(Part 2) Best products from r/EngineeringStudents

Going through undergrad commencement this weekend had me thinking about my time in undergrad and more specifically, those things I chose to carry with me almost every day.

Starting from the upper right hand corner and working my way around in clockwise direction.

Pens – 3 Disposable Bic pens – When it comes to pens I leave them everywhere. I leave them in class, the lab, the machine shop, etc. Because of this I buy them in bulk and then just carry a bunch of disposable pens with me. They are cheap so if I lose one or someone asks to borrow one I don’t worry about getting them back. I like these pens because I find they are comfortable to write with, wont break from me carrying them around or treating them like shit, and have a pen cap to prevent them from making a mess in my pocket. Why no pencils?  I haven’t found a mechanical pencil that is both cheap and will survive in my pocket. If you know of one that fits those two requirements let me know in the comments!

Highlighter – Used for marking up academic papers I am reading. I’ll usually carry one or two with me but I keep several different colors at home for heavy markup. The colors I like carrying on me are odd colors, not yellow, like green and pink because they let my markups stand out from other peoples markups.

Sharpie – Used for marking up things that pens and highlighters can’t like metal, ceramics, and sleeping lab mates.

USB Drive – I don’t use it all that often thanks to free services like Google Drive and Dropbox but  everyone in a while when you don’t have access to other options these can really save you. For example like when you need to print out a final report that’s due in 15 minutes and the internet is down. (That example definitely hasn’t happened to me)

Letherman Skeletool – The Skeletool is a good all around multi-tool. It has a knife, pliers, wire cutters,/strippers, screwdriver (both flat an Philips), and a bottle opener.  It’s slim so its easy to carry without giving up a lot of functionality.

Timex Weekender Chrono – Useful for telling time if durring both meetings and tests when you cant check your phone. Taking a peek at your watch durring a meeting is unnoticeable unlike when you check your phone which can be considered rude.

TI-84 – The second most useful tool in my entire engineering education after a pen. I’ll often use the calculator instead of Matlab or Wolfram Alpha for doing homework that require simple computations just because I’m so familiar with it that I can operate it extremely quickly just from muscle memory.

Planner –  It’s useful for writing down assignment due dates and meetings. Everyone has a different way of organizing events/work an I find havving a written copy helps me visualize where everything is.

Muji Recycle Paper Bind Notebook – Useful for taking notes in meetings and they can fit in my back pocket

Allett Slim Bifold Wallet – It’s an ultra thin bifold wallet that I love. It’s so thin I never even notice it in my pocket. I can sit on it all day without being uncomfortable. My last one became worn out after two years and I bought another one immediately. I highly recommend them!

Keys –  For opening doors/stuff. Note: I just grabbed some unused keys for this pic and put them on a carabiner.

Google  Pixel – It’s taking the photo. Lately its mostly been used for snap chat

> My lack of confidence, I think, is centered around the idea that complex math is a prerequisite to engineering. So I have a few questions.

The math in engineering is not hard, comparative to actual math. It's low tier within math departments (100/200 level), and most professors aren't expecting you to create some new theorem. You're there to apply theorems that have already been well established within the discipline.

> How hard is EE?

People say it's the hardest of the engineering disciplines. I've taken a few EE courses, and didn't have much trouble, granted, it's only circuits and the second physics course. Difficulty will probably depend on how much you catch on with the subject.

> What kind math will I need to learn?

Algebra, Trigonometry, Analytic Geometry, Calculus (Differential, Integral, Multivariable), and Differential Equations. Most universities merge Algebra, Trig, Analytic Geometry into the Calculus courses.

> Will the stuff from high school matter?

Of course. I am of the opinion that everything matters and is useful. All your science, math, english, and even history can come into play depending on your engineering discipline.

> At what point do you start?

Depends. I did Calculus in high school, but retook it since I added my engineering major in my junior year. Met some kids who came in with Calculus I and II credits and started in Multivariable. Some kids who started with Calc II and some who started with algebra or pre-calc. It really depends on you.

> Do professors assume you know close to nothing?

Depends on the professor. My statics professor was very hand holdy. A Physics professor was very hands off. My Calc III professor would teach you a concept and expect you to be able to apply it to contexts you were never taught. There is not a blanket statement to really apply to this question.

