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Eleanor
09-16-2007, 08:06 PM
Okay, since the last one is getting kind of long figured I'd start a new one and we can see all the newbies and anyone who's changed programs and what not. (If the mods don't like this, they can feel free to close it and we'll use the old one.)

You can post your first name, year, department and any clubs or teams (FSAE, MPG etc.) you might belong to so people can help each other out. Prof recommendations, textbooks FS notes, anything Engg related.

P.S. Since this is a car forum, just a reminder that the FSAE team is having a recruitment meeting at 6:00 on Wednesday the 19th in ICT 516.

More info here: http://www.enme.ucalgary.ca/fsae/

If any of you are interested in Mini Baja more info is here:

http://www.enme.ucalgary.ca/~minibaja/index.htm

Eleanor - Mike D., 3rd Year Mechanical, FSAE
bball2 - Ash H., 2nd Year Mechanical
BerserkerCatSplat - 2.5 Year Civil, FSAE?
sweeks - Stephen, 3rd Year Electrical
arian_ma - Arian, 3rd Year Mechanical
Bongo - 3rd Year Geomatics
DTTB_36 - Internship
HiSpec - Chris, 1st Year
JoniBoy - Jonathan, 3rd Year Chemical
Disoblige - David D., 1st Year
sh0ko - Victor Lee, 2nd Year Computer
JohnnySand - 4th Year Manufacturing
Nova316 - 3rd Year Electrical
jdm_eg6 - 1st Year
Dehvee - David T., 1st Year
LuxCars - Ramez, 2nd Year Mechanical w/ ENEE, FSAE
autospeed - Avi B., 3rd Year Manufacturing

Eleanor
09-19-2007, 09:08 PM
No ENGG guys on the forum anymore?

bball2
09-20-2007, 08:13 PM
Yo,
Ash H, second year mech student

Engg is feeling really crappy right now without the Lounge, wasn't that supposed to be completed in like July :thumbsdow

BerserkerCatSplat
09-20-2007, 08:57 PM
Originally posted by bball2

Engg is feeling really crappy right now without the Lounge, wasn't that supposed to be completed in like July :thumbsdow

No kidding, I miss POETS something fierce.

I'm a 2.5th year Civil.

sweeks
09-20-2007, 09:22 PM
Stephen 3rd year electrical, already buried in assignments, fuck:thumbsdow

arian_ma
09-20-2007, 10:03 PM
Yo yo representing 3rd year Mech right here.
5 Assignments and 2 labs. YE!

Eleanor
09-20-2007, 10:17 PM
Originally posted by bball2
Yo,
Ash H, second year mech student

Engg is feeling really crappy right now without the Lounge, wasn't that supposed to be completed in like July :thumbsdow

Yeah, especially with EDIC closed this week too, there was no room to do work anywhere!

Thank god for the Formula Office.

Bongo
09-21-2007, 01:06 AM
3rd year Geomatics.

DTTB_36
09-21-2007, 08:54 AM
bahahahaha
on internship
no homework!!!!

V6-BoI
09-21-2007, 09:01 AM
Originally posted by sweeks
Stephen 3rd year electrical, already buried in assignments, fuck:thumbsdow

Heh you better get used to it, 3'rd year zoo is harder than the first two combined.

HiSpec
09-21-2007, 09:58 AM
Chris, 1st ENGG.... tryign to recall everything I learned 6 years ago in High School... its holding me back in some classes.

JoniBoy
09-21-2007, 12:53 PM
Jonathan - 3rd yr chem...haven't had shit to do yet...:thumbsup:

r0g3r
09-22-2007, 01:22 AM
so does it only get harder in third and fourth year?

V6-BoI
09-22-2007, 02:37 AM
Originally posted by r0g3r
so does it only get harder in third and fourth year?

Depends what department you are in.
If you are in zoo, 3'rd year is by far the hardest, and 4'th year gets a lot better. In chem I hear it's the other way around.

A2VR6
09-22-2007, 07:48 AM
Originally posted by r0g3r
so does it only get harder in third and fourth year?

i know for mech, 3rd was about the same as 2nd year for "toughness" basically by the time 3rd year comes your already used to getting your ass kicked so it doesnt seem THAT bad... although 10 midterms was bad...

r0g3r
09-22-2007, 09:34 AM
Originally posted by V6-BoI


Depends what department you are in.
If you are in zoo, 3'rd year is by far the hardest, and 4'th year gets a lot better. In chem I hear it's the other way around.

oh damn lol, im not in chem nor zoo, im in civil. i hope it gets easier in 3rd and 4th.

Disoblige
09-25-2007, 05:21 PM
David D. - First Year Engg

sh0ko
09-26-2007, 07:46 AM
victor lee - ....restarting 2nd year comp engg @%@#$@#

bball2
09-27-2007, 11:56 PM
For anyone taking Engg 349:

http://avaxhome.org/ebooks/enging056.html

^^ Fucken saved me hours on the last assignment.

r0g3r
10-06-2007, 01:22 AM
im taking 349 right now.

what is that website for? i clicked on it but my mcaffe site advisor redirected me saying it was a threat....

believe
10-06-2007, 02:15 PM
heard from a friend that elec is the easiest to get into? is this true? i always thought it was the hardest (subject-wise) of the 4 major areas of engg

JohnnySand
10-06-2007, 07:49 PM
John - 4th year Manu

No manu's up in here?

