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programmertoteHNSource author
Lessons learnedExperience excerpt · English

Before you go full in on mechanical (ME)/electrical engineering (EE), I'd suggest you to try taking …

Before you go full in on mechanical (ME)/electrical engineering (EE), I'd suggest you to try taking a course or two on it. For me personally, EE was a challenge and although I aspired myself to be a conventional engineer (either aerospace or electrical engineer), I ended up doing software/programming because EE was simply a subject I cannot master during college courses. If I had enough time in college (I was working 20 hrs part time and taking four other courses--was a greedy mistake of mine), maybe I'd have enjoyed my EE courses a bit more? Who knows?! Just my two cents as a mid-40 years old (maybe I'm jaded), and don't take it the wrong way. I just don't want you to go fully commit to ME or EE without having tried a tiny bit of the college courses. Sometimes, we have ideals that we want to do, but when we actually go and do them full time, we realize we don't enjoy that activity as much as dreaming about the idealized version of such activity...

Original discussionAsk HN: Difficulties with going back to school163 source comments · at import
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hndecision1234HN

I'm 32, no degree, been working in software development for the last 8 years, and I want to go back to school for mechanical/electrical engineering. The problem is, I can't find a way to make it work. To really commit to it I'd have to do it in person and it would be hard to balance with a full time job and I would need to work to just pay for life. Otherwise, I could take an online only degree which would allow me to work but I know that bench time is really important. I'm not sure how it would work with a fully online degree. There's also the costs. I'm having trouble finding programs under 80k, and coming out of it I would be starting at the bottom of the ladder not making as much. I do have an option to attend at my country of birth, in Eastern Europe, for much cheaper but I don't think it's easy to transfer that outside of the EU. I just don't know how to make it work, if I can. I w…

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hndecision1234HN

A great point that I've heard from a couple others by now. I would ideally try to get a feel of it without spending too much money on courses to see if it's really something I want to finish. Do you have any other recommendations for more cheaply figuring out if it's something I would actually enjoy?

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creerHN

Taking a course or two in it is a good idea EXCEPT in either disciplines the foundational courses can be very un-exciting, mathematical, hard to be motivated for. Discouraging. I would suggest instead to look for a slightly more advanced (in the overall curriculum) course that would be more practical. That course may be on youtube. You will be missing some of the theory foundation - but you know what - the foundation may not be needed to get the gist of what the discipline does. For example, most people who learn build their first programs in a programing language do so without the theoretical foundation of what even is a language, what are grammars, or the whole menagerie of basic data structures. Less discouraging, more inspiring. Yet another alternative, is hunting through youtube for presentations or documentaries which explain what a certain job title does all day, what their work f…

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