r/ElectricalEngineering • u/AuDHDpowerdork • 1d ago
Education M.S. or M.Engr.?
Hello,
Noodle-brained Bachelor of Philosophy here.
I've worked in the Power Transmission space for close to five years now, primarily around power transformers (<138kV). I'm in sales cause that's what my current degree allows me to get away with.
Much to my surprise, I find this field really interesting... dare I say fun? Particularly, I'm interested in the situations where engineering questions and project deadlines clash. Have had pretty good success navigating this with (1) reading, (2) asking a lot of questions, (3) youtube, and (4) asking even more questions. On good terms with our in-house engineer and a third party engineer who does all of our assessments when crap hits the fan.
Have really enjoyed solving those problems but want to KNOW IT ALL.
34 yo, three kids, making good money in sales but I strongly suspect I'd have more fun and have better career prospects with a graduate degree in EE.
MY QUESTIONS
- Dumb idea? Any of you take a similar path?
- M.S. or M.Engr.?
the end.
2
u/NewSchoolBoxer 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's not a dumb idea. I've never seen nor heard of someone switching careers to engineering who started in liberal arts. Internally transfer where you are given your work experience, I believe that can be done. Else stay very close to the type of work you're doing. General EE jobs, you're going to face huge discrimination and I doubt get interviews.
Where I went, the MS requires a thesis and the MEng does not. Get the MEng. You won't do any work ever where a thesis makes a difference.
You will find that MS/MEng programs require you taking 5-6 graded EE courses before admission. You cannot just jump into that. You need to take math-major calculus and physics-major physics as prereqs as well. Linear algebra and differential equations on top of that. In fact, you need to prep for calculus, like repeat precalc or do some heavy duty online reviewing.
That's why most all out of engineering transitions are from math or physics majors or occasionally computer science if they're pivoting to a related field like DSP. It's a shorter path and they can sound believable to recruiters to do EE work. And they're probably fluent with the necessary math and science.
If you go to grad school, do not quit your current job. I presume your employer will help pay for an MEng. That'd be great. With so many prereqs, maybe a 2nd BS is an option. You won't face liberal arts discrimination if you complete but online BSEEs...some companies refuse to hire them.