As I am finishing my years Bachelors in Engineering at my university. I came to see that GPA isn't a key aspect to being hired.
To those who have graduated and or are experienced.
>What should one have accomplished by the time they graduate [Things to have on CV] to be considered the best engineer or most prepared.
Internship positions are typically the best experience you can get for your resume. If you are thinking about grad school than research is better. If you can get a year round internship (while enrolled in classes) then you have to fuck up bad to not get a job after graduation.
GPA is a key aspect in some entry level positions as some jobs have cutoffs still, but a 3.0+ will keep probably 75-90% of jobs open, and a 3.5+ will keep 95-99% of jobs open for you. What I always say and have seen in practice is that a mediocre GPA can still get you a job, but a good GPA can get you your dream job. A 2.7 GPA is fine for many companies, especially with intern/research experience, but most "dream" jobs/companies will get the cream of the crop and you will need a 3.0 or 3.5 or 3.7 at least. Of course after your first real job your GPA will fade away and become meaningless to most employers and you can still aim for that dream job, but a good GPA will probably get you there quicker.
I always advise STEM majors to apply to grad school and at least get that masters as it can increase earnings in the long run and can provide more time to get internship experience and build more people skills working in a research lab. Some companies pay for engineers to get a part time masters, but they can be difficult to get approved and may take 5-6 years to earn an MEng which is inferior to an MS anyways, and many people who enter industry may lose the will to go back to grad school because of other adult responsibilities like a family, work, shopping, etc. and the sharp pay cut from going back to school full time
+1
Internship/work experience should be the absolute most important thing. Research and technical extra-curricular activities (Formula SAE, solar car, etc.) can bolster your resume in the absence of work experience. Some employers also look for particular technical expertise that you could obtain through elective classes or research/activity experience.
A lot of decent jobs in engineering are in manufacturing, which can be more people/management-oriented. It would help to not be a total autist, particularly if you have a low GPA.
Veeky Forums-careers
Currently what i have aquired are three main things that i can say im proud of.
summer job as with a mechanic [ no pay was just there for the experience
BAJA SAE [ working under sub system]
BAJA SAE [Became subsystem leader]
What i want to do next is get a team of engineers so we can actually design something not to complex and maybe wont get manufactured [rather do it for the fun and then add it to our CV;s that we actually designed a prosthetic leg or arm [just an example]]
what would you say about the design thing, would you suggest it or i should spend that time on something else ... also GPA 3.19
When I was just starting in university I got this advice from an engineer who had been working for several years. "Five-oh good to go" was his motto. Several of my classmates had been getting straight A's all their lives, took it really hard that they were now C students and dropped out. Several more maintained an almost 4.0 GPA but couldn't get engineering jobs until years after graduation because they didn't do internship. I had an internship every summer, barely passed half my classes, and had three really good job offers before I'd even finished my last exams.
out of curiosity what uni did you go to and what where the three companies.
no need to answer if you feel it might divulge to much info
How do you even get all those internships? I am a junior with a 3.9 gpa and get no responses at all. I am in a few clubs, have a few projects completed, and apply to about 20/week. Same was happening sophomore year as well.
what are the few clubs ?
and what projects ?
The secret is that there are basically no jobs in engineering, and the few that there are have low pay and are incredibly demeaning. Jump ship to software.
t. no internships, working a $150k robotics R&D job with an ME degree
it is great if yu have another trick under your sleeve like programming but its not necessary
Electrical and computer engineering. I had offers from Paprican, Schneider, and ESS technology.
If you've never heard of some these companies that's another life lesson. For every big name like Google and Microsoft there's a thousand lesser known companies. Don't limit yourself to only ones big enough to have campus recruiters.
IEEE, IEEEHKN, and a robotics one. Big course projects like remote controlled sensing car and a few personal projects. Ive just put those there as I heard they were better than nothing. Dont have much money so cant do projects Id like to desu
Most of my internships were for non-profit research groups and small startup companies. I had to put effort into seeking them out. Places without a lot of cash are more than eager to hire a student willing to work for peanuts. They gave me some really important work to do that looked great on the resume because they couldn't hire anybody more qualified. If you're interning for a big profitable company they've already got people to do the important stuff and you're basically an errand boy.
so your saying its ok to intern at start ups for free.
ive been thinking about ...
join a SAE team. they are more recognized.
