I'm a first grade teacher and I'm interested in becoming an engineer

July 10, 2017 9:20 PM

I'm a first grade teacher and I'm interested in becoming an engineer. Is there a career path for this?

I am a happily employed public school teacher who has been in the system for a while and am thinking about a change. I want to do something totally different when I get out. My bachelor's degree is in Classics and my Master's degree is in Elementary Teaching. Both are from very good universities. I wanted to see what viable paths there might be to pursuing a career in engineering. I'm interested in mechanical engineering. Most of my college classes were humanities based. Are there post bacc programs in this or an avenue into this field for career changing people? I live in North Carolina so if anything based in the southeast or NC is especially relevant.

posted by mermily to Work & Money (10 answers total)

Is there a career path for this?

No, there isn't. Some graduate programs will accept students from other STEM disciplines, but there is no legitimate graduate engineering program that I'm aware of that'd accept a student with a background like yours. Further, no legitimate employer would hire you without some form of engineering degree or experience.

I realize this isn't the answer you're looking for, but it's likely you'll have to get a second bachelor's to do what you want to do.
posted by saeculorum at 9:38 PM on July 10, 2017

I recall at least 3 people in my engineering school cohort who were in a similar situation to you (an english teacher, piano teacher and music journalist, at least two of whom had graduate degrees IIRC). All 3 of them went back to do a full 4-year bachelor's program (actually 5 including co-op - I would assume they didn't have to do any more arts/humanities requirements, but there honestly weren't that many of those). On the bright side, their extra "life experience" made them far more attractive candidates for internships over us snot-nosed 20-year-olds, and good internships basically dictate your employability after graduation. AFAIK all three are now happily employed as engineers.
posted by btfreek at 9:48 PM on July 10, 2017

There are other related careers involved in mechanical engineering; draftsman, machinists, project managers, etc. But if you want to be a Mechanical Engineer PE, you will need the degree. Then your choices are BS or MS.

Advantages of the MS is a better starting point for competing but you'll need to take most of the undergraduate courses first anyway. As a teacher, you have summers off and could start taking those undergraduate courses now; however, many higher-level courses are only offered one semester fall or spring and will likely have to be at the degree-granting school.

I wonder why you think this field is for you. What appeals to you? What brings this up now? Were you ever exposed to mathematics before, and, if so, how did you take to it? (There's a lot of math)

I'd have to say one of the fields that work with mechanical engineers is probably more your interest.
posted by flimflam at 9:53 PM on July 10, 2017

But I don't know -- I don't know you. Maybe in four years you'll be ME PE. It's possible.
posted by flimflam at 9:55 PM on July 10, 2017

The only real path is to go back to school as a mature student to do a full bachelor's of mechanical engineering. How's your math? You might want to think about doing on online calculus course to see if you're able to handle it. It's not necessarily a big deal, but doing calculus is one of those things that comes easier to some people than others. All engineering programs are basically 4 years of applied calculus so if you feel comfortable doing that all it takes is time and money.

Most undergrad engineering programs are full-time - there are few part-time undergrad programs. I found that University of North Dakota has a distance-ed mech eng program and there may be others. Do you think you'd go back full time or would you want to do this while you work?
posted by GuyZero at 10:47 PM on July 10, 2017

> Is there a career path for this?

No, there isn't. Some graduate programs will accept students from other STEM disciplines, but there is no legitimate graduate engineering program that I'm aware of that'd accept a student with a background like yours. Further, no legitimate employer would hire you without some form of engineering degree or experience.

It's very rare but I know of at least one person who has done it.

One of my very good friends while I was in the engineering program at the University of Michigan was a woman who came to U of M as an English Literature grad student, following up on her undergrad degree. It took a lot of convincing and she needed to go back and cover some crucial parts of the undergrad curriculum, but she eventually talked her way into being allowed to change her grad school program and ultimately graduated with a Computer Science Ph. D. She was a pretty exceptional person and even then it wasn't easy but it's not impossible.

I think even then she only managed it because she was already admitted to a grad program at the university and was able to demonstrate success in classes in the program she decided to switch to. It's probably true that the odds against being admitted to do what you want are prohibitive.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:09 AM on July 11, 2017

Maybe in four years you'll be ME PE. It's possible.

That depends on the state licensing rules. Illinois strictly requires an accredited undergraduate degree in a field of engineering to even sit for the PE exam. My boss, with 15+ years of engineering experience at the time had trouble sitting for the exam because his undergrad was from the UK and he had trouble proving accreditation to the liking of the Board.

Of course, unless you're getting into a field like Civil or a limited other number of fields the value of a PE is questionable regardless.

But to the question, despite the fact that you'll rarely use them in the real world, all undergraduate engineering degrees are chock full of calculus and physics that would almost certainly be required for acceptance into a graduate program. You would almost certainly need to get another undergrad degree, but at least your humanities would transfer over.
posted by hwyengr at 8:52 AM on July 11, 2017

I'm not sure why people think there isn't a career path for this. The LEAP program at Boston University is precisely a career changer program for people without an undergraduate degree in engineering to become engineers.
posted by Jahaza at 9:49 AM on July 11, 2017

Based on personal experience this is entirely possible. My original undergraduate education was in film production, a solidly artsy fartsy major, despite some of its technical aspects. I worked a series of crappy jobs for a decade and eventually went back to school. I was able to transfer into an undergraduate program in physics. I was able to transfer most of my units from my previous undergrad and only had to take the science and math courses to graduate. I did it in two years and graduated summa cum laude. I now work for NASA as an engineer and am getting my masters degree in applied physics, which seems to be the bastard child of physics and engineering. So, my situation was not exactly like yours, but it's definitely possible.
posted by runcibleshaw at 5:57 PM on July 11, 2017

I did humanities for my degree and then decided I wanted to do a STEM career. There is really no getting out of doing all that math and science that undergrads have to take because you really need them. You are going to really need all that calculus and probably all that physics and chemistry, too. And you have to take them in sequence. Applied science degrees are pretty much four years of classes you need that have to be taken in sequence without a lot of futzing around.

It's been hard being over 10 years older than anyone else in the classroom, having obligations they don't, and having to start over when all my friends are coasting through their 40's. It has sometimes seemed like climbing a mountain that was growing underneath me. But guess what, I am crushing it and looking forward to the future. Even though I am graduating at about age 45, age 45 was coming for me anyways. Now I will see it with a new and exciting career. You may be able to spend some time in undergrad getting the stuff you have to have and then turning it into a graduate degree but, for now, hit your community college and figure out where you are in math and start working towards calculus III. If I can do it, you can do it!
posted by Foam Pants at 10:56 PM on July 12, 2017