first year student needs advice

[andrew5826]

hey all
i'm looking for advice from some older ones with more experience. i love cars, driving cars(hard), modifying cars and just being around them. I love computers too, but i'm not too excited about a job where i'm behind a desk all day everyday. i'd rather be a grease monkey turning wrenches, but i wouldn't want to depend on that for a living. i have no idea what i want to do as a career but i know i will involve cars in it someway and i will definitely need a decent salary to support my ludicrous spending habits. i've had dreams of working for STI/Nismo/TRD in japan or starting up a rad tuning garage to eventually become famous like Titan Motorsports/AMS/Crawford/Cosworth etc. excuse me if these sound like pipe dreams, im still young..

i'm currently a first year student at university of victoria for computer science and i'm wondering what are the kinds of things employers in this field look for? what kind of work/coop experience should i aim for? bachelors? masters? or am I even in the right program for what i want? haha... #firstyearuniproblems

[Tcoat]

First of all, communication skills are very important no matter what you plan to do.
On the left side of your keyboard is a key marked "shift". This will allow you to make the first letter of each sentence a Capital.
I do apologize for the heavy sarcasm but if you allow bad habits to develop, even when posting on a forum, then they will continue through the rest of your work.

[f0rge]

Interested in or have an aptitude for engineering?

Engineering degree is super useful in almost any field, but especially when it comes to working for car companies.

[Thorpedo]

/\ Good advice. Seriously.

I'm currently sitting in a university library (Acadia) studying for a German test. I'm in my fourth year and I'm older than most students. Best advice I can give? Don't stress about what you'll do someday. You'll likely do ten different things before you get where you want to be and those ten jobs will help you determine what it is you like doing. What you think you want to do might be accurate, but it probably isn't.

I won't be going any further in my formal education than a double major bachelors. After working in the field for 5 years (automotive) and done a 4 year formal program, I've decided more school isn't for me. I got more out of just working/living than spending 40 grand on education. The only thing I've gained from my education is perspective, which all things considered is very important, but not necessary. I'd like to think I'm a little more wise than I was 5 years ago, but I'm a lot more broke and would have learned a lot doing what I was before anyway. There is no "right" order or way to go through life. The most important thing is enjoying it. (Hence why I have a FR-S and wen't balls deep into autocross/motorsport. It is fun. "YOLO" lol...

Enjoy your youth. Don't rack up a lot of debt. Learn some things. Don't "waste" time spending all day every day playing video games. What you should be doing is learning about yourself. What are your strengths? Stick with those.

Random, but that's my advice.

[navanodd]

This thread is full of great stuff. All I can really add what's already written is that in many cases you're not really going to know what you want to until you try it.


There are some things that I like to keep as a hobby, because I want to be able to enjoy them without relying on them for income or when under the pressure of a job. I'm currently studying Mechanical Engineering a few hours north of where Thorpedo is. I've got 4 months of my degree left and then I'm headed to work in oil and gas.


I never thought that was the path I would take when I started engineering, but I had a few co-op jobs that helped me to see that I was good at things that I didn't expect to be, and for the employer that I'm returning to when I finish, going back there was equally about the people I get to work with everyday as it is about the work.


It's impossible to plan all this stuff out, so the best advice I can give is that you need to take any opportunities you can. If you can, do co-op. You never know where things can lead. Right now my senior design project is designing a pneumatic shift system for our FSAE car. It's the most hands on work I've ever done in school and I'm really enjoying it.

[MokSpeed]

College is a great time to explore and basically discover yourself. Find out what you enjoy doing and whether or not you could do that every day. As others have stated, any engineering degree is extremely versatile. Just know that things you enjoy as hobbies may not necessarily translate into something you'd enjoy working on as a career. If they do then more power to you.

[Jyn]

Mechanical/aerospace engineer.

Or computer science and just enjoy cars in your spare time.

[MidnightRunner]

Take it from someone who dropped out. STAY IN SCHOOL! Life is gets so much easier with that piece of paper framed on the wall. Learn as much as you can, and enjoy the ride. Best of luck.

Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by f0rge

Interested in or have an aptitude for engineering?

Engineering degree is super useful in almost any field, but especially when it comes to working for car companies.

^^^^ This. Especially in Canada right now. I work at a tier one automotive parts manufacturer (soon to be #1 in the world) and we are almost always looking for product and/or manufacturing engineers. In fact both my plants are currently looking and not having great luck as the available, skilled people, interested in entry level positions seem too be in short supply.
Now, the market could change dramatically by the time you are done school but that is the chance you take when starting down any career path.
Keep in mind, that many of us on the tail end of the "baby boom" generation will be headed for retirement in the next 5 to 10 years so advancement opportunities should increase.

[BlueDubbinTDI]

I'm doing something completely outside my field of study. I'm in promotions for a major South East grocery store chain instead of criminal justice with which I have a 4 year degree in. I say just study in college as close to the subject you'd like to be in after graduation...just make sure graduation is top priority. I found that what I actually enjoyed, majoring in was too difficult for me so I just did criminal justice because any idiot can do it. Opportunities will arise regardless of what you study as long as you have that 4yr+ paper on your wall.

[bcj]

Working a drafty mech bay in the middle of winter and trying to adhere to a strict time limit will get old really fast.

Use the opportunity at school to sample as wide a variety of experience you can. That's what it's there for.

Code monkeys in the cubes are treated as a commodity in the computing industry.
The ones being promoted are those that can co-ordinate content management systems, code forks and block points.
Their bosses rarely even touch a computer for anything other than email. Project management, requirement specification and time management are the most useful skills at that level.
Those sorts of things will be more widely valued in nearly any organization.
(and are the ones who go on junkets outside the gates)

[53Driver]

There's an old saying "if you love what you do you'll never work a day of your life". Now with that being said, sometimes it is smarter to let your profession fund your hobby(s). I agree with the engineering sentiments, they, just like doctors and nurses, will always be needed. If I had to do it all over again, I would get an engineering degree.

Keep in mind, that graduating is the first priority. It got me to where I always wanted to be. Now I am thinking about going back and getting another degree, most likely a masters, because it will open up more doors.

My last piece of advice. Your character will dictate what you do and don't do in life. If you have determination, perseverance and discipline with a solid work ethic and the ability to get along with others (people/comminication skills) the world is pretty much yours. If you're the negative type, easily defeated etc then beware. Don't be afraid of failure though, often it takes failure to gain experience. Experience makes up for a lot of things.

[dem00n]

Study, fuck bitches and get as many project cars as you can.

Welcome to college.

[Ultramaroon]

Ditto for everything already well stated in this thread. What an amazing group of people you all are!

My dad was a mechanical engineer. One typical day while both of us were under one of our cars he stopped, looked at me, and said in all seriousness with his thick Hungarian accent, "Whatever you do, never ever become a grease monkey."

I say this with the greatest respect for mechanics. It's a super tough, unforgiving, under-appreciated career. I'm forever thankful for my dad's advice.

Keep wrenching as a hobby. As a mechanical engineer myself, I've been lucky enough to divide my time between the machine shop and the computer. Those are rare gigs and even then, you will never escape the drudgery of paperwork.

The world is mathematics. You don't have to be great at it, just do your best to appreciate its value and be competent.

Don't sell your textbooks.