> Will I have to teach myself in order to catch up?

You should be teaching yourself because you want to improve, not to reach some arbitrary point.

If you want to be an engineer and you find deficiencies in your skills, then you need to take some time and think about what you want. I am, unfortunately, in the camp of, you should pursue what you're passionate in, as you are more likely to do that work without being told, hence, getting better. It took me several years to actually figure out that I wanted to be an engineer, and despite not having a math course in three years, I went in quite over prepared because I was already doing the work for fun.

There's no rush to make a decision, but in the event you do decide to work on being an engineer, here's some useful references.

Just-in-Time: http://www.amazon.com/Just--Algebra-Trigonometry-Transcendentals-Calculus/dp/0321671031

Great book to brush up and refine your algebra and trig skills

Schaum's Outlines: http://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Calculus-6th-Problems/dp/0071795537/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465145307&sr=1-1&keywords=schaum+outline+calculus

I am in love with this series. I buy a book for every class I take (and they have one for every engineering/math/physics course). It's a great supplemental text, and this particular book covers Calculus I, II, III and a bit of Differential Equations!

Paul's Online Notes: http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/CalcI.aspx

Paul has great lecture notes and tons of practice problems. Invaluable resource.

Using Paul's site, you can also scan what kind of math is in engineering. Bit of warning, some of it will look scary at first. When I first started, the symbol for a partial derivative looked really intimidating. When you reach that point, you'll laugh at the fact you found it intimidating in the first place.

Best of luck OP!

Digital Calipers are really cool to own.

There's that book POCKET REF which is interesting, it has all sorts of information in it, lots of specific reference tables and whatnot.

If he likes to make his own projects, a gift card or shopping spree on adafruit might be cool, you could help him get set up with kit for a new project that he otherwise wouldn't do.

If you're best friends, why not do something cool together? Spend a day at the museum (maybe there's an air and space one near you), go on a wilderness adventure, stuff like that. Experiences and memories often last longer than gifts.

A really nice pen or pencil perhaps - many people like Rotring I think - you can check out /r/edc for some pretty examples. The brass and titanium machined models are extremely nice looking.

There are also some very cool rubik's cube like puzzles if he's interested in mechanical things that would make good desk ornaments - like the mirror cube or the ghost cube.

I like my leatherman style PS as an everday multitool. It doesnt have a knife so I can carry it in schools, government buildings, on planes, etc. and I've found it extremely useful. It's also the first thing I grab when I take apart something I shouldn't be on my desk.

You could also get him a high-end fidget spinner. Again, /r/edc has many different nic-nacs that they like to play with.

I'm not really good at physics, and I took a course taught by a professor who proudly taught tough introductory physics courses (5 credits each for Physics 1 and 2 w/ labs). He was funny, but the way he did tests was that he taught the equations (but advised against just memorizing formulas), why they worked, and how they come about with aid from the text book, gave us hints, but the exercises were all pretty unique and mostly from this book. I didn't know what my grade was until the end of the class. Thought I was gonna get a 2.0, but turned out I got a 3.0. That book was also pretty easy to read, I know there are illegitimate copies available using bittorrent.

So by reading the text, doing the assigned homework, and seeking resources outside the text or professor like youtube videos or something that show a different way of looking at the problem really help. If you study, practice, and ask questions, there isn't any reasonable explanation for failure.


Basically, you have to know the calculus and algebra used in physics well and use logical and creative thinking and you can figure out the solution.

A calculator: TI36X Pro, Casio fx-115ES PLUS, or HP 35s (these are the 3 best calculators allowed on the FE and PE)

If you get a graphing calculator, either get the TI-84 Plus C (which can be used any time graphing calculators are allowed), or get an HP Prime or TI Nspire CS CAS (which are WAY more powerful and useful).

Pencils: Pentel Graphgear 1000, Pentel Kerry, or Rotring Rapid Pro (include an eraser such as the Sakura Foam Eraser). The rapid pro pen is also pretty popular. 0.5mm led is more popular than 0.7mm.

Engineering paper.... especially with some pressboard report covers. They make nice notebooks (albeit expensive), and pair really really well with looseleaf textbooks.

