re: The Decision To Return For BSME At 30

Honestly a lot of the sacrifice and time spent will depend on how book smart you are. Some people really have to work their arse off other people find engineering school pretty easy. If you are really smart 2 hours of extra work a day and you would be fine. If you struggle to grasp some of the concepts and apply them it could be a very hard and difficult road. So this answer truly depends from person to person.

What is it about ME that you think will help other people? I am trying to understand your motivation and predicted path from 30 > ME > maint supe > helping others. im thinking about the cost benefit for your situation. The cost is very high: time away from family is priceless, monetary cost of school, time spent studying, etc. the benefit $100k salary or close to it can possibly be acheived with much lest cost and much more certainty through other career options.

You are several posts into explaining what you want to do but i still dont see a clear “why”. I would recommende clearly defining your end goal ie why you think you want an ME and then researching all options for how to get there. Then you can weigh the pros and cons of each and come to a decision. My percepttion from across the interweb is that you arent quite sure what your end goal is. Thats ok when you are 18 and going into college on a scholarship with no responsibilities, but you are 30 with a family and you better have a damn clear vision of what and why you want to acheive. There is no room for error in this decision.

Learn to code and make more money. Plant Engineers don’t make that much money unless it’s Exxon, Chevron, or Shell.

The real question is, what do you make now and do you enjoy it?

A few comments/questions/observations:

1. Are you currently working as a “company guy” or a contractor? Are you in management or do you have management experience?

I ask because I’ve seen a few people quote 75-100k starting salary. This is true for an entry level job, but depending on your situation you may not be limited to an entry level job. The real payoff with an engineering degree isn’t an engineer job title - it’s that the degree proves that you understand engineering concepts, which makes you much more competitive for management positions (especially with your existing experience). If you’re already in some kind of office-based role and you complete the degree, you might be better off staying put and looking for a management opportunity than trying to find an entry level ME job.

2. Engineering programs are hard. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise. Have you taken any type of calculus yet? If not, know that this is the area where you will likely be at the biggest disadvantage. Calculus is difficult on its own, but it’s also the basis of most of your higher level engineering classes.

If you intend to work full time, you should expect to miss out on other aspects of your life while you’re in school. You will spend entire weekends studying for tests. Your work performance very well may suffer. I would plan on your total commitment being 2-3x the number of credit hours you are taking. So if you’re taking 9 credit hours (3 classes) you need to have 18-27 hours a week to devote to school, including classroom time.

3. Keep in mind that many full-time students take 5 years or longer to complete engineering degrees. I’m not really familiar with LSU’s online offering, but I can tell you that one of the major issues for part-time students is the fact that many engineering classes are only offered in the fall (or spring). You need to be very diligent planning out your courses to make sure you don’t waste a semester due to lack of prerequisites.

4. Your real-world experience will be a huge asset once you graduate. Unfortunately, though, it probably won’t help you in school as much as you would think.

5. If, after all of this, you are still determined to get a mechanical engineering degree.. go for it! You can always dip your toe in the water with a small course load and increase from there.

Lostinbr, thanks for replying!

1. I’m a contractor with 5 years experience at the moment. No management experience.

2. I haven’t taken calculus yet but I have already started brushing up on my foundations through Khan Academy. I’ll be on to calculus soon. So far, so good but obviously not the same as a college course.
Thanks for the ratio of credit hours/study time. This helps a lot.

3. I would expect my path to a degree to be a seven year undertaking. This is my biggest question mark about ROI.

4 and 5. I truly believe that I’d be happy afterwards. My biggest concern is loss of family time. I have to be positive that the move is right for the family.

More praying and talking is in order, but all of the replies have been truly helpful. I’m glad I took it to the O-T

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A few comments/questions/observations:

1. Are you currently working as a “company guy” or a contractor? Are you in management or do you have management experience?

I ask because I’ve seen a few people quote 75-100k starting salary. This is true for an entry level job, but depending on your situation you may not be limited to an entry level job. The real payoff with an engineering degree isn’t an engineer job title - it’s that the degree proves that you understand engineering concepts, which makes you much more competitive for management positions (especially with your existing experience). If you’re already in some kind of office-based role and you complete the degree, you might be better off staying put and looking for a management opportunity than trying to find an entry level ME job.

2. Engineering programs are hard. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise. Have you taken any type of calculus yet? If not, know that this is the area where you will likely be at the biggest disadvantage. Calculus is difficult on its own, but it’s also the basis of most of your higher level engineering classes.

If you intend to work full time, you should expect to miss out on other aspects of your life while you’re in school. You will spend entire weekends studying for tests. Your work performance very well may suffer. I would plan on your total commitment being 2-3x the number of credit hours you are taking. So if you’re taking 9 credit hours (3 classes) you need to have 18-27 hours a week to devote to school, including classroom time.

3. Keep in mind that many full-time students take 5 years or longer to complete engineering degrees. I’m not really familiar with LSU’s online offering, but I can tell you that one of the major issues for part-time students is the fact that many engineering classes are only offered in the fall (or spring). You need to be very diligent planning out your courses to make sure you don’t waste a semester due to lack of prerequisites.

4. Your real-world experience will be a huge asset once you graduate. Unfortunately, though, it probably won’t help you in school as much as you would think.

5. If, after all of this, you are still determined to get a mechanical engineering degree.. go for it! You can always dip your toe in the water with a small course load and increase from there.

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all is very true and things you need to consider.

To the comment about ME being much harder than CE....it can be and certainly the ME specific classes are harder than the CE specific imo. But for example at Mcneese, you take the same statics, dynamics, strengths, fluids, circuits(same as electrical), thermo, physics, maths etc.

the smaller schools dont have, for example, circuits for electrical engineers and then a separate class for non electrical engineers that is easier. Same with thermo, fluids etc.

so yea CE is the easiest of the 4 main engineering degrees, but depending on the school not that much easier.

Calc is 100% going to be your issue as I pointed out before. You will have to do atleast 2 semesters of maths that dont even count before even starting calc unless you take a test to go directly to calc.

The point above about plant engineers not making much unless its with exxon, shell, etc....is very very wrong. Also benefits with the plants is much much better than contractors almost 100% of the time.



OP your point about wanting to help your wifes family in South America and the whole I am going to save the world idea is not what you should be looking at IMO. if you were 18 and didnt have a family....sure. But you need to look at this as...is this the proper path for me and enough of a ROI to do and look at it as a way to possibly fulfill potential and be a good role model for your son.

You are way too old and have way too many family obligations to be thinking about saving the world. Nothing you learn in engineering, especially in mechanical, is going to really apply to helping your wifes family.

You keep mentioning that....in what way are you envisioning helping her? Its not like you will be doing civil and go design a water treatment facility or electrical to where you can design a power grid for a small town etc. Im just having a hard time envisioning what it is you think you are going to do to help them.

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Learn to code and make more money. Plant Engineers don’t make that much money unless it’s Exxon, Chevron, or Shell.

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What?

I went back to graduate school at 30. Worked full time and went to school at night. Be decision I ever made. Huge increase in quality of life and pay when I get out and started working in my new career.