I know I'll tip over before I finish, but I'm curious if anyone knows of a reading list and series of tests that would enable someone to acquire the skills and knowledge of a Mechanical Engineer without actually attending classes? Something online, perhaps?
I'm reading "Reinventing Yourself" by James Altucher and it's got me wondering... The book is terrific, FWIW.
I think MIT or Harvard (can't remember which, maybe both) have their coursework all on youtube. Might be a good place to start?
Edit: Does Harvard have an engineering program?
I'll never forget the pride I felt sitting in the Dean's office at the School of Engineering with my parents before enrolling at the College. The Dean asked my father if he was an Engineer.
His reply: "By title, not by degree."
My Dad worked in a foundry from the time he was a very young man and gradually worked his way up. By the time he retired, he was a sought-after expert in metallurgy and casting and bore the title "Quality Control Engineer." He traveled extensively to many other countries as a consultant for years after his retirement.
But it didn't happen overnight.
Maybe an online program? https://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/degrees/engineering-programs/
Online/distance learning has become a real priority in the past six months for some reason :) I would definitely reach out to your educational institution of choice and see what they offer.
I have done this with a couple skillsets. Welding for instance. I took some online courses alongside a friend who was actually getting a piece of paper from a trade school because it was what he wanted to make his career. I got the same education, but not the pretty paper. I did a lot of studying on flying before actually paying for license training so I could hopefully get ahead of the game.
I would LOVE to have some mechanical engineering. As a tech director for a theater, I would love to have the background. I don't need the paper that says I know what I'm doing, but it sure would make it nicer to actually know what I'm doing. I build safe stuff, but it's just from experience, not formal education.
I'm sure you can take all the classes for cheap or free on coursera.
But to me, engineering isn't doing the math or crunching numbers or CAD drawing (which engineering colleges will have you do a lot of). While understanding the basics of all of those things doesn't hurt, real engineering is a methodical approach to problem solving. Some people do it or most of it naturally, while others will need to have more of a checklist.
I think I'd simplify it to this:
There is a professional engineer testing/certification process. it involves passings tests and working in the field for some years and then passing more tests. I don't know if there is a requirement for a degree or not, but the degree probably helps pass the tests and get the job for field experience.
With engineering you will see a lot of job advertisements that say something along the line of "X years in the field and an engineering degree, or X+Y years without an engineering degree." There is also an official engineering exam out there called Fundementals of Engineering, and in some fields this is a big deal (e.g. a structural engineer at an architectural firm) while others won't care at all. And as others have noted - a lot of universities have their course notes online.
I will say that many engineering schools are so good at teaching the process that alumni often do it without being really aware they are doing the process. My belief is that this is one reason many engineers fail so hard to communicate.
Learn to communicate well with both engineers and with executives and you will have a better job than the engineering degree will get you.
Mr_Asa said:I think MIT or Harvard (can't remember which, maybe both) have their coursework all on youtube. Might be a good place to start?
Edit: Does Harvard have an engineering program?
MIT, I used it a lot while in college to help review and learn when I had a difficult prof.
https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
If you want, I can go get ISBNs off my books, I still have all of them. My degree is materials science engineering though and at the school I went to it meant a materials science and microfab course instead of vibrations and something else.
At it's core, here's what is studied.
I'm forgetting some...
My FIL, who spent his entire career as a process controls engineer in petrochemical and pharmaceutical plant construction, will contend that an engineer is just a technical subject matter expert who has a piece of paper saying "I will take learning my role and it's related industry seriously."
He always said that his best employees were not the smartest, nor the highest educated, but the ones who put in the time to actually learn the job. This is largely because his field of engineering was relatively boring and unglamorous and many young, well trained engineers came through the door only to exit it a few years later because they simply didn't have the patience to learn such an unglamorous field.
It's more about learning how to learn while getting a grounding in concepts.
My pops did the same - 50 years as a Fire Protection Engineer designing building sprinkler systems with a HS degree.
Back when jobs taught someone with promise. I still have his report cards and it's interesting the drafting and architecture classes he took. One year he had a semester of "Foundry".
I'm a barely literate circus clown and I have "engineer" as my title - or I did until I moved back into sales, which suits my personality much better. I still get referred to as an engineer but I always ask "Don't lump me in with those shiny happy people"
Speaking as a licensed professional engineer.
It will be really tough to become a licensed professional engineer without having a degree from an ABET accredited university, working under the supervision of a licensed engineer for 4 years, passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam at some point between the degree and 4 years, and then passing the Professional Engineering exam.
Most states accept the same test, but some states, like California, have their own test.
