/sci/ - Science & Math

Does anyone have experience with doing a postdoc in Switzerland? The salaries are enticing, but the cost of living is apparently high as well. I also have little understanding of the general academic landscape/vibe (i.e. is it impossible to navigate as a foreigner, is there any great cultural peculiarity making life intolerable and so on). I'm also told they have pathways to becoming a permanent scientist without professorship/tenure, which might be nice for me since I have little interest in all the crap that comes with running an actual research group but I like the science. I don't know if that is some sort of a career trap however.

fuck, cunt, I was going to make a "Hogwarts Edition"

>>15383703
more like dogfarts lmoa

try being faster next time chud

Chem majors

What would a PhD in electrical engineering actually net me? I'm a week from finishing my master's and while I feel like I hate working I also can't stand the thought of not going as far as I can. If I were to do a PhD it would be either on some sort of RF metamaterial research or utilizing machine learning to build upon data collected by antennas in another project I helped with. In RF specifically does a PhD help you get into the research positions at defense contractors, or are you better off just working up the ladder?

>>15383626
Wondering this too, have an interview for one coming up soon.

>>15383612
1/2
/scg/ I need your opinion. I am bored to hell and back in my current job. This is my background:
>In Europe
>Bachelor in non-meme engineering
>6 months of Internship at one of the suppliers for OEMS, following a 20h/week work-position for the full duration of my master (excluding thesis time)
>Do simulations, expand the models and verify results with hardware test and present these results with my supervisor to the customer
>Focus during my studies was mostly on simulation. 3d flow sims during the bachelor and 0d/1d-sims during the master with a bigger focus on ecus, leaning to cs and embedded at the end.
>Finish master
>Get a job at a different supplier in a role doing like 20% of the work, which an intern could do, because it is basic data processing.
>Write scripts in python to automate my shit, tell noone.
>50% of the week are spent in meetings
>Fully remote, so I started to fuck around with 3d-printing and CAD again, but meet all my deadlines so everyone is happy.
>pay is fine

I just want to prevent my brain to rot and get lazy. The processes are so incredibly slow. I just want to continue learning and appliying my knowledge. That's why I got the 3D-printer to get back into CAD. Aside from that I continue to brush up on my EE-knowledge and run some simulations, write C++ for microcontrollers and a few other things. I started to document my stuff in a big latex-file to comment the incremental improvements. But it feels a bit wasted. I don't know, if there is a possibility to make anything useful out of this. Be it for other people, for an additional income or just to stay mentally sharp.

>>15384014
2/3
What would you do? No, two fulltime jobs are not possible in this nany-state. Though I wrote down a few options, which I had in mind.
1a) Change positions - same company - upwards
>As my deadline have been always on point and the customer was more than pleased, I got included in more and more meetings with higher ups, which just showes me, that 80% of this "work" is just playing the messenger.
>would most likely move me to some team lead trash which I don't want
>not happening anyway because too fresh in the company
>big increase in responsibilities
1b) Change positions - same company - sideways
>more technical stuff to do
>become the guy everyone is waiting for in terms of code/modeling/simulating etc.
>most likely no pay increase, marginal at best
2) Change positions - different company
>Will most likely have to apply for junior positions again, because HR does not care for my 3 years of part-time work, which had far more reponsibilities than my current job, without all the meme-agile trash
>They will laugh at my salary expectation, because junior with 1YOE
>90% of positions are no longer fully remote
>Therefore more wasted time on commuting + more money spent, which will outweigh the higher salary they will offer
>Maybe feel more satisfied with the work I do and learn there. But maybe this is hopeful wishing.
3) Stay at position + do teaching at local uni
Honestly this would be nice. I like teaching and showing stuff to people. We had a dude in my Bachelors, who was just on a contract per semester to teach, so not an academic employee. I'd be down to prepare slides and pass on knowledge. Plus: this is independant income to my current job.

>>15384022
3/3
4) Try to develope a concrete product from all the private projects I did and stuff I learned in uni
This might be something for the long run, becuase I have rather 50 small ideas, instead of a big one, but I am so used to coninueing to work on my private stuff, that 12-14 hours at the computer feel normal to me. Also please no /fit/ advice. I do enough cardio and strength-exercise to be in reasonable shape.

Any thoughts? Sorry for the blogpost.

i'm getting a BSc in Computer Science since it has always been my passion but only now i'm getting worried about my jobs prospects.
for example all the graduates i met are working in front-end development which is something i already knew how to do before enrolling in university and isn't much interesting either.
what do i need to study to be able to get a change to work at FAANG or other big companies? i feel like i'm not learning anything here because i always explored things on my own and all the interesting stuff i discovered up to now have always been of the kind "introduction to X" which is never enough to study something in depth.
i like programming but i want to apply it to important and interesting stu

>>15384293
Try to find bugs for google. They'll give you money for it.

>>15384293
>i like programming but i want to apply it to important and interesting stu
Oh God, are you still alive anon?????

Why the fuck is academia so stressful? I thought I was just going to get to study stuff and get the freedom to do my own project, but my supervisor is on my ass about grants and purchases and shit.
He might actually fuck my shit if I don't convince him the stuff I'm getting a quote for is the right stuff, and I have no idea what I'm doing since I'm a computational guy not experimentalist. It's kind of my own fault too since he gave me almost a month to decide my equipment but I was fumbling in the dark the whole time.

I didn't think it was going to be like this tbhwyfamilias.

>>15383612
What are PhD salaries like in the US? From what I understand it's not really a salary but a stipend?

Alright, which countries should an American with no degree be targeting for a quality stem degree on the cheap in english in either europe or east asia? Long story short, went to uni at 18 and dropped out since I didn't want to be in life ending debt for a useless degree. Wagie'd my way to having a good amount in savings and realize that I need a degree to not be poor. Which countries and unis should I be targeting? Which fields of study are broad enough so I don't pigeon hole myself in the job market? I've had an aptitude for IT waging but I'd rather avoid that field(IT side of things as well as programming) since its being hollowed out by pajeets and mbas.

Posting here a question I wrote in the wrong thread lmao

Is it nowadays a bad idea/death sentence academically speaking to do a mathematics PhD in Russia?

t.french

Question:
Whats laptop do you guys have?
Ill be an Eng. Masters student this fall and am looking for something powerful enoght to run CAD programs with no sweat.

>>15384478
I would think yes, unless you want to stay in russia or china.

Im only a masters student though

>>15383612
I have no degree at 22, I am so fucked and I have no idea what to do or what field to pursue.

>>15383612
Has anyone had any experience being an assistant professor? Does it take a lot of time? Ive being having the opportunity of being one for the past 4 semesters, but i always chicken out due to the fear of failing a subject.

is this still worth a read in 2023?
it's dense as fuck i'm like 80 pages in and i still have no idea how the fuck we get to deep learning from linear regression

>>15384648
By adding another layer, retard.

>>15384660

>>15384648
"Deep learning" is just regression to an increasingly high number of variables. A neural network is essentially a big equation where the values for the different terms are being fiddled with to optimize the regression.

Does anyone else keep track of and compare your career with the careers of people they went to school with? I'm not particularly smart, I've always thought of myself as the tier below the smartest people, but I just so happen to be at the same university as the smartest kid in my school year and doing a similar PhD so I must be doing pretty good.

>>15384794
high school, or college?

high school? i'm so far behind it's not even funny.
college? i'm average but i'm an older student so i'm behind just by the nature of things

>>15384428
still taxable income tho, so basically the same as a salary. it ranges widely from state to uni, for example this year I was offered 20k-22k by two flyover states (more than enough to get by + have some savings from what I read) and 33k by a californian uni (def not enough lol) and another one on the east coast. heard some ivies offer up to 40k. this is physics btw.

>>15384794
If I did, I'd kill myself, so I try not to compare myself to others at all.

>>15384369
Welcome to academia, endless fights and struggles about everything except the actual research

I hated my first taste of industry (engineering). Should I go for a PhD in nuclear physics or try to go into software like everyone else?

>>15384478
It's a pretty bad idea. I won't speak for the quality and reputation of russian institutions but most western countries no longer recognise degree accreditation from Russia. So you can go and do a PhD, but western governments and by extension universities will refuse to accept that you have a degree.
I work with two Russians who are doing a second PhD, not out of choice but because their Russian ones are worth so little now.

>>15384556
>CAD
>laptop
Just don't, cad software tends to run like shit anyway (especially the Autodesk suite). You should really get a desktop with a decent CPU for it

>>15384946
What did you hate about it so much?

>>15384450
India sir.

>>15384369
If academia is stressful for you, you are simply too stupid for it, and it's the advisor's job to coerce you into leaving.

>>15384969
>engineers being douchebags
>corporate environment
>boss was stealthily taking pages out of The Prince
>low pay ($45k/yr US; I was a technician not an engineer)
>would need another degree to move up (degree was physics, not engineering)
>management absolutely sucked at using and adapting the talents I had
>I knew nuclear physics better than anyone I worked with, but a nuclear engineering company couldn't figure out how to make use of that. What the fuck?
There's more I can complain about, but I don't know how you guys speak so well of industry. The corporate crap alone is worse than anything I had to deal with in school.

