I need advice from Hambers and people who do this stuff for a living

I've been a car guy for as long as I can remember. I went to engineerig school, and I received my BSME. I have not regretted it. All of my jobs have been very hands-on, from NASCAR engine testing to metal fabrication design.

I would finish your college degree, especially since you are already in the program. I have not needed calculus or much chemistry in my career, but if I did, I would know where to find the information.

Ultimately, it's up to you, but it's difficult to go back to school when you're older. I have done non-engineering jobs after I graduated, but it has always been there for me when I have needed it.

That's just my two cents. I'm sure you'll make the right decision.

 

Btt

 

Stay in school. I never got that opportunity, be thankful you have.

 

Brandon! Education gives you options and alot of guys dummer than you have a mechanical engineering degree....YOU CAN DO IT!

 

61falcon said it all. Stay in school you will glad you did later in life.

 

Stay in School and finish or I will find you and KICK YOUR ASS. I'm a Dad of 4 girls when I was growing up in the 60s 70s the trend was to find a union job and go to work union union union look where there at now falling apart . I went back to school at 37 years old to get my degree in Automotive and Truck Repair and it paid off big time I became an Automotive Instructor but as time passed I got older and health issues and occurred and got fazed out by new technology that I needed more schooling for I got looked at being to old why hire someone who is ready to retire pretty soon when that have there pick of young studs graduated from college. I have no degrees because I never went to school . Please stay and help your family. It will be one proud day on graduation. See my wife and all my 4 kids have degrees and I have never be more proud to be a dad and husband .

 

True story from last week. My wife, the veteran in her office, was asked by a new hire college graduate making more money than her only because of the piece of paper hanging in her office, what is the abbreviation for Washington? She replied WA, why? I'm trying to send this to Washington D.C. but the zip code wont work. You know that D.C. is not in the state of Washington right? What?! My wife explains it all......and she responed with "You think they would have tought me that in college!" GET THAT PIECE OF PAPER! Its a winning lottery ticket with the right oppotunity.

 

No not going to affect me at all. I already don't get out much.

But I think all you guys should jump on the mileage band wagon there is still time to climb aboard. Anyone got speed parts they won't be needing? They aren't worth much now that mileage is the whole point of building a car.

 

You've already received some great advice here but I'll just add that I sympathize. It took my 6 years of doddering through college to get my undergrad (not a great student at all, and didn't want to go to college in the first place.) Made it through, and ended up getting a job at a company that does a lot of engineering work (dont have an engineering degree myself). The company paid 100% of my tuition for grad school, so I am armed with both diplomas to fall back on if and when I decide to pursue a new path on my own.
Engineers will be in demand in the foreseeable future, and most engineers I know make great money. Stay in school. I know it totally sucks, but it's only two more years and it beats the hell out of the 9-5 grind. Look for a local shop and offer your time for free if you can. You'll learn many things.

 

I did pretty good without going to college. But that always made me wonder how much better i would have done if I DID go to college. You still have that chance...

 

Stay with the school!!!! Get a better tutor if you are still having problems. I got an algebra and calculous tutor years and years ago that really knew what he was doing and knew how to get the shit to sink in.
I got it so well the professor thought that I was cheating when I started aceing the tests!!

 

I have been building, welding on and fabricating all kinds of street and race cars since I graduated high school 25 years ago. I also began to go to college when I had the time, taking a night class here or there, as well as summer classes. To run your own shop, you have to know everything about cars, period. You will have to learn alot, and probably not make very much money at first, but that is how you learn. I really love what I do and would probably not do anything different. I would encourage you to stay in school and get a degree. Oh yeah, I finally graduated with a Bachelors degree in history two years ago. Out of all the nice street cars, drag race cars, circle track cars, and electric cars I have built, getting a degree was my greatest accomplishment.

