Starting to rethink my future.

shimy182

shimy182

shimy182

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2005
Posts
3,815
Location
Cambridge
I always wanted to become a mechanical engineer.
but its starting to change..... all the enthusiasms gone somewhere.
im starting to think my self in my room designing something lame like pegs and pen stands :( ... i cant stop thinking negatives things about it.
Not all the fun F1 , car and airplane design.. :o

im starting to consider going on to computer science instead.

any ideas you cleaver people might have :confused:

im desperate for help,

i do maths mechanics, physics, and electronics all for AS.

thankyou, shimy
 
Do a course like computer systems engineering with your background and interest in computers. It's the course I'm on and you can research it on the bristol university website.
 
everyone needs pegs and pen stands without them well imagine all our clothes would fall off the line and we would lose all our pens! :p
 
With your AS choice, as long as you can get good grades at A2, you'll have no problem with CompSci, if thats what you really do want to do.

You've got loads of doors open at this point.

Burnsy
 
I found Mech Eng a serious maths bore and swapped over onto Product Design at Brunel. Had a good laff, learned some seriously interesting stuff, made some technologically breakthrough projects and walked out into the start of the job recession :p

But I might make a move back into the industry. I worked in special effects for a bit then went into business myself doing computers, webdesign etc.

You could expect to work for any product design consultancy, Dyson, webdesign, graphic design, F1 etc etc.
 
Mech Eng at Bristol as far as I know is very engine-oriented and there's a lot of aerospace stuff if you like the idea of turbines and such.

You certainly won't be doing pegs and pen-stands, things like that are tried and tested and don't need to be engineered to high specs :p
 
I did areospace engineering as a degree but I wish i did mechanical much broader in my eyes, so im doing it as an MSc and its not designing crap pens believe me.

KaHn
 
You should look at the real long term - i.e. what job it is you want to do, then decide on the path to get there whether it be degree/ college/ apprentice Not by choosing a subject and then finding a job that matches your chosen degree/qualification.

Take CompSci - why exactly why would you want to do this? What would it lead to, have you read any job description you'd like to do that require it?

F1, teams etc - have you looked into this and found out what is best, do they do sponsorships? etc, how have other people got their jobs there?


I wish I had done it this way, rather than the 'oh i'm pretty good with computers, maybe I should do Comp Sci ' without any real thought as to why.

The 4 years of my life I spent messing about with this could have been better spent earning money instead of borrowing...

(edited: oh and the bolierplate text that IT is saturated at the moment, so many poeple, too little jobs, you'll need to be something really special to get a good job + tons of experience)

(This is general advice for all, not nessacarily directly aimed at the OP)
 
Last edited:
If you think your going to find a passion in computers on a whim think again. Ive spent the past 4 years on computing courses which i hate in order to gain a degree.

Work hard at what you really enjoy doing and pipe dreams dont have to be pipe dreams :).
 
thanks for all your posts. i will look in to bristol and see what there is that i can do.
im starting to think what aerospace engineering will be like. is it more theory based than looking in to more practical issues of how things work?

as for long term thoughts..

i think i still do want to do mechanical engineer but also thinking hard in to computer science...
so for people whos out in the forum who does computer science, i want more words about what its like and what its all about(apart from the obvious :D )

i think im looking for a job which is half sitting in front of desk with one lamp shining on to blue print and other half looking at the product and being creative and also having fun and passion about it.

since i was a small boy i realy enjoyed breaking up old video recorders and TVs. my dad will sometimes be there explaining to be what each thing did.
that lead me in to playing with lego technics with all the spinning cogs.
so since i was a kid i had the passion for engines and moving cogs.

computer came in when i was 13 ish, since then i have been adicted to it.
wanted to learn more so i read magazines built my own comp when i was 15 and so on.

now i dont know which to go with.

it will be fab if i can combine the two and become a automobile computer design.... which could happen :confused:

the one thing im really really scared of is working in what i dont have motivation and passion. the thought haunts me
 
I'm doing Mechanical Engineering, and although it's bloody difficult, and have a shedload of work to do, I wouldn't swap it for any other course out there at the moment, as it's something you really can get to enjoy. If you do well, and you're dedicated, there's no real limit to where you will be able to work, though that will mean building up the biggest thing any good engineer, or anybody that wants a career in anything. That is experience.

Computers have always been my second passion, but after seeing what my friends on computer science actually do, it would bore the hell out of me, as I'm not really interesting in programming in 6 different languages, and telling PCs how to talk to one and other. But that's me.

You really need to draw up a list of pro's and cons. If you want to get into F1, you're gonna have to be pretty damn good, but F1 isn't the only motorsport you can get into. There are shedloads of different british automotive companies out in the UK, you've just got to find the right place for you.

In the real world, you're not going to be going out, on your own and designing a whole car, or a whole plane on your own, generally anyway. You'd work in a specific team of engineering working in say chassis, drivetrain, body, suspension, electronics, aerodynamics, engine etc etc.

Formula Student is a very good helping hand to stick on your CV which will look good in the vast majority of companies eyes, as it involves a hell of a lot of work, and covers every end of engineering from design, marketing, manufacture and testing. And more importanty, competiton.

Catch me on MSN if you want a chat about more depth of Mech Eng.
 
civil engineering, not as boring as mechanical (well, very debatable). more hours, more work. but greater job prospects and i seem to be doing a lot of fun stuff. Plus civ eng is the best engineering in terms of socialising and sport. (well at leeds it is)
 
mrmoose said:
civil engineering, not as boring as mechanical (well, very debatable). more hours, more work. but greater job prospects and i seem to be doing a lot of fun stuff. Plus civ eng is the best engineering in terms of socialising and sport. (well at leeds it is)
Click to expand...

I've got a few friends that do Civil... oh my does the stuff they do look dull :p One of their modules was "History of Conrete"... fun :p
 
I wanted to be a marine biologist, in Sepember i'm going to do archaeology. Sometimes you just change your mind. Don't worry about it continue with what you're doing at AS level and have a look through some uni perspectuses(sp) and see if there is anything that interests you.
 
thanks guys (and girls ;) ) for the advice will take all you said into account.
and a BIG thanks to DaveyD who has kindly offered 1to1 convo over msn. it has really helped and made me realise that i can find what i want to do at uni.

thankyou all and keep those posts coming ;)
 
Last edited:
Jonny69 said:
I found Mech Eng a serious maths bore and swapped over onto Product Design at Brunel. Had a good laff, learned some seriously interesting stuff, made some technologically breakthrough projects and walked out into the start of the job recession :p

But I might make a move back into the industry. I worked in special effects for a bit then went into business myself doing computers, webdesign etc.

You could expect to work for any product design consultancy, Dyson, webdesign, graphic design, F1 etc etc.
Click to expand...

just looked in to that product design thing. it sure does look as interesting as others.. but i failed Design and Technology at GCSE due to some trouble, do you think they will look in to that and say no?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom