3 ms·

Why can't this exist for traditional engineering? Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, etc.

kyawzazaw 5y ago
Materials
wheelinsupial 5y ago
It kind of does, but what would be the purpose? In many countries you can’t work as a traditional engineer without the license. To get the license you need to complete the degree, and then do the apprenticeship and exams. Yes, some exceptions exist, but those are the minority, and they still require formal schooling. For example, [0] outlines requirements for a bridging pilot program in BC, Canada. To be eligible you are required to have a diploma of technology as the minimum level of education. That’s 2 years of study in BC. You’ll still need to learn the remaining 2 years of the engineering curriculum on your own and you’ll need to demonstrate equivalent mastery. MIT OCW has a lot of material available for the traditional engineering curricula with guides [1]. The licensing body in your region may publish curricula that include example textbooks to acquire the material from. See [2], for example. However, there are some limitations to what you can learn without having access to the labs. You can learn the mechanics, physics, programming, math calculation as an individual, but that’s not the only thing being taught. With maker spaces it might be possible to learn some of the manufacturing process courses on your own. Much of traditional engineering involves looking up details in the specifications and standards documents and “connecting the plumbing” so to speak. There are engineers who are “catalogue engineers” and others who are “spreadsheet engineers”. There is very little “rolling your own” like in software. But again, why? If it’s for personal education, then the material is out there as I hope I’ve been able to show. But if it’s for professional practice, then going through a formal program of some kind is probably required. [0] https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-to-Apply/Bridging-Pilot-Program https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-... [1] https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mit-curriculum-guide/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mit-curriculum-guide/ [2] https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-to-Apply/Examinations-Seminars/Academic-Examinations/Engineering-Syllabus https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-...
nonameiguess 5y ago
Aside from the fact you generally need licenses to practice these professions, an additional challenge is you need lab equipment that may be expensive, regulated, or dangerous to acquire, to actually practice doing anything. I can't see any practical way to self-practice civil engineering in particular. Nobody is going to let you build a test bridge. Universities provide lab facilities for you to do this kind of thing. CS is the outlier because the only lab equipment you need is a used laptop or a Raspberry Pi and Internet access. Granted, computational engineering where you can just simulate the lab has come a long way, but even there, you generally need a lot of compute power if you don't want your simulation of a bridge to take 3 months to run.

Materials

It kind of does, but what would be the purpose? In many countries you can’t work as a traditional engineer without the license. To get the license you need to complete the degree, and then do the apprenticeship and exams. Yes, some exceptions exist, but those are the minority, and they still require formal schooling. For example, [0] outlines requirements for a bridging pilot program in BC, Canada. To be eligible you are required to have a diploma of technology as the minimum level of education. That’s 2 years of study in BC. You’ll still need to learn the remaining 2 years of the engineering curriculum on your own and you’ll need to demonstrate equivalent mastery. MIT OCW has a lot of material available for the traditional engineering curricula with guides [1]. The licensing body in your region may publish curricula that include example textbooks to acquire the material from. See [2], for example. However, there are some limitations to what you can learn without having access to the labs. You can learn the mechanics, physics, programming, math calculation as an individual, but that’s not the only thing being taught. With maker spaces it might be possible to learn some of the manufacturing process courses on your own. Much of traditional engineering involves looking up details in the specifications and standards documents and “connecting the plumbing” so to speak. There are engineers who are “catalogue engineers” and others who are “spreadsheet engineers”. There is very little “rolling your own” like in software. But again, why? If it’s for personal education, then the material is out there as I hope I’ve been able to show. But if it’s for professional practice, then going through a formal program of some kind is probably required. [0] https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-to-Apply/Bridging-Pilot-Program https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-... [1] https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mit-curriculum-guide/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mit-curriculum-guide/ [2] https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-to-Apply/Examinations-Seminars/Academic-Examinations/Engineering-Syllabus https://www.egbc.ca/Registration/Individual-Registrants/How-...

nonameiguess 5y ago

Aside from the fact you generally need licenses to practice these professions, an additional challenge is you need lab equipment that may be expensive, regulated, or dangerous to acquire, to actually practice doing anything. I can't see any practical way to self-practice civil engineering in particular. Nobody is going to let you build a test bridge. Universities provide lab facilities for you to do this kind of thing. CS is the outlier because the only lab equipment you need is a used laptop or a Raspberry Pi and Internet access. Granted, computational engineering where you can just simulate the lab has come a long way, but even there, you generally need a lot of compute power if you don't want your simulation of a bridge to take 3 months to run.