Electrical Engineering - Engineering management: Good degree to have?

Author

Engineering management: Good degree to have?

me@privacy.net

2007-08-13, 5:25 pm

I'm a soon to be engineering student

Unsure of what field to pursue

What would you go for now days?

Have been reading abt engineering management. Sounds
like a broad degree with business background as well

Have any advice on it?

Charles Perry

2007-08-13, 8:25 pm

<me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:mlg1c3pgdeik6t5td6p4f91tmoko6v4qte@4ax.com...
> I'm a soon to be engineering student
>
> Unsure of what field to pursue
>
> What would you go for now days?
>
> Have been reading abt engineering management. Sounds
> like a broad degree with business background as well
>
> Have any advice on it?

My advice: Get an undergrad degree in one of the traditional engineering
disciplines and a master's in engineering management. Makes a good combo.

Charles Perry P.E.

me@privacy.net

2007-08-14, 1:25 pm

"Charles Perry" <pipesandtobacco@hotmail.com> wrote:

>My advice: Get an undergrad degree in one of the traditional engineering
>disciplines and a master's in engineering management. Makes a good combo.

ok

thanks

me@privacy.net

2007-08-14, 1:25 pm

Palindrome

2007-08-14, 1:25 pm

me@privacy.net wrote:
> "Charles Perry" <pipesandtobacco@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> OK but curious as to why?
>
> Can you be so kind as to explain a newbie like me?

Here's one:

The traditional engineering degree is likely to be accredited with the
relevant institute(s) and so meet their academic requirements for
membership and Chartered status. Hybrid degrees are less likely to be
accredited, leaving the individual having to do the institute's
professional exams - very much not a soft option.

Having got academically qualified - what you don't want is to stay as an
engineer - who typically get paid crap wages and a company car with no
back windows and sign writing on the side(aka company van). Unless, of
course, you really looooove engineering.

Nah, the money and the flash car is in management and a post graduate
management qualification of some sort helps in getting, well, management
jobs.

End result is lots of letters after your name. Looks good on a business
card, if you are trying to impress. Which you will be when you work out
that the money isn't in management after all - but in management
consultancy.

Of course another point is that, having got a first class engineering
degree and found that you really do loooove engineering after all - you
can do a doctorate, get tenure, play with toys for the next 40 years and
be very, very rude about management consultants who have to put lots of
letters after their name on business cards.. Plus, depending on where
you get the doctorate, etc, you get the chance to wear a daft hat and a
dead mammal and speak in Latin..

--
Sue

me@privacy.net

2007-08-14, 5:25 pm

Palindrome <me9@privacy.net> wrote:

>Here's one:
>
>The traditional engineering degree is likely to be accredited with the
>relevant institute(s) and so meet their academic requirements for
>membership and Chartered status. Hybrid degrees are less likely to be
>accredited, leaving the individual having to do the institute's
>professional exams - very much not a soft option.

OK

Here is where I'm thinking abt going and they do have
the engineering management as an undergrad degree. The
school is UMR.... in Rolla Missouri.

see link

http://emgt.umr.edu/

>Having got academically qualified - what you don't want is to stay as an
>engineer - who typically get paid crap wages and a company car with no
>back windows and sign writing on the side(aka company van). Unless, of
>course, you really looooove engineering.

Ha!! Greta sense of humor and you've made me laugh and
smile! But keep telling me this and you will talk me
into forgetting engineering and going to pharmacy
school!

Serious question..... is engineering REALLY that great
of filed in the US today given we are export happy with
anything and everything? I worry abt getting an
engineering degree and not being able to find work I
like or that makes me "working poor"!!

Charles Perry

2007-08-14, 5:25 pm

<me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:9aq3c3hp8l4484ak26up4bj2vvsb9vv0la@4ax.com...
> "Charles Perry" <pipesandtobacco@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> OK but curious as to why?
>
> Can you be so kind as to explain a newbie like me?

