Ask an Engineer

Absolutely don't give up things you enjoy just to focus in on engineering! There is room for both!

When you apply to colleges they will want to see on your application that you are well-rounded and have experiences in a variety of interests. Sports teach ...

This is a great question! No - all of your activities do not need to be related to engineering. Not only are colleges and universities looking for future students with diverse interests and experiences, but those experiences will help you expand your ...

Of course, you can and should be in other activities!

I was in multiple musical groups during college and grad school. I resumed playing when my kids started playing instruments. It was one of my favorite parts of college, and where most of my friends ...

The need for a mentor is a great question. For me, this wasn’t something I actively sought out, meaning I didn’t go up to people and say “will you be my mentor”, rather I when I encountered someone, be it an educator, co-worker, one of my employees, ...

Everyone's journey is different and sometimes it’s challenging to find an engineering mentor before you start a career in engineering. With that said, I highly recommend you do find one as soon as you can and definitely once you enter the workforce. ...

While it’s certainly beneficial to have mentor, it’s not required to excel in your engineering career. I have had several mentors. They have been natural relationships through work, rather than ones I specially sought out to be my mentor. The mentors ...

I had this exact thing happen to me in high school.  I tried taking calc and my teacher asked me to drop the class because I was so terrible at it and he couldn't help me.  I thought I was horrible at math!  However, when I got to college, I took the ...

Dear You-Can-Do-Math-too,

Mathematics, like many acquired skills, requires practice. This is true of mastering cartwheels, baking, woodworking, painting – I could go on. This is also true for reading and for language in general, the more exposure we ...

The opinion of one person does not/should not define us. Please do not take this person’s teaching style or opinion as a reflection of what you are capable of accomplishing. Study groups, online learning, a tutor, library resources, a classmate, someone ...

I became an engineer because I like to think -- a lot -- about a problem. Because I think, I sometimes dream about it too. But I have other interests that I try not to think of work after work hours. I have a creativity gene in me, so I enjoy designing ...

I enjoy the life my engineering career has given me, it’s opened the doors for lots of opportunities. I would say there have been times when my hours are more than others, but I’ve always been able to find balance. I’ve been working now for over 15 ...

I think any profession, including engineering, will require long hours and deep commitment at points during your career. There will be times that you need to make sacrifices to achieve a project goal by a given deadline, but that is true for anything ...

That is a really good question.  
I would say, Engineers make practical use of the things that are around us.  Dam creates electric power, levers gives us strength, etc.  Then new technologies created gives us comfort and exploration; airplane, ...

Being an engineer is important because you can make peoples' lives better.  You can invent technologies that make travel safer and more green. You can create better medical treatments that save lives and make people more comfortable.  You can make ...

Yes, doing my job definitely makes me feel good! Being an engineer is important. Since you’re explaining to your mom, I’ll give you reasons that I think would matter to a parent:

1. You can earn good money and engineers are almost always in demand.
2. ...

Since I am a PhD student, I have had so much flexibility in the projects that I get to work on. I love that I get to learn everyday and better understand the world. I also get to learn from so many different experts who do vastly different research from ...

Being a wireless engineer for Verizon no one day is the same.  From day to day and sometimes minute to minute I could be engineering a circuit, talking to the FCC, working with a vendor or different engineers on a job!

Being an engineer for Verizon I ...

Yes, I have worked on some really “wow” projects while working at the NASA Glenn Research Center as a materials research engineer. Over the past 33 years, I have worked on numerous exciting spaceflight projects. One great example is the Hubble Space ...

Any professional career path you take will require good communication skills. You will be communicating technical details and status to your team, your manager, and your customers. This is as much verbal as written communication, so I recommend getting ...

Writing is important…as in, let’s get you into some courses to strengthen that skillset early on! :-)

That’s great that you enjoy Math and Science, however, if you are not able to relay what you have created, discovered, engineered, resolved (in a ...

This is a great question! A lot of engineers joke about not being great at English or spelling. However, writing and communication skills are still required in engineering. Different types of jobs require different types of writing and communication ...

Checking out the statistics for percent of females and for ranking would certainly be a good indicator on the engineering program's welcome of women. I went to a school that was ranked in the top 8 percent nationally for bachelor's degrees awarded to ...

Finding a good fit for college can be tough, but there's a few things you can consider that will help narrow down your choices:

• Look at what majors and classes the university offers. Does this align with where you want to take your career?
• Does the ...

Congratulations on starting the college preparation process! A great way to judge a school’s engineering program is getting the chance to talk to as many current students as you can to find out if this program would be a good fit for you! Now with social ...

Hi!

Personally, there are few things that helped me get through some difficult courses:

- Set aside time to study everyday. Don't wait to cram on the weekends or before the test. Set a schedule for yourself at whatever time works best for you [mine was ...

	1. Start immediately. As soon as your schedule allows, after a lesson is taught, go and review/study it as soon as possible for 2 reasons. 1 - You get a chance to review it yourself while the lesson is fresh and 2 - if you have questions, you have time ...

I have a few different tips for studying hard subjects that I’ve used in both undergrad and grad school:

1. Start your assignments early, way before they are due. Compared to high school, it can be much easier to procrastinate in college. And some ...

Like any new endeavor, sometimes you know a lot about a new subject and sometimes you know little. When I went into engineering, all I knew is that it involved a lot math. As I learned more about the field of engineering, I learned it also involves a ...

Absolutely not! The best thing to bring with you to college is curiosity and a desire to learn. The more time you spend in the world of STEM, the more you realize that there is always so much more stuff to learn! The smartest people I know are constantly ...

You don’t need to know coding, although it’s becoming more common. But, the keys to being a good engineer are problem-solving skills, moderate capability in math & science, ability to work in teams and to communicate. Just make sure that the college you ...