with it being in NC I would have to guess one of the plants owned by Duke Energy?

 

Yep. Brunswick, better known as "the Beach." Most nuke plants are in middle of nowheresville so we are thrilled to be located close to Wilmington.

 

Nice... I did my construction co-op at the "lovely" Edwardsport IGCC plant in Indiana... Never heard back from Duke until it was WAY too late, so I looked elsewhere.

 

BE from Stevens Tech (Hoboken, NJ) in Civil eng. Realized there was no money in civil when I graduated so I got a job as a sales engineer for HVAC eqpt. When I got tired of sales, I went back to Stevens for a masters in pharma manufacturing. Got a job doing pharma concept layouts and HVAC design, then jumped to work direct for pharma doing validation. Now I'm in QA.

Somebody mentioned earlier there is no value in advanced engineering degrees, I disagree. It depends on the degree. If it's adequately specialized and you get work in the field, there is definite value. The secondary benefit is networking. Many masters students and professors are working professionals, so it's a great way to make connections if you're looking for work.

 

Wise choice, Narcissists can't cut it in engineering. If your solution fails you can't hide behind ethics and blame the patient.

 

I agree. I was getting my master's at night and then felt silly since my 3 reports all had PHD's. My experience with colleagues with advanced degrees is they fall in love with the complexity of the problem and get lost in the trees rather than keeping it simple. MBA is definitely a huge plus since you can speak both languages. You can have the best idea in the world but unless you can put it in simple terms the business side can understand your idea is dead on arrival.

 

Getting a Masters was a good move for me. When I got my BSEE in '93, the economy was in the toilet. I came out of grad school 18 months later (getting paid as a TA, and pulling down a fellowship, tuition paid) and started about 50% higher than I would have otherwise.

There's no way I'd have gotten 50% in raises if I was in the work force during that time.

 

Civil engineer for the government. College was tough at times but the hard work sure did pay off..

 

Chemical engineer working in DFW for a small engineering consulting firm (mostly industrial projects).

 

I agree. I was getting my master's at night and then felt silly since my 3 reports all had PHD's. My experience with colleagues with advanced degrees is they fall in love with the complexity of the problem and get lost in the trees rather than keeping it simple. MBA is definitely a huge plus since you can speak both languages. You can have the best idea in the world but unless you can put it in simple terms the business side can understand your idea is dead on arrival.
[/quote]

I would disagree with these statements. I finished my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering while working a full-time engineering co-op the whole time. Then when I graduated I got a full time gig, while continuing with my Masters degree. I got the entire thing paid for by the company, got a 15k raise when I finished and have a higher education than most of my peers.

Masters programs are a lot different than undergrad. The teachers don't just give you busy work and its more geared to people that actually want to learn, rather than just get a degree. My theoretical knowledge base is a lot higher than my peers.

However I would agree with you that people that do just school and don't have any real world experience are kind of useless in the field. I however have been doing this since I was a kid, since it genuinely interests me, but I understand that is the minority. When you're good at what you do, it does not hurt to go back to school. I plan on getting my PhD next as I plan on becoming a professor when I get up there in age.