A whiteboard and markers.

a copy of K&R2.

Pricey: a nice soldering station, a multimeter, or a used oscilloscope (such as a Rigol DS1052e).

^^^\The ^^^HP ^^^is ^^^more ^^^expensive ^^^because ^^^it's ^^^targeted ^^^at ^^^professionals, ^^^rather ^^^than ^^^students.

Although the theory and understanding of nodes and meshes from circuit theory is important, practical electronics-level knowledge can be found in The Art of Electronics. See genlib, but I suggest to buy it and get some basic electronics kit, a power supply (a proper lab supply with adjustable voltage and current limit [1]) and a breadboard and create the circuits that you're studying, play with the basic devices, and make a project once you get the hang of stringing logical blocks of circuit components together.

I find it fun :)

[1] SOmething like https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Eventek-KPS3010D-Switching-Regulated/dp/B073TW8H2S/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=lab+power+supply&qid=1565149853&s=gateway&sr=8-5
It is the same chassis as my current supply, maybe same actual device inside, but I found it for more like $60 a few years back. The key is the ability to set a current limit, so when you hook something up incorrectly the circuit doesn't fry.

Your interests are almost identical to mine! I didn't fully decide on my major until Junior year (Electrical Engineering). Started going into Biomedical end of senior year, went to grad school for it, found out it wasn't for me and switched back to EE. Now I'm researching Aerospace navigation systems and absolutely love it.

So no, you aren't going to die if you don't have your life figured out by end of sophomore year. The nice thing about engineering is a lot of the skills carry over between disciplines.

My suggestions are to study topics you are interested on your own; don't wait to learn it in your classes. If you think you are interested in computer engineering and computer science, start teaching yourself digital electronics, learning C and building projects with microcontrollers (AVR microcontrollers are very common) Don't wait for your career to find you, you have to seek it out. Follow your passion and the rest will come naturally.

Side note: I've been teaching myself AVR microcontrollers and digital design this summer, with the end goal of launching a high altitude balloon carrying an HD camera, temp sensors and Geiger counter. Here are the books I've been using, both are fantastic and easy to follow.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1449355781
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0123944244

Okay, here are my mechanical pencil picks (with the caveat that I'm much more of a regular wood pencil geek.)

If all that adjustability is your primary thing - I like OHTO Super Promecha I've got the 1500S, but I don't think the newer P model is too different. All my instructions came in Japanese though. The newer models are lighter I've heard. The 1500S sort of plows along. Heavy.

Now, if you're open to trying some other pencils! There are some more I like. (Have you tried the straight [staedtler 925] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BNHMC8/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B004G0AFP0&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=01DEWCGZNSCG129SB52Q) btw? Cheaper, and very popular.)

uni-ball Kuru Toga It's so lovely, a ratchet mechanism turns to keep it sharp as you go. (This only works when you lift your pen, so much less so on some constant cursive note taking). And inexpensive enough you should just try it. For fun. (More a writing pencil than drafting pencil.)

Pentel Graphgear 1000 Good, solid, economical. Advances pretty small amounts of lead for more precision. Has retractable tip for pocket. Has this strong spring clippy thing that gives me something to harass with my fingers. I like this pencil.
Also the PG105 but no clip to fidget with.

I had to self teach Mechanics of solids (received credit for it with Statics after transferring, but never actually took the course) I used "Statics and mechanics of materials" by Beer, Johnston, DeWold, and Mazurek. I found it very easy to follow. Below is the amazon link, but I'm sure you can get it for free somewhere.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Statics-Mechanics-Materials-Ferdinand-Beer/dp/0073398160/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1539574318&sr=8-5&keywords=mechanics+of+materials+beer

This might be slightly more appropriate for Computer Engineers, but when I was thinking about majoring in CE/EE, a friend who works for Microsoft recommended Programming Interviews Exposed. It has both soft and technical questions and is a pretty easy read.

EDIT: Removed mobile link

This one. I thought it was really good actually, I remember it making the concepts pretty clear. But yeah the end is definitely where it got much more difficult without the right math background. But, my schools 4 year plan I have been following isn't very good, as my friends and I had figured out the hard way.

