Post: #1

Do any you guys have a BSIE or MSIE? What are your thoughts on this degree and career path? Any industrial engineers here?

It seems like it'd be a helpful credential to have as our economy moves towards robotics manufacturing. Especially if combined with a BSEE or BSME.

Post: #2

I've been doing a lot of researching about this thing in particular. It seems you don't have to get a degree to get into it. You can also pick up a Machinist apprenticeship and get paid to study it. After 5 years you would be a Machinist and probably $150,000 richer because of it. Involves a lot of CAD.

Post: #3

Sounds ballers!

Post: #4

(06-19-2014 11:42 PM)jroseland Wrote:  Sounds ballers!

I have a friend who has one and never found a job. Not really sure.

Post: #5

I'd say to look more towards Manufacturing Systems (still an Engineering field) or Mechanical Engineering (BSME you mentioned) if you're looking into robotics from the physical hardware side. If you're looking into remote control systems to give commands to a robot, look into Computer Science. One of my buddies at work leads a Robotics team that competes yearly and the most common things you'll see there are folks interested in manufacturing (fabricating the parts), mech engineering (connecting the parts with possible further fabrication), or computer science (the coders that write the control software for the robot).

Very rarely will you see Industrial Engineering for robotics, though.

Post: #6

(06-20-2014 08:44 PM)HawkWrites Wrote:  I'd say to look more towards Manufacturing Systems (still an Engineering field) or Mechanical Engineering (BSME you mentioned) if you're looking into robotics from the physical hardware side. If you're looking into remote control systems to give commands to a robot, look into Computer Science. One of my buddies at work leads a Robotics team that competes yearly and the most common things you'll see there are folks interested in manufacturing (fabricating the parts), mech engineering (connecting the parts with possible further fabrication), or computer science (the coders that write the control software for the robot).

Very rarely will you see Industrial Engineering for robotics, though.

Thanks.

How well do EE and industrial engineering go together?

Post: #7

This is not really my field but isn't Industrial Engineering more like an Operations Research and Statistics type of degree, and not "manufacturing"?

I do recall that Georgia Tech has a good department. One variant of it includes the Quantitative Finance stuff which I looked into at one time.

It sounds boring as hell, so I'd guess that it pays rather well. Computer Programming + Math + optimization, modeling, etc. == consulting firms should love you.

I know nothing about it though... I majored in something which from what I can tell is apparently useless in 2014 (Physics... at least at the Bachelor's level).

Post: #8

Right. IE is like operations research. I wonder if you could move into management with that type of degree.

Maybe go back for a masters Rex?

Post: #9

I don't want to be "that guy", but Industrial Engineering is considered the glorified business major, not really useful, unless you specialize into some type of engineering related field along with it. In fact, some people think is the perfect complement along with another engineering. I had a friend who studied it and couldn't find a job. He specialized in petroleum engineering and his lowest job offer (for those who want a corporate job) was $100,000.00 a year, which is peanuts in the oil industry. Again, think hard before you do it, just keeping it real.

Post: #10

Its kinda a misnomer, its not really engineering in so much that its not nearly as rigorous. In general the harder the courseload, the more job oppurtunities you will have. The following is what most would agree is most difficult/best job prospects - least.

Electrical/computer engineering > mechanical/chemical engineering > civil engineering > industrial engineering.

Nowadays, civil and IE might be tied.

Personally an engineering career wasn't for me but its still an impressive (and sometimes requisite) major for other careers. I was ME and went into law.

What I loved about engineering was contrary to what the bookworms say, if you go to a good school just getting by with a decent GPA you'll do fine. I partied my ass off.

As for $100k being peanuts, gonna disagree with that. I didnt include petroleum since its a niche (probably a branch of ME and/or CHemE). They have the highest average starting salaries, but its nowhere near $100k. People on top of their class may get these offers, especially EE and CompE, but to say this was a snub, no.

If you want to make $$$ as an engineering major get into patent law or sales engineering. The market pays a premium on engineers who can read/write/argue or sell snow to an eskimo (commission heavy)

Post: #11

(06-23-2014 11:10 PM)_DC_ Wrote:  Its kinda a misnomer, its not really engineering in so much that its not nearly as rigorous. In general the harder the courseload, the more job oppurtunities you will have. The following is what most would agree is most difficult/best job prospects - least.

Electrical/computer engineering > mechanical/chemical engineering > civil engineering > industrial engineering.

Nowadays, civil and IE might be tied.

Personally an engineering career wasn't for me but its still an impressive (and sometimes requisite) major for other careers. I was ME and went into law.

What I loved about engineering was contrary to what the bookworms say, if you go to a good school just getting by with a decent GPA you'll do fine. I partied my ass off.