 

I went to College of Oceaneering in Los Angeles and ended up in the Gulf Of Mexico working on oil wells. I became a diver/welder and had a Captain's License.
College was a blast. Lots of Math. We used the buddy system. We had 66 guys in our class. 11 graduated. I was number 6. When I went to Lousyana- I got hired right away by Martech Engineering. They put me to work in the hot sun making umbilical lines to see if I would stay with it. After two weeks in the yard, I told them if I didnt go offshore, I was going with someone else. They put me on the next boat! I had a blast. Free food, Free cabin, Fire watch pay,diver pay, welding pay, Captain's pay.. Pay coming out my ass! Loved it!
Now I live in Texas building hotrods and I'm too old for that action.
If you are under 30, enjoy yourself and work hard and make money, after you get older,unless you are a supervisor, they git rid of you..
Oh yeah, what's this shit of you only trying for at LEAST A B?? Fucker- Go for an A!! Do I hafta bump u upside the head?? J/K, Good Luck in all your endeavors..

 

takes some luck , but working on cars is crap

 

Brandon,
50 years ago I was you, just out of high school, 1961, all of my friends had regular jobs making "real" money and I loved cars! but I was determined to get an engineering degree. Hated calculus and differential equations, took them both 3 times! but I got through, didn't have a grade point to brag about but I did have a degree in mechanical engineering. Best thing I ever did!! I have never been without a job until I retired last year, I have worked on everything from jet airplanes, ships, huge machine tools, presses that you could put a semi in and race cars, and I have enjoyed ever opportunity. When you are in engineering you are continually learning something new. When you graduate from engineering school you are not an engineer you are just ready to learn to be an engineer. I have never looked back and regretted my choice.

If you are the type of person that can start and run your own business, that may be the way to go but you will put in so many hours making it a success that you will not have time to work on cars. Some people can most don't. My personal experience is that most of my friends that have successful businesses are not college grads but work harder than most of the other people I know.

One additional piece of advice, my youngest son is just finishing getting his engineering degree and he is a "car guy" like his old man and he is a hands on type and he transfered out of mechanical engineering into industrial/manufacturing just because he did not want to spend his days looking at a CAD screen drawing cartoons, he wants to be a hands on engineer and feels that a degree in industrial/manufacturing engineering will fit his goals better.

Best of luck, stay in school, do what it takes to get through and then find a position that looks fun and don't be afraid to change jobs until you find the one you want.

Rex

 

Stay in school man, you can do it!! I've got a BSME, and an MSME, and have been an M.E. in industry for over 20 years. Find a company that will pay for your tuition, and go at night for your MS. I didn't pay 1 cent for my Master's degree.

Yes, I had to put cars aside a lot for years to get my education. I had friends after high school go get jobs. They would work on cars all the time. I lived vicariously through them those years. Of course every situation is different, but I am doing better than they are now.

I've designed machinery for GM, Chrysler, Saturn, Tecumseh, Tokico Shock Absorbers, and Dana Spicer. All cool stuff.

Then I worked at a company that designed semiconductor testing machines that tested chips for Airbag sytems in cars. I worked with a company in California to co-design a vibration fixture that vibrates the chip to test it. I designed machines for Motorola, AMD, etc.

I now work in the 4X4 industry, and get to go off to off-road events to promote new designs, and SEMA in Vegas.

Good luck! Stay in Engineering!
Pete

 

Stay in school and get a ME degree. You will find that your education will help you in day to day living. I use my education everyday. I quit school for a while. Went back because I wanted to live a better life and not live like the people I worked with. My whole attitude changed after I stayed out of school and saw what a bleak future I was facing.

You can always start your own business but you can not always go to college.

Nobody can take your education away from you and so far they have not taxed it.

 

Still thinking about your post. I was lucky enough to go through that myself. I keep an idea from Kingman Brewster (1919-1988) posted on my wall. Liberal or technical education it still applies. Formal or self taught it makes sense...
"Perhaps the most fundamental value of a liberal education is that it makes life more interesting... It allows you to see things which the undereducated do not see. It allows you to understand things which the untutored find incomprehensible. It allows you to think things which do not occur to the less learned. In short, it makes it less likely that you will be bored with life and less likely that you bell be a bore to those around you".