On the bright side, when I do get around to taking Calc 3 this fall, a lot of the concepts will be familiar. I've already had experience with vector calc, partial derivitives, and double/triple integrals.

The solid state drive is nice but 128GB seems like it would go pretty quickly when engineering software is involved.

Edit: If I was getting another laptop, I would seriously consider this one https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-NVIDIA-Windows-E5-575G-53VG/dp/B01DT4A2R4. A dedicated graphics card and larger SSD would be worth it imo.

I was a long time user of the Pentel Clear Point series until I discovered the Uni KuruToga. I made the switch and I love using them. They feel a lot better to write with and there aren't any fading issues when I write with them thanks to the self rotating mechanism. The basic KuruTogas are okay but if you are uncomfortable with feeling the rotation as you write, these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OHNR0A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 will make you see how well the KuruTogas are. The metallic feel is great and you don't feel the rotation mechanism when you write.

If you want to read something that is a mix of science, history and entertaining stories, I highly recommend reading non-fiction about the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. It's really interesting reading about the lives and motivations of the men we learn about tangentially by using equations named after them.


I started off with this book, which is about The Royal Society of London. It has a lot of details about the lives of Newton and Leibniz, but also a lot about the Royal Society, Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, etc.


You also get to hear stories about early science experiments in the Royal Society. I think it was Boyle who brought the first vacuum chamber into the society. They put a snake in it and evacuated the air, just to see what would happen. The snake survived so the concluded at the time that snakes don't respire. Then they eventually made one big enough to put a person in and Boyle himself went inside as they sucked all the air out. It broke before he had a chance to suffocate. There's also a whole series on blood transfusions in Royal Society logs. They did countless experiments of putting blood from one animal into another just to see what would happen


The three takeaways I had from it are that (1) They did a lot of "science" that today we think is crazy, and it just shows how revolutionary and crazy the things were at the time, but we now think of them as completely obvious. (2) you see that many historic scientists were very religious, and that religious faith and scientific belief can coexist. I'm still agnostic but it's an intriguing worldview to discover when you think about the fact that many of these men's discoveries are what contributed to the decline of religion. and (3) you see the beauty of science and it's unstopping march towards knowledge. You read about this extremely complicated theory that Kepler had about the geometry of the solar system, and how much work he put into figuring it out only to realize that he was wrong. That's what science is. You figure something out, and make a solution that works, and if you're wrong or you find a better solution then you accept it.


tl;dr read The Clockwork Universe because you learn about Newton, Leibniz and Kepler: the men who figured all the stuff out that we take for granted in our work/studies.

I just cleaned it... but my Lamp of choice is Verilux

I have two laptops (MacBook and PC)

I wish I had a bigger desk...

I'm a simple student with a lot of shelves (that's where all my engineering stuff is sitting on right now)

Wireless mouse and keyboard with both being capable of using the laptop as a cheap dual monitor setup thanks to some software.

Pro Tip: Get a good Mouse

Mine is the MX Masters

Or you can drop $100 and get the S2 variant

I was just in your situation a week ago. I'm an EE though. I ended up getting an Acer Aspire E 15 due to the great reviews on amazon. (It's also the #1 seller on amazon).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01DT4A2R4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472993454&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=e15+ssd&dpPl=1&dpID=41HfDkXXyeL&ref=plSrch

Intel I5, 8gb of DDR4 RAM, 256gb ssd, and a dedicated Nvidia 940mx graphics card.

It runs great and while there are competitors out there, none of them were as upgradable.
You can upgrade: RAM, and add 2 more hard drives.

The 940mx graphics gives you about 2.5x the performance of the built in intel graphics.

For notes I buy a ream of copy/printer paper from the office supply store, they sell reams that are already 3-hole punched, it's not very much. I like having no lines interfering with anything I draw. Everything I lay down on the page really stands out against a pure white background. I suppose I take my time and write clearly, what simple sketches I do make, I take a second and do it clearly as well. The result is clean notes that are easy for me to review later.

I also write with .7mm pencil and use Staedtler pens in one or two colors to add emphasis.

All my homework gets done on National Brand engineering paper. ...Found a brand I liked and I stick to it I guess...

Each class has its own 3-ring binder and I load each one with a bit of this plain white paper, and a bit of my engineering paper.