>>15385037
>I don't know how you guys speak so well of industry. The corporate crap alone is worse than anything I had to deal with in school.

The "industry vs. academia" question isn't really about being a student vs. being employed, it's being employed by the university vs. being employed by a company. You'll find that doing a PhD is a significantly different experience to being an undergrad student and closer to being an employee, especially outside of the US. Of course, even being a PhD student is just kicking the can down a few years further, and the postdoc/early career researcher grind can be true hell.

>>15385037
The whole pro of industry is the pay, which doesn't apply to you. So of course you don't like industry.

>>15385081
I'm asking honestly. Who has more leverage over you an academic advisor or a corporate manager? How much more credibility does adding Dr. to your name afford you when you're working?

>>15384450
First of all, check if you can grift your way into getting an EU citizenship by descent (The most favorable ones according to google are Hungary, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia,, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Ireland, and Greece).

This is important because if you get EU citizenship you can study for free (0$ in tuition) in countries like Sweden.

>>15384478
Terrible idea. Russian's are good at math, but careerwise it'd be suicide.

>>15384647
I'm guessing you mean TA not assistant professor (which you do AFTER a PhD). It can be pretty nice, very good if you want to get into an academic career down the line.

>>15385104
Pay is a big part of it, but there's more. There's job security and availability, academic jobs at the early stage are 1-2 year stints for which you may need to move really far away for. This makes it very difficult to have things like family and long-term friends (or buying your home, basically forced to rent). Further, academia often involves first finding someone to pay your salary and then finding someone to give you a job. Generally in industry you at least don't have to beg for money on the regular. Academia also doesn't have any guarantee of continuity or career progression until tenure track, which is infamously scarce. Basically a 5th year postdoc, if they don't get a faculty position, is shit out of luck and will not be any better off than someone straight out of their PhD. Meanwhile 5 years of industry experience will probably make you much more employable and better paid. And then there's benefits, which can be pretty important in places like the US and which are usually pretty bad or nonexistent in academia.

>>15385136
>Who has more leverage over you an academic advisor or a corporate manager?
There's a lot of variance. Some academic advisors are very hands-off, you can do whatever you want day-to-day and won't get any guidance even if you wanted to. Others micromanage their groups and dictate your schedule, I hear this especially from synthetic chemistry groups which seem to be sweatshops. If your advisor dislikes you or is a psychopath you're basically fucked, they can make it all but impossible for you to continue in academia completely. In practice there is very little you can do to try and force your advisor back in line, university administration will not care and will not take your side unless it's blatant sexual harassment and even then they'll focus on sweeping it under the rug.

Should I get a PhD in Physics?
I'm thinking about doing it solely for the social prestige. That's literally my only reason, I don't care about anything else.

>>15385243
No. There is no social prestige. Nobody will give a shit. Do something that gives you actual chances of finding a stable job instead.

>be me
>BSc and MSc in EE
>learn2code
>am programmer full time
>end up working a lot with sales
>want to move into a business admin position
>no credentials or relevant experience to justify move
How do I go for this without starting from scratch and lowering my salary? I was looking at MBAs, but online programs are expensive and the unis in my country are shit. I want to make some company invest in my education. Does anyone have any ideas?

>>15384450
>college drop out
>insists on an international degree in "Europe or East Asia"
>must be in English
You sound like a moron. What makes you think you can even find a program that will accept you?
>Which countries and unis should I be targeting?
You're literally a drop out, you should be targeting community colleges in your state of residence.

>>15385254
What if I'm evil

>>15385243
>it solely for the social prestige
1. You won't have the motivation to compete many years of miserable research just for "social prestige"
2. There is no social prestige. That comes from having a cool high paying job AFTER your PhD.
3. There are no jobs for physics PhDs outside of academia. Do a masters in engineering instead.
4. If you're old enough to be in undergrad and thinking about doing something for "social prestige" then your autism is off the charts and you'd never get past the interview stage anyway.

>>15385752
>There is no social prestige.
I'm sorry but you are simply wrong. If you tell a normie that you have a Phd in physics they will be highly impressed.
It may be short-lived, but those 3 seconds of lording over someone are worth it to me.

>>15383854
If it can be related to mobile phone technologies, you could get a job with Qualcomm.

>>15385761
What will you do when you get shown up by a celebrity or a doctor?
Prestige is a fool's game.
It's also subjective. A lot of people won't be impressed. It's far more likely that a normie will talk of you like "I know this super smart physics grad...he only makes 50k a year." unless you work in quant finance or something well paying.

>>15385761
I'm doing a PhD in cancer sciences and I promise you that every time I tell someone what I do, they say "oh cool" and that's the end of it. They may indeed by impressed for those 3 seconds, but everyone is too busy caring about their own lives to care about other people's lives, so it'll go no further beyond that.

Think about your career after your PhD. Is being an unemployed physics PhD impressive too?

What are the prospects for becoming a quant after getting a PhD in physics?

>>15385761
>If you tell a normie that you have a Phd in physics they will be highly impressed.
That never got me a GF.

>>15385787
Joblessness is temporary.
The glory of having a physics Phd is forever.

>>15385841
>Joblessness is temporary.
Not for you it won't be.

>>15385841
What's this you speak of. All I see is a decade of no real pay and no pension contributions

How much of a big dick career move is it to get a job title of "R&D Engineer" on your resume? Will this open up a lot of doors or is it a meme? It sounds important.

>>15385926
Skills are all that matter, not titles. An employer will ask in an interview, "do you have experience with this? and this? and this?" they don't care about what job title you had.

>>15385343
You don't need more education for that. You just ask your employer for more customer-facing responsibilities.

>>15385926
Not a lot, since it's a pretty vague title. Better to have a title that's specific to your field, like "AI Research Engineer" or something like that. Basically you want a title that says what you do (and makes it sound cool/important)

>>15385934
Skills matter, but having a nice job title in your CV might help you get that interview to begin with.

How fucked am I?
>first year uni
>aero eng
>below 3 gpa last semester (yes i know, subhuman but i was very lazy and my gpa this semester should be around 3.2)
Going to try and become very active in my school’s aero club to be able to score an internship and keep my gpa above a 3
What is the industry specifically looking for? If i fail my goals and graduate below a 3 how big of a detriment is that?

>>15384312
F

>>15385996
Typically, recruiters and employers just look for key words on your cv

>>15383612
how do i stay motivated boys ? I have a good job , good career , and have a poised life of relative success. But holy fuck am i burnt out.

>>15386051
Kill hobos for fun

>>15385005
n-no....

>>15385779
How would that job differ than a job I would get with just a master's?

>>15384022
>>15384030
you already admit that 1a and 2 are shit. 4>3>1b in my opinion. i feel if you wanted to do teaching for a long time, it'd get stale discussing the same basic topics repeatedly and having to grade homework. could try 3 first and then move onto 1b later if you dont like the uni teaching as it would be harder to swap back to your old position at the company. could try 2 after you build up more experience.

you already know what your preferences are, so just go from what you've thought out.

>>15384794
not keep track, but i hear it through other people. the smartest guy i knew in HS became a quant for some big company apparently. 2nd smartest decided he didnt like the career path his parents were trying to persuade him to do and became a nurse instead.

>>15386051
Do stuff unrelated to career or engineering. Go learn how to ride a motorcycle, box, or a musical instrument. Challenging stuff other than engineering will help lessen the burnout because I bet work is all you think about.

>>15386051
me except i'm poised for a life of failure

>>15384478
you're committing career suicide

how do i get a massive salary

>>15386962
become an ophthalmologist who specializes in the retina. inject multiple $5000+ shots a day, make the fools come back every 1-3months to get another.

>>15386281
It's true, but don't feel too bad about it. It's a very high bar. Academia is basically for children who have been groomed for that role like children of professors, or prodigies like Terence Tao. It's either that or people who are very good at networking.

>>15385957
I have some, for example I do project management, so I speak to customers and so on. But I've never done anything like business development, neither do I see how I can ask for this kind of position, considering I have zero expertise.

>>15387059
This is completely false, there are thousands of midwits in academia, at least half of the faculty in every university has an h-index lower than 25, and that's not including middle-of-nowhere shithole universities.
As long as you're willing to be some professor's slave for 10 years then you can make a career in academia. Not necessarily a great career, but a career nonetheless.

>>15387075
You literally just go to your boss and ask you dumb fuck

>>15386298
Since Qualcomm has huge income from licensing of tech they develop, I would guess a PhD gives you a better position and better salary.

>>15386298
Not that anon, but I've met some people working at a company similar to qualcomm, and from what I gather R&D is mostly PhDs, while the jobs related to quality assurance, production, etc. have more MScs

>>15387078
I've met plenty of mitwits with h-indexes of over 100.
They just happened to write a textbook or work with the right person in their early career and now coast by on having many students

Finally going into the navy as a nuke tech, maybe I can finally apply for an ME/EE degree

>>15387252
The FAQ is ather brief on taking the military route. What can you tell, anon?

