/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>622987
Also, is there any software I could teach myself how to use now to get ahead of the curve in school? I know Matlab and Excel are pretty widely used, anything else I should try? Any general advice is appreciated too, of course.

http://makezine.com/2012/01/31/skill-builder-working-with-shape-memory-alloy/

This should let you make good use of the paper/cardboard.

how old are you

>>623091
20

>>622987
>>I want to go to school for engineering, but I don't have any practical experience doing anything.
Then you'll fit right in with even Professional Engineers.

If you're considering engineering for school then you are going to be starting mostly with theory along with a lot of math and calc based physics/chemistry.
Excel is used a lot for labs, comparing by linear regression is most of my usage.

If you want programing, teach yourself a base language. Learn one and almost everything else is variations from a core set of mechanics. Fabrication, you can look around and see if any community centers offer courses on things like wielding, carpentry, etc. Some are free, other have a fee.

Learn LaTeX and Python.

>>623218
You don't want to fit in though, you want to stand out. When there's lots of competition for the same job/internship/sholarship/whatever, the guy with a bunch of extracurricular activities and side projects is going to get picked before anyone in the herd of average C students that just did what was required and nothing else.

This site will help if you want to git gud with excel:

http://excelexposure.com/

Think of something to want to do, and learn around it. Core skills are useless if you can't apply them to actually make shit.

Try to build a drone. You'll have your work cut out for you.
>buh buh I don't have money-
Stop being a bitch and get creative. You don't learn by spending thousands on bullcrap.

>>623253

>Think of something to want to do, and learn around it. Core skills are useless if you can't apply them to actually make shit.

Are you retarded? OP said he was looking for project ideas to help him learn practical skills related to engineering. You're basically saying a good project idea is to come up with a project idea and do it.

>Try to build a drone. You'll have your work cut out for you.
>buh buh I don't have money-
>Stop being a bitch and get creative. You don't learn by spending thousands on bullcrap.

So a novice engineering non-student should build a robot out of creativity and bootstraps? Is that what you're saying?

And, when did OP ever whine about not having enough money and/or imply he was going to spend "thousands on bullcrap"? He actually said he has a budget of $50-$100 so I'm going to assume he has a budget of $50-$100, which sits comfortably between "thousands" and nothing, and is plenty to get a couple tools or a raspberry pi or arduino kit or or something. (Which is my advice to OP, by the way. Google them.)

All in all, A+ post. You bitched at someone for having problems you made up and didn't offer any specific solutions to those problems. Good job. You should be a self-help guru or televangelist something.

>>622987
Get a Ti calculator and learn how to program it. This will put you way ahead.

>>622987
A student can get AutoDesk programs for free. Go 3D. Good skill to have.

You also need math and physics. Just get books cheap and watch videos. Old engineering texts on Google books, stuff like that. No need to have a ton of money to start having fun. You cannot build too much of anything on a budget unless it is very small and uses few parts. For example, pic related.

>>623359
I want to shoot that at people using my tongue whilst not wearing eye protection

>>623278
This is really good advice. I'm a current Engineering student.

>>622987
You don't need to have engineering experience do go to school from engineering.

I just changed my major to EE and start next semester. I only know a couple basic things about electricity from my physics courses and a few things about electronics from computer building. I haven't done any independent projects.

The reason I am going is so I can learn all about electricity and electronics and do awesome stuff when I know more, and you know, get a job too.

OP here

>>623403

>You don't need to have engineering experience do go to school from engineering.

You don't *need* to, no, but it can't hurt and could put you ahead of the rest of the class.
As >>623243 said, you don't want to fit in, you want to stand out. If a big name company like Tesla or Boeing comes around looking for interns, I want my resume' to be at the top of the pile, both as its own reward of getting me into a good internship, and because when I go to get a real job, it will really put me ahead of other candidates. Especially since I hear the academic aspect of a BSME or BSEE (not really sure which I'd rather go into at the moment) can be pretty brutal. I want something that could make up for a potentially low GPA if I don't ace all the classes, which I undoubtedly won't.

In addition to all that, I'm bored and looking for a hobby that would be interesting and relevant to my skill level and financial abilities, so here we are.

>>623278
This is actually a really good idea. I have my old TI-84 from high school around somewhere. I think I'll dig it out.

>>623261
>>623253
kek

>>623247
It's on my list now, thanks.

>>623414
Let me put it this way then, nothing you can do with supplies such as
>paper, cardboard, tape
is going to help you stand out. I think if you have no prior math/science/engineering experience before you should just focus on passing your intro classes to get on the same playing field with everyone else and then start doing projects, internships and trying to get ahead. If you come in with an inflated ego you are doomed to fail from the start.

I'm fortunate that I'm in a small school and there are more paid internship opportunities available than there are students in the EE program so I don't have to worry about competing.

>>623421
I'm not looking to make projects out of
>paper, cardboard, tape
that will get me internships, I'm looking for some relatively easy stuff I can do right now to teach myself some skills that would translate to the practical side of engineering, such as with projects, etc. I'd love to get my hands on a 3d printer or arduino or something, but that kind of stuff is outside my skill and price range at the moment. And I don't think I have an inflated ego so much as I want to impress people that are going to potentially hire me, using a document that exists for exactly that purpose. Other than getting a job/internship/scholarship, I don't give a shit what anyone thinks of me, it's strictly for my own benefit.

