College for Mechanical Engineering?

[rmnc3r]

Thanks folks, for all the valuable input - just the kind of stuff I wanted to see.

[lone shooter]

Cyber Security is where it's at these days.

[saxman]

forget mech, def have her go ee. my buddy and i both went to the same college, graduated with engineering degrees and similar GPAs. he with mech, i with eecs. i make more than double his salary and he gets to work with the bottom of the barrel... state and city govts.

Depends a lot on where you're working. Company I'm with pays EEs and MEs about the same.

[Garv]

My son is an ME from UCLA.

Could not find a local Aerospace job even with good grades in the El Segundo/Redondo area.

Went back and got an MBA from a major school after 4 years working a dead end ME job for a relatively small company.

Now making well over twice as much and at least so far, the job is more interesting.

If ME is her desire, great, as long as she will be flexible with job location.

Good luck.

[BBR]

What puts the EE above all others is the shortage of EEs. Last I heard the US is short something like 15,000 EEs and it's getting worse every year. The law of supply and demand always wins!!!

Bbr

[Exile Machine]

As an EE (Texas A&M '89) with two brothers who went Mechanical, I have to say, Go EE and specialize in quantum computing. That field is right now where the digital computer industry was in 1960, and it is taking off at a much faster rate. Now is the time to get up to speed on that and strap in tight because it will be a wild ride.

-Mark

[Whiterabbit]

It does, but you have to be willing ot be where the jobs are.

As for EECS (berkeley, ho hum), I'd rather deliver pizzas than be a programmer. Though I readily admit the no-attention-span, no-committment millenials are jump-shipping and bouncing around from apple to google to facebook all the time here, and I am sure they are doing it for big pay boosts all the time.

Good for them. I'll drive the pizza car and be happier. Some people just belong in ME or EE or whatever.

(we're not confusing EE with EECS)

[DVSmith]

We have a ME student at Cal State Fullerton. He has had a tough time getting some required classes. Check out the school's graduation statistics. You don't want her bogged down extra semesters because she can't get the classes she needs.

[elSquid]

This just came to mind, specifically the section for students...

Career Advice for Budding Early Retirees.



-- Michael

[the Scholar]

FSAE:
If she can get herself on this team, it will help immensely. Almost all schools will have a team. If there isn't one, she should start it.

FSAE teams designs, builds, and races their own open wheel race car using industry leading techniques. Pre-impregnated carbon fiber with vacuum infusion layup is commonly used with teams. Design and build work of composites and alloys. Heavy use of design programs to make calculated trade-offs and then present it to your team for approval.

She puts some of that on a resume will for sure help her stand out. Internships are great, but even many many internships don't get you up to speed. Some companies use interns for their benefit, not to train. Unless they see great potential.

Great advice for both EE and ME. When I was hiring new college grads in my last role, I asked my recruiters to actively search them out for me. I have a lot of friends who were on the FSAE team and they were always leaps and bounds ahead of the other engineering students in terms of practical knowledge.

Some things she should be aware of (from my opinion). Traditional engineering roles don't pay like they used to unless she gets into some of the latest and greatest companies (Google, Apple, Amazon, etc...) or some of the large firms like Boeing, Lockheed, etc... Based on what I see in Silicon Valley, the most versatile roles seem to be EE and programing. They seem to find jobs a lot easier than people with ME background here in the valley. If I had to do it over again, I wish I learned computer programing.

For what it's worth, my background is ME with a masters from University of Michigan. Worked in Automotive for about a year straight out of undergrad and left during the downturn of 2008. Finished my masters program in 2010 and had a hard time finding a job in the recession with an ME. Ended up in Semiconductors for about 6.5 years here in San Jose. I have now moved onto consumer electronics in more of a leadership role now.

[NYT]

Depends a lot on where you're working. Company I'm with pays EEs and MEs about the same.

what industry?

[saxman]

Aerospace/defense

[Capt.Dunsel]

SF State , I know the Professors .

And look into Bechtel Corp. , funny thing , they are the same group of guys/gals . ( that's how I met my wife , she is the daughter of a Senior VP , retired.)

[CSACANNONEER]

She might check out Cal Poly Pomona.

There's only one Cal Poly and, it's not in Pomona.

[krfresno]

Check out the schools job placement rates for graduating seniors in each major. It can be a real eye opener. I came out of calpoy slo. My daughter is headed to Colorado school of mines. I know, far away from Long Beach but check it out. Good luck in her endeavors.