Nova316
10-06-2007, 07:56 PM
Oliver M - 3rd Electrical

jdm_eg6
10-06-2007, 07:58 PM
adam

First year engg right here!!! gettin ur ass kicked isnt so bad when you have a good group of friends gettin their asses kicked with you...

learn hard party hard!!!

Dehvee
10-07-2007, 12:42 AM
David T - First Year ENGG
Trying to survive

bball2
10-07-2007, 12:34 PM
Originally posted by r0g3r
im taking 349 right now.

what is that website for? i clicked on it but my mcaffe site advisor redirected me saying it was a threat....

The website (if you scroll halfway down the page and look to your right, has the 7th edition solutions for the vector mechanics dynamics textbook. It's not the same edition as ours so all the numbers are changed, but for the first assignment 7/8 questions were on there. A few of them with the exact same numbers = exact same answers.

LuxCars
10-10-2007, 04:31 PM
Ramez-2nd year Mech with ENEE. FSAE.

autospeed
10-11-2007, 12:45 PM
Avi B. - 3rd Year Manu. This year is awsome so far, at first I wasn't looking forward to it but with two management style courses, it is so far the best year of ENGG I've had. That and less than 8 months till internship. If any second year guys need solutions manuals for stuff just pm me. I might not be able to find em all right away but I have them for a few of the courses!!!

Danish
10-11-2007, 01:02 PM
Originally posted by believe
heard from a friend that elec is the easiest to get into? is this true? i always thought it was the hardest (subject-wise) of the 4 major areas of engg

Electrical is a pretty big faculty and one of (if not the) lowest GPA requirements.

A hell of a course load though, definitely not a walk in the park.

sh0ko
10-11-2007, 01:11 PM
^^^ if u look anywhere else.. its opposite of u of c .. usually anything zoo is the harder one to get into ..its messed

V6-BoI
10-11-2007, 03:41 PM
Originally posted by believe
heard from a friend that elec is the easiest to get into? is this true? i always thought it was the hardest (subject-wise) of the 4 major areas of engg

It's the easiest one to get into cuz it's no one wants to go into it lol, but it's actually pretty damn hard when you are in it. Especially third year.

Danish
10-11-2007, 06:20 PM
Aww no love for the sparkies?

r0g3r
10-12-2007, 01:57 AM
i find that i need alot of help with my assignments and lab work, i wonder how some people do it all by themselves, its crazy. Maybe im not working as hard as i should be? man dynamics assignments are killing me, and the 319 statistics course....so clueless in that class.....

Nova316
10-12-2007, 02:04 AM
319 textbook is decently Useful, If not try to find a 3rd year with old notes and take those, since all exams are open notes open book :)

CaptainCanuck
10-13-2007, 12:19 AM
haha yeah...gl in that one. The probability portion of that course is a crap shoot. multiple guess, class average usually about 40 percent. The stats portion on the other hand is wayyy easier; class average on that one is usually high 80's

JoniBoy
10-13-2007, 01:42 PM
Yeah the probability half of that course was brutal. As mentioned earlier, the best thing is to get old tests and go through them all. Then you got a bunch of hopefully similar questions already solved that you can refer to on the midterm.

On another note, has another bought that new Schulich calculator or w/e? I haven't yet but I've heard its pretty shitty.

believe
10-13-2007, 02:22 PM
Originally posted by V6-BoI


It's the easiest one to get into cuz it's no one wants to go into it lol, but it's actually pretty damn hard when you are in it. Especially third year.


ha i see..any idea why this might be? is the job market real bad or something? or is it just a UC thing? b/c i know in ontario at schools like UT, electrical is probably the hardest program to gain admissions to (besides eng sci).

JoniBoy
10-13-2007, 02:38 PM
Originally posted by believe



ha i see..any idea why this might be? is the job market real bad or something? or is it just a UC thing? b/c i know in ontario at schools like UT, electrical is probably the hardest program to gain admissions to (besides eng sci).

Apparently the job market for electrical engineers is actually higher than for any other type of engineering right now.
I'm gona speculate that electrical has the easiest admission because everyone is trying to go chemical or mechanical since oil and gas is so hot in calgary right now.

BigD369
10-13-2007, 08:21 PM
Hey all you engineering students=D
I'm planning to go into engineering but I'm still unsure to go into Civil or Mechanical engineering...I would like to do car designing and I was wondering if theres such thing in mechanical engineering? so what do you guys suggest?

LuxCars
10-13-2007, 09:34 PM
^^^

definitely mechanical engineering. Civil is mainly structural design, whereas you can work in automotive design in mechanical. This is also my passion, but as reality has come to show, you would need to move out of the country and compete with many others to get into a position like that since it is fairly highly requested.

