THE BIG LEAP

[SPARKY2EE]

Alright let me begin by saying if I didn't have respect for engineers I wouldn't be here. I am currently working as a foreman for a large electrical contractor based in the mid west. As my 31st birthday looms I fear my future is being drivin by someone other than myself. This leads me to why I am here. I have been throwing around the idea of getting my bachelors in electronics engineering. What Id like to work with is DCS or SCADA programs, instrumentation and the like. I have 10 years experience but in installation only. I know this will not hinder but but set me back to a lower level starting spot. Long story short, I need input as to is electronics engineering the right degree for what id like to do? What are some reputable schools I might attend online and are the returns worth it? Construction is what it is and is unreliable at best, is this a good investment or a parallel move? I have noticed that the word engineer is alot more on demand than electrician. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MikeHalloran]

How do you feel about math?
An EE degree requires a bunch. ... and physics, too.

You could be an instrument technician with an associates degree.
... or maybe with just the OJT you've gotten already.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[SPARKY2EE]

I look at math as a necessary evil but I'm decent, once you understand you have to do something it gives a little more incentive. I was looking for a boost in pay as well,but that is an option for sure. Maybe a little less structure climbing as well.

 

[2dye4]

Beware of many or most for profit schools. They make it 'easier' on you getting your degree while
charging you a large fortune and then when you graduate the degree is not well respected.

A four year ABET accredited engineering program will be difficult and very time consuming, don't count on
working much as you take a full load of classes. That said this route is probably the best bang for the
buck when it comes to earning potential. But you will be inundated with math like vector calculus,
differential equations, statistics, fourier transforms.......etc.

Nearly as good is a serious state technical school. To design instrumentation systems using off
the shelf items this should suffice.

Regular programs are more respected than on line ones if you can do it.

 

[SPARKY2EE]

Dare I say the word DeVry?[highlight #FCE94F][/highlight]

 

[MikeHalloran]

I have a friend who is a proud graduate of DeVry, and of the US Navy's educational system. I don't know that he could, or couldn't, design a generator control's circuit board from scratch, but if you need to get a generator suite up and running, and someone else has already screwed it up beyond recognition, he's your guy. Actually, I'd give more credit to the Navy than to DeVry.

I have another friend who signed up at ITT Tech, intending to become a mechanical engineer in a matter of months. He was back at work as a mechanical designer in three weeks. ...Poorer by $8000.

My impression of commercial schools is that they tend to allow you to believe things that they never actually say outright (which is also true of many successful managers).
... and that they actually offer and present material that would allow you to learn any given skill to a high degree of competence, but they don't do out of their way to help you assimilate the material, or to motivate you to do so, beyond collecting a lot of money for presenting the material. ... which is also true of name brand schools.

My DeVry graduate friend had several things working in his favor; he's wicked smart, and the Navy, with its strong incentive program, gave him good study habits, and leadership skills that probably would have taken him far even without DeVry.

My ITT-T non-grad friend's prior work as a machinist and designer didn't give him better study habits than he had in high school, and ITT's sales staff did nothing to correct whatever delusions he might have had. They started off with basic AutoCAD training, which he didn't need, and that may have caused him to blow off his other courses until they accelerated a bit and left him in the dust. I'm sure it was a bad experience and he'll be derisive of ITT-T forever.

I don't know any online graduates. ... well, I think I do know one guy who put a diploma on his wall from some outfit I never heard of, so I'm guessing it's an online school because anyone who's ever met the guy in person thinks he's a stupid a...

Let's say I'm cautious about online schools, and I'd tend to give their graduates even less respect than I might give to commercial school graduates, even though MIT put all their course material online. ... which you would do well to browse, and to 'try out' as if you were being tested on it, to help you estimate how well you might do and how crazy the course material might make you.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[HornTootinEE]

Going to be tough to earn what you are now as a electrical foreman as a new engineer. Some companies might give you props for the OJT, many will not. Point is, an EE right out of school can expect (average) to be offered between $50 and $60k a year. If you are anywhere near the electricians I know, at 10 yrs expierience and a foreman (Journeyman or Master license) they are making well above an Engineer's starting pay. Long term? Well, the last company I worked at the journeyman line workers were making more per year than the senior engineers, so unless you want to get into management I'd say your earning potential doing what you are doing or getting a degree is the same in the long run. Only you will need 7-10 years as an electrical engineer to catch up to your now salary, unless you get lucky and find a company that realizes your electrician time is actually good useful expierience-even if it's not "engineering" (a point I tend to agree with, but a lot of HR and manager idiots don't see it that way). In my mind, you'll be a much better engineer because you'll know what it takes to build it-your install crews will like you better anyway.

 

[SPARKY2EE]

Upon further research,my hat is definately off to you guys as far as schooling requirements. But starting over as an entry level EE and cost + commitnent of education will probably make my mind up for me. Again thanks for all the great insight everyone! I hear instrumentation certification calling. That may give me a little flexibility that im looking for.[tt][tt][/tt][/tt]

 

[itsmoked]

Ah, a controls certification! That would probably be your very best path.

I have the place to go too!

Check this out:

http://www.btc.ctc.edu/DegreesCertificates/programs/PRG-ProgramMain.asp?Program=85

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[jraef]

The problem with getting an "on-line" degree in a technical field such as Electrical Engineering is that it requires work in labs, and you can't have REAL lab work across Ethernet. There are a few on-line programs that have collaborative programs with a local facility where you can take the lab-based course work, nut you may find that if you have the time to do that, you may as well get the whole shebang at that location anyway. It's difficult though, because the labs are only offered during the times you will need to be working.

I did it, but here was how I managed, and I'll add up front that I am not particularly proud of this, so I rarely discuss it. I had been an Electrician and Electrical Technician, but got injured and could no longer do that. I started going back to school but ended up having a family start unexpectedly, so had to get back to work full time and I went into sales. At one point I got promoted into a position that left me alone in a remote territory, working on my own, answerable only to my sales performance numbers. So during a particularly lucrative growth period, I surreptitiously nabbed all of my lab-based course work at a local JC that had an extension program from a distant 4 year ABET accredited university. So in essence I was going to school 2 days per week and NOT telling my employer, but was still able to make my numbers which kept them off my back. Again, I'm not proud of that, it was dishonest, but they had refused to pay for me to finish my degree and because I had not finished my degree at that time, they were not paying me as well as others in my field. My choice was to continue being under valued, or come up with a way to get out of it. I was lucky to have that job that kept my kids fed while I worked my ass off, but I see that as being a LOT more difficult to find now, because tracking what you do every day is a lot easier for employers now.

My suggestion is to take everything you can as cheaply as you can while you can still work full time, live like a starving student now and save your money RELIGIOUSLY, because you have to plan on taking the final 2 years off of work to get through the parts of an EEO degree that require your physical presence.

"Will work for (the memory of) salami"

 

[IRstuff]

Many of the labs could, though, be duplicated at home. You could get an educationally useful oscilloscope for a few hundred dollars, and all told, most of all that I had for EE-related labs could be built at home for a thousand or so, today. Additionally, one could use simulators that weren't that available when I went to school.

TTFN
faq731-376

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