what do you do for a living?

[V6HQUTE]

2nd year boilermaker apprentice, aiming to stay down on the shop floor where all the excitement is.

another welder, im a 1st year, im aiming for the money where ever it is, picked up a expensive hobbie, old holdens , im thinking ill head to the mines when im qualified, chase the big bucks for a few years

[83 WB_Ute]

Well, I am into the later stages of my HSC and am studying like crazy to ensure that I get the marks and the ATAR that I need..

I have a couple of decisions to make.. I have to decide what engineering I want to do.. I still have 2 areas of engineering in mind, either mechanical or mechatronic (mechanical + electrical + software engineering)..

Then the other decision is to go straight to uni or get an apprenticeship.. If I do go straight to uni I will have to do a few bridging courses because I didn't do physics, chemistry or mathematics.. I am doing General Maths (and am at 80-85% in that..)

And if I go to uni, there is only 5 uni's in Australia that do the above engineering areas.. So I will definatley have to move away from home and am currently looking at either Griffith uni (Queensland) or Newcaste uni..

And I am also waiting to see how I went in my nomination of 'TVET student of the year' I have had an interview with the board that decide who wins and they seemed impressed.. I am going to the awards night on the 22nd this month and I will find out how I go there.. I'll let you guys know how I go..

What do you think about mechatronic engineering [MENTION=225]HK1837[/MENTION]???

[HK1837]

I don't think it matters too much in the end if you choose Electrical or Mechatronic. I wouldn't recommend Mechanical though. In the end I feel it is not quite as rewarding a career, but that is just my experience.

The one bit of advice I can give you though is the maths at Newcastle Uni SUCKS. I did 3 unit maths, Physics and Chemistry at High School (also did Geography, General Studies and 3 unit English), and I hated first year maths. It was maths for the sake of maths and it just did my head in. I failed it in first year (only thing I ever failed). When I did it the second time I went to bugger all lectures and went to all the tutorials, I had a really good girl tutor who simplified it a lot for us. You'll find that the lecturers don't make it easy for you, the tutors unravel it a lot - hopefully you get a good one, some of them can't speak english too well! Second year maths is really hard, but hard work saw me through to a credit. I took 2 weeks leave to study fulltime for the exam though.

Once you get through the first 2 years, the later years are a lot easier and are more ongoing assessment based so you an basically pass before the final exams. You just have to get over the first 2 years of maths and physics. I did a first year Chemistry elective and blitzed it as I had done carbon chemistry and others in year 12 chemistry.

I still have all my Uni stuff but it'll most likely be very different now. If you can get hold of the previous years physics labs you'll find they are identical, so you can prep before the labs and you know what answers you are looking for.

[83 WB_Ute]

I don't think it matters too much in the end if you choose Electrical or Mechatronic. I wouldn't recommend Mechanical though. In the end I feel it is not quite as rewarding a career, but that is just my experience.

The one bit of advice I can give you though is the maths at Newcastle Uni SUCKS. I did 3 unit maths, Physics and Chemistry at High School (also did Geography, General Studies and 3 unit English), and I hated first year maths. It was maths for the sake of maths and it just did my head in. I failed it in first year (only thing I ever failed). When I did it the second time I went to bugger all lectures and went to all the tutorials, I had a really good girl tutor who simplified it a lot for us. You'll find that the lecturers don't make it easy for you, the tutors unravel it a lot - hopefully you get a good one, some of them can't speak english too well! Second year maths is really hard, but hard work saw me through to a credit. I took 2 weeks leave to study fulltime for the exam though.

Once you get through the first 2 years, the later years are a lot easier and are more ongoing assessment based so you an basically pass before the final exams. You just have to get over the first 2 years of maths and physics. I did a first year Chemistry elective and blitzed it as I had done carbon chemistry and others in year 12 chemistry.

I still have all my Uni stuff but it'll most likely be very different now. If you can get hold of the previous years physics labs you'll find they are identical, so you can prep before the labs and you know what answers you are looking for.