A2VR6
10-14-2007, 01:59 AM
Originally posted by BigD369
Hey all you engineering students=D
I'm planning to go into engineering but I'm still unsure to go into Civil or Mechanical engineering...I would like to do car designing and I was wondering if theres such thing in mechanical engineering? so what do you guys suggest?

Sorry to break it to you, but your in the wrong part of the country to do that. You gotta go to uni out east to have a chance (your best bet would be University of Ontario Institute of Technology since it actually has a dedicated automotive engineering program) .

V6-BoI
10-14-2007, 02:45 AM
Originally posted by believe



ha i see..any idea why this might be? is the job market real bad or something? or is it just a UC thing? b/c i know in ontario at schools like UT, electrical is probably the hardest program to gain admissions to (besides eng sci).

Well the job market isn't bad for zoo, from what I see right now, but I would say out of all the departments at U of C, zoo's job market was probably the lowest, but doesn't mean it's bad though.
I'm guessing out east, electrical is probably one of the harder ones to get into cuz their demand for electrical engineers is probably higher seeing that some big companies like RIM, and IBM are out east. There is an IBM office in Calgary, but I don't think it's nearly as big as the one out east. It's kinda the same out here how chem and mech are so hard to get into cuz it's so high demand due to the fact that all the huge oil companies are here. And also I think it's cuz the electrical program out in the east seems to have a better reputation, like Waterloo and UT.



Originally posted by JoniBoy


Apparently the job market for electrical engineers is actually higher than for any other type of engineering right now.
I'm gona speculate that electrical has the easiest admission because everyone is trying to go chemical or mechanical since oil and gas is so hot in calgary right now.

Well maybe electrical is higher than any type of engineering when talking about the whole world, but in Calgary, it's definitely the oil and gas market that's the biggest.

I personally think no one wants to go into zoo because:
1) Everyone wants to get into the oil and gas industry cuz that's where the $$$ is at
2) ENGG 233, and PHYS 259 were pretty tough for a first year and they are electrical related. I dunno how the ENGG 233 class is taught now, but back when I was in first year, they give us on a test a program that was written in the worst technique, and messy as hell and want us to determine the output of the program. It's pretty stupid, I mean people in industry don't do that cuz it's hard to follow and they expect a first year to be able to follow it? Gimme a fucking break.....

Sorry for the long rant, just reminising my life when I was in first year haha

Danish
10-14-2007, 11:19 AM
Originally posted by JoniBoy


Apparently the job market for electrical engineers is actually higher than for any other type of engineering right now.
I'm gona speculate that electrical has the easiest admission because everyone is trying to go chemical or mechanical since oil and gas is so hot in Calgary right now.

I'd disagree with that, especially if you're looking for positions in the O & G sector. In this city a Mechanical/Chemical degree is much stronger. I find a majority of positions in the O & G sector are for Electricals with 3+ years of experience or their PENGG. It's a little better if you want to get in the tech sector (circuit design etc.) but a little tougher to find these jobs in Calgary.

Electrical is much bigger out East because of the larger technology sector, Calgary being Oil central explains why mech/chem/petroleum are such popular programs.

JoniBoy
10-14-2007, 11:48 AM
Yeah thats why I said "apparently". Apparently means according to the dude giving all the internship seminar things. I think, for calgary anyway, chem/mech are the way to go still.

Pahnda
10-20-2007, 06:58 AM
First of all as a noob on the forums, may as well introduce myself. Shane A., Electrical Engg on internship right now in Japan. Sadly, no, I haven't bought an Evo or anything of that sort :(

I also have a little to add about the job situation with electrical, having been looking at the job market for a while in Alberta... Seems as of now I'm beating a dead horse however.


Originally posted by V6-BoI


Well the job market isn't bad for zoo, from what I see right now, but I would say out of all the departments at U of C, zoo's job market was probably the lowest, but doesn't mean it's bad though.
I've found a rather large assortment of jobs for zoo grads. Oil companies and industrial sectors need people for plant controls and process control systems and such. But that aside, I think the problem with zoo right now, and with the marks being so low, is that there is a lack of competent graduates. In my year I can name names but won't. Frankly with some of the people I've met in engineering (not only from U of C engineering but Waterloo, UBC, U of T, etc..) I would be scared of what may happen if they're put in charge of something important. However, as I'm doing electrical, most people I meet are also in a similar program. If you look at Oil and Gas, Mechanical, etc.. their entrance averages are much higher than any of the zoo departments which leads me to believe it'll be much more competitive between the competent individuals.

Essentially I mean that for competent graduates from electrical, even in alberta, the job market now is looking rather good. Just the other day on career services, I noticed only 61 entry level jobs and many of them were for people with a software/electrical hardware background.