>>15387286
Haven't started yet, basic training is in a few weeks. All I know is submarines and going in as trainee marine engineering technician, that's it for now

>>15387092
>>15387116
I guess that checks out. I'm probably just trying to convince myself to not do it at this point since I'm lazy, but when I think of doing products rather than R&D for the rest of my life I'd rather die. I'll continue to drag myself kicking and screaming to what I really want then, thanks.

I failed CS
it was just so fucking unbelievably boring
I really like bugs though, like I'm autistic about them
is there a degree for that?

What are some adventurous jobs available to pure math PhDs? Something like decrypter for military.

>>15387345
You work for a salary so that you can live.
That leaves room for you as a gentleman scientist.

When I'm talking with recruiters from small companies in the middle of nowhere and they ask me what my "salary requirements" are what should I say?
Do I give them a low-ball range or just tell them $100k is my floor and see what happens?

>>15384478
because of the current year thing, Russians aren't considered people anymore, nor are their degrees worth the paper they're printed on
best to not touch Russia with a ten foot pole for the next decade

>>15387727
Depends how much you need the job. I usually say my target salary and my floor.

don't read this:
>graduate with physics undergrad almost 3 years ago
>high gpa and good coding skills
>no plan with what to do afterwards
>no major life goals, plans to start a family, anything
>too anxious and lazy to do interviews or apply for positions because I have always been a massive crybaby and loser
>spend almost 3 years leeching off parents and NEETing it up, trading crypto, getting high, jerking off, shitposting, aggravating my mental illness by aggressively isolating myself from people and the world
>in a moment of clarity on a drug binge/manic episode decide I need to get my life together
>one of my hotshot undergrad professors who thinks I'm smart and a hard worker wants me to join his group, apply and get in for the upcoming fall
>love physics to death but have massive anxiety about what comes afterwards, if I will burn out on research and if I will just be wasting my time for the next X years
>no motivation or desire to think of anything else I could spend my life doing
Sorry, I just had to tell this to someone.

>>15387932
Why would they not just give you the floor every time then

>>15387986
The floor is fine as long as you get your other demands.

You give them choices, either your target salary, or your floor + the benefits you want. 90k with 25 days PTO, hybrid office whenever you want, and a good healthcare + dental plan might be worth as much or more than your target salary of 120k with 6 days paid sick leave and mandatory office hours.

Most of the time you end up somewhere in between. You don't HAVE to accept lowball offers.

>>15388029
I've never heard of someone negotiating benefits on an individual level, those are usually decided as a corporate policy.

>>15388038
Depends on the company, I had it added to my contract that I can work from home whenever I feel like it. Don't be a pussy, learn to negotiate

>>15387983
sounds good! good luck!

>>15387452
Yeah, a biology degree where you can take classes on bugs. Then do a bug masters or bug phd.

There are zero jobs for bug people though.

>>15388602
damn that sucks
is there a degree that's really easy and has jobs then?
Because all i really care about is bugs
I got 4.0 in my calculus classes but 3.0 in proofs
I was fine when I was doing data structures and algorithms, but when I was doing operating systems and data bases it was so hard and boring and shitty I just dropped out
I just hated it so badly, plus it was obvious all the asian students where just cheating by working together which violates the rules

>>15383612
Is a stats major a good idea? Or should i drop out?

College in the US is too expensive
how do I get to a nordic country to get a stem degree?
do they have good programs?
has any of you done it?
I assume I probably have to take some tests and stuff to prove I'm not a total retard

>>15388776
Tuition is usually free for EU citizens.
If you're not an EU citizen you pay somewhere between 8k and 15k USD depending on the university.
Not all universities have undergraduate programs in English, and you'll need to take a TOEFL exam or equivalent too.

>>15388816
I heard it was free in norway for international students
also college in the us is 20k+ and in canada it's 30k+

>>15388830
>I heard it was free in norway for international students
As of this year, not anymore.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/norway-introduces-tuition-fees-for-international-students/

>>15388849
shit
fuck me
guess I won't be going to college
fuck this shit I'm just gonna repair fridges and shit and die from coolant gases

>>15388865
>guess I won't be going to college
Is a massive waste of money now. A college degree meant something 20+ years ago, but it means nothing now and costs around 10-20 times what it did just a couple decades ago.
I got my B.S. for less than $10,000 around 20 years ago, and my M.A. for just another $4500 about 15 years ago now.

>>15388865
you can be a different flavour of tradie
I spent the money to go to college, and I can say that college degrees are totally fucking worthless
either get an apprenticeship or go to uni, college is just bait to make you waste years of your life

>>15388865
All/most nordic countries used to have free universities (or nominal cost) for everyone until very recently. I think most EU countries now have fees between 8k-20k per year for non-Europeans.

It makes sense since it was a bit ridiculous to offer free education to 7 gorillion pajeets who'd never learn the language and promptly fuck off after graduation. Or even to e.g. Americans, since there was no reciprocity; nordics still had to pay for US education anyway.

However I'm convinced that they are using it as a way to slowly shoehorn in tuition fees for domestic students to make everyone good little debt slaves. Unfortunately for you USA is leading the way in this game.

>>15388875
well what do I do now?
Tradie?
>>15388882
which trade is the best (as in I get a living wage for doing fuck all and don't lose my fingers)?
I can still read rudin and collect bugs as a hobby I guess

>>15389136
See if you can get someone to fund your studies. You'll have to look into this yourself to figure out what specific opportunities are available to you. Generally these fall into two categories: 1) for the poor 2) for the talented. May come from governments, from universities themselves, or from other funding sources e.g. ones left by rich dead people. Between these, choosing an appropriately priced university and doing some work while there you can get away without lifelong debt slavery.

I attended uni in the UK with gibs totalling around 20k per year, when tuition fees were 9k/year. So I managed to actually save a bit of money rather than accumulating debt. However many of the funding sources I used were specific to my country/being within the EU.

>>15389218
Bro... I'm American... it's over

>>15389231
How old are you?
What state do you live in?
What do you wish to study?

>>15389231
Yes that much is clear you dingus. That doesn't mean there is nothing available for you, it just means that my specific circumstances won't be relevant to you.

I see clapistanis here talk frequently about fighting for israel for a few years and getting free college and preferential treatment out of it so maybe look into that also.

The price tag on an American university education can indeed be shocking to the uninitiated. When I was enrolling in classes and watching the numbers on my bursar account going up I thought I was going to shit myself. You aren't even getting anything tangible out of the deal. A total shakedown really. You need a plan if you are going to deal with those thieves. If you can get through to the other side relatively unscathed though, you will have many more opportunities available to you.

What comes into mind is that one of the more useful aspects of these generals would be to pool together some knowledge about funding sources and opportunities at various stages and in various countries. However since that isn't directly related to science careers and risks derailing these threads from their purported subject matter it might be better done in a separate thread. I don't know if jannies would let us have a university general, it would really make sense since 97% of the non-garbage content here is young retards asking about university education anyway.

>>15389240
21... IT'S FUCKING OVER I WASTED MY LIFE
I live in washington and I dont know what to study
>>15389242
I'm NOT dying for fucking Israel bro
not a chance on fucking earth

>>15389368
>21
When you are 24 you no longer have to list your parents' income on your FAFSA. I'm assuming you are a massive poorfag which means you would qualify for Pell Grant. The max amount is like $7k per year currently.

Academia larps so hard.
More research is required to find out why.

>>15384556
Have your uni pay for Abaqus license on an available desktop and your life will be godmode. Ansys, catia, and SOLIDWORKS eat ass in comparison to my king. Just remote desktop.

No stupid questions thread so I'll ask her. Is bleeding out by cutting your wrist painful? Seems like it would be more of an aching pain

>>15389510
No, but it's not very effective. You can try cutting the axillary artery instead.

>>15389517
Under the armpits right? How exactly do I locate it without cutting any major nerves?

Is there any way to view standards without paying for them? A prospective employer wants me to familiarise myself with some, but it seems so far I would have to pay hundreds of dollars to do so. I have tried using some resources from my old university as an alumni but no luck.

>>15389526
Easy to locate. Feel the pulse. But you can't avoid nerves if you are going the cutting route. If you botch it, say goodbye to your arm. To prevent further complications, make sure you disinfect the blade. That said, it is hard to botch, I mean you can just keep stabbing until blood starts spurting out, assuming you don't faint. Good luck.

>>15389510
it's not "painful" if you numb your wrists in a bucket of ice beforehand, but it will be agonizing. you will probably vomit. not a great way to die

>>15389246
I went to a domestic uni here in Europe even though I was accepted into two T20 colleges just because of the price tag and lack of scholarships for foreign students. It sucks but can't do much about it. Still ended up doing well for myself here at least, but no 6 figure entry level salary lol.

>>15389250
I agree that it'd be nice to have it segregated into a different more on topic thread, however I think there wouldn't be enough activity in the threads since they'd both be diluted. Also there's the risk of a lot of people cross-posting as soon as they don't get an answer within 5 minutes of posting it in one of the generals.

I only got into engineering for the money.
I barely make much though.
And I am a complete fraud. I have zero interest in it and never learn anything. I have to job hop every 6 months because that's how long it takes for my employer to realize I have no idea what I'm doing and don't care. I lie like crazy on my resume and then can't do what I said I can do. When they say "I thought you said you had experience with this at your last job?" I just go "oh we didn't use it like this."

