<p>I've heard it time and time again that you don't actually use what you were taught in class in an engineering job. And that the school just teaches you to "think like and engineer" and the company will teach you everything you need to know. The only time you will ever see what you learned again is if you obtain a R&D position which most require a Masters degree. For those of you that have had experience with real engineering jobs could you please provide your input into this topic. Did you actually use the math and concepts in your job? </p>
<p>I'm wondering this because it seems like my coursework is mainly math and solving equations. Alot of students don't even understand what's going on conceptually but can still get A's because they can determine which equations to use. Alot of my conceptual understanding comes from looking things up on wikipedia. It seems like all of the calculations we do on exams could easily be solved in the real world with matlab or another simulation tool.</p>
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<p>This is the real issue. I didn’t run into a lot of stuff that wasn’t solvable on matlab until I hit grad school. Yes, a lot of that stuff is already programmed into various programs, but the schools teach it to you because, while it isn’t necessarily imperative that you be able to sit down and carry out the computations by hand in a BS-level engineering job, it is necessary that you know the underlying physical processes and at least some of the mathematical foundations so that you know what you are doing when you run said computer programs.</p>
<p>The problem with a lot of engineering equations is that they make a lot of assumptions in order to simplify them. When you do this, you end up simplifing the real system, and this can be costly and even deadly. So, while your xCAD or xLAB program may tell you what you want to know you should definitly make sure that the assumptions it is using are acceptable.</p>
<p>As for using what you are taught: IMO, it’s more important to know where you can find the answer than it is to have the answer in your head. It’s also important to understand the relationships of different parameters. Other than that you will learn their system and apply your engineering education (theory) to that system. It will be different where ever you go, but the thought process will generally be the same.</p>
<p>So, I use the concepts more than the math. I do set up spreadsheets to do a lot of my calcs and a tweek them as my assumptions change and as I understand how well they represent reality. I’ve gone from process improvement to design and now development, and my use of the math/equations has increased. Process Engineering will be more intuition and getting an understanding of the principals/concepts whereas design and R&D will use more of the math.</p>