I agree with what you say, Alberta wants more engineers (seems more like field engineers sometimes) like mechanical /civil /manufacturing and process/etc... but for those in electrical that get what they're studying, there are plenty of jobs.

believe
10-21-2007, 02:42 AM
^^ what would you define as "competent"? as far as i know, D = degree hah. are employers only looking for people who graduated with first class distinctions? b/c technically, if the job market is pretty ok, there shouldnt be much nit picking when it comes to new grads......

p.s. thanks everyone for the informative replies

Pahnda
10-21-2007, 03:19 AM
Some companies do look at GPA, I heard from some people that, for example, Intel and IBM for their better positions will not consider people under a certain GPA. Now I don't know if that would be around 3.5 or 3.0 or what. However, I don't feel someone's competence is really encompassed only in their GPA. Someone may have a high GPA purely because of factors like exceptional memorization, they get lucky on tests and get a lot of the material they studied well, or any other factors.

I think that to be "competent" you need to actually know what you're doing, not just be doing something because you memorized the steps for a certain situation. Engineering, to me, is not so much about learning the material as it is learning how to learn material. In that aspect, I feel that competence is more along the lines of adaptability and your ability to problem solve as well as knowing the basic concepts that employers will expect of you.

For example, I was talking to a couple people in the internship office before I got my position who told me that they have had terrible interviews with students in the past. One story I remember is that the interviewer asked him what type of signal comes from a wall socket, and to the interviewers surprise, the student said DC. So then he asked them to elaborate on the difference between DC and AC, and I was told it really went downhill from there. Another story I heard of was someone who couldn't give them a satisfactory explaination between discrete and continuous signals, etc... Some stories were outside of electrical also, but I'm sure you get my point by now.

In my year the main problem seems to be that there were many people who didn't want to take electrical, but because they had unsatisfactory GPAs to get into their desired faculty, they put them into electrical. After that it's a matter of either them not liking the department and just wanting to get through, or simply finding electrical subjects difficult to grasp.

I do think that the job market is healthy, and sure, many of the people who I feel aren't "competent" will get jobs in the field. If your goal is to get a job, any job, then I'm sure you won't have many problems with the rate of turnover (baby boomers retiring) and pure job creation right now in Alberta. However, who wants a job they had to take because they didn't get other offers?

Eleanor
10-30-2007, 01:33 PM
I agree with you totally. The first thing when I went for my internship meeting with the counsellor, the first question he asked me was what's a crankshaft? I told him and he said I wouldn't believe the amount of 3.8 & 3.9 mech students who didn't know what it was. Just as long as you have a decent GPA and can do well in the interview, you should be fine.

Eleanor
10-30-2007, 01:35 PM
Oh yeah, and I forgot to ask, Pahnda, how's the job in Japan, I'm looking at international placements and was looking at Japan but was turned off by the low pay and high cost of living over there. Although money isn't a huge concern, I'd like to be able to buy a car next year. Thanks

JoniBoy
10-30-2007, 02:25 PM
Originally posted by Eleanor
I agree with you totally. The first thing when I went for my internship meeting with the counsellor, the first question he asked me was what's a crankshaft? I told him and he said I wouldn't believe the amount of 3.8 & 3.9 mech students who didn't know what it was. Just as long as you have a decent GPA and can do well in the interview, you should be fine.

Yo man, was that counsellor guy Toni Cook? Cause he asked me the same question and I'm not even in mech.

Eleanor
10-30-2007, 04:33 PM
Yeah it was Tony, apparentely he asks everyone that question.

JoniBoy
10-30-2007, 05:10 PM
Yeah well I got in there, and we talked for like a minute or two, and then he's like you should be a mechanical engineer what the heck are you doing in chem? So then I was kinda like wtf, then he whips out the crankshaft question and I'm like ok are we gona look at my resume or what lol

Eleanor
10-30-2007, 07:01 PM
Yeah he seemed to like to talk a lot. Pretty good guy though. Anyone else want to weigh in on there internship experiences thus far?

Schwa
10-30-2007, 07:16 PM
^ Just wondering how many 3.8 mechs you know?

My internship at Devon is going great. Don't use anything I learned in school.

O&G companies hiring engineers basically guarantees them a smart, somewhat capable person and that is all.

Just look at engineering as a giant hoop of fire you must jump through.

As for chem and mech, no difference as the guy before me was in chem and I am in mech. We do the same job.

Pay is spectacular and the number of intangible benefits are many.

Eleanor
10-30-2007, 08:06 PM
I know a couple 3.8 mechs, not many though.

JoniBoy
10-30-2007, 09:07 PM
^^Do you know Carl Dyck? Kids a GENIOUS

Schwa
10-30-2007, 09:16 PM
Honestly though, don't play down marks...

Cuz they are important.

Pahnda
10-30-2007, 09:52 PM
Eleanor, the pay is pretty bad here, but then again I have like very few expenses. They pay my utilities, rent, gave me a bike, people keep buying me stuff, and they subsidize the cafeteria meals. But don't plan on saving much if you want to travel / party often, haha.

