Pure Engineering Porn! Can't wait.

[timwilky]

You sound as if you are going into this with your eyes open.

The level of maths required to be able to do an engineering degree is high. Even though most in now computerised you still need the basics. So bone up on all that calculus second order liner differential equations etc. yuk yuk.

Glad that was so long ago. I went from an ONC, so whilst some parts were easy (Thermo dynamics) compared to those with A levels. others (Materials) were damm difficult as I had never studied chemistry. Glad composites did not really exist to add more difficulty.

But I never had the luxury of CAE it really was after my time. I did a bit of FE after I had graduated and CFD about 20 years ago as we started rolling it out where I was working and my department had to support it.

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by Chris Bird

When I said it would end the job hunting, I only meant for the next for years atleast. (Need to do a foundation year as all I have is GCSE's and a little engineering experience) I will need to find a part time job as well though. So until I do that, I think I'll be living on smart price noodles and vodka.

With regards to employment afterwards, I'm hoping that this will pay off. There's a page on the website about what previous students have done since. Also, when I was on the open day I did ask about this.

The main lecturer for the course did say that, yes a lot of students go on to work in the motorcycle industry. One of them is working with a certain British Moto GP team for 2012. One in Moto 2, another in Moto GP and one in F1. But others go on to get jobs with the likes of British Airways and Airbus. So for now, I'm concentrating on getting my maths back up to standard and I remain hopeful... For now atleast.

However, I do realise that the job market is poo but, there will always be motorcycles. There will always be motorcycle development, There will always be an engineering industry. And even if I do struggle to find work, which I kind of expect to, I'm going to be getting a degree in what is essentially my biggest hobby, past time and aspiration. So as Rossi would say, I'm very happy!

Its marvellous you have such hope and enthusiasm for the future.

Go in with your eyes wide open, all lecturers are going to say their students are successful.
I sat for four years with my ex partner doing a part time honours degree, so he could fit it around his full time nights job on a weekend. Hes been pulling bikes apart since he was 17 in a back street bike shop. Whilst in his degree he made gear/clutch parts for cars, then the nightshift in a chocolate factory repairing the big machinery. Engineering experience before even walking into a university....at 27 he started the degree, but only because the nasty bike accident took over for a while. He left the chocolate factory after finishing, got a job he enjoyed, got made redundant and has spent the last couple of months searching for a new job.
The other person I know, went straight to uni at a young age, and since passing hasn't really found his chosen career in the last year since leaving

ITs a tough old world. You have to be the best of the best, so be prepared to do some fecking hard work, as its not all about getting your hands mucky, and I very much think theres a lot of mathematics involved....don't me started on that bit, it gave me headache as well!!!!

Good luck, get stuck in, keep your nose in those books, and don't come out til your finished, no boozing, no time off.......and you may, just may get a job at the end of it

Your right there dizzy. The job market is hard and you do have to be the best. I spent the last 5 and a half years in the Army as a Royal Engineer. I'm a qualified sparks, I've got NVQ ECDL City & Guilds and even some little key skills. All of which I was told employers wanted. I've done a fair bit of crap. I've worked my ass off, I'm reliable and I couldn't even get a part time job in Halfords putting bikes together.

The maths is my biggest issue at the moment timwilky. I'm glad I'm doing a foundation year first as I'd have no chance otherwise. I gotten myself a 'Engineering Mathematics Through Applications' text book so I'm working through that and some GCSE papers just to try and bring it all back.

(I had forgotten how easy GCSE exams were though, this was an actual question in a recent paper I went through... Write 4765 in words.)

Originally Posted by Chris Bird

In the September I'm off to Uni to study this!

Will be learning from some seriously smart guys including Tech 3 Yamaha's Moto GP data engineer for Colin Edwards.

Maybe I'll learn something and be able to stop winging it and shearing bolts!

And atleast it will end this job hunting crap! Why do I need previous experience to work the tills?

Congrats, I got a place there but opted to do Automotive Engineering at Sheffield, I thought the uni itself was no good.

Have fun!

Without trying to be a tool can I ask you to elaborate on the abbreviations you've used timwilky. They sound familiar but I can't remember them all.

I know CAE.
FE does sound familiar but not sure along with ONC and CFD.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Chris Bird

Without trying to be a tool can I ask you to elaborate on the abbreviations you've used timwilky. They sound familiar but I can't remember them all.

I know CAE.
FE does sound familiar but not sure along with ONC and CFD.

Cheers

CFD = Computational fluid dynamics

Study of fluid flow and how they react, and then performing simulations or other data using computation and a feck loads of maths!

Forty seven hundred an sixty five, what do i win lol.

[MisterTommyH]

Originally Posted by timwilky

Then one with an employer who will sponsor your degree. I think those days are gone.

We still do it, although it's structural not mechanical. Tend to find we get a better graduate at the end of the course if they've spent 5-6 years already working in the company and dealing with the specifics. It also tends to give them an advantage at Uni over the full time students who are very good at the theory, but can't always apply it to the actual situations.

Originally Posted by Scythe92

Congrats, I got a place there but opted to do Automotive Engineering at Sheffield, I thought the uni itself was no good.

Have fun!

Happy days. I looked in to all the automotive courses but I wanted to do one that focussed on motorcycles. The only two were Derby and Swansea (SMU) and Derby only offered a foundation degree. So SMU was the only real option for me.

Also, the contact from Swansea was much better than Derby when I first enquired about it.

Basically, my application was late before I had even contemplated University. I e-mailed SMU on the Sunday morning asking what I would need to do in order to be able to just apply. (Access Course/ A-levels).

I heard back the same day just telling me to apply so they could assess the best way for me. I did and I actually got in without even an interview. I ended up ringing UCAS to make sure it wasn't a mistake.

Originally Posted by Chris Bird

Happy days. I looked in to all the automotive courses but I wanted to do one that focussed on motorcycles. The only two were Derby and Swansea (SMU) and Derby only offered a foundation degree. So SMU was the only real option for me.

Also, the contact from Swansea was much better than Derby when I first enquired about it.

Basically, my application was late before I had even contemplated University. I e-mailed SMU on the Sunday morning asking what I would need to do in order to be able to just apply. (Access Course/ A-levels).

I heard back the same day just telling me to apply so they could assess the best way for me. I did and I actually got in without even an interview. I ended up ringing UCAS to make sure it wasn't a mistake.

Yeah I did exactly the same as you, except I applied straight from school. I'm about to head into the second year so it's more practical, wanna branch into engine design, fuelling or vehicle safety (ironic considering I ride bikes!).

If I had gone Swansea, I'd be seeing you around a lot in September! Seems a very close knit group of people on the moto eng.