Author Topic: Where did you go to college?  (Read 16574 times)

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Offline House91320Topic starter

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Where did you go to college?
« on: September 03, 2011, 10:19:53 pm »
I'm just curies where all the EE in this forum went to collage?
ps. I know it in the wrong part of  the forum but the general section seams to have disappeared.
 

Offline Computeruser

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2011, 11:23:04 pm »
I studied Pure and Applied Mathematics (and some undergraduate Computer Science), but there was a big Engineering Faculty there which included Electrical Engineering. That was the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada.  ... C
 

Offline w2aew

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2011, 02:35:01 am »
NJIT = New Jersey Institute of Technology (USA)
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Offline tokuro

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2011, 04:00:17 pm »
University of San Francisco (www.usfca.edu)
 

Offline Kibi

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2011, 12:20:30 pm »
I didn't bother with any of that college / university stuff.
I started work in an engineering environment when I was 16 years old.
 

Offline Ronnie

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2011, 12:36:28 pm »
De La Salle University - Manila
BSECE 1986 - 1991
MEP-ECE 2003 - 2006
 

Offline bullet308

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2011, 03:52:02 am »
University of South Carolina for both the BA (Administrative Information Management) and MAT (Business Eduction). My specific intent was to end up a non-pointy-haired (or less pointy, in any case) manager of technical folk. So far, that has not particularly worked out.

USC has a good EE program, but I was never in it. :-)
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Offline Frangible

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2011, 08:57:16 pm »
Wassa Motta U.  :)
 
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Offline ArtemisGoldfish

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2011, 04:35:45 am »
Spokane Community College, Spokane, WA for their Electronics Engineering Technology associate's degree. I had not the money for a university, and probably not the patience or prerequisite education, either. I am very happy as a technician though, so it all worked out :)
John, Hardware Technician, F5 Networks
 

Offline gamozo

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2011, 04:52:06 am »
I haven't attended uni yet, and I really have no desire unless I get into some Ivy league school, I can't really find a school that can challenge me as much as I can myself, and I'm just out to seek knowledge, not some degree to bring in more money. I also feel that once EE becomes a chore, it might lose it's hobby sort of feel. Luckily I have some business ideas, and that would be full time CS and EE with my hobby projects (I feel anyone can agree that personal projects/ideas are much more thrilling than assigned tasks).
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Offline ArtemisGoldfish

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2011, 05:10:49 am »
I haven't attended uni yet, and I really have no desire unless I get into some Ivy league school, I can't really find a school that can challenge me as much as I can myself, and I'm just out to seek knowledge, not some degree to bring in more money. I also feel that once EE becomes a chore, it might lose it's hobby sort of feel. Luckily I have some business ideas, and that would be full time CS and EE with my hobby projects (I feel anyone can agree that personal projects/ideas are much more thrilling than assigned tasks).

I'm not sure about that, my assigned tasks are often challenging, and I find that thrilling.
John, Hardware Technician, F5 Networks
 

Offline gamozo

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2011, 05:16:28 am »
I'm not sure about that, my assigned tasks are often challenging, and I find that thrilling.

Fair enough point. My ideals take quite a long time to describe, and my summary really doesn't hit them well. I guess that's what happens when tired and with a headache. Off to bed for now!
Brandon Falk, Systems Software Engineer
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Offline IanB

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2011, 06:55:45 am »
I haven't attended uni yet, and I really have no desire unless I get into some Ivy league school, I can't really find a school that can challenge me as much as I can myself, and I'm just out to seek knowledge, not some degree to bring in more money.
How can you really know whether an engineering degree program will challenge you without having experienced it? If you are not challenged by the academic program at the institution you attend, then I agree you would be wasting your time there. But I assure you, a reputable engineering degree should challenge you, however smart you think you are. If you are scared that studying EE might destroy the romance of it, then consider studying something else to broaden your horizons (for instance I studied Chem Eng and it has led to a very satisfying career).

