Can You Be An Engineer WITHOUT College?

I've been hearing of this more and more, I think most people that go down this route start out as a tech not really thinking of becoming an engineer and they eventually just do. But to an extent. You can learn a lot on the job but I imagine the top guys who have the final say are all professionals, no doubt when it comes to designing buildings and roads and bridges. If you've went down this path let me know below in the comments.

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[KBdotHAQ]

There were no engineering degrees up until the late 1800s. Large structures like bridges, buildings, castles, churches, temples & homes were built for most of human history by learning through apprenticeships. Some are still around. It's the elitist gatekeeping mentality for me...

[austindale]

Well done, video, and I agree with everything you said. This hits close to home as a Sr. electrical engineer without a degree. Yes, I'll explain. I studied and learned everything I could in electrical/ mechanical engineering for about 6 years on my own, researching all core curricula and buying the textbooks, and, yes, I did the work. I worked construction 8 hours a day, got home, and studied 4 hours every night for 6 years because I didn't have the money for college. I did have to shell out the money for a college course in CAD to get a student license to AutoCAD back in 2011, which really ignited my productivity. I loved what I was learning and just genuinely hated the sole-suck in the classroom. I designed and built everything I could, from CNCs, computers, and Tesla Coils; you name it. If it was geeky and technically complicated, I was obsessed with it. I spent every dollar I earned on the software, equipment, tools, and projects. Then I lucked out and landed a job as a mechanical engineer at an RV company, which I held for 5 years; I took classes at night when I could then lucked out again and landed a job as an electrical engineer at an EV startup and have moved into the Sr. Electrical engineer for the last 3.5 years. It has been extremely difficult to do this without a degree, but I have put in thousands of more hours over these 14.5 years to gain this knowledge I have, and that was only possible because I love electrical engineering, physics, and computer science at the very core of my being. Each employer placed me under much higher scrutiny, and it was a good thing that I had put in all the long nights. My ability to teach myself has been extremely valuable and has allowed me to crush other engineers' productivity on new complex problems. Again, I have put in 4 times more work than a four-year degree would provide, and I have spent much more money on my projects to learn EE skills than I would have spent on a degree at this point. Getting a foot in the door has been extremely difficult, and I recommend getting that degree. My situation is extremely rare and an unnatural blend of hard work and excellent luck! I am still going to school at night, but the classes are incredibly tedious and even more difficult at this point. You will likely be slapped in the face by the importance of the soft skills in the workplace that are buried in the hard skills in college. One of the pain points I did avoid was knowing what I was interested in before taking any classes, not plugging through a year of school to find out I wasn't interested in the field. I could write a book on this topic. To summarize this topic from my life experience, I want to get a degree. If you love engineering, nothing will stop you from learning however you can, but it will be almost impossible to do what you want at the company you want to be at. Would I consider a candidate's experience and passion projects grounds for hiring?.. Yes, but that's because I can recognize my own traits in others that have led to my success. Are you likely to be interviewed for an engineering job by me?.. Probably not. I wrote a lot here, but hopefully, this will provide first-hand input. Also, I am currently in college, nearing the completion of my BS EE. Regardless of my job title and experience, until I get that degree, I will not really call myself an electrical engineer.

[solidaritycast]

Just remember the most famous inventor in the world Nikola Tesla, never had a degree. He went to school for 1 year and lost all his money playing poker and dropped out. Then eventually got a job at Continental Edison where he obtained the technical knowledge and eventually started creating inventions. The rest is history. If you do not have a die hard attitude of I'm going to win no matter what and spend 16 hours a day trying to become the best you can do it but you gotta be a PROFESSIONAL every minute of the day. Plan Obtain then set a new goal and repeat.

[alexisidro]

Really interesting insight, Wissam. One time I ran into a marine engineer who didn't have the degree, but he had the title. He shared openly that the company wanted him there because of his experience, but in order to pay him what he wanted, the company gave him him the engineering title. He was probably in his 40s so definitely lots of experience in industry.

It seems there are tons of these cases out there. PE is now a whole different story!

[justindey]

My grandpa was at a company designing parts and equipment for tire testing for ~45 years and retired just before covid. He never got a degree and he has been interested in CAD since the 80s. I start school in a month for a degree in mechanical engineering and can't wait.

[Ty-smcv]

I worked as an electro-mechanical technician in an electrical engineering lab, We make medical robots, and I am currently on track to have 3 parts of my own design inside our robot. On paper I technically only have a GED, though I what I lack in official credentials I make up for with experience and the ability to pickup new concepts quickly. I'm moderately experienced in PCB layout/schematic capture inside of Altium, and I can do enough CAD modeling to satisfy the needs of our EEs. The engineers respect my input and we all frequently have lengthy discussions about how to approach certain design problems.

I don't think a degree is a great indicator of skills or knowledge, our head EE has been conducting lots of interviews and he's very disappointed with the knowledge base of the graduates that are coming through... I think it's possible to make your way through an engineering degree without actually being capable of doing the job (after all, you are paying the school tens of thousands of dollars a semester... as the old saying goes "D's get degrees"). Where I DO fall short is in the math department, I'm not yet at the point where I fully understand the more complicated equations and calculations involved in some aspect of electrical engineering, though I am working towards it.

