(Part 3) Best products from r/engineering

That's awesome!

EDIT: i just re-read my post and it sounds very self help bookish. ...sorry about that.

I bet Tesla would be a great company to work for and a great environment to be in. I'm definitely a fan of theirs. They're pushing the definition of what a car is, and what it takes to be successful. Hopefully they'll help you push how you define yourself and your success.

Some things I'd like to mention... (feel free to ignore them, as I am not yet old and wise, but they are some lessons I've learned since graduating)

I'm glad you're going to follow up with them, very few people remember this crucial step. If they blow you off on your first call, remember who you talked to, and call them back in a few days asking for that person by name. Don't be pushy, but be excited. If they seem friendly, you could ask if they like their job or if they have any pointers for you.

Big companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin have very good reputations... and have done big things... but considering your goal is an internship, I don't know how much you will learn in that environment. There are so many layers of protocol, people have very clear definitions of their jobs and defined responsibilities. It may prevent them from thinking outside of the box ...and could stifle your creativity. You'll also spend a lot of time learning "the rules" of working there ... and "the rules" don't always translate across job descriptions.

Don't get me wrong, you'll need to work hard for a loooong time to do great things, but don't fall into that trap where you're not learning anything and think you'll eventually get rewarded for "putting your time in."

Keep a journal. Write down what you're excited about, how you learned it, what you want to do with it, who you've met (you will cross paths with people again), who you want to meet. Don't hold anything back. This helps when writing future resumes, as well as giving you the opportunity to brainstorm and build a framework of what you eventually want to accomplish. Learn something every day. The journal will force you to be accountable to yourself and to your future. It will also serve you well when you're considering quitting a job 2-5-10 years from now and can see how you progressed from where you are today to not being satisfied.

Find a company that is setting the new standards. Look for innovative internship programs with lots of exposure to new ideas and motivated leadership. Make sure you're not sitting in a cube reading reddit all day. It's harder to have access to the real movers and shakers the bigger a company gets. The smaller they are, obviously the more access you'll have to those situations that will define your future.

Find a mentor at your internship ... and don't just let anyone be your mentor. Pick some of those people on the Tesla wikipedia page and do some research about them. Write to them. Tell them exactly why you want to be a part of their team and that you've applied for an internship. Keep it short. When you eventually get a position, ask people waaaay over your head if you can have lunch with them sometime to pick their brain. They'll be flattered and you will show your desire to learn.

Don't be arrogant. Try not to talk about yourself. You're there to learn. Ask lots of questions. When you get an interview, ask : what they like most about their job, the hardest part of their job, and what that dislike most about their job.


Some books that inspired me:

Think BIG and Kick Ass in Business and Life - Donald Trump

Granted, he can be a douchebag, but his advice in this book is solid, and he is successful. Read the reviews, they give you a better idea of how you'll react to the book.

The Four Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss

Not that you're shooting for working four hours just yet, but his advice about focus and success can be applied in many ways.

I'm in a similar situation. Some thoughts:

• take as much advantage as you can if you can help someone else. There's a few engineers in the plant who ask for my help for certain tedious things (i.e. taking information from blueprints / electrical drawings and entering them into an Excel spreadsheet). Milk this as much as you can: find something interesting about the subject and inquire about it, ask questions when you need help. Try to become a positive presence that they both feel comfortable around and also someone that can prove to be reliable.
  
  
• Work on improving your social game. I'm not sure what you're personality type is like: if you're the life of the party where you go, just skip this. If you're not, I'd suggest for the moment practice in the social element and at least work on becoming both someone positive and someone people feel comfortable around. Staying on the light side of the force for now, I suggest the Charisma on Command videos, Dale Carnegie's golden rules, Ramit Sethi's social game discussions (he talks a lot about personal finance too. Highly recommend), and, meanwhile, practice improving with others.
  
  In the meantime, I highly suggest finding out who the gregarious / fun / life of the party types of your office are and hand / shoot the shit with them every now and then. Personal experience is that these people try to improve the mood and their energy gets others going with them. Not only is he someone to try to emulate socially, he'll also try to help you out as these guys are usually on the positive side.
  
  
• If you have access to software that others are using, try to become really good with it. If it's CATIA, for example, pick up a book to practice (what I use:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/CATIA-V5-6R2013-Designers-Tickoo-Purdue/dp/1936646617/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474047485&sr=1-1&keywords=CATIA+V5+for+designers
  
  and go through youtube tutorials on the subject. That being said, some software might be locked. If that's the case, either ask if you can get approval for it, or use your laptop and take to the seven seas yourself.
  
