Any engineering, technology, or computer science graduates here?

[used_submarine]

If so, would you be able to answer 3 short questions for me? I need to collect some data for a paper I have to turn in this week, and any one that has graduated in any field related to one of those three choices can help.

Perhaps just one or two sentences per question if you have time. If you want to respond with more, then fell free.

On to the questions:

• Why do you consider yourself a professional in your field?
• What do you consider to be the major challenges you face as you practice your profession?
• What do you conisder to be the most important factors in preparing to be a professional?

Thanks very much to anyone that has time to answer these three questions.

[vass0922]

1. Outsourcing to other countries
2. In the DC area being able to get a clearance is a big thing for gov't jobs.
3. If you can't keep up, you'll get trampled under. Technology moves VERY fast so by the time you learn one thing really good its nearly obsolete and its time to start cramming again.

just a start

[Gomer]

1. I consider myself a professional based on my education and my experience in the field. However, technically I am still not a professional. Even after obtaining the degree, an 8 hour exam, and 2 years of experience I am still an Engineer In Training (EIT). In order to be a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) I need two more years experience and must take another 8 hour exam.

2. One of the major challenges I face is working with the constraints on system designs. I have three goals to achieve; The system should be of the highest quality design, the design should be optimized to minimize expense, and the design should be completed as rapidly as possible. The client often wants all three when it is really only possible to provide two. Keeping them all in balance can be challenging.

3. I consider the most important factor to be exposing yourself to a variety of experiences in the field you are studying. As a student, you will find you are learning things but have no practical level of knowledge that you can apply your lessons to. By seeing a variety of real life experiences firsthand, you will have more situations (the dots) to connect the lessons you are learning (the lines) to make up the picture that represents your chosen profession.

Background: Bachelor of Science with a major in Biosystems Engineering 2002. I work for a small consulting firm that does site-civil engineering. Our specialty, and what I spend the majority of my time working on, is decentralized and onsite wastewater treatment.

[used_submarine]

Thanks very much for the responses guys!

[chipbgt]

Heh, I'm a computer science major who decided he would be much happier doing woodworking for a living..guess I cant help ya much

[capybara]

im a bsee now working as director of maintenance in a nursing home. doh !