>>15383612
What are the best job opportunities for someone with a PhD biomedical engineering who wants to keep doing wet lab work? I'm not really interested in a postdoc because of the the shit pay and relative lack of availability.

>>15390384
Ultra based. You are not a fraud. Fraudulence is the new honesty. The conman is the American archetype since Melville. Keep doing what you’re doing and get better at it. I want you making twice your salary by 2025 by leveraging your “experience”

>>15390384
If you keep hopping jobs, eventually employers are going to notice and refuse to hire you. In fact, it probably too late by now.

Guys, I need help.

I’ve applied for a master in systems engineering where I will do the master while working 50% in a company.
Currently, I’ve gotten 4 offers and I need some input.

Offer 1. Small company (15 - 20 people) focused on battery installations and electric drivelines. Tasks I would do is PLC, electrical drawings and commissioning. Possibility to travel in Europe and Asia (most likely forced to). Located in a big city (>500k).
Don’t know how relevant a master in systems engineering would be here.

Offer 2. Small company (70 - 80 people (2k worldwide)) and its more consulting work where almost everything is done in house. They do a lot of cool stuff like implementing control systems for autonomous driving or electrification of trucks. I would mostly be able to focus on what I want to do. Could be control systems, could be embedded systems etc. Located in a small city (<50k).
Has their own systems engineering department.

Offer 3. Small IT/Engineering company (30 - 50 (250 worldwide)). Work would be related to PLM. Tasks could be working with Siemens teamcenter or other PLM stuff (related to manufacturing). I guess it’s pretty standard. They mentioned CAD and maybe SQL + PowerBI as possible work as well. Located in the same city as offer 1.

Offer 4. Small startup (<10 people) doing work related to battery storage in construction, aqua etc and eventually automated assembly of batteries. Don’t seem to know what systems engineering is and when asked, seemed to have no idea how my studies would benefit them and vice versa. Located in the same city as offer 2.

My bachelor is in automation/robotics, but I’m not the most technical/practical guy, so I’m basically not even considering offer 1. Offer 4 is interesting but it’s a startup and I don’t want to study something that I’ll never make use of.

Thoughts? The best offer salary wise (offer 1) is at about average salary, and I think I can get the same amount from the rest.

I’m a euro.

>>15390637
Number 2 seems the best one by far.

More people means more room to make mistakes, more people to rely on, less reliant on having you in the office during exam season, more room to move around and try different roles in the company.

Also seems to be more related to systems engineering than the other options. Being able to pivot to other industries like automotive is also a nice bonus. Consulting work also means that there'd be more variety in the work you'd do.

Only drawback is the location, I personally don't mind living in a smaller town, but the distance to your university might be a drawback, you didn't specify where your university is so I can't tell.

>>15390637
>>15390820
I agree, Offer 2 seems the best. I work in automation and well..

Offer 1 sounds like of travel, which translation to a lot of commissioning and a lot of hours. I'm assuming you are salary so you'll get fucked here

Offer 3. sounds fine, less tied to manufacturing on the plant floor and more ties to data / MES / IT / (((data science)))

Offer 4 is a startup and well fuck that

>>15390820
Yeah, sorry. The university is located in that exact town (offer 2 and 4).
The workplace of offer 1 and 4 is 1 hour away from the university with train, but I would live inbetween so it would only be 45 minutes approx.

I would only spend 10 days each semester at the university so the location doesn’t really matter.

I grew up in a place with <1k people, so yeah size doesn’t really matter that much. To be a small town there is a lot of high tech companies actually

>>15390898
I get paid hourly so the only negative with working a lot would be less time for studies.

I also think offer 3 sounds okay, mainly because it seems chill lol. And I guess it’s nice to be on the software side as you mentioned.

So offer 2 or maybe 3 it is then, and I agree. They seem to be the best choice. I have a interview with a large defence company left. They would probably be my number one option if they were to offer me a job.

Thanks to you both.

Once you get an impressive sounding job title or company on your resume, interviewing gets so much easier.
Most of the time now the hiring team talks for like 90% of the time of the interview. It's almost like they are the ones trying to impress me.

I'm glad I started reading up on stoicism, because after getting rejected for 3 months straight and the one job I got into being cancelled I think I'd kill myself otherwise

Why does everyone claim they have a "competitive salary"
wtf does that even mean?

>>15391340
it's corporate speak to avoid coming right out with a number

>>15391334
Took me well over a year to get a job and then I had to wait for clearance and now it’s been a year and a half. You’ll be ok

guys is engineering hard?
I did pretty good as calculus but shit at physics, but my physics teacher was a fuckhead
I'm thinking about going to CC for an engineer transfer degree

I have to finalize my major NOW and I'm stuck between going all in on CS or just simple industrial drawing CAD stuff
CAD/Drafting stuff sounds easy to get into, simple 2 year course even a deadbeat could come out on top of, probably just 1 year to get some kind of work, engi BA extension if I feel like it, dont know if ill enjoy it myself but its what my dad does (he isnt pushing it on me). Pay/Growth sounds a little grim. More interested in the competitive architectural stuff and house/interior design.
CS sounds way above my head. I'm told you really should go for the 4 year. I'd have to transfer from community college after 2. I've retained 0 math from HS. I'm 25, and if I commit it feels like my life won't be starting till 30. I've really enjoyed small programming projects freelance or fun. Its the only "useful" skill/hobby I gravitated towards. I see the work my CS friends do, and it seems very idyllic to me.

>>15391340
They're competing for the lowest salaries

>>15392297
None of it is hard if you study properly, even physics

I'm really fascinated still by AI theoretically, visions of AGI, autonomous driving etc., but after sitting in the field for 3 years I really don't enjoy how working on it looks like
I wanted to create cool stuff, instead I'm making 1000 small changes to a network to see which gets 0.1% better in some specific scenario over and over again

>>15392319
how does one study properly?

what happens to tech during great depression

>>15392410
startups and unneeded auxiliary companies get wiped out

>>15392297
It can be, if you're willing to put in the hours and study properly you'll be fine though. Diligence counts for a lot more than intelligence, especially when you're an undergrad.

>>15392311
If you already know how to code then CS is easy to get into. Those that have a hard time are usually those who have zero prior experience. If you already have a few projects under your belt that you've gotten paid for then you should have a nice head start. It sounds like you like CS more, and honestly considering the recession your career wouldn't start until you're 30 anyway.

>>15392333
Short answer is put some effort in. Passing any exam is mostly memorizing, doing well in it means adding some understanding.

Pay attention in lectures for a start, engage with them and ask questions. Don't just accept the information at face value. Spend time reviewing the material, just a little every day. Practice questions from coursework or textbooks, make sure you can solve and understand them, seek advice if you can't. Last part is just memorising the facts/figures/equations/names and whatever, the parts you have to memorize, not learn. Different people have different methods for it, I find flash cards work, reviewing them weekly and practicing the ones I get wrong more regularly.

Take calculus for example. You need to memorize some trig identities, common substitutions, maybe a derivation or two, matrix identities, tensor identities, product rule, quotient rule, limits of exponentials and trig. You also need to practice using these to familiarise yourself with the topix. Find questions in your coursework and past exam papers or textbooks. If you can do that then you can pass an exam without effort because you've answered those type of questions before and remember how to attempt to solve them.

For anything stem-based that's all you need, it's not an IQ filter, just an effort and memory filter.

>>15392311
Tell me more about this CAD thing
sounds pretty cool, never heard of that
honestly I'd be cool with a relaxing 50-70k job
Tech is a dying field and it's going to change hugely
right now

I can't imagine there being many jobs in IT in few years when models like GPT keep on growing and being more accessible
What will there be left CS bros? Critical infrastructure, real-time systems?

>>15392632
GPT is just a language prediction model. It can't actually understand what it outputs, nor reason and make decisions. It can also only predict based on the (stolen) content is is trained on. Do any job which requires a bit more thought or is blue sky non-derivative work and you're golden. In all likelihood even research jobs will be significantly assisted by AI but will never be replaced so long as we use predictive neural models.

>>15392642
Bro I....
>https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12712

>>15392699
Oh fugg

>>15392590
>and honestly considering the recession your career wouldn't start until you're 30 anyway.
>>15392618
>Tech is a dying field and it's going to change hugely
qrd?

>>15392900
>qrd?
AI

How dry is research in the engineering field?
Should i try to earn a doctorate or do i just get an MBA and get rich with a dick-crushing managing job?

>>15392617
Great answer.

>>15392900
Economy went up. Now it's going down. Not going to go up again for a while. Companies will be spending less money, laying people off, hiring fewer people, etc.

It's not just tech, but tech specifically massively overhired and was leaking cash all over the place. So all the tech companies are currently scaling down hiring and you've seen the news about all the layoffs.

So it's harder to get A job, and much harder to get THE job. So a lot of people are going to have to settle for lower positions, salaries, etc. As a consequence, the competition for research positions (PhDs. PostDocs, etc.) will also increase significantly.

This will most likely continue to be the case for the next 3-7 years.