As for $100k being peanuts, gonna disagree with that. I didnt include petroleum since its a niche (probably a branch of ME and/or CHemE). They have the highest average starting salaries, but its nowhere near $100k. People on top of their class may get these offers, especially EE and CompE, but to say this was a snub, no.

If you want to make $$$ as an engineering major get into patent law or sales engineering. The market pays a premium on engineers who can read/write/argue or sell snow to an eskimo (commission heavy)

Really? Can you elaborate more on sales engineering?

Post: #12

(06-23-2014 08:45 PM)simondice Wrote:  I don't want to be "that guy", but Industrial Engineering is considered the glorified business major, not really useful, unless you specialize into some type of engineering related field along with it. In fact, some people think is the perfect complement along with another engineering. I had a friend who studied it and couldn't find a job. He specialized in petroleum engineering and his lowest job offer (for those who want a corporate job) was $100,000.00 a year, which is peanuts in the oil industry. Again, think hard before you do it, just keeping it real.

but let's say you combine an undergrad ME/EE degree with a grad IE degree? Does that make you more marketable to a significant extent?

I find that a masters degree opens a lot of doors.

Post: #13

The debt from degrees also close a lot of doors. Do a trade.

Post: #14

Badwolf, lots of the top engineering schools are public universities. The only problem is if you are from a state without a good school.

Another thing with engineering is they have "weed out" freshman courses, they even stated this explicitly at my school. Its usually the college level calc 2 and calc 3. so you basically either make it or you don't. It wouldnt hurt to pay for a semester to find out its too hard or not for you.

People who go to private schools and get a BS major is a whole different story.

Post: #15

From what I've heard, college in the USA is anywhere from 60 to 100,000 dollars is that true?
In Canada you are looking at 20 to 30k tops for a degree... I would say go with a trade first because you earn money whilst in school versus a degree is 4 years without any sort of access to a job and just the fleeting hope that you will be able to secure something AFTER all is said and done.

Just my two cents.

Post: #16

I was an IE major.

I don't recommend it. In fact, I recommend avoiding college.

BadWolf's advice about becoming a Machinist is a much better option.
Stay the HELL out of debt. DO NOT do student loans.

The Industrial Age is over. We live in the Information Age.
So why study 'Industrial' Engineering?

That being said, if you absolutely must go to college…it's much better than a B.A. degree.

I like to get the big picture about what's going on without overspecializing so IE was a good engineering major for my personality.

HankWrites says the Manufacturing Systems is a good field.
IE is closely related to Manufacturing Engineering. Where I went, it was common to double major in IE and ME - there is a lot of overlap.

RexImperator says that IE not manufacturing,however, when I was studying IE, 70% of IE majors went into manufacturing.

It's much more difficult than a Business major…not as difficult as Chemical Engineering but still you really have to be fascinated by physical science and math and statistics to get through it.

_DC_ mentioned the "weed out" courses.

This was a giant issue where I went to school.
Calculus 2 and 3 were not the "weed out" courses where I went.
It was Vector Statics and Vector Dynamics.

Statics has a 50% fail rate and Dynamics a 60% fail rate.
Some students retook them and others switched majors.

The profs enjoyed failing students. Typical tenured professors who can't succeed in the real world trying to show how tough they are. But what can you expect from high functioning DMV-type employees? Also, the high failure rate was a demonstration of how "good" the engineering program was. Typical academic BS.

Unless you really enjoy those subjects, don't do engineering.

Simondice mentioned Petroleum Engineering which could be good.
Also, Mining is a good one I understand…especially if you are willing to travel and live abroad.

Another problem with engineering is that…

Why should a company pay $5000 a month for a new engineer in the US?
When they can $500 a month to an Indian or Chinese who will work twice as hard?
Engineering work can easily be outsourced online.

_DC_ mentioned learning how to sell…
This is the most important and most lucrative skill.
If you can learn to do this, you'll be fine…college and degrees is irrelevant.

So in summary, unless you really enjoy math, stats, and physical science AND you will NOT get in debt. I say skip IE.

Just my 2¢...

Post: #17

(06-28-2014 02:34 PM)buja Wrote:  I was an IE major.

I don't recommend it. In fact, I recommend avoiding college.

BadWolf's advice about becoming a Machinist is a much better option.
Stay the HELL out of debt. DO NOT do student loans.

The Industrial Age is over. We live in the Information Age.
So why study 'Industrial' Engineering?

That being said, if you absolutely must go to college…it's much better than a B.A. degree.

I like to get the big picture about what's going on without overspecializing so IE was a good engineering major for my personality.

HankWrites says the Manufacturing Systems is a good field.
IE is closely related to Manufacturing Engineering. Where I went, it was common to double major in IE and ME - there is a lot of overlap.