IMO, you will be more employable if you have a core engineering undergrad.
I work, and hire engineers, in the electrical engineering field. We do have
a few non-EEs (chemical, biosystems, mechanical) but predominantly we hire
EEs. I am not likely to hire a person with an Eng Man. undergrad degree and
no master's. If I am hiring an undergrad, it will likely be an EE. Now,
when we get to the Master's level, I would seriously consider an EE with an
Eng Man over a MSEE, depending on the job. If it is a hard-core modelling
and analysis position, the MSEE will likely win. If it is a job managing
projects and/or people, the Eng Man. will likely win. Also, I would be very
unlikely to hire someone with undergrad and master's in Eng Man. They
likely won't be able to understand the core business enough to make them
useful without years of training.

Charles Perry P.E.

Palindrome

2007-08-14, 5:25 pm

me@privacy.net wrote:
> Palindrome <me9@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> OK
>
> Here is where I'm thinking abt going and they do have
> the engineering management as an undergrad degree. The
> school is UMR.... in Rolla Missouri.
>
> see link
>
> http://emgt.umr.edu/
>
>
> Ha!! Greta sense of humor and you've made me laugh and
> smile! But keep telling me this and you will talk me
> into forgetting engineering and going to pharmacy
> school!
>
> Serious question..... is engineering REALLY that great
> of filed in the US today given we are export happy with
> anything and everything? I worry abt getting an
> engineering degree and not being able to find work I
> like or that makes me "working poor"!!

Hey, I loooove engineering - plus I'm a Brit currently in BritLand (aka
State 51 on the good old map of the USA). And if anyone called me an
engineering manager I'd shove his business card where his appendix could
read it.

So I can't advise on careers in the US mainland, only in this far flung
territory of it.

However, judging by the number of engineers here that would give their
non-typing fingers (yep, all six of them) to get a work permit in the
USA mainland - it must have something going for it.

--
Sue

VWWall

2007-08-14, 5:25 pm

me@privacy.net wrote:
>
> Serious question..... is engineering REALLY that great
> of filed in the US today given we are export happy with
> anything and everything? I worry abt getting an
> engineering degree and not being able to find work I
> like or that makes me "working poor"!!

You need reasonably good intelligence to get an engineering degree. But
if you don't have curiosity about "how things work", you won't enjoy
doing engineering work.

Also, don't take up engineering because you like working with things vs
working with people. In just a few years you'll find you're in the
"people business"!

--
Virg Wall, P.E.

daestrom

2007-08-15, 5:25 pm

"Charles Perry" <pipesandtobacco@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:5icampF3n28mfU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:mlg1c3pgdeik6t5td6p4f91tmoko6v4qte@4ax.com...
>
> My advice: Get an undergrad degree in one of the traditional engineering
> disciplines and a master's in engineering management. Makes a good combo.
>

Good advice Charles. In fact a NY state school (SUNY Binghamton) now offers
a 3/2 or 4/1 option to get a BS in engineering and MBA in 5 years.

daestrom
(visited there last week with youngest looking at schools for next year :-)

Chuck Jurgens

2007-08-17, 9:25 am

I have a BS in Engineering Management (EE minor) from UMR and it was the
right decision FOR ME. Although my interest and aptitude pointed me in the
direction of an electrical engineering degree, I was really bored and
UNinterested in the engineering studies and I decided, after 3 1/2 years to
change to Eng Mgt. That was in the early '70's when the Department was just
being formed.

That decision was influenced by summer jobs that I had (in sales of radio
and TV broadcast equipment). I was able to use my technical background to
help me sell a sophisticated technical product. So, Eng Mgt was the right
choice for me. "Your results may vary."

A better choice would be the full engineering degree followed by an MBA.
That's a dynamite combination if you have the time, money and inclination to
spend the extra time in school. I didn't.

It all depends on what you want to do in life. I have enjoyed traveling all
over the country, meeting high-powered folks, solving complicated
technical/business problems, having freedom and a flexible work schedule and
making lots of money! I would not be happy sitting a a desk/bench crunching
numbers or running experiments - but that's just me. You need to figure out
what YOU like.