You laugh but I was super excited to get my cheap Chinese multimeter in the mail today. I will deffo use it for completing my lab work tonight.

Arduino Mega kits are a good place to start off with for beginners.

https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-Complete-Ultimate-TUTORIAL-controller/dp/B01EWNUUUA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481883771&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=arduino+mega+kit&psc=1

If you want to get into digital electronics, learn about all the logic gates, and how you can combine them together to make more complex stuff, like Adders, Multipliers, Barrel Shifters, Comparators, etc. Put all that stuff together and you got an ALU. Add some busses and registers and stuff and you've got yourself a CPU.

There are several free simulators for digital circuits which allow you to draw circuits and simulate them, but if you want to get serious about digital circuits then learn a Hardware Descriptor Language like Verilog and pick up an FPGA and get cracking.


You can get a used Basys 2, which uses a Spartan 3E or something, for like 50 bucks, which will be more than enough for a novice. And you can use it with Xilinx ISE, which allows you to describe your circuits in an HDL !!AND!! schematic capture so you can physically draw your circuit.

If you want a more modern Xilinx FPGA like the Artix-7 on the Basys 3, you're stuck with Vivado, Xilinx' new software which doesn't support old FPGAs, is an abomination with the interface written with Java Swing, so it won't scale properly on a high DPI screen, and overall just sucks.

Here's a pretty sweet starting point:

What is a circuit?

Ohm's Law and Electricity Basics

and, if you're game to start building some stuff and writing some Arduino code:

Beginner's electronics kit: $22 on Amazon

Cheers

As a ECE this book is awesome and only $20. Great practical as well as theoretical info. https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

Try 'Practical Electronics for Inventors' by 'Paul Scherz'. This book is awesome. It is quite cheap too.
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

You can also try 'The Art of Electronics'. Its 3rd edition was released a year back I think. It has an informal style, so, I suppose you'll like it.
https://www.amazon.com/d/cka/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/0521809266

This site is also good.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/

staedtler 925 all the way.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BNHMC8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I HIGHLY recommend splurging on a nice pencil. Something you use every day you will easily see that spending over ten dollars is worth it.

I'm an EE, but I use this book any time I don't have access to the Internet. Bought it as a joke (Mythbusters used to talk about it all the time), but ended up loving it!

http://www.amazon.ca/Pocket-Reference-Edition-Thomas-Glover/dp/1885071620

Those kits are OK, but I might suggest getting yourself some boards like these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CGV6TZG

And a basic component kit such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01EROKLBC

With those you can practice all you want and come up with your own configurations. Start with getting an LED to light up and go from there.

For a cheap multimeter I like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000JQ4O2U

If you want the really good stuff, here it is. It's the best quality engineering paper I've found.

Vernier Calipers - $8.89

HP-35s Scientific Calculator. The best* calculator allowed in the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam and will get him weened off graphing early. - $43.50

This is my opinion. They are several great calcs allowed as was pointed out below.

I know some people recommend metal pencils. I however don't. You will lose pencils, it happens. However you do need a high quality mechanical pencil with a big eraser that if you do lose, it won't be a huge loss. I highly recommend the Pentel Twist Erase with 0.5mm lead - $8.63

I'm a Kuru Toga man myself, but yeah. I take my notes in OneNote, do plebe writing with a Uniball Vision, but take tests in pencil

I highly recommend the HP 35s. This calculator is HP's non-graphing RPN calculator, and is approved for the FE exam.

RPN takes a little getting used to, but once you use it for a few days, you will find it to be both faster and more accurate than non rpn calculators. It does everything the TI 36 does, it just does it faster.

Just picked this up. The body is plastic but the grip and tip are aluminium, and it seems to write well in the few days that I've used it so far. Tiny little eraser, but I normally carry a mars plastic eraser around.

highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/AVR-Programming-Learning-Software-Technology/dp/1449355781/

Granted, it's not Arduino (it's AVR, the microcontroller Arduino is based on, but you can still use an Arduino with its lessons with some software tweaks) and implies you know a decent amount of C programming, but it's written well enough so even an idiot like me could understand it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OHNR0A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pocket Ref 4th Edition