Lastly I would mention that there are enormous benefits to a formal education in any given field. I notice this sometimes with the self-taught Jeri Ellsworth--reading her blogs and watching her videos I sometimes notice gaps in her education where she struggles a bit, gaps that would have been filled in by a formal training.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2011, 06:57:50 am by IanB »
 

Offline gamozo

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2011, 01:31:51 pm »
How can you really know whether an engineering degree program will challenge you without having experienced it? If you are not challenged by the academic program at the institution you attend, then I agree you would be wasting your time there. But I assure you, a reputable engineering degree should challenge you, however smart you think you are. If you are scared that studying EE might destroy the romance of it, then consider studying something else to broaden your horizons (for instance I studied Chem Eng and it has led to a very satisfying career).

Lastly I would mention that there are enormous benefits to a formal education in any given field. I notice this sometimes with the self-taught Jeri Ellsworth--reading her blogs and watching her videos I sometimes notice gaps in her education where she struggles a bit, gaps that would have been filled in by a formal training.

I'm just going by what I've heard from other people at uni (and my own experience at HS, I know it's different, but when I see what HS was like for me, and what it was like for others, then see how they are doing in uni, is a decent comparison). It's not like I turn my head to uni and then assume that it will be something I wouldn't like. I've looked at curriculums, read numerous uni level textbooks (math, CS, EE), and I've 'taken' numerous uni courses online from the open-source lectures/course materials available from numerous unis.

I do completely agree with the whole 'gaps' issue, I have the same issue myself, but I don't blame myself as I'm too young to have attended uni yet anyways.

Finally, the one big issue I have with trying to talk about uni (to or to not) with people, they always say 'How would you know what it's like?' I guess the exact same can be said for not going to uni. If you did go to uni, you have no idea what kind of challenges and knowledge you could have came up with yourself.

(By no means am I trying to argue. I like having this conversation with people in the field I'd be studying (like on here). I'm just trying to figure out if I should go to uni or not, so don't take anything I say as offensive, I'm just trying to figure myself out a bit)
Brandon Falk, Systems Software Engineer
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Offline IanB

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2011, 02:42:44 pm »
Finally, the one big issue I have with trying to talk about uni (to or to not) with people, they always say 'How would you know what it's like?' I guess the exact same can be said for not going to uni. If you did go to uni, you have no idea what kind of challenges and knowledge you could have came up with yourself.
A university degree is not the end of your education, it is just what might be called a formation, a beginning. You continue to learn theory and practice and face new challenges throughout your working life. There is of course no limit to what you can learn by yourself; where a university education comes in is that it provides a broad coverage of what you ought to know and it provides a training in how to learn even better.

I can know what kind of challenges and knowledge I could have come up with as it has been nearly 30 years now since I graduated. And in that time after leaving university I have learned vastly more than I could have dreamed of then.

It must be said as well, of course, that you may need the professional accreditation that a degree gives you. Without that piece of paper many doors will be closed to you, and many career options unavailable.

I notice that you refer to "uni" rather than college. Do you happen to have a British background perhaps? There is actually a big difference in the educational philosophy between British and American universities. An engineering course at a British university will tend to get you much faster and deeper into core engineering topics than an engineering program at an American university. This might affect your perception of what you can learn there.
 

Offline gamozo

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2011, 04:24:12 pm »
I am not from Britain, I'm from the US, but I have so many friends in Europe who get confused when I say college, so I've just grown used to saying uni. You do a great job summing everything up, I do really see how I need the degree to open doors, I guess I'm testing my feet in the water first before I jump on something.
Brandon Falk, Systems Software Engineer
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Offline IanB

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #16 on: September 11, 2011, 06:55:54 pm »
One thing I would suggest, if you are thinking about an engineering degree, is to pick one of the "hard" disciplines like electrical, mechanical or chemical engineering. Avoid the the "soft" disciplines like software engineering. Software honestly doesn't gain much respect in business or industry and considering the costs involved a software engineering degree is not good value for money. If there is one subject that is easily self-taught, it is programming.
 