It's pretty good so far, but it really depends on what company you're in. I have been learning some cool stuff here and I feel that they're giving me more responsibility than maybe I should have or would have been given in Canada. This is only my 5th month and they made me the lead designer (2 software people under me) on some PCI card they're making... Sorta awkward at first.

However, at my company people seem to be REALLY friggen slow, I waited a week to get a reply on a simple question. And I had to remind that person 3 times before he actually even did reply. Also in Japan there doesn't seem to be a regulatory group for engineering or something, it's as if any school can give out engineering degrees or something. So in that sense, you may be surprised at what people don't know when you get here. That would also explain the lower wage for engineers I suppose.

The main reason I came here was because I think international experience looks pretty good on a resume, plus I had been studying Japanese for a while at U of C. I would encourage doing international work, simply because I do believe it will increase the value of your degree. I have that belief after talking to my uncle (manager in some engineering dept. with Encana), the CEO of Enmax (at the last dean's list award supper thing, did anyone else here attend that?), and random people at career fairs / recruiting stations.

If you have any other questions I can try to answer them, but just do what you think you will enjoy and what will benefit you in the end.

EDIT:
Oh yeah, forgot to add something... The following kind of sucks but the Japanese government is having some hard times lately and are removing the international internship placement system from the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO). So if you were interested in Japan I would voice that opinion to UBC's Co-Op Japan Program as they're pretty much left alone with the responsibility of finding companies. If interest dies down then UBC will probably actually shut the Co-Op Japan Program down, due to their deficit problems. If the Co-Op Japan Program dies with JETRO's international internship system then I believe that the only way from then on to get a job placement in Japan is to apply to the company directly, which is probably not practical or possible for many people.

Schwa
10-30-2007, 10:10 PM
Production Engineering is widely seen as a good entry point into the oil and gas industry.

You can get the ins and outs of day to day operations for all kinds of wells, both oil and gas, sweet and sour. In addition, you learn a lot about budgeting, economics, regulatory compliance and optimization.

Depending on where you want your career to go, I'd advocate staying in Calgary if you want O&G experience.

thw_goalie
10-30-2007, 10:41 PM
I'm first year Engineering right now. Doing pretty well - got 93% on my ENGG 201, and 95% on my MATH 221 midterms. Haven't gotten AMAT 217 or ENGG 205 back/done yet.

I have a question - what does the biomedical engineering involve? I read they only accept 35 students, and you still need to pick a discipline (electrical chemical, etc.) So what does taking biomedical actually give you?

boredengineer
10-30-2007, 10:42 PM
Originally posted by Pahnda
I've found a rather large assortment of jobs for zoo grads. Oil companies and industrial sectors need people for plant controls and process control systems and such. But that aside, I think the problem with zoo right now, and with the marks being so low, is that there is a lack of competent graduates.

There are actually not that many entry level jobs for EE unless you want to do either work in the boonies or work in the software industry. Sadly it's not a question of GPA either... Internship is really a different playing field than full time employment just as a heads up. Full time employment is a *LOT* harder to come by as compared to an internship. I know plenty of EE's who graduated in 2007 who still have not found a job and we are not talking about low GPA folks. We are talking about people who are on the dean's list that want to do actual EE instead of software/drafting/heat tracing crap. Just a different view on the current job market.

PS: Make sure you don't limit yourself to the career services site when you look for a full time job... Last year there were maybe 10 jobs on there for about 5-6 months for true EE positions.

PS2: I work full time and I was hired 5 months before graduating(Not at my intership company which went under :eek: )... Then again I am not an EE :dunno:

BerserkerCatSplat
10-30-2007, 10:50 PM
Originally posted by thw_goalie

So what does taking biomedical actually give you?

A heavier courseload, less free time, and a specialization that you have to explain to everyone when they ask what degree you have.

I'm half-serious, a good friend of mine is a Zoo-BioMed.

thw_goalie
10-30-2007, 10:58 PM
Haha :p.

I'm just wondering what it actually involves. I read the description, but it didn't help much.

BerserkerCatSplat
10-30-2007, 11:10 PM
I'm not too familiar with the particulars and I'd hate to give you bad info, so I'd recommend you take a jaunt down to the Engg Undergrad office and ask them, they'll know who you should talk to at least.

If that doesn't pan out, I can give you the contact info for the 4th year Zoo president, who's the Zoo-Bio person I mentioned, I'm sure she'd be able to give you a good perspective on it.

Pahnda
10-30-2007, 11:11 PM
EDIT: damn, replied too late, haha... This is in reply to boredengineer of course.

Yeah, I agree that there are many more jobs available for people with some experience, which is why I encourage doing internship so much. As well trying to get in with an engineering company for summer / part-time positions, even if it's unrelated to your major, would be great. I did mostly did building inspections and auditing for some engineering company for my summers, oddly enough.

I think there are ample opportunities for electrical people considering the number of graduates each year, which I'm assuming is probably about 100 or so. I don't want to say the whole reason people don't get jobs is because they are incompetent, didn't seem calm or gathered during the interview, applied to jobs too late or other reasons like that, but I think a lot of them would be classified in that area. I think with my previous statements I'm not playing up the number of jobs in electrical more than playing up the lack of people that employers would like to actually hire for those jobs in electrical.

