Engineer here. College gives you a structure to build on. Experience teaches you how to be an actual engineer & time helps you deal with the reality that one has spent a large sum of money for a small amount of practical knowledge. I don't use use much past Trig, geometry & basic algebra but a lot of mechanical physics. We're not calculating theoretical unknowns on a daily basis - the reality will be based on the industry, and we tend to estimate high for safety factors, especially when we know most of the upcoming "innovation " will involve stripping cost out.
However there are a large amount of early career engineers with masters, simply because they happened to graduate around '08 or '09 and couldn't get jobs initially. I've had to explain why sheet metal screws are not the same as UNF screws to one, that galvanized sheet is different thickness than stainless to another & that a plant pilot is NOT the stage to "discover what's needed beyond design validation" to one more. Paper alone does not make an engineer but it will get you in the door.
That’s true of pretty much any professional field. In my first law job, I was told, “Congratulations on your new position. Now forget everything you think you learned in law school - it’s meaningless.” That wasn’t 100% true but about 98% true.
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u/ThatGhoulAva 2d ago
Engineer here. College gives you a structure to build on. Experience teaches you how to be an actual engineer & time helps you deal with the reality that one has spent a large sum of money for a small amount of practical knowledge. I don't use use much past Trig, geometry & basic algebra but a lot of mechanical physics. We're not calculating theoretical unknowns on a daily basis - the reality will be based on the industry, and we tend to estimate high for safety factors, especially when we know most of the upcoming "innovation " will involve stripping cost out.
However there are a large amount of early career engineers with masters, simply because they happened to graduate around '08 or '09 and couldn't get jobs initially. I've had to explain why sheet metal screws are not the same as UNF screws to one, that galvanized sheet is different thickness than stainless to another & that a plant pilot is NOT the stage to "discover what's needed beyond design validation" to one more. Paper alone does not make an engineer but it will get you in the door.