>>15393107
It depends a lot, some publicly funded research is the most mind-numbingly boring work imaginable, then there are some super fun and practical projects as well.

I know a guy who makes these little autonomous radio cars race against each other to test different autonomous driving models, seems super fun. Then I also know another guy who is depressed spending all day looking at graphs for some materials research.

Gonna be in my senior year of EE soon, focusing on Power Engineering. What advice do you have for me, both for after school and for the EE test I have to take?

>>15393107
I know a guy who spent three years tipping buckets of concrete in the floor and looking at how the puddle spreads.
Apparently really enjoyed it

I just learned about a quantum engineering graduate certificate that would take like a semester for me to get, assuming they accept credit from my undergrad solid state physics class. What could I accept do with said certification?

>recruiter sends me an offer letter last Monday
>reply with your decision by Friday
>ignore it because the salary is low
>get a new email the next Monday from the program manager
>anon, please reply by this (new) Friday
Kek.

>>15392297
Yes it's hard. Especially if you are a brainlet.
Calculus is straight forward in comparison to your engineering classes.
You will be given open ended problems and expected to keep a bunch of complex concepts in your head and apply them accurately to solve something. A lot of these concepts will have special cases or branching paths that you will need to select appropriately. The people who are telling you that it's easy are antisocial demonic entities who want you to fail.

>>15393855
What is the point of this? Just reply saying the salary is low and maybe they will raise it. If they don't then you didn't want the job anyways so no loss on your end.

>>15393891
They can't raise it because it's a government job. They have no power to raise it.
The point is to exert revenge on the world.

>>15393855
Tell them the salary you want dumbass lmao

>>15393898
I have plenty of other offers they can't hope to compete with.

What strategies do you use to cope with the productivity demands of the field?
Many people mistakenly believe to do well at a stem career you need to be le smart, that's wrong, you need to be productive and industrious.

How do you prioritize productivity anon?

>apply for grant
>didn't get it
>alumni are public
>check who got the grant
>out of 10 people maybe 2 have better qualifications than me
>but none of them are white or male
so this is the true academic experience™?

>>15393940
dopamine detox, minimalist phone, scheduling, tracking time spent on tasks, snuff and coffe

>>15393947
For the last month I have had my phone turned off except when I go to the gym, I also dont "distract" on the computer: no youtube, facebook, twatter, /tv/, /pol/, etc. If I'm here is because I wanted to ask a question.

It has been incredibly boring but I'm tired of being mediocre.

Keep going anons. I also want to know when and what do you do in your free time.

>>15393960
almost the same but I'm struggling with getting rid of youtube and linkedin

is there a reason not to spam big companies with CV to eventually get an interview just by chance?

>>15393995
Just block them. Also what do you do on linkedin??? do you go there to watch memes and get entertained???

>>15387452
theres something called like bug hunter or something like that. There was a website for it. Where you try to find bugs for big biz and they pay you if you find them. I dont remember very well.

>>15393940
I prioritize impact over productivity.

If I do less but more important work then management will still value that more than the super productive 10x frontend engineer.

I do about 30 hours a week in total, but only focus on tasks that have 1) a clearly defined deliverable that 2) is clearly valuable to a stakeholder that pays me.

Turn down any other assignments and projects that are more effort but less important by saying that you need to prioritize your current stack.

Spending 20 hours in a week on getting some nice numbers for an important client meeting and chilling at home for another 20 is more appreciated than spending 60 hours doing menial tasks that some other schmuck can do instead.

>>15394085
It's unfortunately and unironically currently the best source of information in my field

>>15393262
thanks for the explanation, I was wondering about the actual economic utility of all these tech jobs, the bubble of it all, and the extreme popularity of the major especially with the help of AI now. People still assure me its too big to fail, and compsci is still such a rigorous and respected major it will always be a useful degree even in collapse. I see my friends getting the dream job immediately out of college in the past year or two, and then I see people claiming they've sent 100s of resumes with 0 responses.
Which areas of CAD Engineering/Compsci are more resilient to recession?

>>15394188
The degrees are still good and useful, the job market is just more competitive.
Practically that means that more specialized profiles get the job while jack-of-all-trades get screwed over.
When the market is doing well, companies just want to hire, so their requirement for a software engineer is anyone with a pulse and a compsci degree.
If you are super specialized in for example embedded systems, you're all in on that, all your courses, electives, projects, extracurriculars, etc., then you're still very easily going to get the embedded systems job (provided that it exists).
Things like internships and co-ops become much more valuable (and competitive) as well.
So I'd say that both CAD and CS can be resilient to recession as long as you don't mess around in college, find your niche, dedicate to it, and send hundreds of applications for internships (you will be rejected 99% of the time, that's normal).

>>15394396
what are the coolest specializations

>>15392311
industrial drawing CAD stuff is an absolute dead end bottom of the barrel job, get an engineering degree or a computer science degree

Realistically how capable do I genuinely need to be to go into a grad program
Because I don't know anything

>>15394444
Some random ones that I think are cool and that aren't AI (nothing wrong with AI though):
System-on-chip (e.g. apple m1 and m2)
HPC
GPU/Mutlicore computing
DSPs
Cryptology
Graph databases
Web Ontology
Real-time computing
Multi-agent systems
Distributed systems/computing
Compiler construction

>>15393276
bump

Biochem lab grunt. What's the best way to get supervisor experience? Every low level manager position wants me to have years of experience. I have some in none related fields, and I'm surprisingly good at it. Do I just need to get an internal promotion? Should I try to get another degree in management?

I think IDW should eventually reintroduce these guys as some sort of side villain organization that is against both Sonic and Eggman.

>get paid well but want to change jobs because fuck travel
Bros...why didn't I study comp sci? Is it OVER at 32?

how TF did you niggers afford college? 33/m going back to college in august for a bachelors (or masters depending) in ME and while my living situation is covered I'm most likely going to need a part time job to stay afloat. My credit is too fucked for private loans and the feds are giving me $10k plus whatever scholarships and grants I can whore myself out for. I am fully prepared to revert back to my hobo spending habits if need be though.

>>15393947
>tracking time spent on tasks
Ballet whore they will fuck you in the ass when the time comes

>>15394861
>33/m going back to college in august for a bachelors
Please stop. You can just teach yourself at this point and fabricate an existence either through lies or real fabrication. Most are liars anyway.

>>15394576
>System-on-chip (e.g. apple m1 and m2)
>HPC
>GPU/Mutlicore computing
>DSPs
>Cryptology
Checks out
>Graph databases
No
>Web Ontology
Nooo
>Real-time computing
Ok
>Multi-agent systems
Where are they?
>Distributed systems/computing
Go back to the lab
>Compiler construction
Secondary language: Hebrew

>>15394948
It's a personal goal, I've been building/designing mechanical and electrical things my entire life as a hobby. That and I need an undergrad degree for med school plus I want to move away from cars/trucks/motorcycles into airplanes and more specifically building my own planes.

>>15395098
>building/designing mechanical and electrical things my entire life as a hobby
then you will not enjoy mechanical engineering, lol, which is mostly just linear algebra and structures

>>15395117
I've thought about doing EE but the math scares me DESU. Honestly the majority of all engineering is nothing more than math, I'll try it and if I find I don't like it I'll do something else.

>>15395160
For the first two years of a four year engineering degree the math courses are pretty much the same whether it's EE or ME. Most engineering students that can't handle the math get filtered out in the first and second year calculus classes.

>>15395173
that terrifies me lol I'll be alright, just gotta put the effort in.

>>15392900
AI and foreigners
They're already going through huge layoffs, and it probably wont end for a while
we're already on the brink of a depression
>inb4 schizo
it's true I tell you
and I tell you what they're gonna use green energy as a big excuse to make more jobs and they're gonna need engineers until the day this country collapses into itself.

>>15393874
Damn, yeah that sounds pretty hard
what do you think I should go for instead?
Or should I just go be a tradesman?

>>15393874
I might be antisocial but I'm not demonic bro, I'm just good at combining multiple complex pieces into a larger part! lol

>>15393960
Honestly I have a lot of free time and NGL I am addicted to my phone a little but I demand an hour of my self per day to exercise and I am slowing down my food intake to better match my motabolism. I am quitting my job in june and starting college full time and have vowed to dedicate myself to my education these next 5 years. I feel good, gotta good feel for whats coming

>>15395206
You have time to "git gud" as they say. There are lots of YouTube videos covering Calc I and II basic concepts. You could also find out what math textbooks your school is using and start studying and working through problems.

Which degree is easiest?
I have a high IQ, but I'm extremely maladapted
the last book I read was 10 years ago
I'm good math, bad at reading and shit like that
so when I took a proofs class I did average because I was find with the math but poor at the reading and writing comprehension
Also I'm unbelievably lazy
this is something which is going to take me years to fix since it took me years to get this bad
so I need a degree that is easy for lazy guys like me

an applied physics major at my school adds 30 credits to my meche degree,
Am I wrong for thinking this is a no-brainer?

What does thread think about studying electrical engineering?

