; the way we set our own limits are in the formulation of the question itself. And why we limit ourselves by ourselves (in your case it sounds of course legitimate) is still hard to understand ; maybe because we are afraid of our own potential.
It is when you do what you love that you unlock tremendous resources.
When I felt under pressure to study something I did it poorly or maybe good but the efforts seemed huge to me.
On the contrary when I wanted to design a system so I start with the end in mind and I knew that to get there I needed this tool and that material or to complete a certain course, I made it according to my own agenda - not the only the performance was great but the efforts I had to put in seemed (dangerously) unnoticeable.
Good luck.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
There's a slight joke about what's common between bank robbers and entrepreneurs? They all think they can get away with it. If you are determined and hungry, you will succeed. The fact that you are successful enough to be bored says that you have the wherewithal to succeed in your new career, so welcome to the world of engineering!
TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Its never too late to learn.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
How old will you be in 4 or 5 years if you don't study engineering?
If this is your dream, do it! It's a good living, challenging and keeps you sharp. It's mostly inside work.
We have a guy in our office who was in the navy, did his twenty years and went to engineering school. He used his practical and life knowledge to move up. Now he's in his 50's and is a very valuable employee.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Just think about the fact that even a middling coffee maker now requires someone to write code for its controller. This might not attract a fresh BSCS grad, but it could serve as a stepping stone for you, assuming you go that route.
TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I don't plan to study software engineering. That was an example to show that some fields can be difficult than others in relation with age. Another example is dentist graduate at 50s. can still secure a job.
I'm planning to study in either Chemical,Mechanical or Electrical engineering. I want to know which one will suite better with that age?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I'm an old Chemical Engineer, and I've got friends who are old Mechanical and Electrical Engineers. I don't think that matters.
What is important is what is interesting to you. For me, chemistry came naturally and it energized me. Plus, I liked to take stuff apart to see how it works and put it back together. I knew I wanted to be an engineer first in Junior High School. I started out as a Mechanical. I enjoyed Chemistry so much in High School and the first year of college that I switched to Chemical. You can tell your advisor you are undecided, and ya'll can craft your first year so you can go either way. Everyone's first year is nearly identical anyway. You don't have to decide now. You got time.
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I believe the OP may be from Britain in which case they'd be on their selected specialization from first year and transferring can be more difficult - at least when & where I attended university in the UK.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Almost same for me, when I was 10 years old I have built a kind of "robot" which could move one arm up and down and turn on lights by pressing an electrical switch - there was a big cable - it was not wireless :) ...Anyway I knew I would go for mechanical engineering during secondary school, means not an Electrical or Chemical but exactly that and I knew a little bit later with great deal of precision which kind of mechanical products I wanted to work on...It was a kind of obsession. It was not linear path, I lost the focus and bifurcated at many occasions so today I cannot explain how I (more or less) made it.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I see what you mean. Surely, the OP is not the first student to be undecided on their career major going into university, and some thought, planning, and an advisor's experience may have a favorable outcome on the student or the course choices if the OP is forthcoming with their dilemma.
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Especially with my age. If i was 18 years old, i guess it could be much easier to decide.I would go straightaway to something i like without hesitation. Because if you had made wrong decision still you have time to study something esle.
For me, i have to select what i like first and then look other things
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
While not an engineering anecdote, several of my friends who took nursing in university and college always talked about a group in their class that they referred to as "the moms". This was a group of older women who decided to go to school later in life. My friends always talked about how dedicated they were to learning, this group always sat at the very front of the room. Again lending to my thoughts that people who go back to school are more dedicated to getting a good education.
What I'm trying to say is, I've seen a reasonable number of older people switch gears and still land a job. I'm in mechanical engineering, just for reference. If I were ever an employer I would look favourably on someone who went back to school, that takes courage and dedication, good qualities in an employee I think.
Hope that helps!
K
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Age 41 is not that old. The advantage that you have that younger people do not is this - life experience. You hopefully have greater discipline, maturity, intuitive reasoning, and general knowledge than people half your age, and those things can serve you doubly well when competing in a job against a 20 or 22 year old, and employers know this.
Good luck and best wishes!
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Of course not, BUT, and it's a Big BUT, in the case of UC Berkeley, an undeclared major has no priority in major-specific required courses, meaning that until you do declare, you might not get the courses you need/want.
TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I am thinking of putting a sign on my tomb like Zorba the greek: "Here lies an Engineer who hated engineering, engineers and.... architects" in reference to "here lies a crete who hated the cretes".
Now that's off my chest, you could be a kitchen consultant, as mike noted, you know a lot about kitchens, you could be laying out and choosing (specifying) kitchen equipment for architects.
No need for a college degree for that, high school level, some CAD, on the job training and you made it.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I agree with previous posters who suggested you study somewhere with a structured internship or co-op program. I'd go one step further and suggest that you do not do this UNLESS it is at such a university. It will give you a higher quality engineering education, a list of job experience prior to graduation, and a little money to offset the enormous cost of foregoing fulltime employment through those four years as well as the tuition etc. But more important than that: you will get real, current and hands-on experience with what engineers really do rather than just what you imagine or remember your dad doing.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
If some country-folk wisdom is helpful here: Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're probably right.
Good luck to you!
STF
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Sounds like you already might have this realization. And if you feel up to starting school again, then education will obviously teach you the tools you need. But at the heart of it, a person is either of the engineer mindset or they aren't.
PE, SE
Eastern United States
"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Truly wish I had gone to law school instead of engineering, real arguing, real convincing, new cases all the time.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
Pretend you didn't ask this question.
Ignore anything that may suggest you can't do this.
Do it ...... Do it..... and this way, you will answer your own question.
If you don't do it, you will never know; and you will regret Not doing something more than trying and failing.
Forget about this thread, and go do something.
Charlie
www.facsco.com
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
I gave my opinion, if it offended you, sorry about that.
Charlie
www.facsco.com
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?
RE: At the age 41 can you fulfil your dream to become an engineer?