So, how do you do that? Start with your faculty advisor. You will be
assigned one when you enroll. He/she won't have lots of time to spend with
you but you should establish a good relationship with him.

The first year or two of your studies are basic stuff. Take that time to
seek out engineers and engineering managers in your area. Go out and talk
with people who actually WORK in a certain career field. Ask what they do
on a daily / weekly / monthly basis. Find out what they like and don't like
about their jobs. The chairman of the Eng Mgt department and the EE
department (I assume your are intereasted in EE) should be able to help you
make contact with these folks. Call them up, tell them you are interested
in their career field and would like some advice. Most professionals are
happy to offer their advice to students - especially if you are a Miner and
they are graduates of UMR.

Remember. marketing brochures and "department propoganda" paint a rosey
picture of the benefits of a degree from their respective departments.

Incidentally, make as many contacts as you can. You will be looking for a
job in a few years and it never hurts to have a network of professionals
when you are seeking employment.

Find a summer job in your field of engineering and one (the next year) in
engineering management. This will give you valuable insight into the career
fields.

Finally, realistically speaking, during the first couple of years at UMR you
will be taking mostly generic courses. You really don't need to make a
committment to Eng. Mgt right away. Stick with EE and take those courses
(youi're going to need those course credits if you transfer to Eng Mgt
anyway). If you LIKE engineering, great. If not, change departments - it's
easy. You don't have to make a FINAL department selection when you first
enroll in school.

Information is the key. Get as much information as you can. Assimilate
that information and, over time, form your own conclusion. Then go for it!

Good luck!

Chuck
UMR '73

me@privacy.net

2007-08-17, 1:25 pm

"Chuck Jurgens" <jurgens@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>I have a BS in Engineering Management (EE minor) from UMR and it was the
>right decision FOR ME.

You are just the man I need to talk to Chuck!! <G>

I'm 49....and thinking of UMR. Is that crazy? To go to
UMR at age 49 foe EE or Eng Management? Too old now??

I have 41 hrs at local community college now. Could
xfer to UME after Christmas.

>A better choice would be the full engineering degree followed by an MBA.
>That's a dynamite combination if you have the time, money and inclination to
>spend the extra time in school. I didn't.

Yep.. but don't have the time for that at age 49.....
or at least think I don't. I do want to retire
someday. <G>

>It all depends on what you want to do in life. I have enjoyed traveling all
>over the country, meeting high-powered folks, solving complicated
>technical/business problems, having freedom and a flexible work schedule and
>making lots of money! I would not be happy sitting a a desk/bench crunching
>numbers or running experiments - but that's just me. You need to figure out
>what YOU like.

The part abt setting at a desk is what bothers me as
well. I was a very good draftsman for many
years....and it got to be HORRIBLE setting at a desk
all day. Many health problems cause of it. Hence the
idea of something like eng management where I could
have tech background but also move around more.

>department (I assume your are intereasted in EE) should be able to help you
>make contact with these folks.

EE would be my other choice of not eng management. I
am ham radio operator, computer nut, etc. But the eng
management thing got my "interest". Hence the
questions. <G>

>Chuck
>UMR '73

Thanks so much Chuck!!

If I would have been smart enough to go to college out
of highs school.... I WOULD have been UMR 80. <sigh>

me@privacy.net

2007-08-17, 1:25 pm

"Chuck Jurgens" <jurgens@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>I have a BS in Engineering Management (EE minor) from UMR and it was the
>right decision FOR ME

Would it hurt for me to take Accounting 101 and 102 at
local community college if pursuing this degree at UMR?

Chuck Jurgens

2007-08-17, 1:25 pm

Email me - jurgens@bellsouth.net

<me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:19cbc3litt30e73osgctl01lsbdvsds6gc@4ax.com...
> "Chuck Jurgens" <jurgens@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>
> Would it hurt for me to take Accounting 101 and 102 at
> local community college if pursuing this degree at UMR?

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