Righto.. I am leaning abit towards Mechatronic.

Yeah, I can tell you that I won't be doing any advanced maths.. I'll do the minimum required.. I am alright at maths, but not good enough to do advanced.. I'm doing General Maths, Information Processes and Technology, Standard English, Business Studies (started in advanced, but didn't want to do shakespeare.. lol), Senior Science (worst decision.. I'm 4 weeks ahead of the rest of the class...) I should have done Chemistry.. I also do Automotive through TAFE..

Okay, so I will have to do a heap of study and make sure I stay ontop of things.. And I'll make sure to get a tutor.. So basically it is the first 2yrs that dictate who is going to go through..

Yeah, I will keep everything that I get when I go to uni.. You never know when it will come in handy..

I'm looking at having like a gap year type thing where I can go to TAFE and study Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics while doing part time work to earn a few $$.. That way I have some start up money and I also have the required Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics knowledge..

Thanks for all the help Byron.. I appreciate it..

[ambientgoat]

My recomendation would be to go for electrical.

At the uni I went to the electrical / mechatronic / telecommunications etc. engineers all did basically the same degree with a few subjects towards the end that gave you the specialisation. I got my degree in telecommunications engineering, what I wasn't told was that there are very few specific telecommunications engineering jobs. I've worked for a few years as an electronics engineer and now I'm working in the HVAC field basically as an electrical/project engineer.

The problem I've found is that the HR person that receives your resume might not know exactly what that speciality can do so have no idea why a telecommunications engineer is applying for say a computer systems engineering job, however most would recognise the old staple of 'electrical engineer'.

I would think that most uni's now would have bridging programs if you didn't to the correct maths etc. at school. I know mine did.

As for takeing a year off to save money etc. I think the two things you'll be as an engineering student is poor and drunk :D

That's my 2 cents anyway.

[HK1837]

By tutor, I meant the people who run the tutorials at uni. You do like 2-3 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorials a week in each subject. Getting a good tutor in these sessions is hit and miss, I don't think you get to choose. Not being racist or anything like that, I found a lot of Asian (later year) students were tutors, and I had a lot of trouble getting through the language barrier.

[83 WB_Ute]

My recomendation would be to go for electrical.

At the uni I went to the electrical / mechatronic / telecommunications etc. engineers all did basically the same degree with a few subjects towards the end that gave you the specialisation. I got my degree in telecommunications engineering, what I wasn't told was that there are very few specific telecommunications engineering jobs. I've worked for a few years as an electronics engineer and now I'm working in the HVAC field basically as an electrical/project engineer.

The problem I've found is that the HR person that receives your resume might not know exactly what that speciality can do so have no idea why a telecommunications engineer is applying for say a computer systems engineering job, however most would recognise the old staple of 'electrical engineer'.

I would think that most uni's now would have bridging programs if you didn't to the correct maths etc. at school. I know mine did.

As for takeing a year off to save money etc. I think the two things you'll be as an engineering student is poor and drunk :D

That's my 2 cents anyway.

Righto, thanks for the info mate.. Yeah, they do still have bridging courses.. I'll have to look into them.. My careers advisor is getting me some info from all the uni's about their bridging courses and their engineering programs etc..

Hahahaha.. That'll probably be me.. lol I'll see what happens though regarding the taking a year off..

By tutor, I meant the people who run the tutorials at uni. You do like 2-3 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorials a week in each subject. Getting a good tutor in these sessions is hit and miss, I don't think you get to choose. Not being racist or anything like that, I found a lot of Asian (later year) students were tutors, and I had a lot of trouble getting through the language barrier.

Yeah.. Oh well.. I'm hoping that I get a good one..

[saddo33]

I'm a Painter and Decorater, started my apprenticeship when i was 16 in 94, quit the first job i ever had in 2011 to start my own business, didnt go down well with the boss

[JDT]

I work on these. big toys.

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[JDT]

and these

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