>>15394861
>My credit is too fucked for private loans
How do you have terrible credit at 33? That's not good anon

>>1539570
depends on what job you get

>>15395227
>>15394396
how do i survive 2 years from now and im competing with every other zoomer/foreigner in the world but its all coming down if i just want to be front end guy

Any ideas on how to cope with being offered 30$/hr starting moving to 40$/hr late career?

>>15396552
And that's a STEM career ? Fucking grim. I know marketers who make that starting.

>>15396552
You cope by realizing that you can 2x your salary every 2 years by switching jobs strategically. Just take the money, put in your two years, and then start applying elsewhere as a senior with 2 years full time work experience and see how in their offers they go just short of having the HR girl suck your dick right on the spot.

>>15396552
Cope by being happy that you have a job at all

>>15394838
>it OVER at 32?
BRO

If you go down the LinkedIn rabbit hole you will realize that it's all memes. Plenty of modern software engineers/data scientists/other memes were people who went to college for something completely unrelated. Then when they graduated they realized that the money was elsewhere and just rebranded themselves as software guys, data guys, etc.

I know this guy in particular who is very successful. He went to undergrad for industrial engineering. Then he graduated in that year in which the data science meme was starting to go big and immediately instead of marketing himself as an 'Industrial Engineer' he just called himself a 'Data Scientist'. It's that simple.

If I wanted I could right now call myself a 'Computer Scientist' and people would believe me. You just need to know how to sell it. In your past jobs were you ever near a computer? That's enough! Just embellish your experience by making it sound like doing computer-related stuff was the main thing in your job and as long as you do not explicitly lie, it is okay.

An example from me. I have had jobs that require me to wear many hats. If I apply to a finance company, I make it sound like my job was actually full finance. If I apply for a data company, I make it sound like my job was full data. If I apply for a risk position, I make it sound like my job was full risk. Etc. Just try me. If I applied to NASA I would say that my job was actually all about space.

IT'S ALL MEMES. THE ECONOMY IS BUILT ON MEMES.

>>15396592
looks like I need to speed up my self learning. I make good money rn ($180) and don't want to take a huge pay cut if I can help it. Fuck travel, bros!

>>15395229
I said it's hard not impossible. If you are of normal intelligence you can do it but it will require a level of dedication you probably aren't used to. A lot of people drop out of these programs man. It's not a cake walk.

I graduated in May 2022 and I've already changed jobs 4 times. My salary keeps going up but I've done absolutely zero productive work for any of these companies. Is this a sign that I'm not going to make it long-term? I feel like a fraud.

>>15396798
if they hiring you for more money, and you're leaving by your own free will (not getting fired), then you're doing something right.

>>15396793
Yeah I have a high IQ but I am unbelievably lazy from years of coasting on my intelligence
Being honest I don't think I could make it

>>15395229
consider CAD, Industrial Drawing 2 year associates, if you can hang then maybe it can help condition and transition into a 4 year engi deg. maybe you find enjoyable work and get a foot in the door. personally think its an easier route to carve your path, find your niche, make your connections even if youre socially inept with this as your base, but have 0 expectations of a good salary until you can do that.

>>15397664
my local CC doesn't have such a degree

>>15397693
sometimes they use different names and switch it up all the time
look for drafting/drawing in whatever section they categorize it in probably ITT, engineering, or just link the school(s)

>>15394573
it's all about how good you are on paper. seeming capable and actually being capable aren't 1:1

>>15397545
If you are lazy then don't even do it, you will just waste your money.

any good sites that help with CV creation?
I tried the europass but it's kinda awkward and doesn't fit a lot of information

>>15397882
damn you're probably right
I'm slowly trying to fix myself
do you think there is something else I could pursue?

>>15383612
>carreer
I just want to live my life quietly and at peace, and preferably take weeks before someone noticed I expired

why do 99% of software developers do BJJ and rock climbing?

>>15397985
>rock climbing
Surely you mean bouldering? Felt like every engineer (real kind) at my previous workplace went bouldering. The chemists were the ones who did martial arts but mma not bjj.

>>15397996
>Surely you mean bouldering?
ye, my bad, they're the same word in my language

>>15397894
>any good sites that help with CV creation?
This place is unsurpassed in commenting and critisizing a CV. Just keep in mind that this is a life altering experience, and do not forget to delete your real life identifications from the document before putting it up here for review.

>>15398021
>delete your real life identifications
You'd still be able to find people's linkedins by searching their experience

>>15398053
>don't have a LinkedIn
EZ problem solved

How to distinguish relaxing from procrastinating?

A long, long time ago...

>>15398159
Easy, you can tell by the amount of guilt building up.

>>15398203
>5 weeks into a holiday
>doing anything to relax still makes me feel guilty about not working
STEM was a mistake

>>15398206
We have a beautiful nigh sky these days, and you can work on your STEM and aesthetics need by anjoying the view. You might just catch a glimpse of Mercury just after sunset, but I have managed only once. Venus and the Moon are immediately visible. The view never gets old or boring.

I think the only thing that could improve on this, wuld be a second moon or Saturn style planetary rings.

>>15397894
Use the Harvard template, it comes with a guide as well. Literally just google Harvard CV Template and it'll be the first hit

>>15386002
Do internships or coop and it won't matter for dick if you barely scraped by.

>>15383612
there isnt a stupid question thread so ill ask here. I gone from a 4.0 gpa(mechanical engineering) to basically flunking the past 2 semesters. I got hit with what i assume is major depression. I just woke up one day and just did not want to do anything. i tried to push though that feeling and just tried keep focused on doing school work. But a variety of factors kept me from improving and eventually i just started feeling very apathetic and as a result i just wish for death to come to me every single day.

my question is, what options do i have? should i be honest with my family and tell them to let me commit suicide? Should i go silently? Should i talk with a psychologist even though they wont really be able to help me?

>>15399258
You have the option to man the fuck up.
We all have limited time on earth, make the best use of yours.
>b-but my GPA is bad in the last 2 semesters!
millions starve and you chose you whine over that

>>15399299
meh, not whining about gpa tho
>We all have limited time on earth

no shit and i can choose what i want to do with that time.

>millions starve

no shit. At least i volunteer/donate at food banks.

>>15399309
>i can choose what i want to do with that time.
And you chose to do nothing with it and then want to cut it short?
You don't need a psychologist to fuck you up with meds, you need to figure yourself out, what you value and what you want to do and if you can't do that, then at least do what seems to be the best option in the moment

>>15399317
>And you chose to do nothing with it and then want to cut it short?

yes lmao. Why is that so wrong?

>>15399322
Think about what you write for 60 seconds

>>15399324
>Think about what you write for 60 seconds


fine letting my ego go. The best option for me right now would be to take long break. even though external pressures will hurt me

>you need to figure yourself out, what you value and what you want to do

i have answers to all of these but i wont bother you with them.

>>15399336
Then do so, if you can, take the time off in a new environment, whatever you can manage

>>15399340

i will

im a bit curious as to what your reasoning is for not liking psychologist/phychiatrists?

usually people will tell me there are no better alternatives to taking meds

>>15399336
what really happened though how did you "wake up suddenly with depression"? personally its never been "just a random mischance of brain chemicals" for me or whatever, always caused by something even if i need time and unorthodox help to realize it

>>15399258
Yes you should kill yourself immediately since you're such a fucking faggot.

>>15399258
if you otherwise had a decent life before this and will likely have a decent one should you overcome your depression, then i definitely think you should try to get help before deciding to end it. you can take a year off of school and do nothing but play dreamcast games if you really want to. committing suicide before you take literally any steps to remedy the situation is just silly. you have to change something.
>>15399384
>did you "wake up suddenly with depression"? personally its never been "just a random mischance of brain chemicals" for me
could be anything, could be something very subtle and unnoticeable. the novelty of going to college may have simply worn off.
>>15399422
this has got to be the rudest board on this site.

>>15399437
i never saw college as a novelty. I dont really care about the social aspects and came to the conclusion that college in the US was more about making connections so you had an easier time getting a job than a place of learning (i assume grade school is where things actually get serious) . I actually decided not to jump straight into college and decided work until i figured out what i wanted to do.

>>15399384
the only thing i can say is something flipped in my brain. i dont know what caused it. i dont really have any friends but ive learned to enjoy my own company so i never really needed anyone.

>>15399462
any gfs or girls you talk to?