Offline westfw

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #17 on: September 13, 2011, 09:07:12 am »
I have an EE degree from one of those Ivy League colleges (U of Pennsylvania, 1981), after waltzing through my primary education.  It was plenty challenging, though not always in interesting ways.  There were "honors" classes, grad classes open to undergrads, work and/or research opportunities.  The hardest part was fitting in the things I wanted to learn, in a way that still resulted in a degree in 4 years (EE and CS were quite separate in those days.)  But an Ivy EE degree is (was?) not particularly hobbyist-satisfying.  There is a lot of theory, and math, and physics; stuff that fills in the gaps that would otherwise be left (as Ian says.)  Not much "actually making stuff."
OTOH, the idea that I'd be able to take extra classes every semester (as I'd done in HS) fell by the wayside REALLY quick...  (On the third hand, there was a semester or two where physics, math, and EE classes were all actually using the same math, and that was pretty cool.)


 

Offline FreeThinker

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #18 on: September 13, 2011, 12:47:16 pm »
School of Hard Knocks and life experience...... I don't recommend it but to paraphrase Jerri E 'Failure is good' and you NEVER forget the smell of magic smoke  8) :)
Machines were mice and Men were lions once upon a time, but now that it's the opposite it's twice upon a time.
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Offline Hypernova

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #19 on: September 13, 2011, 01:56:20 pm »
University of Auckland - BE in Computer Systems, really more like embedded systems.
University of Queensland - ME in Engineering Science, didn't really want to go but I made a deal with my mother that if I would if I couldn't find a proper job by Jan last year. Job market in NZ was shit.

Doesn't matter what you think of a degree, 99.999% of the time without that ticket your application will get tossed straight into the recycling bin by HR.
 

Offline tecman

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #20 on: September 13, 2011, 10:54:42 pm »
Lehigh University - BSEE - back when I went there we were called "The Engineers" in sports

paul
 

Offline wardenclyffe

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #21 on: September 14, 2011, 02:43:52 pm »
Virginia Tech - BSEE '10,  focus in power Electronics
 

Offline Time

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #22 on: September 14, 2011, 04:02:00 pm »
Texas Tech - MSEE - Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics
-Time
 

Offline Frangible

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #23 on: September 14, 2011, 05:33:26 pm »
One thing I would suggest, if you are thinking about an engineering degree, is to pick one of the "hard" disciplines like electrical, mechanical or chemical engineering. Avoid the the "soft" disciplines like software engineering. Software honestly doesn't gain much respect in business or industry and considering the costs involved a software engineering degree is not good value for money. If there is one subject that is easily self-taught, it is programming.

This is the kind of BS you'll get from hiring people if you apply for a position sans degree.  The gap between a true software engineer and a programmer is the same as the difference between an electrical engineer and a bench tech or a mechanical engineer and a mechanic.  A lot of people call themselves "Software Engineers" because they've taught themselves Java, or because they're experts at writing C# apps,  but have no real concept about how the code they produce actually fits into the bigger system - that's where engineering comes in.  And you can get a head start on that through boring course work - even if it isn't at an Ivy League school.  And anyway, if you're good enough to get into Harvard, why didn't you get into MIT, which is just across the yard?  At least with a degree (a Master's is even better), you'll get past the initial weeding process faster and have a better chance to do interesting stuff sooner once you land a position.  Of course, all this is immaterial if you have a brilliant idea and start your own company.

To me programming is the reward I get for all the other chores I have to do as a software engineer.
 
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Offline Time

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Re: Where did you go to college?
« Reply #24 on: September 14, 2011, 06:48:53 pm »
Trying tell that to the loads of super well paid brilliant software engineers at Google and Microsoft.  Software engineers are one of the most sought after and well paid engineers in this day and age.  It will probably only continue to increase as well.

 
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