[Gabriel-ypnn]

In my point of view, the best thing is to have balance between technical experience and a good level of school education, technical experience to be able to do its function well during the work and good school education to have the necessary background to solve more complex problems that may appear, and this is what people should look for during the years they spend in college.

[diego_d]

Did 2 years of electrical and said fuck that. Instead I got my certification for structural welding, precision manufacturing and mechatronics. I have 5 years of cad and 3 years of cam. On paper I'm not a engineer but to the customer I am

[zeyad]

If someone has enough experience and is exponentially good at what he does then absolutely.

[vincentdavis]

I started as a tech and worked my way up to lab administrator at a cannabis company. Now that the regulations are in you need a degree. Funny how I could do it without the degree just fine. Well now I'm two years into my ME degree to get a job I already had. I hope the experience I have gives me a boost.

[jacksonstone]

I think being self taught shows more responsibility than being cranked through a conveyor belt

[zakm]

Since engineering curriculums are so broad yes I think it is possible to work up and specialize in a certain field but you won't understand or know how to problem solve in some cases. You know someone who has a degree is capable and has a better understanding of the basics compared to someone who doesn't. You won't get an engineering job right away without the degree or extensive online or hands on learning. As many have said that could take 10 years to get promoted and then at the end of the day you are so invested in that particular company or specialty that you are going to be stuck if anything happens. And knowing the fundamentals of why and how things are done is very important to knowing if your job is done right. Especially with cutting edge design you are better off with a better background that a degree will offer. Bottom line you can learn on the job but you won't have a grasp on the fundamentals and know why you are doing what you do. I don't think you can learn as much in the time it takes to get a degree to make it worth it unless you are a specialist in a certain field and never plan to change careers

[cardoondemand]

I know you can ! I met a guy who was doing mechanical engineering without a degree

[N.Biddle]

I am a recent graduate from a very good ABET accredited Engineer Technology program. So I do not have an engineering degree. This made it tough (at first) to have employers take me seriously as an engineer.


Eventually I was able to show my experience and practical skills and got several good job offers. Now I’m at my first job as an engineer at Boeing (who rejected me countless times). What I learned is that you have to be persistent and know how to show off your skills.

I am also going to go back for my masters in engineer or engineering management or interdisciplinary engineering. I have already found programs that would accept a technical degree with the right training. In the end I would recommend to do what makes you happy and you can always supplement your knowledge or change paths later down the road if you want to.

[diego_d]

I want to go back and get my degree but I've learned more in the past 2 years at my current job then I did in my 5 years of college/technical schooling. I also have the ability to design machine wire and program. I'm a jack of all trades but master of none

[mwanikimwaniki]

This is an interesting perspective. 3:06 Glitch? Or censorship? I remember you were working in an aerospace startup... No?

[pieterwillembotha]

short answer: yes

there, i saved you some time

[thebigmugamba]

Great video. My philosophy is when hiring without an engineering degree, encourage them to work towards a graduate engineering degree. Plenty of distance programs nowadays. There are lots of NE's who started out as tech. No degree at all is a pretty much deal-beaker in the nuclear though. If a tech expresses interest, they generally need to get a BS first with at least one year of calc. Totally do-able part-time while working now. Also helps if your company provides tuition assistance.

[danieldickerson]

In Sydney as far as I'm aware, you need to complete an internship as part of your degree. So I'm kinda surprised this isn't the case elsewhere. Although this does make it competitive to get an internship.

[romanwright]

I think you made good points. Maybe my story might help with some more input on the topic.

I went from welder to Robotics Tech to Automation engineer. I started off In Business school did 2 years right after high school and then decided to take welding courses the college offered. Became certified I a few styles of welding practices and got a job as a welder for a large crane manufacturer. From there gain very good fabrication and rigging experience.

This moved me into Robotic welding and started as welder/ operator on the robots. Shortly after I become Robotics technician. This was the real catalyst into trouble shooting and becoming more technical.

I then moved into robotics supervisor and design. It was here that I had multiple high level engineers mentor me in engineering design and disciplines.

I became proficient in Creo, Solid Works, and Auto Cad as my engineering tools. This is so very important to learn and become good at if you want any chance at becoming an engineer without a degree. However, I did go back to school for calculus classes and advanced 3D modeling and certain engineering focused classes. I will never stop learning and improving. It just is I have kept myself out of school loan debt and I have gained the engineering fundamentals without going deep into debt.

I then was fortunate to have a senior Electrical Engineer and Mechanical Engineer hire me as an Automation Engineer for the company. I was given the title but because I don’t have a diploma I do make around 20k less than average 5 year engineers.

I now design coil winding equipment and large industrial curing and burn off ovens for electric motors and transformers. I design the complete mechanical component and electrical controls as well as fab drawing and electrical schematics. My robotics experience is also being used in our CNC applications. Where I do most of the programming for our PLC controls.

All this to say, yes you can become and engineer without a degree. But, I wouldn’t expect it without any sort of education or continuing education.

Also professional engineers are a totally different thing. I work with 5 other degreed engineers and none of them could even come close to passing the exam’s. As well they all have told me they Barely remember anything from college courses. Believe me a huge percentage of engineers use google to search formulas to help solve the math application. So to say they know where to start because of fundamentals is correct. But, it is not complete because all it takes now is typing your application and so much information comes up on how to do the more complicated math.

Hope this helps you or others😁