  
• If you have a specific request, try to optimize it. My boss right now basically asked me to make a spreadsheet of all the items in Teamcenter and their process dates, and enter them in if something new comes up. Okay, that's not hard. However, wouldn't it be cool if you could hyperlink the part to their respective folder so they're easy to access? Or maybe input the details on the part so they can be sorted easily? Or maybe if there's a master sheet of every part, you can create a VLOOKUP formula so that way you can just automate the entries just from that data table so you don't physically have to enter anything? Or maybe you only need specifc information so you can create a VBA Macro so it takes only the relevant information to enter into the table, and then VLOOKUPS from there? Or maybe if the engineers cross out data on the master sheet, you can write a subroutine so that it deletes those rows so that it's easier to check what data of the master table is truly relevant (i.e. if there's 900 entries, but 753 aren't crossed out, so those 753 are the only relevant things). Or maybe... you get the idea.
  
  
• Possibly start applying for a masters. This might depend on your financial situation, but it's not a bad idea to have a backup plan in case your contract goes south. Mine expires in October, but I've been accepted to a grad school that I could start in January. My opinion is that research is the biggest benefit to grad school, so my suggestion would be to figure out what you enjoy about Chem engineering and try to find the schools that do research in that field. Don't make the mistake of looking only at "high ranked" or MIT / Stanford.
  
  
• Keep a small portfolio of what you've worked on and try to frame what your accomplishments were. AskAManager might have more on this; You need evidence that shows you're valuable. Try to frame your accomplishments as something that make you a remarkable employee.
  
  Stuff. Good luck man.
  
  EDIT:
  
  >I like problem solving (which is why I wanted to be an engineer in the first place), but my job involves very little of that.
  
  Short answer: Having spoken with several Sr. Engies at my workplace, some of them are awesome, and some are jaded about their work. Working for someone else isn't necessarily what you want to do, it's about what needs to get done.
  
  Highly suggest working on your passions at home. Maybe build a BattleBot or get into Indie game design or something. My experience (in school and out) is that the people who are enticed in their subject take it with them in (some or all) of their free time or their projects. One guy at school took a basic "apply a control model to a real life problem" and ended up making a thesis on a control system for an engine. A lot of the Comp Sci guys would try to optimize their computers and do their own stuff at home, etc.
  
  My feeling here is that this type of passion comes from something that brings an emotional response. If you're playing basketball and just don't care or feel excited about it, you probably won't be happy practicing 6 hours a day. Same with engineering; a lot of people I grew up with felt like they were doing things for the prestige rather than the subject desire. It's hard to explain, basically, try to figure out what about Chem Engineering gets your gears going and try to become an expert in the subject theoretically, experimentally, or computationally [whichever depends again on the kind of person you are and also what is theoretically possible: Euler was a theoretical guy. Cayley was experimental, etc.].
  
  Again, good luck.
  
  

A little bit of background: I'm a guy who struggled tremendously with math in high school, and quite frankly I despised it. But three years ago I finished up a BS in math and now I'm wrapping up my electrical engineering degree. I hope my perspective can be useful:

>Is math a very crucial part of engineering?

Yes. There's no avoiding it. I remember asking myself in high school algebra "when am I ever going to use this," but today I struggle to find the words to express just how monumentally important mathematics are to modern society. I think it's fair to say that the better you are at math, the better you will be at engineering as well as most hard sciences.

>If its a math different from Algebra, then maybe I'll be fine.

If by "different" you mean "more advanced," then yes. At the same time, more advanced = more interesting. On its own, algebra is fucking boring if you're just trying to get the hang of it. It's the topics in which you use algebra that are interesting.

For what it's worth, I failed algebra in high school. I absolutely hated it, and I didn't really get the hang of it until my first year in college. After that, calc was much easier and much, much more interesting.

Thing is, if you don't master algebra, then the more advanced topics (calculus and beyond) will be prohibitively difficult. However, it's not as bad as you might think. At a certain point, doing algebra will be like breathing, or riding a bike. It's sort of like learning the basic scales for the guitar: it's horrendously boring to practice, but once you get a feel for it, it becomes second nature and you'll find that it's absolutely indispensable for being a good musician.

The best advice I can give is to get a taste of calculus, which would hopefully motivate you to really master algebra. This book is great if you want to get a feel for it. If you've got at least a basic understanding of algebra, this book should be fairly accessible. The first chapter sets up the basic algebraic principles, and also discusses trig and exponential functions. The second chapter will probably be the toughest to get through: it establishes the concept of the limit, which won't actually seem relevant until you apply it to calculus, but believe me when I say that it is a critical foundation for calculus. Chapter three actually starts getting into using calculus.

Oh yes, I should also mention that trig is extremely important as well (I'd bet my salary that you'll encounter it numerous times in any engineering curriculum), but like calculus, trig becomes much easier to learn if you have a good grasp of algebra. I figure a good sense of trig is something you can kind of pick up along the way. You'll most certainly use it in intro physics classes.