But also it boils down to interest, I think a LOT of the things people want to do in electrical just aren't really active or aren't paid well in Alberta. High tech, digital IC designs, nanotech, and other areas I seem to find are more interesting to the majority rather than the areas that would be more suited to Alberta.

My opinions are on the basis of numbers only. The jobs are there, it's just if the people are interested in applying to them or not is the real matter. I don't want to boil it down to something simple, because it's not really, but I just feel that there is probably a reason why those people don't have jobs right now. I've been looking at jobs on monster, workopolis, and the career center mostly, and I have seen some jobs sit there unfilled for months on end while others were snatched up rather quick. I think another avenue people always forget about is a direct application even if they're not hiring, I know several people who have got jobs that way.

But regardless, all the engineering departments are good options depending on the person's interests; I would rather waste 1/2 a year finding a job I like then studying in a department for 4 years and getting a job I don't want. If you go by your interests and what you're passionate about, generally you won't go wrong. :thumbsup:

Danish
10-31-2007, 07:20 AM
Bingo, you hit the nail on the head. The problem with EE is entry level work, after you get a 3+ years under your belt the opportunities for interesting work open up quite a bit.

Internship is definitely helpful, but not the saving grace that one might assume, especially when you're trying to enter a different field of work i.e. going from tech to Oil and Gas. I definitely agree with the statement that it is a whole different playing field.

While there may be many jobs, the good/interesting entry level Electrical positions are often hard to come by, and it has put quite a strain on the graduating class. I graduated from EE this year and I can list a few people that are having trouble/still looking for work. Some of these guys have also graduated Dean's list with Internship experience.

The hard part is just getting your foot in the door, and that's where networking gets you the in. Getting a job back with the internship company is no biggie, as they will more than likely hire you full time if they were pleased with your performance. Getting a position with a new company, if you have no contacts can be quite the hurdle.

The career services website was a joke. It was great when placing for Internship, so many postings, but it was quite lacking with graduate positions. At one point there were so few postings for EE that they started posting software jobs/computer jobs under Electrical. My advice is definitely to start applying early and on sources outside of the university. The Apegga salary review is a great source as it lists many Engineering companies (at the bottom) that give you a starting point for applications.

But don't be too scared if you're not Electrical you should have an easier time, most of my other Engg friends are all employed and have had a much easier job hunt.


Originally posted by boredengineer


There are actually not that many entry level jobs for EE unless you want to do either work in the boonies or work in the software industry. Sadly it's not a question of GPA either... Internship is really a different playing field than full time employment just as a heads up. Full time employment is a *LOT* harder to come by as compared to an internship. I know plenty of EE's who graduated in 2007 who still have not found a job and we are not talking about low GPA folks. We are talking about people who are on the dean's list that want to do actual EE instead of software/drafting/heat tracing crap. Just a different view on the current job market.

PS: Make sure you don't limit yourself to the career services site when you look for a full time job... Last year there were maybe 10 jobs on there for about 5-6 months for true EE positions.

PS2: I work full time and I was hired 5 months before graduating(Not at my intership company which went under :eek: )... Then again I am not an EE :dunno:

chongkee_
11-10-2007, 12:01 AM
im planning on applying for EE at uofc but i don't know yet if I should specialize or just take general EE, i need all the advice that I can get. thanks.

oh btw Im taking Instrumentation Eng. Tech. at SAIT.2nd year

mb3k
11-13-2007, 06:39 PM
Hey guys, I'm in the same EE classes as Shane (Pahnda) and agree with the long winded responses of his :) The only difference is that I'm on internship here in Calgary which plays out nicely with friends, hobbies, and local job networking here in Alberta.

Eleanor
11-19-2007, 09:54 PM
K totally off topic, but does anyone know what's happening with the mumps shots?

XylathaneGTR
11-19-2007, 10:04 PM
Originally posted by Eleanor
K totally off topic, but does anyone know what's happening with the mumps shots?

You can call the CHR Health Link (IIRC, 943-Link, double check on their website though) and axe them about it...


Ninjaedit:

I got this email a few days ago...



Subject: Message from the President - Mumps Advisory
From: "David Johnston" <[email protected]>

Dear Students,

Details on the upcoming mumps vaccination clinic to be held at the
University of Calgary have now been finalized. A free vaccination clinic
will be held at MacEwan Hall, Main Floor, throughout the week of
November 26 to 30 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day for all students born
in 1970 or later.
The mumps vaccinations are being offered free to all post-secondary
students who have not been vaccinated or who have only received one
vaccination. The Calgary Health Region is offering similar vaccination
clinics at other post-secondary institutions in Calgary.

