3 answers
1
Question
Asked
3209 views
How can students entering a rigorous engineering program—like myself, Siebren , a transfer student from Lincoln Tech with a trade background in Automotive Technology and an associate’s degree in Management (3.8 GPA, Honor Society President)—effectively integrate hands-on technical skills, academic excellence, leadership experience, and personal discipline to thrive in a dual-degree engineering program at Morehouse and Georgia Tech, while also preparing to become a well-rounded mechanical engineer in a rapidly evolving global industry?
Any advice you guys have feel free to share and feel free to ask any questions you all have I'm willing to help any and everyone.
Login to comment
3 answers
Updated
Shivam’s Answer
Hi Siebren! This is such an important topic to discuss. In today’s rapidly evolving global industry, it’s essential to recognize which skills can help us stay relevant and future-ready.
Interdisciplinary projects are a great way to sharpen your technical skills by applying them in diverse contexts. At the same time, getting involved in different clubs or student organizations can help you gain valuable management experience - especially if you take on leadership roles.
I also encourage you to seek out volunteering opportunities with industry professionals. Follow people who inspire you on LinkedIn, and don’t hesitate to reach out for coffee chats. Ask them what worked in their journey, how they planned their growth, and what advice they have for someone just starting out.
Most importantly, work on your own projects. See if that can lead to a research paper! Reach out to your professors with ideas so that they can help you with pointers and further refinement of your ideas.
Build something meaningful, create a short demo video, and share it on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. This not only reinforces your learning but also helps you build a strong digital portfolio that showcases your skills and passion.
Collaborate on interdisciplinary projects to sharpen your technical skills
Get involved in different clubs or student organizations to gain valuable management experience
Seek out volunteering opportunities with industry professionals
Build something meaningful and share your learnings on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn
Interdisciplinary projects are a great way to sharpen your technical skills by applying them in diverse contexts. At the same time, getting involved in different clubs or student organizations can help you gain valuable management experience - especially if you take on leadership roles.
I also encourage you to seek out volunteering opportunities with industry professionals. Follow people who inspire you on LinkedIn, and don’t hesitate to reach out for coffee chats. Ask them what worked in their journey, how they planned their growth, and what advice they have for someone just starting out.
Most importantly, work on your own projects. See if that can lead to a research paper! Reach out to your professors with ideas so that they can help you with pointers and further refinement of your ideas.
Build something meaningful, create a short demo video, and share it on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. This not only reinforces your learning but also helps you build a strong digital portfolio that showcases your skills and passion.
Shivam recommends the following next steps:
Updated
William’s Answer
Hi Siebren,
Clearly, you already have a great pool of knowledge and skills given the portfolio of qualifications you possess.
Competence is important for success and keen interest in it is essential for career development. Broadly speaking, it's basic requirements, often referred to as Critical Cross-Field Outcomes, are embedded in professional qualifications at all levels. The depth and breadth may vary from one qualification to another. Essentially, they enable learners move from dependence to independence and low to high productivity and innovation.
This approach is widely used in industry for skilling up the workforce.
Amongst the requirements are ability to:
a) Work effectively with others
b) Organize and manage oneself and one's activities
c) Identify and solve problems
d) Collect, analyze and critically evaluate information
e) Use science and technology
f) Understand the world as a set of connected problems
g) Communicate effectively
Therefore, in addition to technical and managerial competencies, one needs to possess social competency.
Social competence is often referred to as Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Some studies indicate that up to 75 percent of one's success at the workplace is determined by emotional intelligence. It's concerned with such aspects as self-awareness, empathy, self-confidence, motivation, self-control and social skills (networking, building relationships, assertive communication, conflict resolution, team spirit and helping others to develop & grow).
Internships are important as they offer you an opportunity to put theoretical knowledge into practice and build valuable skills such as communication, planning, leadership and problem solving. Working alongside professionals is an opportunity to get exposed to mentorship, guidance, engineering standards, regulations and best practices.
It's helpful to network early: professors, peers, advisors, mentors etc. at your University.
Joining professional associations is another opportunity for advancing your professional career as they develop professional standards and best practices. They also publish journals on the latest innovations and developments.
Bodies that may be of interest to you are:
1) American Society of Mechanical Engineers
2) Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Clearly, you already have a great pool of knowledge and skills given the portfolio of qualifications you possess.
Competence is important for success and keen interest in it is essential for career development. Broadly speaking, it's basic requirements, often referred to as Critical Cross-Field Outcomes, are embedded in professional qualifications at all levels. The depth and breadth may vary from one qualification to another. Essentially, they enable learners move from dependence to independence and low to high productivity and innovation.
This approach is widely used in industry for skilling up the workforce.
Amongst the requirements are ability to:
a) Work effectively with others
b) Organize and manage oneself and one's activities
c) Identify and solve problems
d) Collect, analyze and critically evaluate information
e) Use science and technology
f) Understand the world as a set of connected problems
g) Communicate effectively
Therefore, in addition to technical and managerial competencies, one needs to possess social competency.
Social competence is often referred to as Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Some studies indicate that up to 75 percent of one's success at the workplace is determined by emotional intelligence. It's concerned with such aspects as self-awareness, empathy, self-confidence, motivation, self-control and social skills (networking, building relationships, assertive communication, conflict resolution, team spirit and helping others to develop & grow).
Internships are important as they offer you an opportunity to put theoretical knowledge into practice and build valuable skills such as communication, planning, leadership and problem solving. Working alongside professionals is an opportunity to get exposed to mentorship, guidance, engineering standards, regulations and best practices.
It's helpful to network early: professors, peers, advisors, mentors etc. at your University.
Joining professional associations is another opportunity for advancing your professional career as they develop professional standards and best practices. They also publish journals on the latest innovations and developments.
Bodies that may be of interest to you are:
1) American Society of Mechanical Engineers
2) Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Updated
William’s Answer
Getting an internship while in college may increase the chances of getting a good job in software engineering. Also, remember full stack JavaScript platforms like MERN (Mongo ExpressJS React NodeJS) are taking over. In college, I wanted to do 3D graphics for movies or video games only to find out the competition for those careers is so intense they basically only hire people w/ Masters degrees & I could not get financial aid to go past a Bachelor's degree back when I was in school. But (almost) every company needs a website & a database, so there are soooo many more jobs available for web development & databases. Cyber security is also very in demand now.