TL;DR: Don't give up on math just yet!

Also: I used to tutor students in algebra and calculus. If you have any questions feel free to respond or PM me!

This is novel, I get to post on this sub as an answerer instead of a questioner lol.

So, I've got 6 VW busses. They are not really for sale so to speak but those are the credentials. I bought my first bus in 1998 for a $300 while still in high school with 0 mechanical knowledge other than changing my oil.

As some have said here the best way to start is to just jump right in! Find one you like and go for it. When I started buying VWs they were still trash vehicles, everybody had an old one in the backyard and they were just looking to get rid of them. Now they are a bit more precious, you will pay much more for a poor condition bus than I would have for a great one back then. But the upside is there are many more aftermarket places for things that were harder to find then. NADA, Edmunds and the like are useless to find out what busses are worth. It's best to get familiar with online VW communities like the Samba they also have an excellent classified section.

I used a book 60% of the time to figure things out on my bus. Two books you REALLY NEED are The Idiot's Guide and the Bentley book. Between these you are pretty much covered. The Idiot's Guide is similar to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I would recommend reading it cover to cover.

For the other 40% of my VW learning curve I utilized people's advice. Air cooled VW enthusiasts are the best people to get to know. They will always wave and stop to chat when you finally get to drive your bus. Find your closest VW auto club and start joining in activities, make connections and offer to help people fix their cars, it will be a huge help and you will make friends.

Now just a quick final observation and opinion. You said you wanted a "camper van". From that description I can point you to a a '68 to '79 Westphalia. Those are what most people picture with that description. There are three main body styles for busses; Splitty, Bay Window and Vanagon all fall under the general model number Type 2 (beetles are type 1). I don't want to write a novel here so I'll cut it short. If you have any other questions feel free to ask here or PM me, if I don't know I'll know where to look.

Have worked as engineer but also a photographer, so I think I'm uniquely qualified to answer your question.

If you want an external stylus system, don't cheap out on the Wacom products. Get the Pro version, not the regular Intuos.

I have both (a friend gave me his old Pro. I had cheaped out and bought the regular version). The pro offers tilt sensitivity. This is HUGE. It makes it feel like a real pencil. This makes using a tablet worth it.

I used this for marking up documents but also extensive photoshop use.

I noticed you also are using Canadian Amazon links. I'm Canadian, too. I recommend checking out Shopbot to find best prices online.

FWIW, photo stores like Henry's often have their stylus-devices go on sale. Might be worth checking.

I think that directly marking up documents on a screen is superior in EVERY INSTANCE. For pure drawing, sketching, shading, and painting in Photoshop or another artboard-specific program you may find Tilt Sensitivity vs. using a touch-screen tablet is equal. But handwriting - it's just so much more natural when you directly edit.

For reading long PDF's (for example when i send friends/paper collaborators a recent article from Nature journal, etc), using my new Surface Pro 4 is great. Just got it last week. Can't really see myself using a Wacom any more.

I get you may not want to invest in a new Surface or touchscreen tablet. But then again, if you're only using the tablet as a PDF editor, I might recommend buying a used tablet with a good screen, anything over 1080p, and editing your PDFs with it instead of using a dedicated stylus-device. You can still operate your tablet and workstation PC/Mac next to each other.... just sync the editable document in a folder within aGoogle Drive/Onedrive/Box/Dropbox and then you have best of both worlds.

Did i mention the learning curve and useability factor on a tablet device? On a wacom you'll inevitably be writing over the edge of the input rectangle once a day or more, and that never happens with a touchscreen tablet.

TL;DR
If you're set on a stylus-input external accessory, one with a Tilt-sensitive input sensor is 110% worth the extra shekels over a basic model. But a basic/used touchscreen tablet device is going to be even better for simple PDF's.

Can you describe the purpose of the heating device in a bit more detail, and perhaps add a quick sketch of the idea/device? You seem to have focused in on a particular approach to heating, but without any details that could narrow down the requirements.

Some specifications that might help get a more useful answer:

• How many watts of heating? If unknown, then how big is the heating element and how hot does it need to get?
  
• Does it require low-voltage or line isolation? If unknown, is is possible to accidentally touch the heating element or lead wires?
  
• It is a bench-top device or must it be portable?
  
• How often and how many times will the 15-20 seconds of heating be repeated?
  
  Without any additional details, it would seem that something like this powered by a 12VDC wall-wart transformer might work.

You most certainly do not need PM software for your to-do list.

I struggled with this for a long time. I highly recommend Getting Things Done by David Allen - Amazon Link.

I ended up settling on MS OneNote to keep track of everything in my life. The desktop version is very powerful, and the mobile app is good for review and short notes on the go.