I didn't say for free. That's actually illegal in most places so a startup is super shady if they try that. The lowest I worked for was $11/hr at a non-profit cancer research center.
would you suggest for free ?
so long as they recognize it officially...
IEEE is the largest professional organization in STEM (or engineering at least)
>summer job as with a mechanic [ no pay was just there for the experience
You should always be getting paid
>BAJA SAE [Became subsystem leader]
Good. You can hype your technical expertise and leadership ability and hopefully you have some relevant anecdotes about your problem-solving ability. Happy hunting.
>what would you say about the design thing
Sounds a lot like a senior design project. Overall, I'm not doing to recommend you do anything that doesn't get you money or credit unless you're really confident in the concept.
>IEEE
what the fuck is that never heard of it at my uni... and we are considered a good uni...
either i missed it or i need to bring it to my uni.
can you elaborate the site seems vague
I've never had to work for free and you really shouldn't have to either. I need to reiterate: It is illegal for a company not to pay its interns almost everywhere. If you're unpaid it's volunteer work not a job. If someone offers you an unpaid internship it's probably best not to get involved with their bullshit. There's a lot of scams and idiots in the startup world.
thanks.
I was attempting to convince my friends to actually start a company. They want to stay away from the money aspect and want to do it for fun.
I told them if its complex like designing a basic exoskeleton... then it would be fine if we dont manufacture since our research and design phase would be enough to be added on our CV's but if its something that is basic such as an electric go kart then we need to monetize that into a business because building a go kart isnt special enough for companies to care
fuck alright then i guess you are right i wanted it to be a reason for companies to hire me since i would say im willing to work for free... but you are right it is illegal.
>can you elaborate the site seems vague
u wot m8
Dude, not OP, but you really should have heard of this institution if you're doing anything in tech
Pretty sure ASME/SAE is bigger.
Civil Engineer here, I got my job a few months after graduating mainly because I graduated in the fall semester and nobody was hiring new people until the summer.
What I found that mattered was having the ability to prove you aren't completely anti-social and proving you understand basic engineering concepts. I was asked questions like "How would you design a continuous beam?" "What path does this load take down this simple frame?" "Its late and you are in the office and get a call from an important client/the field that something has gone wrong, what do you do?"
I worked my entire college experience, (unrelated to my career), had a undergraduate research experience over my last summer, and took part in the engineering clubs. Lastly I was a B student.
Your real trick to getting a job is applying everywhere and taking any interview you get. I applied to nearly every state DoT, countless engineering firms, a number of contractors who hire engineers, and so on. I would apply to anything, took my electives in structures but I would apply to geotech, environmental, traffic, highways, and so on. Be willing to move and be willing keep applying and you will get a job.
Lastly, if you lack a lot of nice resume things, spam at lower tier stuff to simply get experience because that is all people care about.
Also take the FE if you didn't. Doesn't matter what field of engineering you are, take it and pass it. HR departments love that.
connections really.
>If you can get a year round internship (while enrolled in classes) then you have to fuck up bad to not get a job after graduation
>Internship/work experience should be the absolute most important thing
Would you say this even if your internships are unrelated to the field you want to get into?
I'm I've been in an internship for about six months now, and I will stay there in the next semester, which happens to be my last semester before I finish my major. The thing is that I want to get into a field completely unrelated to the one where I'm an intern, and thus I'm wondering whether it wouldn't be wiser to quit my internship and get some research experience in the field I'm interested in.
>inb4 why didn't you get an internship in that field
I tried but I couldn't.
>What should one have accomplished by the time they graduate
The ability to read.
>If you want advice regarding college/university or your career path, go to /adv/ - Advice.
>If you want advice regarding college/university or your career path, go to /adv/ - Advice.
>If you want advice regarding college/university or your career path, go to /adv/ - Advice.
Every heard of WiFi you retard? Or even basic electricity?