RexImperator says that IE not manufacturing,however, when I was studying IE, 70% of IE majors went into manufacturing.

It's much more difficult than a Business major…not as difficult as Chemical Engineering but still you really have to be fascinated by physical science and math and statistics to get through it.

_DC_ mentioned the "weed out" courses.

This was a giant issue where I went to school.
Calculus 2 and 3 were not the "weed out" courses where I went.
It was Vector Statics and Vector Dynamics.

Statics has a 50% fail rate and Dynamics a 60% fail rate.
Some students retook them and others switched majors.

The profs enjoyed failing students. Typical tenured professors who can't succeed in the real world trying to show how tough they are. But what can you expect from high functioning DMV-type employees? Also, the high failure rate was a demonstration of how "good" the engineering program was. Typical academic BS.

Unless you really enjoy those subjects, don't do engineering.

Simondice mentioned Petroleum Engineering which could be good.
Also, Mining is a good one I understand…especially if you are willing to travel and live abroad.

Another problem with engineering is that…

Why should a company pay $5000 a month for a new engineer in the US?
When they can $500 a month to an Indian or Chinese who will work twice as hard?
Engineering work can easily be outsourced online.

_DC_ mentioned learning how to sell…
This is the most important and most lucrative skill.
If you can learn to do this, you'll be fine…college and degrees is irrelevant.

So in summary, unless you really enjoy math, stats, and physical science AND you will NOT get in debt. I say skip IE.

Just my 2¢...

Ok, thanks for that summary.............. but I'd think that IE could've been more useful to you with a double major in EE or ME? Or am I wrong?

Post: #18

(06-28-2014 03:33 PM)Fighting888 Wrote:  Ok, thanks for that summary.............. but I'd think that IE could've been more useful to you with a double major in EE or ME? Or am I wrong?

I'd say so.
You have to factor whether or not it'd be worth it though.

More engineering classes take a lot more time, a lot more money, and a lot more opportunity costs. It's not business classes where you just do more case studies, learn more vocabulary, and make more powerpoints.

Meet people in the real world of engineering. Meet people who actually hire people. Find out what they are looking for. Find out whether the school you go to has a decent reputation.

Don't believe the college's marketing material. Don't believe engineering professors who don't work in the real world of engineering. Find out what is happening in the real world from people who are living it.

Again, it's NOT worth getting into student loan debt for UNLESS you are absolutely passionate about engineering...don't do it for money because the money is not automatically there like it was in the 20th century.

The way the US economy is going, I wouldn't do IE or ME personally.
I'd stick to petro or mining. More international options.

If you want to make money, learn how to sell.

You can use the Internet to learn the technical stuff and get knowledge about anything...spending obscene amounts of money to listen to underqualified professors, sitting in classrooms, and spending money for overpriced textbooks is not neccesary.

Post: #19

Does civil have good international options, in Europe? I'm on the verge of mayve specializing in Railway and transportation engineering after one year of work.

Post: #20

The engineering degree opens doors.

These days, it's hard to get any job without credentials.

I agree that you have to network a lot too. Nothing will just fall in your hands.

Post: #21

My wife is an industrial engineer, and it's not at all what you're thinking about. She works in logistics instead of operations. She likes her job, but wishes she had chosen a different field of engineering.

Post: #22

(06-30-2014 02:53 PM)SteveCR Wrote:  My wife is an industrial engineer, and it's not at all what you're thinking about. She works in logistics instead of operations. She likes her job, but wishes she had chosen a different field of engineering.

Which field?

Post: #23

(06-30-2014 03:35 PM)Fighting888 Wrote:  

(06-30-2014 02:53 PM)SteveCR Wrote:  My wife is an industrial engineer, and it's not at all what you're thinking about. She works in logistics instead of operations. She likes her job, but wishes she had chosen a different field of engineering.

Which field?

mechanical

Post: #24

(06-23-2014 08:45 PM)simondice Wrote:  I don't want to be "that guy", but Industrial Engineering is considered the glorified business major, not really useful, unless you specialize into some type of engineering related field along with it. In fact, some people think is the perfect complement along with another engineering. I had a friend who studied it and couldn't find a job. He specialized in petroleum engineering and his lowest job offer (for those who want a corporate job) was $100,000.00 a year, which is peanuts in the oil industry. Again, think hard before you do it, just keeping it real.

I agree with this. As a sophomore year computer science student, most people at my university who have been "weeded out" of Mech/Chem/Electrical eng have said "whatever I'm going to Industrial its like business". Looking at the requirements, it seems more like business degree combined with the rigor of engineering- make of that what you will.

Post: #25

More later, but I recommend making Mech E your primary focus. Its easy to pick up additional business skills from ME( eg. Get an MMS or get an MBA once you get to the point you need one). But very difficult to add engineering credentials from business