If your degree is not accredited, like an Engineering Technology degree, then the same stuff applies except the working under supervision period is longer, usually 10 years.
To even call yourself an engineer in the course of selling services is as illegal as a person calling themselves doctor, lawyer, accountant, if they are not licensed.
On the other hand, if you are not offering engineering services to the public, a manufacturing company can call any employee they want an "engineer" and they can allow that person to do engineering work since the company is taking on liability for their products. So an internal job title at a Non-engineering firm can be "engineer" but at a licensed engineering firm has to be careful how they title non=licensed people, depending upon the state.
Other than what has been said already, being a Mech E is about learning to guess really well.
You have to learn how materials are strong and weak in order to guess how best they will fail.
You have to learn what the best structure is in order to guess how to design a structure that won't fail.
And because all of these things always have an exception or two, you have to learn how to guess what an appropriate factor of safety is.
You never really know how something is going to fail, so you do your best to think it through. You can look at failures afterwards and determine what caused it, but almost every single one of those was vetted by someone who didn't think it was going to fail.
Subscribing to this for ideas. This is essentially how I got myself into cyber security. I earned some certifications to go along with my internet and book learning and have been doing this for a decade now. I've been contemplating pivoting careers for a long time and this is motivating.
jharry3 said:To even call yourself an engineer in the course of selling services is as illegal as a person calling themselves doctor, lawyer, accountant, if they are not licensed.
A federal court recently threw that out:
https://ij.org/press-release/oregon-engineer-wins-traffic-light-timing-lawsuit/
In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :
It also varies by state. I dont think Florida requires a license to be called an engineer.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:jharry3 said:To even call yourself an engineer in the course of selling services is as illegal as a person calling themselves doctor, lawyer, accountant, if they are not licensed.
A federal court recently threw that out:
https://ij.org/press-release/oregon-engineer-wins-traffic-light-timing-lawsuit/
I bet if the guy was calling himself an attorney the court would have had a different opinion. Or doctor.
jharry3 said:If your degree is not accredited, like an Engineering Technology degree, then the same stuff applies except the working under supervision period is longer, usually 10 years.
To even call yourself an engineer in the course of selling services is as illegal as a person calling themselves doctor,
Highlighted two points...
The first is bullE36 M3. I graduated from an ABET accredited program with just my AAS in Mech Eng Tech. So, please reword.
The second is bs too. Did you know in an ever increasing rate, that a nurse practitioner will have to become doctorate credentialed to practice. So are they are doctor or NP?
Mr_Asa said:In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :
It also varies by state. I dont think Florida requires a license to be called an engineer.
The Florida verbiage on this is vague; but, I believe it requires some sort of license to be an engineer, otherwise you're just a "designer"
jharry3 said:codrus (Forum Supporter) said:jharry3 said:To even call yourself an engineer in the course of selling services is as illegal as a person calling themselves doctor, lawyer, accountant, if they are not licensed.
A federal court recently threw that out:
https://ij.org/press-release/oregon-engineer-wins-traffic-light-timing-lawsuit/
I bet if the guy was calling himself an attorney the court would have had a different opinion. Or doctor.
That might be a legitimate argument if he called himself a Professional Engineer, as that is the most direct equivalent of a 'lawyer' or 'doctor'. The equivalent of this scenario would be more like the state medical boards trying to take ownership of the "health care professional" title and saying that only doctors may use it publicly, or more even speak about anything medically related publicly. ..Meanwhile there are plenty of people out there who are health care professionals, and have every right to publicly speak to their field of knowledge and expertise, without being a 'doctor'.
They were absolutely right in stating that the more basic title of simply 'engineer' is not something that can be owned or regulated as such, and cannot prevent non PE's from publicly speaking about engineering related topics... And hopefully this sets a more rational legal precedent, while taking absolutely nothing away from what actually PE's are and do.
In reply to stroker :
I would start with figuring out what area of Mechanical Engineering most interests you, or more specifically what you want to do with it, then focus on the primary supporting subjects. Mechanical Engieneering is a very broad field, and you could easily spend a lot of time learning things that are not particularly applicable to your desired goals.
I'm a degreed Mechanical Engineer - but I interpreted the OP's question as if he wanted to acquire the knowledge not become a professionally licensed ME. I agree with others that if you want the knowledge then find the course list and/or book list for the courses and just start reading the books. That will get you 75% of the knowledge. You'd probably want to augment this with some interaction with profs or practicing ME's just to gain applied knowledge and resolve any questions you might have on a tricky aspect of the skills.
I've never been one of those people who look down on a coworker if they don't have a formal degree. If you know your E36 M3 you know your E36 M3.
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