Proton in "Stay With It" Engineering campaign

[Baldwin]

I have been honored by being asked to work with the White House & Intel heading up the "Stay With It" campaign. 40% of Engineering students quit Engineering after their freshman year. Some really should have. Other's should have stuck it out. And then honestly, some that stuck with it probably should quit. But I remember when I graduated, probably only 20% or less of my original class was with me. So they asked me to speak at schools and do this video to show the college students what it's like to be a working engineer and use hip hop as a tool to remind people that engineers are supposed to be creative and fun and that being a geek these days is pretty cool. Here's the video.

http://youtu.be/T4k5eWmMvow

you know I HAD to put my VX in it. Stay tuned. New geeked out video with my Proton AGAIN releasing on Pi Day....yes, that be 3-14 for all my nerds out there.

[Leon R]

Nice video and cause!

My school (Nirtheastern University in Boston) was even worse! Because it was a "safety school" for many kids, they had even higher amont of kids getting into engineering, who probably shouldn't have. But it was actually very tough engineering school, with heavy focus on thermodynamics, so drop out rate was over 50%! I rember being told to look around a lecture hall if about 150 students and being told that half of us will be gone by the next year! I remember thinking how that wasn't even an option for me

[tom4bren]

I'll have to look at it from home (can't open link from work ... it's an engineer thing ... you understand).

I started in EE ... gradumicated in EE. Not many of my freshman class did ... I must be special.

[Leon R]

Out of curiosity, what is the dropout rate from other majors?

Also, a lot of kids who couldn't make it in ME, went on to Civil Engineering and MET. Some went into much easier software engineering and are now making 30-50% more money! So the joke is on those who "stuck with it"

[vt_maverick]

I think Leon makes a good point that the White House and others will need to consider as they address this problem: how do you motivate kids to stay in a really hard major when they're equally likely to make the same pay with a different degree? I was a business major with a computer science minor and I was hired to work alongside CS majors with much higher GPAs at the same salary and GS level (this was a government job). And we were paid higher than almost all our engineering friends straight out of school. So where's the motivation? I think in other countries there is sometimes an aura surrounding doctors, engineers, etc. as being the upper crust of professional society. In America we're much more salary focused, so can we motivate kids to take the harder but potentially less rewarding path? They better be in it because they love it I would say.

[tom4bren]

IIRC, back in the dark ages when I was proving to my professors that I was INDEED untrainable, it was Chem & EE majors that had the highest dropout rate. Of course, that was back in the day when software really was input by keypunch cards ... so things may have changed by now.

Remember:

Those that can engineer ... do engineer. Those that can't engineer ... write software!!!!

Back when I started with the Army, all of the ME's, CivE's, & people with MET degrees all got their job title switched over to EE because we were on a better pay scale.

Twin bro is an accountant & he was always confused that I even needed a degree at all. He is of the opinion that all that I needed to know is that V=IR.

Of course I always reply that as an accountant, he doesn't even need a brain. All he needs to know is: debits on the left, credits on the right, & keep it black!!!!

[Leon R]

I went to school 88-93 (5 year program, with 2 years of co-op), back then the difficulty of engineering degries was:

Chem E
ME
EE
Civil E
Technology degrees

Software wasn't even classified as "Engineering"!!! It was "computer science"!

ME degree difficultly greatly dependand on amount of thermodynamics tought in the program. That subject was responsible for most dropouts and major changes!

My school required 5 thermo classes (plus thermo electives). Most other ME schools only had 2-3 classes unless you wanted to concentrate in that field. In restrospect, I wish instead of two of those thermo classes I had more machine design classes...

[tom4bren]

Leon,

UT Knoxville shifted to a 5 year program after I graduated (I don't think that there was any link between the 2 events???).

I took 5 years because like you I co-op'd. I actually finished in 13 academic quarters (+1 mini-term).

It all depends a lot on the school. At the time, Georgia Tech was a much easier EE program than UT was (based on discussions with a GT Junior).

[Baldwin]

Well, on Pi Day...3/14, I'm releasing another music video with my VX. Hoping to bring the fun factor of Engineering. I think its' the industry the engineers work in that determine's their pay. Lot of engineers don't make as much until they get to management, but as someone working in the entertainment biz in LA, Engineering is definitely what keeps me afloat. LA's a bad example though cuz my salary here would be nearly the same as some of my co-workers in St. Louis or Sacramento. But here, I'm renting a small 2br apt for $1750 and that's a GREAT deal here. Most people are paying $2k for the same thing. I just use my engineering skills to save the landlord money by making repairs for him and not charging labor. If unions continue the way they are going and cause labor rates to go up in manufacturing, there will be more engineering jobs to automate their work. HS grads making $100k in LA to opererate one of our 90% efficient lines is crazy. Our engineering firm is swamped with work and we can't find enough qualified engineers to hire. The other problem we're having is finding not so talented graduates. That's a whole other story. That's something I'm hoping to help change with "Stay With It".

[twalker920]

No one's mentioned Aerospace Engineering (my major).

My freshman class at University of Colorado Boulder was about 470. At graduation there were 116. That is a 75% attrition rate, and I even considered switching to journalism after freshman year (a decision I still sometimes ponder.) I was class of '91, when there were no engineering jobs to be had unless you were one of the 7 women out of the 116 that ALL got jobs (even the two stupid ones) because of equal opportunity quotas.

I did it in exactly 4 years even though the curriculum was 9 semesters, because I tested out of 3 classes from AP classes in high school. The courseload was brutal.

I have never actually worked in my field, I slum in the Oil and Gas insdustry as a regular mechanical engineer because they won't stop throwing money at me.

Edit: great video btw. I contracted for a company putting in side impact airbag initiator production lines. Lots of Bosch conveyors with pallets that loved to jam and fall off (until I got there of course!) and cam-driven pick and place machines that would take a hand off in a heartbeat. And robots. The "boom room" where the propellant was put in to the ingiter module had no people working in it, just robots.

[Baldwin]

@twalker920 That's pretty awesome. I wanted to go into Aerospace with Aerojet next door to my hometown. But went the typical Mech E. Intel and the White House as asked me to find other engineers with great stories and maybe do interviews and videos as well for them. Would you be interested? Shoot me a PM or email if you are. I live near JPL now and with cuts at NASA, lotta Aerospace guys are lookin' for regular Mech E jobs.

[Leon R]

I always thought of Aerospace and Automotive Engineering as offshoots, or concentration of ME.

[tom4bren]

Baldwin,

Want to borrow my 30 year pin to use in your next video? Nuthin says "Stay With It" like a 30 year pin.

Tom

[twalker920]

I always thought of Aerospace and Automotive Engineering as offshoots, or concentration of ME.

I agree somewhat. Aerospace covered a lot of the same material, except with the addition of wings, rotors, jets, and rockets! There were several courses on orbital mechanics/dynamics, attitude dynamics, remote sensing and even bioengineering (how to live in space!) that Mech E wouldn't usually cover.

[twalker920]

@twalker920 That's pretty awesome. I wanted to go into Aerospace with Aerojet next door to my hometown. But went the typical Mech E. Intel and the White House as asked me to find other engineers with great stories and maybe do interviews and videos as well for them. Would you be interested? Shoot me a PM or email if you are. I live near JPL now and with cuts at NASA, lotta Aerospace guys are lookin' for regular Mech E jobs.

Well...I'm in Denver for one. And I don't know that I have a "great story". Plus I don't photograph as well as Rapper/Engineers...