 

Like many here, I have an engineering degree. (Geological Engineer, w/ Environmental minor). I was good at math & science in high school. College Calculus was very difficult. Chemistry was no fun. Thermodynamics, I have no idea how I survived.

But not only have I had interesting, good-paying jobs for the 20 years since I finished, I have had more opportunities, for more jobs, that I would have had without Engineering. With a broad engineering background, you can pursue many different paths in your career. I have done Environmental investigations and cleanups, earth dam construction, other kinds of engineered earthwork, water resources work, etc...

And it has afforded me the opportunity to enjoy hobbies, including old cars. For me, it's a huge blessing that time with the old car is 'fun' time.

If it helps you to know that Calculus is hard, it's hard for engineers. Everyone struggles with it. And yes, I've even used it on-the-job. Stay with it, you'll be glad you did. There's nothing better than giving yourself more options/opportunities - which an engineering degree will do.

 

You just proved that you are smarter than Clik. HE went out looking for evidence that college degrees are unnecessary. YOU asked the important question: how many millionaires have degrees. The answer is ALL OF THE REST OF THEM. If you don't see their name on that list, they have a degree! And most of the ones on that list completed most of a degree before they stopped out.

There is no such thing as a useless degree, but there are a LOT of jobs out there that say "degree required." Even if you change your major, get a degree. ANY degree.
Clik seems to have done well but that's one person out of 300 million. Those of us who are just regular folks are doing well because we have a degree that gets us in the door, the same door that slams shut in the face of anyone without one. Notice how many others here on the HAMB are giving the same advice as me?

Find someone in your classes that is doing really well and offer them $20 an hour to tutor you, right after class. It's money well spent, and a lot more effective than a generic tutor. Someone who is in the class with you and getting it can probably turn around and re-explain it all in a way that makes it easy to understand. That's how I got through a statistics class I needed.

Good luck.

 

I spent 36 years in healthcare, most as a Registered Radiologic Technologist (X-Ray tech). Lots of lifting, pushing, pulling, twisting, and any combination of those. Killed my spine; 8 spinal surgeries. But I loved it. Love to work on cars, MY cars, no one else's, but that's what I did all through high school in a Standard Chevron Station (that's where no one else's cars came in). I graduated at the top of my class, and was the only one with a job offer. All it takes is a 75% grade to pass in X-Ray school, and the same is required for passing the boards. So, the guy that graduates with a 75% is the same as the guy that graduates with a 100%; you start out the same, get paid the same, and that's what really frustrated me. For math/physics, get help, get a tutor, or at least get a passing grade. The degree is the same no matter where you are in your class. I took care of a patient once who owned his own ornamental iron shop; he had dropped out of a surgery residency to pursue his dream, not that of his parents. I thought the guy was crazy to throw away a medical education' a physician, to become a weldor/sculpturer. He was pushed by his parents to medicine, was becoming a surgeon because he wanted to work with his hands, but finally did what he wanted to do. It all reminds me of the joke: What do they call that guy who graduates dead last in his medical school class?........................................DOCTOR! Pursue your dream, and do the best you can, and to hell with anyone else. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

There are a lot of people with degrees who aren't millionaires and are IN FACT unemployed! My cousin keeps hearing the phrase "overqualified" and has had to sell his condo. He's not quite old enough to draw social security and not looking forward to starting over. A friend with several degrees has been operating a fork lift for the same reason. Learning is a never ending thing, or should be, and colleges have no monopoly on education. They just wish they did. I'm just a highschool dropout but I've had Professors and Civil Engineers drive from several states away to interview me for the purpose of designing their curiculum and developing their stormwater criterion. I wonder how parents would feel knowing they spent all that money on tuition only to find out that the Professors were being taught by a highschool dropout.
You may want to do some basic math also. Figure out your lost wages while going to school versus working, add your tuition and expenses up and figure how long it's going to take catching up versus having invested the money and been working drawing a check.