WARNING: It is very easy to go overboard with organizing with the GTD method. It took me a long time to get it running smoothly (David Allen suggests a full 2 years before you reap the full benefits), but now I have all of my Tasks, Projects, Someday/Maybe's, and various levels of Goals for work and home neatly organized and out of my head.

If that is too much here is a much more simple method for the short term. Grab a notebook and write down everything you have to do. As for prioritizing, pick 2-4 things you absolutely have to get done tomorrow and write those on a separate piece of paper. Repeat this daily.

Machine Design by Norton
Theory of Machines and Mechanisms by Shigley
are considered the two bibles on machine design and are common in machine design courses.

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design by Ashby

The Machinery's Handbook is a must have and I assume you already know about this.

Mechanisms and Mechanical Designs Sourcebook is good to help spark ideas or solve problems. There are other books along the same lines.

There's information on tolerancing and machining in The Machinery's Handbook especially. I'm not sure on other resources for those. There are books on manufacturing processes that'll discuss the tolerances capable and design limitations.

experience.
If you have a chance in school learn to machine. Actually using the mill/lathe makes you appreciate/think about it was designed.

co-op is supposed to make you think about all the things that you are posting about.

Machinery's Handbook is a pretty sweet reference for random things. That said, a lot of your co-workers (most likely newer/younger engineers) may have cheat sheets for common information for screws/nuts/bolts.

> easiest way to machine parts

ask another engineer. Or ask a machinist. skilled technicians usually know whats up.

He used to do radio commentaries. Those are collected in a pretty neat book.

Here's a pretty good GD&T reference I've used at work:

https://www.amazon.com/Geo-Metrics-IIIm-Application-Dimensioning-Tolerancing/dp/0201633434

If you want the bible of precision machine design:
https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Machine-Design-Alexander-Slocum/dp/0872634922

It's essentially the graduate level compliment of Shigley's that /u/leafjerky recommended.

I've been reading Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module. Incredibly fascinating book. Covers everything about the Lunar Module from design to manufacturing to the actual flights. What I enjoy most about it is how personal the book feels. Since the author is narrating the book through his own experiences, you not only get a sense of the type of thinking that led to the creation of the numerous systems, but also the kind of people these engineers, technicians, designers, etc. were.

no problemo, have fun!

I remembered another source for finding natural frequencies of simplified shapes - https://www.amazon.com/Formulas-Natural-Frequency-Mode-Shape/dp/1575241846/

You'll likely be able to find a copy of this book in an engineering college library for reference... it's a bit rare otherwise

I use this at work and it isn't super expensive (like $15). Good paper that works with the G2 pens nicely.

Not sure why it is out of stock at the moment.

SOMETHING LIKE THIS would work

​

https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Extension-Screwdriver-Magnetic-Accessories/dp/B06XW8Y821

If you're looking for casual reads, I have a few:

To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design by Henry Petroski

Success through Failure: The Paradox of Design by Henry Petroski

If you're into racing at all, The Unfair Advantage by Mark Donohue and Paul VanValkenburgh is a great account of Donohue's career. It talks plenty about engineering as well.

I might be able to recommend a few others if you can point me toward a specific field of engineering.

http://www.amazon.com/How-engineers-create-world-commentaries/dp/0983966109

Bill Hammack's engineerguy NPR broadcasts. Very easy to read, each story is about 2 pages long.

We won’t know for a long, long time. Take a look at To Engineer is Human. It’s got some neat stories.

Moon Lander - Thomas J Kelly

Is very similarly-styled book, where the author goes into great detail about the engineering challenges facing the construction of the Apollo lunar module. Not only the technical problems but also the problems with management and bureaucracy. Any type of engineer should enjoy reading this book.

I also recommend Precision Machine Design by Alexander Slocum

You are talking mostly about stuff that is covered in a Mechanics of Materials class. This is the book I learned from, but any mechanics of materials book will do. Question (b) is covered in a Machine Design class, so pick up a machine design textbook if you want the theory. If you just want to know which fastener to use I would just pick up this puppy, it has everything you need.

There are hundreds of sources out there that explain the basics of GD&T. Granted, the vocabulary makes it a bit tough to understand if you are teaching yourself, but you can do it for no money involved, only your time.

If you want to get a book, I recommend this one or the non-metric version (the one I use):

http://www.amazon.com/Geo-Metrics-IIIm-Application-Dimensioning-Tolerancing/dp/0201633434

Design of Machinery covers kinematics and dynamics. You're thinking of Machine Design: https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Design-5th-Robert-Norton/dp/013335671X/

I'm a personal fan of Anderson's CFD. A professor recommended CFD for Engineers, but I haven't looked at that resource yet.

Does anyone have real practical experience with "Getting things done"? I'm wondering if it's worth something for engineers or if it's just a tool hyped by managers to make their work seem fancy.

EDIT: I'm talking about that

To Engineer is Human by Henry Petroski