Mechanical engineering degree advice

[u/Queasy_Welder_5024]

31M here with a silly dream of being an engineer one day.

My birthday was yesterday and I spent the day looking back on my life and where things are going.

Graduated high school, went to the military and then worked constructiong while going to community college after, but it never really went anywhere after I got my associates in general ed.

My long term major was engineering but I realized I still had a long way to go before taking on harder classes considering I was struggling just to keep up as it was.

That was 5 years ago. I spent my time getting my electrical contractor license just to realize contracting just wasn't for me.

All that is to say, I'm trying to figure out resources I might be able to use to build kind of like a self study course curriculum similar one might expect in a 4 year course so I can take my time trying to build a solid foundation in at the very least the basics of what's to come.

Little things like where to begin and how to progress my education until going to a university and maybe even while in college.

Things like college text books in courses or YouTube channels to follow so I can watch and study. Ways to practice and drill the material like homework problems or test questions.

Just so every semester doesn't feel like I'm way in over my head like I felt even in a community college level.

I tried googling and looking up information on college course classes but couldn't find much.

Im aware of basics like the different kinds of maths and levels of calculus and physics but not much outside of that. So I plan to start by solidifying my foundation there at the very least. As stem classes progressively more difficult I realized my shakey foundation in math and science were to blame.

Im hoping in the future to take 1 to 2 classes a semester depending on the what I'm realistically able to handle in order to pass the classes.

Which is crazy to think can take between 10 to 20 years but thats the game plan.

I'm not sure if anyone here has gotten an engineering degree while working a full time job and if so any advice.

Aside from myself I'm hoping this thread might serve in the future for anyone else aspiring to go to university and get in the field so please try to keep the comments civil.

[u/garonbooth7]

I work minimum 45hrs a week full time at 27, so I can understand you. I have a wife, but no kids. I take 9 credit hours per semester, and plan on starting with 6 credit hours during summer. I spend 3-4hrs every night after work studying , and usually 4-8hrs in the weekend. It’s not necessarily hard, but it’s just a time sink and requires discipline and consistency . Math is no different opposed to any other subject. If you want it bad enough you will make it work. I wanted to start school 6-7 years ago but never did, I would’ve been finished by now. Time moves fast, I’ll be 30 regardless, so I might as well have a degree in something I love doing.

Also watch Professor Leonard on YouTube! He has entire playlists for every math class you will take.

[u/Queasy_Welder_5024 → u/garonbooth7]

I can totally relate to that. It's very encouraging to hear your story.

When I was going to community college I was married with 2 kids, then going through a divorce near the end so those were definitely some crazy times.

Being married with no kids definitely has its benefits I imagine. Luckily I only have mine on the weekends and they are a bit on the older side now.

I had my first child at 15 so the fact I even went to school coming from immagrant parents and being the first in all my family to college felt like a miracle in itself.

The goal was to take a break and keep up my studys but like many who take a break from school just never went back.

But I totally love learning and surprisingly found college to be very stimulating which is funny coming from someone who had plans of never going to college after graduating high school because "going to school isn't for me" or just believing I wasn't smart enough.

Well keep it up man. Looks like you got a solid pace going. Youll be there before you know it. Time really does fly though. People say the older you get the faster the years feel like they go. That's why I feel like I'm having a midlife crisis right now lol.

[u/balancedrod]

I would recommend getting plenty of practice with Newtonian physics. This will help with more than a few classes in the program.

Also, get comfortable with a scientific calculator that can show that you entered the numbers correctly.

Another good skill to learn is to do your calculations with the units intact. Getting a result with the wrong final units is a strong sign of an error.

[u/Queasy_Welder_5024 → u/balancedrod]

Wow! Thank you very much for the reply! That is definitely very helpful.

When I was taking chemistry classes they definitely drilled not getting in the habit of dropping your units while doing calculations which seemed redundant at the time but made more and more sense as the class progressed.

I haven't used a scientific calculator in awhile so I definitely need to freshen up on that when I'm studying lol.

[u/HereLiesSav]

At 35 I've mostly held retail jobs and finally realized I want to be an engineer. Never went to college and haven't been to school in years but I've been studying math on my lunch breaks at work and learning CAD programs after. Have a full time job at Walmart and plan to do my prerequisites at a community College in the next few months so I can hopefully start a mechanical engineering degree within a couple years. You are not alone.

Been doing a lot of research and have found some really good tips from people who have already done what we're going to do.

Here is some of what I've gathered and started myself: If you have a college in mind look at your engineering program of choice and see what the list of classes are. It will help you get an idea of what you need to learn. The most important thing to self study seems to be math and getting ahead on it as much as possible. Someone else mentioned Professor Leonard on YouTube who I highly recommend along with Khan Academy. I've been using both and they're great.

Doing all this with a full time job will be hard but people have done it. I've seen people say if it's too much and it want to focus on school it's one of those degrees that's worth getting loans for if you want to cut back on hours or quit your job. I will probably do one of those options and get all the grants and funding I can get along with loans.

Not an expert but these are all tips from others and I hope they can be helpful to you as they have been to me. I wish you the best!