Mechanical Engineering Minor

Hello! I am a freshman mechanical engineering student and these past two semesters I completed 19 hr semesters (38 hrs) and I have college credit for all of my electives for my time in college so It seems like I will be taking 10`-14 hr semesters each term. So I decided that I should get a minor (or at least take classes that would give me some project experience so I became intersted in Project Management, Computer Science, and Game Design and Development.

Now, each would take the same amount of classes to complete and I happen to think that the Game design minor has the most interesting / familiar course work . But would jobs care about my minor? I ultimately want to be a design or product engineer and I was wondering if such an abnormal minor would look bad on my resume. Would people consider it similar to computer science ? (since it is a minor in the comp sci department) ?

Focus on becoming the best prepared engineer in the field you wish to work in. The degree requirements are just the minimum to get the degree. A computer science class or two would be of some help as computers are used everywhere in engineering.

When I was looking at applicants deciding who to hire, I’d always get a transcript. The title of the major or any minor was not important. It was the specific classes. The more classes in the area the job was for the better. Classes outside the field, beyond the usual required humanities classes, only would raise questions in my mind as to where you wanted your career to go. And that would make me less interested to hire you.

My son took 5 years to get his BS because of some class availability issues. He could have slacked off and taken a very reduced course load that last year. I told him to just take more classes, even some grad classes in his field. It was one of those extra classes that his employer stated was the class he was specifically looking for and the reason he got hired.

A minor can be a tough sell to an employer if it looks like you may not be interested in the job you are applying to. Something that adds breadth or depth to an ME degree would be an easier sell. Classes in computer science or materials for example. Of course, this assumed you actually want a job that would involve some aspects of those two subjects.

At the opposite end are classes that, IMHO, are just about broadening you as a person. I work with a guy (an engineer) with a music minor. He was in the school marching band for 4 years, and took a few jazz ensemble classes because he enjoyed it. Found out that a music theory class would give him a minor, so he took one. Granted, this won’t help with any technical work, but some employers will value such a thing in an employee. At the extreme, if an employer holds it against you, that’s not somewhere you want to work.

The tough one is anything along the lines of “management”, it can send a clear signal that you might not want to do engineering, and are already planning for your next job. If you do take some classes in an area such a project management, focus more on classes related to being a team member on a project, rather than the leader.

Would it be bad to say "Minor in Computer Science (Game development) " ? Is that technically true since the minor is though the computer science department?

Just because some recruiters may like to see that I can code, but they won’t ever ask for my transcript unless I mention it somewhere on my resume right?

I have had several companies ask me for transcripts.

You can:

  1. list languages you’re familiar with in a line under your education heading
  2. list a minor as you said earlier, though I would use the official name of the minor – “Minor in Game Development through the Dept of Computer Science,” or something
  3. have a relevant coursework section in which you list electives, coding courses, and other useful classes that wouldn’t normally be part of the “base package” of your major

Among other options. I only have experience in a couple of languages, so I use option 1.

I would ALWAYS get a transcript from a potential college hire. The title, meaning the major, at the top means nothing. It is the relevant courses and the grades in those courses that mean everything.

Besides, my HR department wouldn’t approve any college hire without seeing the transcript also; and needing the see that minimum GPA.

@HPuck35

Thats what I’m concerned about; I assumed that HR Recruiters weed out applications by things like GPA and major titles before even handing it to manager. (Since I hear they only spend 30-60 secs on each one)

You are correct as far as the big companies go. We had a 3.0 minimum GPA. Anything less and HR would purge it before it ever got to the hiring manager. If HR got too many resumes, they’d just up the GPA and purge.

This is not true for smaller companies.

Some people prefer working in smaller companies. I worked for most of my career in big aerospace and preferred that. I did work for a few years at a small, 30 person or so, company. It had it’s good times and some frustrations.

What seems to get lost in the discussion is that competition for the good jobs is just as intense, if not more so, than the competition to get into the best colleges. That is why I always say to make yourself the best prepared engineer you can while in college.