>>623247
>>I want my resume' to be at the top of the pile,
then do an internship and have good grades, you typically don't put your personal projects on your resume.

Extracurricular activities also help, like FIRST robotics and stuff like that.

Learning CAD and finite element software can put you pretty high up the stack.

Do engineering competitions, maybe even try to get a patent for something. Make some apps.

Design a computer, FROM SCRATCH.

If you really want to put a project on your resume, make sure it's something unique that no one else has done. There are tons of people out there who have built quadcopters and 3d printers

>>623414
Learn how to read datasheets, and build things based on the specs given. This can be huge.

Something like this wouldn't be too hard to do, would fit within your $100 budget and would give you a good start in mechanical engineering (messing about with the car), electrical engineering (making the circuit board) and programming (getting it to work over wifi from your computer). There's plenty of documentation to base the project off and you'll end up with a neat little platform if you wanted to expand on it later (like OpenCV object detection, pan and tilt camera etc).

It's also cool as fuck. Build two and race with a friend.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/08/a-wifi-controlled-rc-car-with-an-ip-camera/
http://www.mikekohn.net/micro/wifi_car.php

EE student here. I've had two internships so far when most struggle to get 1 and here's what I did:

>spend $100 on microcontroller parts.

source them yourself so you dont get ripped off and can tell employers you can actually read datasheets

>get a couple microcontroller boards

People will laugh at you if you only have an arduino but its a start. I personally own an Arduino Uno, TI MSP430 launchpad and STM32F4 Nucleo

>find projects online that interest you and do them even if its literally following directions from Instructables.

This will get you some experience building shit. Then think of ways to make it better and add features. Write them down and talk about it in interviews. Take a picture of your best work and bring it in.

Then just keep building shit/ finding projects that interest you. I recommend learning C/C++, Python and C# since those are the languages I've found most useful to know so far.

>mfw I got a call back two days after an interview for my previous internship because the interviewers loved my skill set

>>623603
OP here again. This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff I'm looking for, thanks! Can you recommend any specific instructibles projects? What would be a good project to try and tackle with my skill level? I'll look on my own of course, but I'd love to hear what other people have done and what their experiences were.

This >>623467
A simple advice but it's really important to know how to read a datasheet.

Worst EE are the one that only know how to copy other works.
Why you use Arduino ? Found it on internet.
Why you use 555 timer ? Found it on internet.

They never learn how to design schematics from scratch because they never learn how to read datasheets.

They also don't know which IC suit the best for the job.

>>623616

I always liked fusing sound and video in projects so I started with a VU meter. The circuit builds itself and there's tons of tutorials on the web.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGfe9ldM9HU

http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-VU-meter-that-dances-to-computer-music/?ALLSTEPS

>mfw I used ultrabright LEDs and made case out of Legos for my VUmeter

>>623617
this, understanding how a simple thing works is better then having build a complex machine yet have no clue how it does what it does.

>>622987
>What are some projects I could attempt to teach myself some stuff?
Grab a book and read it.
>http://books.google.com.br/books/about/Principles_of_the_Mechanics_of_Machinery.html?id=KLK1ORAAHNoC&redir_esc=y

>>624923
Also if with "engineering school" you mean university, prepare your poo exit because you will get raped no matter what. This way they can filter most weak people

>>622987
I've read through your thread OP.

You seem to be tettering between two things
>>something worth putting on a resume
and
>>something that could make up for a potentially low GPA

The latter is going to be best made up for by
>>623252
>> the guy with a bunch of extracurricular activities and side projects

From my experience in interviews, they will ask you about your hobbies outside of classes. You'll say "I work with Arduino. I made a blah blah blah.". At this point, the lady from HR is going to nod her head, say that it is interesting, and move on to the next question.

Want to know what to put on your resume? Programming experience and database experience. That's really the most practical thing you're going to get outside of work experience/academia. I'd venture to say that most engineering positions need you to be more intimate with a computer than with how a quad-copter works.

Excel is always valuable.

>>623359
This is a good post


>>623454
This guy obviously also knows what he is talking about.
>>There are tons of people out there who have built quadcopters and 3d printers
Unless you're working for a 3D printer company, your experience with them is going to be irrelevant at best.

Not trying to make a negative post - just trying to give some insight on why you seem to be down the wrong path and a ton of people in this thread are herding you along said path.

Honestly - the boring things are what is going to stick out. Learn a programming language that is incredibly widely used like C# or Java. Those are two of the most important ones for engineers. Do not learn any other language until you've learned at least one of those two.

From there, just get an internship because it will matter 10x more than anything else on yoru reusme.

>>625190
And to add to what I said - there is nothing wrong with being interested in those side projects; they're what's hot now. But they aren't really resume appropriate unless you're a master of them. It's surprising, but hiring managers will be much more impressed with someone who knows Excel than someone who can program an Arduino.

Big corps aren't going to care about your hobby projects. If you have a lousy GPA, that's a major black mark in their book, take it from me. With a track record of real, professional work, they won't ask about your GPA, but straight out of school it matters a bunch.

>>625190
engineering is writing the software that balances the turbines that you program the board with that you sell to the customer. engineering is not buying consumer crap and piecing it together. that is nigger rigging.

Are universities free where you live OP?