Eleanor
11-19-2007, 10:19 PM
thanks man, i saw the email, but i must have deleted it by mistake. thx again :thumbsup:

Eleanor
12-08-2007, 04:25 PM
So, I'm registered in ECON 201 right now as my elective, and I just wanted to show you guys how stupid some people in ECON really are. This is an email I received from the BB site:


From: [email protected]
High risk This message may be dangerous. Learn more
Sent:
December 7, 2007 12:35:30 PM
To:
[email protected]



does any one know when the final exam is and where we have to write it?
i missed last classes so i don't know

and also the time of the final exam

BTW, anyone fourth year/internship mechs, is the 473 final really as easy as it looks?

Eleanor
01-08-2008, 11:18 AM
So now that they've finally got their shit in gear, how did the last semester turn out for everyone? Any first years I've got to take off the list at the start? :D

Disoblige
01-08-2008, 11:28 AM
Haha, did quite well in everything except 205. I even made a thread about how to go about repeating 205 but I definately hope I don't need to wait till next fall. Stupid undergrad office won't pick up the damn phone.. :banghead:

Eleanor
01-08-2008, 11:43 AM
^ I know a couple of my buddies took ENGG 205 in spring.

Disoblige
01-08-2008, 12:17 PM
<sigh of relief>.. Best words I heard all day .. Thanks :D

Schwa
01-08-2008, 12:54 PM
4.0 in ECON 209 and I took back to back zeros on the final two quizzes :P

473 is really hit and miss, but I quite enjoyed Goldsmith's lectures. All I remember is getting raped hardcore on the midterms. Like 3/11 type of mark.

My best advice for that course is to study the material and the methods for solving. You get lots of part marks for sorta knowing what to do even if you get the wrong answer.

Eleanor, how did you do in 473?

Eleanor
01-08-2008, 01:12 PM
^ B

Cant complain, didn't really concentrate on that course this semester.

Eleanor
01-15-2008, 10:38 AM
Is anyone else having problems with accessing the Internship postings online? I can see the regular jobs, but when I select Internship postings, all I get is "No Records Found". I sent an email to Thomas Labelle and the reply I got was that my profile was not complete, but I checked online and I only saw check marks so I sent him another email but haven't got a reply as of yet.

I've turned in my $50 and my pink slip to Career Services and got my resume approved by the Internship office.

Any help at all would be appreciated.

DTTB_36
01-15-2008, 12:51 PM
Internship office is useless and all they do is take your money

LuxCars
01-15-2008, 07:27 PM
I NEED 2ND YEAR TEXTBOOKS.

hahaha, they are so expensive this year, looking at $970 for the semester, its ridiculous.

if anyone has any that would be really helpful.

i am a mechanical engineering student, and my friend is in chemical engineering and we could really use some help.

I already bought my organic chem book (172.95 :eek: and the solutions manual is 68.95!!!)

I have mechanics of materials (third edition in si units) but i need the 4th edition so if anyone has it that would be great.

I have fluid mechanics fifth edition but i need the 6th edition if anyone has it.

I also really need:

Thermodynamics 6th edition
Numerical Methods 5th edition


so if anyone can help me out that would be greatly appreaciated, and i need them pretty soon cause we already have assignments and required readings for a quiz.

my friend in chem needs mostly all the chem books, dont know the editions, but he is taking thermo, ochem, mechanics of materials and some chem engg classes.

please let me know a.s.ap.

thank you to all in advance.
(please try and respond by pm, i answer better to those)

JoniBoy
01-15-2008, 08:08 PM
Originally posted by DTTB_36
Internship office is useless and all they do is take your money

+1

sweeks
01-15-2008, 10:48 PM
if no one can sell you the 2nd year books you need head to ebay.ca and/or amazon.ca little slow but you can save tons.

Eleanor
01-16-2008, 11:32 AM
Originally posted by JoniBoy


+1

Yeah I'm finding that as well. All I really needed was the job board, none of this fill out your resume to our exact specifications and run all around the bloody university to gain access and go through like three levels of approval.

:thumbsdow to Internship Office

Eleanor
03-03-2008, 10:40 AM
So, any 4th year/intern mech/manus want to weigh in on the 461 midterm?

Syph3r
03-05-2008, 05:47 PM
Originally posted by DTTB_36
Internship office is useless and all they do is take your money

Yep! and now I am forced to pay them all next year because my company "has good releations" with U of C. Even though I found the job on my own, it happened to be one they posted at the school as well. Now I have to pay them tuition and actually do some bogus reports next year.

I guess it is not that bad, I still got a job unlike the 35 other electrical's that missed out so far.


Freaking useless internship office... gah :banghead: /rant

arian_ma
03-05-2008, 09:07 PM
Originally posted by Eleanor
So, any 4th year/intern mech/manus want to weigh in on the 461 midterm?

Anyone? lol
Textbook or notes for studying?

A2VR6
03-06-2008, 12:05 AM
Originally posted by arian_ma


Anyone? lol
Textbook or notes for studying?

I would use the notes... textbook is useless for that class. Look over his examples alot... and try to do as much modeling as possible. This course didnt make any sense to me until about 2 days before the midterm haha.

princeaidin
03-06-2008, 01:08 AM
soooooooo this semester sucks ballllllls-----2nd year Oil and Gass

msommers
03-06-2008, 01:16 AM
Written on one of the desks in the Engg building, I saw:

lim f(ENGG) = Business
GPA-->0

I laughed pretty hard.

