ufctapout

I'm wondering what kind of employment prospects you have with either of those degrees and what you guys would consider to be the better degree (or at least the differences between them). I know there's alot of engineering students on here. I was going to teach, so I'm about to finish my Associate's in Social Science, but I'd rather make decent money and Engineering interests me so I'm thinking of changing majors.

Or I might just be retarded and there's no difference. Please enlighten me. Thanks!

droptoprx7

it should have something about it on there page

odu_integra

I'm kind of wondering the same, haha! I'm in industrial technologies at ODU. My advisor said that it was just a watered down version of an engineering degree.

VeeArSix

When I was going to school (1998-2002), the main difference was that the technology didn't have the higher level math classes. I have no idea how they do it now.

RandomTask

Thats correct. Mechanical Engineers vs Mechanical Engineering and Technology, I think MET's stop at Calc II where as ME's go through differential equations and thermo. haven't heard of a place that wouldn't take an MET but would an ME but I would imagine some positions being only for the ladder. The larger difference is an MET graduate is technically an Engineering tech where as someone with their BSME is an engineer. Over all, ME jobs are a more 'theory' and innovating where as MET's do more implimenting. Pay wise, MET's start off making a little less (2-3k) per year than ME. Over time, they'll stay even.

Edit;

This will help;

http://www.asme.org/Communities/Stud..._Path_Take.cfm

MABAGAL

yea im doing the same thing with the electrical engineering technology. The difference like stated above is that the actually engineering class take a higher level math. employment prospects would be probably be the same, but with any degrees ending with technology the job might be more hands on.

Silverbullet86

It is like the analogy of Computer Science to Applied Computer Science or Mathematics VS Applied Mathematics. One is more theory based and is for "deriving new technolgies", while one is application based and is implementing existing technologies. The biggest thing that MET cuts students short is graduate school. They require a couple filler math courses to get into Graduate ME or AE if your looking to do so.

MET program has 2 Thermo classes, and a power and energy lab. There are also 5-6 other thermo related electives. Prepare to be rapped if you take those though. Dr. Mohielden is probably one of the most challenging professors at the school and hardest to understand if you can't understand fast talking Indians.

BSET graduates are engineers. That is a misconception.

Dr Dean said the statics from the school shows the MET grads from ODU on average make $1,000 less per year, so there are some grads that make a little less, and some that make the same or more.

Some companies prefer to hire MET students over ME due to the fact that the material covered in MET is more practical engineering. MET is 75% practical applications and 25% theory, VS ME is 75% theory and 25% application. There are senior courses that will have a mix of ME, MET and graduate AE students, so there isn't any short of material covered in either programs.

In the grand scheme of things, once you take the FE and become EIT in VA, its all the same.

Fabrik8

I've been in the electronics industry for over a decade, and in my experience the EETech guys do a lot of board layout and standard circuit design, packaging, stuff like that, and the EE guys do most of the full-on design work and problem solving, DSP design, etc. So I guess you could say that the EEs do the high level design parts, and throw it over the fence to the EETechs to flesh out the rest of it. This has a lot to do with company size though; at smaller companies the roles are a lot more blurred. At smaller companies the salaries are closer also, which goes along with the blurred roles.

You generally aren't going to be fighting for the same jobs until you're a ways down the road in your career. Believe it or not, that piece of paper for an engineering degree (as opposed to a eng technology degree) is worth quite a bit. Basically though, with enough years of experience in the same areas and job requirements, you'll eventually be doing the same things.
Generally the eng tech degrees are geared toward more hands on type jobs, (like someone already said) and lower level engineering positions. This all depends on what you want to do and where you want to go though, and the type of company you work for. Large companies often are very degree critical and won't even consider you unless you have a MechE/ElecE degree for many positions. I think a lot of that is familiarity with the fairly universal ME/EE programs; the curriculum for EngTech seems to vary a lot from school to school, and it's probably a lot more hit or miss.

Don't underestimate the power of math either. I'm horrible at math and I have to work my ass of to do it, but I also realize that most higher level engineering principles are rooted in math, so it's very hard to do much high level engineering without it.

I would think really hard about where you (the OP) want to go in your career, and then think about whether the extra education will help you get there. The way I see it, you're in school already, and if you think you may need it, it's a convenient time to keep rolling and get the rest knocked out.

Really though, all of this depends on the particular job. Some are much better suited for MET/EET, some for ME/EE. It doesn't matter how much theory you have if you can't do the practical implementation if needed, and it doesn't matter how good you are at implementation if you don't have the theory you may need.

Fabrik8

Are you sure about that?
I thought they were actually engineering technicians, and can't really be called an engineer without the proper degree and passing the FE?

ufctapout

If someone wants to be real cool (and you're working in the field), could you describe an "average" day. I realize there may not be an average day. But a brief overview would be awesome. And thanks a million for the info so far!