#engineeringisawesome

Hackaday Useful Tools Links

So I am an avid reader of Hackaday for a long time now and they have been putting out a lot of great introductions to tools and processes to get makers up to speed on the resources that are available.  This is just a splattering of links that I have found lately that you guys might be interested in.

DC Motors

Lessons in Small Scale Manufacturing

Grinding Gears: Figuring out gear ratios

Tools of the trade: Injection Molding

Are todays engineers worse?

How to nail a technical presentation

Tools of the trade: Vacuum Forming

The Art and Science of Bending Sheetmetal

A how-to of designing, fab, and assembly with structural framing systems (t slot)

Machine learning foundations

A machine shop in a box

How to: Cold resin casting

Join the GUI generation: Qtcreator

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Do you have advice for someone starting in  ______ engineering?

Getting Started:

The only things that we can really recommend for someone looking to get into engineering is to take all the science and math classes you can if you are still in high school.  Research all the areas and consider what you might like to do whether it's building electronics, programs, machines, or buildings, etc.  

If you are in college and not in an engineering major and thinking about switching majors talk to other students and professors in the engineering department.  Again take as much math and science as possible.

If you are thinking about going back to school for engineering the same information applies.

Definitely get a tour of a close college engineering department and talk to a professor about enrolling.  They work with many students and should be able to answer your questions or direct you to someone else who can.

Types of Engineering:

Engineering

List of Engineering Branches

note: there are many subbranches of engineering and many overlap between two fields.

Coursework:

Just embrace it early that you will lose most of your social life when getting into engineering.  It is possible to balance both school and friends but school will rule much of your life.

You will want to quit many times while getting your degree, just keep working.  You will have multiple tests the same day, loads of homework,and projects that turn into all-nighters regularly.  Just prepare to make caffeine your friend and work with your classmates. 

At any level, you should be working on as many teams and projects as you can.  These are great for learning more teamwork, leadership, new information and skills.  Also they look great on resumes.

Engineering organizations: ACM, AICE, ASCE, ASME, IEEE, EWB, SAE, and SWE

Keep a portfolio of projects and papers.  This makes applying for other projects, internships, and eventually jobs a whole lot easier.   

Career:

While in school, in the winter/spring you should get in contact with your colleges career services office and try to get a summer internship or co-op in your major.  This also applies in high school as some companies with engineering departments have high school internships to introduce teens to the field.

Links:

Girlscounts Imagine Engineering

ASME Early Career Advice

MSU - Engineering is Hard, Notes

Engineering School Rankings

Reddit/Engineering Students

R/EngineeringStudents Compile Bestof Tips