DTTB_36
03-06-2008, 11:21 AM
I just want to ask your opinions on the new engg lounge. This is for people who know how the old one was. I am not impressed. They made it look like ICT and all its gayness. The only good things are the new lights, and big couches that look comfy for nights that you miss the Ctrain and need a place to crash.

All in all, I give it a thumbs down
:thumbsdow

badatusrnames
03-06-2008, 11:30 AM
Originally posted by DTTB_36
I just want to ask your opinions on the new engg lounge. This is for people who know how the old one was. I am not impressed. They made it look like ICT and all its gayness. The only good things are the new lights, and big couches that look comfy for nights that you miss the Ctrain and need a place to crash.

All in all, I give it a thumbs down
:thumbsdow

Considering they spent a quarter million on it and hyped it for so long I was expecting something a lot better. But really all they did was slap a new cover on everything, add some outlets and buy some new tables and chairs.

But at least it does look a little better. The rest of Engg is like a dungeon, I can't stand spending time there. The whole Engg complex needs a facelift.

Pahnda
03-06-2008, 07:50 PM
I give it until the end of the semester before the new lounge gets as nasty and gross as the old one... So I guess I won't get to see it in 'new' condition, haha.
Regardless, I don't know for the life of me why people chill so much at the university instead of going out somewhere decent.

LuxCars
03-06-2008, 07:58 PM
I do like one thing about the engg lounge and thats the fact that you can do group collabo work on the glass. There is also a big screen tv that is supposed to be going in there in the next little while, but it is nice to see some chairs in there. Definitely not worth the 8 month wait

DTTB_36
03-07-2008, 08:42 AM
7 dollar pitchers (back in the day)

and the beer wasnt that bad
and since i was really poor, predrink in the engg lounge with your trusty apegga mug



Originally posted by Pahnda
I give it until the end of the semester before the new lounge gets as nasty and gross as the old one... So I guess I won't get to see it in 'new' condition, haha.
Regardless, I don't know for the life of me why people chill so much at the university instead of going out somewhere decent.

princeaidin
03-07-2008, 08:57 PM
i dont like the engg lounge honestly, so many set backs and everything 250K could have been spent way better, they but some stupid rocks, the glass is great for the work, but I swer they just bought all those couches and chair in bulk and they are in storage and they are just doing place one at a time cause everywhere on campus looks the same, just like ict and education, and that hallway in scienetheaters to admin, stupid u of c

LuxCars
03-08-2008, 11:28 PM
Originally posted by princeaidin
i dont like the engg lounge honestly, so many set backs and everything 250K could have been spent way better, they but some stupid rocks, the glass is great for the work, but I swer they just bought all those couches and chair in bulk and they are in storage and they are just doing place one at a time cause everywhere on campus looks the same, just like ict and education, and that hallway in scienetheaters to admin, stupid u of c


which rocks are you talking about?

Disoblige
03-11-2008, 08:36 PM
Is there any 2nd year+ engineers that would recommend the Environmental/Energy specialization for entering Chemical? I was aiming towards Chemical with Environmental/Energy Specialization or just general Chemical. Or maybe General Electrical or Electrical with Biomedical, or Mechanical with a specialization.

Any input would be appreciated. :thumbsup:

Pahnda
03-11-2008, 10:34 PM
Originally posted by Disoblige
Is there any 2nd year+ engineers that would recommend the Environmental/Energy specialization for entering Chemical? I was aiming towards Chemical with Environmental/Energy Specialization or just general Chemical. Or maybe General Electrical or Electrical with Biomedical, or Mechanical with a specialization.

Any input would be appreciated.:thumbsup:

I think it really depends on you and what you like. I'm happy I went into Electrical. It's flexible and I find the material interesting. The best part with electrical is that you can do what you learn in classes as a 'hobby' if you have enough interest / time in what you're doing... which you should if you decide that's where you want to take your education and most likely career. Plus, if you hear people saying there are very little jobs in electrical, those people either aren't willing to move to a different province, haven't been looking hard enough, or don't have decent enough credentials to get the jobs they are applying to.

As for biomed option... again, really up to you. If you can't see yourself working in a field that would require really indepth knowledge of the signals inside a body, the structure of the body, etc... then it'll be pretty useless. But anyway, the only difference is that it would probably be a bit easier for you to land a job in that field if you took it, but taking just electrical itself doesn't exclude you from being going there if you choose to later on.

But if you find chem topics more interesting, more power to you, go for it. Just whatever you do, don't go into something because people say you should or the market looks ripe for people in that discipline. :thumbsup:

jdm_eg6
03-11-2008, 10:41 PM
i hate phys 259

i had to vent, i just had to! lol this semester blows.. but this was pretty good...


lim f(ENGG) = Business
GPA-->0

I laughed pretty hard.