Engineering Technology Degrees..........
- Thread starter mustangmike6996
- Start date
mustangmike6996
Club Member
I am waiting to hear back officially but right now it is looking like 70 or so to do the ET based on what I currently have completed. Which could get me in the door twice as fast as waiting to finish the 138 Cr Hrs for an EE or ME. Then once I am in I can finish the EE/ME degree and advance, not worry about hiring in. I figure that this route would put me a couple years ahead of schedule then I could complete 1-2 eng degree courses a semester at my leisure
I would eventually need about 50 more or so to finish the EE/ME degree.
wrath
Club Member
In the not so distant past I worked at a university and was responsible for the "technology" labs as well as the Electrical Engineering labs. ABET certification was a lot of fun. I would not consider going anywhere that isn't ABET certified.
I can tell you ABET is the way to go in the midwest because everyone has heard of it. Next most important is where you get your ABET degree from. In Michigan, it's largely University of Michigan, Michigan State, Kettering, and Michigan Tech that rule the roost. I would second think CMU, EMU, WMU, OU, WSU, etc for the one who gives you that expensive piece of paper if you are getting any kind of Enginerding degree.
Degrees, especially difficult to obtain ones, are largely used to weed people out. What it takes to get a OU enginerding degree is laughable compared to Umich. The same goes for what it takes to get a Spring Arbor Degree Mill University degree in CIS vs EMU. It's about perseverance much of the time. If you can survive a lot of hard classes and see it through to the end... you're probably less likely to sit in your desk at work all day watching cat videos.
Half the people that report to me have no degrees. A couple of them have degrees in unrelated worthless fields if you work in a STEM environment (say, Psychology). I look at work history first anyway. If you switch jobs every two years or less I'm not going to look at you too hard because I'm not interested in spending 1.5 years to make you a net positive just so you can use that training to get your next job six months after I make you accountable for something.
If you're just looking to fill a checkbox, call up Spring Arbor, Lawrence Tech, Kaplan, etc and they'll be happy to take your money and let you plagiarize a few papers so you can fill the checkbox.
I can tell you ABET is the way to go in the midwest because everyone has heard of it. Next most important is where you get your ABET degree from. In Michigan, it's largely University of Michigan, Michigan State, Kettering, and Michigan Tech that rule the roost. I would second think CMU, EMU, WMU, OU, WSU, etc for the one who gives you that expensive piece of paper if you are getting any kind of Enginerding degree.
Degrees, especially difficult to obtain ones, are largely used to weed people out. What it takes to get a OU enginerding degree is laughable compared to Umich. The same goes for what it takes to get a Spring Arbor Degree Mill University degree in CIS vs EMU. It's about perseverance much of the time. If you can survive a lot of hard classes and see it through to the end... you're probably less likely to sit in your desk at work all day watching cat videos.
Half the people that report to me have no degrees. A couple of them have degrees in unrelated worthless fields if you work in a STEM environment (say, Psychology). I look at work history first anyway. If you switch jobs every two years or less I'm not going to look at you too hard because I'm not interested in spending 1.5 years to make you a net positive just so you can use that training to get your next job six months after I make you accountable for something.
If you're just looking to fill a checkbox, call up Spring Arbor, Lawrence Tech, Kaplan, etc and they'll be happy to take your money and let you plagiarize a few papers so you can fill the checkbox.
Overboost
Forum Member
I wouldn't discount WSU or WMU in that argument. Both have a number of ABET accredited engineering degrees and have strong followings in local industries. I know several classmates who had no trouble finding a job at a Tier 1 or OEM after school. WMU has a business park in front of its engineering college, and has heavy ties from Battle Creek to Grand Rapids. For comparison, many of the courses at both schools I mentioned are very similar to what U of M Dearborn offers. In the end, the degree AND decent experience will land you the job. The piece of paper opens the door, and employment history keeps it open. The difference between a BSEE and an EET degree will be how far you want to move up down the road.
mustangmike6996
Club Member
That's kind of what I was wondering. How far does the EET take you? Are you stuck in a 40k per year job/career? Im fine not being a head hancho engineer. Id much rather spend time doing the lab work. From this thread and some of the PMs I have received, it seems to vary by a pretty good amount, depending on where you are working or what kind of team system/HR you are dealing with.
The more and more I evaluate my day-to-day life and how to fit school back in with a full time job and family, the less optimistic I am about pursuing a BSEE/BSME degree. It would take me roughly 7 years to complete ether of those degrees based on a 50 hr work week and 6 credit hrs/semester-3 semesters a year.... That will put me at 36 years old by the time I graduated lol
wrath
Club Member
The degree gets you past HR. Your knowledge, drive, and talent get you paid. One of my employees with no degree makes more money than another with a BS.
Where you get your degree gets you past your competition, especially if you happen to have gone to school where a bunch of other people higher on the food chain went.
Survival of UMich's BSEE program is not guaranteed for even the most dedicated student. You'll probably be fine if you show up semi-sober to finals CMU's BSEE program.
At 36 years old with a BSEE it is fairly easy to have a six figure salary. BSEET... might get to six figure salary in year 2025... when a six figure salary today is worth about $50k. One nice thing about Technology degrees is that you are often hourly so you can earn overtime...