>>15389250
There's no way we'd get another general since this one is already being shit up by schizos' therapy session blogposts

>>15399475
nah never cared for that stuff either. Im autist who prefers puzzles and books.

what do you all think of warhammer

>>15399820
pretty cool, though ive never played any of the table top games. My introduction to it was through total war

I'm a fourth-year student majoring in Information Technology at an unnoteworthy university in Canada. I currently make 80k a year remotely as a full stack developer. I have a perfect GPA and have been awarded six highest-grade scholarship awards, totaling over five-thousand dollars.
I want to apply to a school in the US for my Master's and eventual PhD. I'm interested in theoretical computer science. Money is obviously of no concern.
Where do I go from here? Does anyone have any tips on applying to Ivy League schools internationally? I'm also open to the idea of applying as an undergraduate, since my math background is nonexistent (highest level math course I've taken is calc 1)

Computer engineering or mechanical engineering

And what jobs are best suited for AI revolution

so i'm 25, and i think i'm going to go back to college this fall, or maybe even this summer.
right out of high school, i went for chem E, and in my third year i did an internship and i really didn't like the work. i was hoping i'd be doing biomolecular sort of stuff, but it seemed like those jobs were just not very common, a lot of it is petrochems and shit. i dunno, i wanted to make factories that make proteins, not make plastic bags.
i took a year off, and talked to people who worked in industry, and i decided that maybe computer science would be more interesting. it's widely applicable in loads of fields, and it feels like the same sort of problem solving that i like with engineering.
so i changed my major, and did two semesters of that, and yeah it was pretty neat, and most of my courses transferred over. then i had two family members die in quick succession, i didn't enroll in a new semester and i've just been working shitty jobs since then.

am i too old to go finish up my degree? i've got about two semesters until i could finish comp sci. i don't even know if that's what i really want to do since i've been out of it for years, but i don't want to keep doing what i've been doing, and i have the money together to enroll. i don't know why i'm hesitant, but i'm hesitant.

>>15399348
Went to sleep so bit late
Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but it's completely abnormal to me that nowadays every other person that goes to a psychologist/trist gets diagnosed with depression and gets hooked up with anti-depressants right from the bat.
In the past you had to go through screenings, therapy etc, now you can go to any psychologist and get meds on the first visit.
2 of my friends were going through the same thing - they said they were "depressed", went to a doc and got on anti-depressants and they took a year out of they lives before I convinced them to not take that shit anymore
It didn't make them happier or help figure shit out, it made them numb, both were sleeping like 10+ hours a day, never wanted to go out etc., you just go through the motions.
Coincidentally they stopped being depressed when they dropped out of their shitty majors that they had and one went to another uni and the other got a job where he could do what he wanted to do
What people in your state need isn't meds but just something to follow and pursue

>>15399843
Computer engineering 100%
Mechanical engineering is too bloated. Companies at the college I go to say to switch out of Mech E because of how many there are.
Also computer engineers can do EE and CS so more of a broader field then Mech E.

>>15399887
Sorry to hear about that mate. You are not old if you go back for the degree, Ik people graduating at 28 and shit. With CS you could try for AI type stuff even if its a meme. Getting the degree would help for jobs down the line 100% though

>>15399887
Sorry to hear that, definitely not too old to finish a degree though
Maybe not really what you'd want to head, but no one will be able to answer the question what you want to do better than yourself
also few words of warning, while there's a lot of jobs that would satisfy your want for problem solving in CS, there's just as many if not more mindless code monkey ones

I'm 26, have a bsc in CE and never had a job. I'm doing master level courses now and will probably get masters when I'm 28.

Should I even bother though? I've been considering just pivoting into scamming people using AI. Like what else is there to do? I live in Europe so the prospects of getting a job don't look very bright, however there's always money to be made in drugs, spam and that kinda stuff where I could leverage my expertise

>>15400579
im 28 in a week and i graduated with a master's (in a different country than the one im from) never having had ANY job whatsoever, and start my first job as an engineer in June

>>15400589
Omedetou

>>15400219
Interesting. I didn't know you had to get proper screenings in the past.

I always assumed it's way easier now because big pharma was pushing hard.

>>15400851
well that too and big pharma loves treating the symptoms rather than the cause

>>15400273
Mech E isn’t bloated. Every Mech E grad wants to be Tony Stark and work for space X or some shit and feels above designing toilets or air conditioning units, there’s plenty of work.

>>15384030

honestly I'd go to china

why would HR tell me the base salary before I'm even had the interview? anyway... their base salary is $109k, I'm at $111k now and I won't move for anything less than $125k. I guess I be straight up and tell them that?

>>15401458
the position I'm applying for has an average base pay salary of $122k on Glassdoor, so wtf they are lowballing me out of the gate?

Week 4 of not hearing back after my interviews even though I made the panel explicitly tell me that I would receive notification regardless of whether the decision was yes or no.
They actually treated my question like it was silly "pfffff, oh of course anon, we wouldn't get to this stage and then not let you know, that's standard."

>>15401458
>>15401460
It's getting more and more common for them to outright say it. If it's not in your acceptable range then you should just tell that you won't accept anything under X and then if they can meet you there they will follow up. If they can't then you just saved yourself from doing some shitty technicals.

That said, I would at least inquire about how the bonus structure works. If their bonus payout is on average higher than the bonus payout of your current employer then it could be worth it. In that case I would hedge my risk by asking for a sign-on bonus up front so that you at least get to taste some of that bonus money right away.

>>15401498
Sometimes it just be like that. Don't get attached to people you don't even know. You were one of dozens they interviewed.

Sorry if it doesn't fit the discussion you're going for, but does where you go for undergrad matter that much in STEM?

I've gotten accepted into a few good unis but when talking to current/previous students they all seem kinda sad about their choice because they're worked so hard. I'm aware that academic stuff can be stressful but I don't want the next 4 years of my life to be just as depressing as the last 18.

So, if I go for a lesser known university over a big name one, how much am I fucking myself over in terms of a career in STEM? This is for physics btw

>>15401551
Physics, like many other STEM degrees, is a fake degree. Fake in the sense that there is no legal standard by which to call yourself a 'physicist' in the same way there is for a lawyer or doctor. Beyond that, just like many other STEM degrees, you will spend most of those 4 years learning advanced theories that have no application to industry. As such, the only "real" value you get is that everyone else will perceive you as being smart. Many companies like hiring physicists for stuff like data science when physics has fuck all to do with that. But it's because they perceive you as smart.

Simply put, the more prestigious your degree the smarter they will think you are. In turn, you will have better opportunities. If you have the opportunity to go to a top university, take it. The trick to not get burned out is to actually do the bare minimum.

By that I mean that every semester you should only sign up for the bare minimum of "pure physics" classes that you need to graduate. Fill every other spot with meme, fake classes like "english", "history" or whatever the fuck you want. Just don't try to be a hero by packing 5 pure physics classes in a single semester. You will just be destroying yourself. Follow that and your top university will feel as hard as going to Podunk State University.

>>15401522
checked and thanks. I immediately asked about bonus and vacation and they were straight up about it. the bonus structure is much better at this company than where I'm at; vacation is worse. the sad thing is: I don't even have a solid technical understanding of the job b/c the description was written in HR-speak and it's incredibly vague. so I'm going to go through with the interview.. see if they offer me anything, and counter as if I never heard their $110k number.

>>15401575
Ahh ok thank you.

Another thing is I want to get a doctorate, if I went to the worse university for undergrad but a better one for postgrad how would that look to employers?

>>15401591
It is way more common for the your grad school to be lower ranked than your undergrad, and then the university that hires you to be lower ranked than your grad school. This is simple logic as lower ranked schools will be happy to accept applicants coming from higher ranked schools, but not the other way around.

It's not a hard rule. If you turn out to be a genius with an insane thesis then even top ranked universities will be sucking your cock... but if you were the kind of person with that unique talent you probably would have been in grad school since the age of 15 and definitely not posting on 4chan.

>>15401603
Nah I'm a massive retard, honestly getting any offers was a miracle. Thanks for the insight, I recon I'll go to the worse university anyway because the city looks way nicer plus it's further from my hometown so it feels like more of an adventure lmao

I’ve got a job offer from a defense company. I can choose between three departments: Missile Systems (for ships, vehicles, helicopters etc), Air and Missile Defense Systems (like Raytheons NASAMS) and Test. I will work as a systems engineer.

Anyone here with experience within missiles or missile defense systems?

Also, I’m interested in space. What department would be the best fit for eventually gravitating towards a space related position in the future? I’m thinking missile systems, but I guess it depends.

>>15395243
>antisocial
You kiss your dad on the mouth?

>>15401642
What is test.

>>15401652
Honestly i dont know what it’s called but they test stuff. Like missile components and build test equipment. Blow things up I’d guess.

>>15401542
I'm not attached I just expect people in a business setting to not lie to my face about something as trivial and simple as sending out notice.

>>15401551
In my experience a year after graduating, there is no "one size fits all" university that you can go to that is going to blow everyone away, with maybe the exception of a total meme like MIT.
Companies have certain universities that they like to recruit from. California and Arizona funnel people into the semiconductor industry. Texas and Oklahoma funnel people into the oil and gas industry. And so on. Companies have certain universities that they like even if those unis aren't top 10 on some website's prestige power rankings.
So for example, if you go to university at Flyover State University, all the companies local to that area are much more likely to be receptive to your resume than if you are coming from Coastal Elite Social Status Striver University.

>>15401642
Don't have direct experience with it myself, but my buddy who studied aerospace engineering (specializing in systems engineering) ended up working with missile systems, so I'd make an educated guess and say that missile systems has the most overlap with actual space stuff. Both are shooting pointy tubes up in the air, should be similar enough.

>>15401551
It varies a lot depending on the field, for compsci and software engineering it matters very little, it's all about internships and projects. For physics it'd probably depend on how theoretical you want to be. Applied physics working in a lab somewhere should be fine wherever you go, but if you want to go to grad school for theoretical physics then you absolutely should go for the most prestige. Very few physics majors make it in academia.

