solrose

Looking at the devastation from the Maui fires, I was just wondering if they could have set up pumps along the beach to spray the fire using salt water.

I know it would likely have limits in reach, but I'm thinking that any additional angle of attack would be beneficial.

Unless, of course, salt water itself is an issue which is why I'm asking

Looking at the devastation from the Maui fires, I was just wondering if they could have set up pumps along the beach to spray the fire using salt water.

I know it would likely have limits in reach, but I'm thinking that any additional angle of attack would be beneficial.

Unless, of course, salt water itself is an issue which is why I'm asking

After a rough semester in engineering school, here's the pep talk and guidance that I wish someone had given me.

Before you start to think about jumping ship, it's important to recognize the frustration you're feeling is not indicative of the field as a whole and that the engineering field (or at least the degree) may still be where you want to continue.

So keep these three ideas in mind . . .

First, an engineering degree can be quite applicable even outside of the engineering world. The analytical mindset and ability to breakdown complex problems can be put to use in many business settings. Also, for those thinking of the finance world, having a background in engineering can help in

Seriously, this is really important to remember. No job is "IN THE BAG" until you have a SIGNED offer letter.

Had a fairly distraught engineer reach out to me as he thought this job was a sure thing and he just received an email that they are going in another direction. To make matters even worse, this engineer turned down other interview offers since he thought he already had something.

Sure, none of those other potential interviews were going to automatically lead to an offer, but they might have.

Long story short, if you don't have an offer in hand, then YOU HAVE NOTHING.

Until that point, keep the job search running at full speed.

I'm looking for input on the best software to do basic design of solar systems.

The output I'm looking for would be fairly complete, but the client would still need to hire a solar contractor/installer to make the final design components and get it ready for installation.

In short, I need something more than PV Watts, but less than a full scale construction ready design.

For context, my work is related to a green loan program. Based on various other calculations & models that we'd handle, we would need to give them guidance on a solar system that would generate a specified percentage of that baseload for them to qualify. Things like panel type, orientation, tilt, shading are important

Following my post last week about helping younger engineers with "low" GPAs, I had a conversation with a friend about what is actually considered "low". This led me to make a post on LinkedIn to poll my network and hear from other engineers.

I thought some of you would like to see the results:

Question: How would you define a "low" GPA in engineering school (in the context of job searching)

1. Below 2.0 GPA - 22%

2. Below 2.5 GPA - 39%

3. Below 3.0 GPA - 39%

The poll is still open, but with 450 votes, the general breakdown of votes is highly unlikely to shift dramatically.

There was also some interesting back & forth in the comments from other seasoned engineers.

If you want

I want to discuss an idea intended to help engineering students with a "low" GPA in their internship & job searches

For standard US engineering school grading, I'm defining low as someone in the 2.0 range, give or take. I want this to still be above the minimum your school requires for engineering graduation, but not much better.

If your program uses another metric and you would define yourself in this "low" category, then feel free to include yourself in the folks I'm trying to reach.

If you fit into this category and feel comfortable commenting here, please do so and I will reach out. Otherwise, please reach out to me directly via the chat.

We all buy car, medical, property insurance just in case, but hope we never use it.

Networking is simply job insurance.

While I do not wish it on anyone, what happens if your company fires you tomorrow or pulls that job offer?

Networking regardless of whether you are currently looking for a job is simply insurance to prepare you in case of that occurrence. Where the *&^%$ to hit the fan, you would already have a list of people to reach out to and not need to scramble to find them in the first place.

As you move along in your career, a low GPA will have little to no affect. I've known many solid engineers who had low final GPAs, failed a handful of courses along the way, got put on academic probation, and some who quite simply where crappy students.

Once you get a few years under your belt in the real world of engineering, then nobody asks about your GPA. All they care about is that you have a degree and then they will look at your more recent experience.

However, this does not change the fact that it can be an obstacle in landing your first job.

One of the best way to get around the "stain" on your resume of a low GPA is to use networking when looking for an internship/job and help

I included this with a comment on another post, but I think this is something really important and wanted to share it in a stand alone post.

No company is going to post stories about their failures or about how their middle managers are assholes. They're also not going to post stories about reneging on promised promotions or how their senior engineers have zero interest in mentoring the incoming engineer fresh from graduation.

So how do you find out more info about these issues?

Do a simple Google search for "I hate COMPANY NAME" or something along those lines

The results will very often include Reddit or Quora posts where these issues are discussed based on someone's own experience.

That I believe meritocracy only comes into play when the hiring manager knows you exist, knows you are interested in that open role, or knows you are ready to take on more.

From the known parties, meritocracy is how one gets promoted. However, networking gets you into that 'known party' pool of people and off the sidelines.

Workshopping an idea and trying to gauge potential interest. Would love to hear your thoughts on the following . . .

Much of my mentoring focuses on engineers in their final year of engineering school and then into the first few years of their careers.

I'm looking at potentially expanding services to help those engineering students in the first few years of engineering school cope with the struggles of engineering school as well as develop additional skills outside of tech skills to really prep them for their future careers.

The ideal student who this would be for is those who have limited outside support for their engineering pursuits and need a safe and supportive environment to find th