I graduated college with a BSEE a decade ago. A bunch of my friends ended up with EET or MET degrees. They all make $60-70k a year now. I exceeded that like 7 years ago. One does make about $85k (not sure if he's telling the truth, I think he actually makes more) but he works all the overtime he can get and he's a brilliant EET.
Where you get your degree gets you past your competition, especially if you happen to have gone to school where a bunch of other people higher on the food chain went.
Survival of UMich's BSEE program is not guaranteed for even the most dedicated student. You'll probably be fine if you show up semi-sober to finals CMU's BSEE program.
At 36 years old with a BSEE it is fairly easy to have a six figure salary. BSEET... might get to six figure salary in year 2025... when a six figure salary today is worth about $50k. One nice thing about Technology degrees is that you are often hourly so you can earn overtime...
I graduated college with a BSEE a decade ago. A bunch of my friends ended up with EET or MET degrees. They all make $60-70k a year now. I exceeded that like 7 years ago. One does make about $85k (not sure if he's telling the truth, I think he actually makes more) but he works all the overtime he can get and he's a brilliant EET.
SVTSINR
Club Member
Maybe I'm confused with CAD designer pay but my buddy just got offered a direct position in body sheet metal at GM with an associate for $80k.
Even with an BSET degree, I wouldn't settle for less then 70k starting off. Might as well work on the line putting 60 screws an hour without the headaches if that was the case.
FWIW, Ford is starting 22 year old kids at 70k with a BSME.
Even with an BSET degree, I wouldn't settle for less then 70k starting off. Might as well work on the line putting 60 screws an hour without the headaches if that was the case.
FWIW, Ford is starting 22 year old kids at 70k with a BSME.
Last edited:
mustangmike6996
Club Member
The Engineering Technology degree?
What department or type of work did/do you (and he) do
raroz28
Forum Member
we are analysts who work between engineering/suppliers.
All I can say is degrees are over rated. I have ford supervisors who have linguistic degrees.
There are engineers, and then there is everybody else. engineers need engineering degrees, everybody else just needs the right friend.
mustangmike6996
Club Member
Yes that seems to hold more truth than the majority of advice lol.
Granted like mentioned above, the degree will get you looked at and experience/common sense-know how gets you further in the career, sometimes networking is really where its at
raroz28
Forum Member
depends on the place i would imagine. I can only speak for what I see where I work.
Droptoplt1ta
Forum Member
I have worked for all 3 of the big 3 (currently GM). I have 2 Associates degrees, 1 of them is in Automotive Science. I graduated the GM ASEP program. I have 14 years experience and am working on completing my Bachelors. If anybody can get me a job making 70k or more with my above credentials, please let me know. Thanks!
adidasvette16
Forum Member
As I am in the same boat as mustangmike, like almost exactly minus the GI, this is quite the interesting thread. I really hope everyone updates this as they proceed in whatever path or field that they choose. Its decision making time for me too.
Last edited:
mustangmike6996
Club Member
I am actually very surprised. I figured I was going to mainly hear one side or the other. Its been back and forth. I can kind of tell who has what type of job role or what degree based on some of these responses. I figured, this is the best place to get real world advice seeing as the vast majority of us work with or for a Big 3 company or supplier.
greatwhiteLSC
Forum Member
I'm in the same boat as well. I have an associate degree in applied science from UNOH as well. I was leaning towards getting a BSME, but haven't looked much into it or other options. I recently was approved for assistance through the VA from my father serving in Vietnam. Definitely watching this thread. Everyone's input is appreciated.
mustangmike6996
Club Member
If you plan on going to transfer those UNOH credits to a school, be very careful. Most do not entirely compute. That is why I had to retake so many courses. I started UNOH and then went to FSU. For example, my 4 cr hr science course translated to 3.33 and I needed to take a lab... which meant I needed to retake a whole 4 credit hour class (at $225/Cr hr)
adidasvette16
Forum Member
Apparently half of Motown went to UNOH. lol But this ^ is what I was worried about. Transferring credits from a completed degree, I was hoping would be easier. Looks like I'm going to have to start digging into what I already have is worth.
mustangmike6996
Club Member
I am the first one in my family to have completed a degree program so there was little to no guidance other than the advisors (which is usually a joke anyway) I was under the assumption that a 2 yr (AAS) degree was the first step and a 4 yr (BS) was the second... Apparently that's not exactly correct. So you miss out on a lot of gen ed courses and your degrees core classes aren't counted to a 4 yr program unless its considered an acceptable elective. Not sure if you read that I tried to transfer 159 cr hrs to OU for the BSME and they only offered to cover me for 3 total cr hrs. They accepted my English 200 for a composition course. You will have to degree shop and see what advisors will do for you. Sometimes you have to bug them and they might have a little wiggle room to get your completed courses to transfer into something relevant or you can test out of gen ed courses as well.
I would be surprised if as many people didn't go to UNOH. At the time I went, they offered the "same" training as UTI but for less money and it was closer to home. I wish I had done UTI and the MB program and transferred to FSU to complete my degree. Instead, I couldn't stand the hillbilly bullsh!t at UNOH so I left. I did complete most of my T-TEN coursework and it helped me get into Lexus as well.