I want to work on missile systems just because I think it would be interesting to learn about the tech but I got an offer and the salary is pathetic especially for the area I'd have to relocate to. Oh well.

>>15401591
A good number of PhD students, depending on field, do PhD at the same place as their masters or undergrad so don't discount that. Maybe look at undergrad optional modules and loom for a uni which offers undergrad courses in things you might like to do research in. Though I'll admit it's pretty early do narrow in on something like that.

>>15401720
Do you know if your buddy likes what he’s doing?
Missile systems seem interesting on paper, atleast.

>>15401642
Sounds like KDA.

I have a CS degree and work as an SWE. I'm good at it and obviously pays well, but part of me wishes I'd done some variety of engineering instead. It feels like designing physical things/processes would be more interesting and fulfilling long-term.
I'm not sure how serious I am about this, because I'm reliably informed that it doesn't make any financial sense at all. And I see plenty of posts from people wanting to do the opposite, which firmly suggests a "grass is greener" situation.
But hypothetically, is there a path to become a qualified engineer that doesn't involve doing a second undergrad?

In the UK, we have 1-year "conversion masters" degrees for some subjects like CS or psychology, but nothing similar for engineering. I could possibly do some kind of hardware-related masters (robotics etc) and maybe find an EE-adjacent embedded/firmware dev role from there. I'm not sure if it's even a reasonable thing to consider, but if I'm going to do it then now would be the time.

>>15401903
why would you willfully go into embedded/firmware?

>>15401909
From my limited amateur experience so far, it's appealing. e.g. I did an audio processing project that involved writing some realtime signal processing stuff and then poring over datasheets to figure out which register values on a certain IC I needed to set over i2c. (It turned out the public docs weren't enough and I had to find some guy on an obscure forum willing to send me NDA'd info on private registers...)
And I've done other personal projects involving assembly/reverse engineering.
It's harder than webdev, and apparently doesn't pay as well, but I do find it more interesting.

>>15401903
I think your best bet would be to start working for a company that does some mechatronics/robotics stuff, and slowly migrate over to there via software engineering.

Otherwise some unis in northern europe are very liberal when it comes to reusing credits from one degree in another, so you could maybe do another masters in mechatronics or something in 1 year instead of 2.

>>15401972
you have two pathways for firmware
>massive corporation that pays on par with webdev but has death-inducing crunch times
>small boomershop that pays like dirt and is run by a psychotic CEO who thinks of himself as "Elon musk but more serious"

I just want a massive salary like all the people posting on /g/ and /biz/
Why is that so fucking difficult. i'm tired of going through these excruciating, tediously long interview processes and then getting offered 5 figures.

Fun fact, you can enhance your salary by stealing high-value workplace items and selling them online!!

MY RESUME IS BLINDING
MY EXPERIENCE IS UNMATCHED
I CRUSH INTERVIEWS TO DUST
NO ONE CAN OUTCOMPETE ME

HIRING MANAGERS FALL TO THEIR KNEES IN REVERENCE
RECRUITERS CUT EACH OTHER DOWN FOR MY ATTENTION
I SACRIFICE LIFE AT THE ALTER OF WORK
I DON'T REMEMBER MY NAME

>>15401727
>A good number of PhD students, depending on field, do PhD at the same place as their masters or undergrad

Don't do this.

>>15401575
You;re an absolute retard if you cant handle 5 physics class
>t. taking currently 4 physics class with 3 math class which involve real analysis, group theory and topology.
>tl.dr: I'm smart you're dumb

>>15402443
If you are doing this then either
1) You are an actual genius
2) You are going to a shithole university

>>15402450
dude its really not hard being good at university taking lot of classes. there is less classtime than high school
Most classes only require 3h of lecture per week. you got lot of time after this to work or do the homework.
Just stop wasting your time gaming, jerking or going to bar.
Most people that find uni hard, go to bar every week or have too many friend.
Friends keep you down and waste your time.

>>15402481
>Just stop wasting your time gaming, jerking or going to bar.
>Most people that find uni hard, go to bar every week or have too many friend.
>Friends keep you down and waste your time.

Terrible, terrible advice. Grinding out 7 gorillion classes in university is probably the least rewarding way to spend your time. You will forget 98% of what you learn within the next decade, even if you go on to be in academia, which literally 99.95% will not be in the long term. It's like Asian uppity middle schools, they grind out 12h per day and yet by the time they're adults you couldn't tell the difference because they use precisely none of that knowledge.

By far the better play is to figure out what you want to do, figure out what classes will give you an advantage there, do those and with the rest of your time absolutely go to a bar with friends. Those connections will be far more valuable, but even if they aren't at least you had fun. Grinding away for zog just for the hell of it is the real waste of time, not enjoying your youth.

>>15402491
Or if you insist on grinding like the mindless machine you are, at least grind shit like internships or research or being chairman of the junior investment woodchuck club or whatever. Stands out much more than doing some classes for probably less effort and makes you a more rounded person.

>>15402491
>Grinding out 7 gorillion classes in university is probably the least rewarding way to spend your time
sound like the holy mother of cope for not having determination or discipline
>not enjoying your youth
your youth is already passed in university
By the time you're 30, your brain is already degraded and your productivity and creativity is already in the shitter.
Anything meaningful you do in life will be in your 20's
And if by meaningful and enjoying you mean spending it smoking weed in a basement with retard friends or trying to blackout in bars, then your life will be shitty and non-meaningful because by the time you decide to get serious and try to actually do something, you will already be so far behind from those that actually spend their time working to become the best.
University is 90% discipline and determination.

>>15402505
You unironically sound mentally ill. It's not a binary choice of either being a shut-in with no friends bashing your head against a book 14h a day or being a useless stoner with no work ethic. Just grinding out classes and treading others' footsteps won't make you do anything great either.

Should I do CS, CE, or EE? This is the end of my freshman year and this is the point where they diverge at my school. I have to decide now or else I'll have to take extra time to graduate if I change my mind.

>>15402525
>It's not a binary choice of either being a shut-in with no friends bashing your head against a book 14h a day or being a useless stoner with no work ethic
Yes.
Yes. It unironically is.
You don't become great by doing the same amount of work that everyone is doing.

>>15402532
>Yes. It unironically is.
That's completely illogical and you have to know it.
>You don't become great by doing the same amount of work that everyone is doing.
Hard work in itself has no value. There's people working like animals who will never amount to anything. As I said already, you don't become great by doing any amount of university classes. And in fact filling your time with menial shit like that means you don't have time and/or energy for the things that could actually make you great.

People like you can only ever be miserable. I hope you'll grow out of it.

>>15402481
Very telling that you did not immediately tell us your university. I suppose it's 2) then.

You know, I agree with you. But if you go to a top university like for example MIT, it is common for each 'pure' class to leave take-homes that will consume at least 10 hours to solve. And that's one take home per class per week.

Once you get into 4 classes, that's 40 hours per week (i.e. a full time job) just on your take homes. Have fun seeing your mental health decline. The only way this does not happen is if you can do those take-homes much faster and that will only happen if
1) You are a genius
2) Your university is a shithole that gives easy takehomes as they know they have stupid students.

>>15402605
>>15402564
>t. mad they cant hack it

>>15402633
Talk shit when you actually achieve something.

>>15402530
I'd say go CE as it is EE + computer hardware. It wouldn't be hard to transition to a CS job anyways if you do CE. I'm doing CE right now and I find it way more interesting than CS while not as math intensive EE can be.

>>15402366
This. Doing a PhD at the same place you got your MS is acceptable if you were accepted directly into a PhD program and just completed the MS en route to the doctorate, but in any other circumstances it reflects very poorly on both the student and the school.

Part of your career as a graduate student needs to be putting yourself out there, getting outside of your comfort zone so that you can actually network with other people outside of your immediate little circle.

>>15402633
I'm just giving you my advice.

On the other hand, no one actually cares if you do 5 pure classes per semester. Most grad schools just want to see if you got the main core classes and if you got A's in them. Packing your schedule beyond what is necessary is an easy way to eventually trip and get a B or C in your report and now you are effectively blacklisted from every top college for grad school because everyone else applying in some insanely genius asian kid who got perfect A's.

why go more than 4 years for cs

>>15403587
Americans have the most retarded fucking customs.

>>15403994
Not that anon, but the ching chongs with straight As and a 4.5 gpa get mogged by any white dude with >3.7 gpa and a decent extracurricular or two. I had a gloriously mediocre 3.5 and got into a good grad program without any trouble

In fields that are oversaturated with chingchong "geniuses" it's really easy to coast past them to grab a grad school spot (provided that you're more than 2 standard deviations above in iq and apply yourself of course) because they're so shit at doing research. They're great lab techs but terrible at any sort of novel study.

>>15403587
Retarded generalization. If you've been involved in a research group's field then it's very common that you end up in the same field of research, and when there's maybe 2 or 3 institutions in the entire country that does research in that field, then obviously you end up there.

The school doesn't give a FUCK where you came from, they want you to produce good quality research and publish a lot of articles. 90% of the time that means recruiting grad students internally. The only time this isn't true is if it's a shit uni from a shithole college, because then they want their grads to market them elsewhere.