 

Im only 25 and went to school, just not long enough. Ive been a Mechanic for about 5 yrs now and it sucks. trust me its one thing to work on cars for your self or friends but when you have to do it every day not so fun. I work in a dealership so a custom shop would probly be better (if they had enough business). I could of stayed in school for another 2 to three years and got a real degree but i didn't and now im kicking my self in the ass. Dont get me wrong Im not homeless by any means, but don't really have much to fall back on if you know what i mean. Eveybody always says "you could just go back later" but in all reality its a pretty tuff thing to do when you have a child and a mortgage. doable but probly not.

 

I was at the University of Tennessee in 1962 majoring in mech. engr. Chemistry just about broke my back to, so I changed majors to the business school. Graduated in '65, went into trucking, then I bought 5 gas stations, and now I'm retired. College taught me that there are a lot of different kinds of people in this world, and it helps to try to get along with them. Actual book knowledge didn't help much, but learning to get along and achieving a goal was invaluable. Stay in school. It's only 4 or 5 years, but employers like to see someone who can stick it out and achive a goal. Good luck!
Bob

 

I gotta say, this is fascinating stuff, to hear the world from all sorts of people.

The job market will never stay the same. What worked 20 years ago may not be true for us, or our kids. Competition is changing.

Education also teaches you how to learn and think, so you can continue to learn. It is said that the modern workforce may change careers 2-3 before retirement. Anything you can do to hedge your bets is a good thing.

Finally, school is social. The people you meet may influence where you end up and what kind of luck you have, or how you connect with the world.

How about this: become an engineer and get the big three to start making cool cars again.

 

I got my engineering degrees and never regretted it. I sort of retired many years ago at age fifty, built myself a 2300SF shop, and now can spend almost all the time I want there, building my own hot rods.

Back in the '60s, calculus and physics almost killed me and I took physics twice to really get it down. Once you are past that it all gets more fun. Hang in there and you will get through it, and you will be happy you did. The science and engineering knowledge will help you do so many things in life, whether it is building homes, or building cars, or using that knowledge in hiring others to do some work for you.

 

I see you would like to be a mechanical engineer. I will pass a little information my son learned on his way to become a M.E. When he was in high school he begged to be let out of trigonometry, he just did not get it. I knew he was smart enough but it just was not clicking. I told him to let the teacher know he was sincere and trying hard. He went on to pass the class. He then started working at a foundry in co-op from high school. He got to know a couple of the young mechanical engineers and liked the challenging work they were involved in. It was enough to get him into college. When he started college to be an engineer a college professor told him math was the most important part of his education. The better he knew calculus the easier it would be in the engineering field. He had to STUDY HARD but he did learn calculus well. He now has a Bachelers degree, a good exciting job that has allowed to do some traveling and is financially doing well. He is in his late 20's, married, and wants to go back for his masters. Yes, studying is hard but you will be rewarded for your efforts. GOOD LUCK!

 

School is for fools! Give it up Willis

 

I returned to college and got better grades. I was more mature and was there to learn instead of chasing skirts and drinking beer. I never used calculus after graduating. We had to take three semesters of differential equations. The classes seemed to get easier after the freshman year. They were not the general study type classes and more in your major field. Computers were fun. This was back in the punch card days. There were no programs. You had to to write your own. Figuring the logic of the program was fun. Every engineering class required you to write two or three programs. Internal combustion engines, gas turbines, thermal dynamics, strength of materials, heat transfer, senior design all required computer programs. One of the neat things about computers was solving four unknowns with three equations. The computer would try a number and go through the calculations until all three equations were satisfied. Now they teach robotics and a lot more elective classes.

You can go any where and do so much with a good education. Some of the teachers had real ego problems but Vets usually straighten them out pretty fast and right in the class room. The statics teacher was the worst." If you do not learn this concept you will never be an engineer" was one of his comments. A vet found out about a bridge the teacher designed that failed. The Vet told the teacher that he apparently did not grasp a couple of concepts in school either.

 

I have multiple degrees and I am a 51 year old machinist.... and I hate it. Pay is good and it helps pay for my hobby.
I also have a part time job at a Hot Rod shop which is ten times more fun than the other job and a hell of alot more intriguing..
Stay in School, try to find something you like to put food on the table and do the fun stuff on the side....