Educate me on education

GuyMcMan · February 2015

I'm having a very hard time finding a university that offers a fully online associates degree in Engineering Technology, which I can also take part-time (1-2 classes at a time). I work full time and have a family, so I need to find something that I can take at a slow pace. Alternatively I could do classes at a local school, but I haven't found any near Boulder CO. Maybe my Google skills are weak? Anything advice you can give would be appreciated.

Creagan · February 2015

I'd say really the best way to do this is to systematically create a list of all the colleges/universities in your area, and then check each one for the kind of degree you want. Then check if you can obtain the degree online. Pick a school from whichever ones remain on the list.

I mean, that's basically how your average college/grad school search works, regardless of how oddly specific your chosen field is. You really have to do some digging just to find a place you're interested in. It's boring, and it sucks, but this isn't something you can just plug into Google and come back with exactly what you're looking for.

Enc · February 2015

Typically you wont find many reputible STEM programs offered entirely online as most engineering disciplines require fairly extensive labwork using either hard to aquire equipment or materials or very expensive software that is prohibitively expensive to get a liscense for.

GuyMcMan · February 2015

Thanks everyone!

kaliyama · March 2015

What exactly are you trying to learn how to do? Do you want to transfer to a four year college? "Engineering Technology" sounds like a made-up degree from some for profit degree mill.

DevoutlyApathetic · March 2015

kaliyama wrote: »

What exactly are you trying to learn how to do? Do you want to transfer to a four year college? "Engineering Technology" sounds like a made-up degree from some for profit degree mill.

ABET disagrees with you. They're basically the major accreditor for those kinds of degrees in the US.

A page that talks about the differences between the two.

Enc · March 2015

Yeah, Engineering Technology is the same sort of degree as General Business. It's going to survey a wide range of engineering professions, probably get your foot in the door at the entry level, then cap out on advancement and require years of in field experience or continuing education for advancement. The pro is that it typically has a broader range of topics than a more specific fireld of engineering, but the con is that you have a fairly shallow pool of experience.

If you don't really know what specific kind of engineering you want to do and have a really strong and diverse engineering economy in your target area (and/or have some solid contacts in field to help you get work), it could be a good pick. In most cases, you will always find greater job security in a specific field of engineering or computer science as (like business) there are never a shortage of specialists applying for the same work and being generalized in STEM fields isn't often* a plus.

*It certainly can be, and entire fields exist as such, but as a general trend specialization means more reliable work unless your field is flooded in your local market.

Edit: See Usagi's post below.

Usagi · March 2015

Actually, Enc, no. There are Engineering Technology curruicula for various and sundry fields in engineering, and you'd get specific coursework for that field.

The major difference is the level of math required for an Eng Tech degree is way lower than a BSE, but there's a lot of overlap in duties between a degreed engineer and a technician/technologist. As the latter you'll more typically end up in hands-on type fields (service, sales, installation, testing, etc.) rather than system/component design, but there's a lot of opportunity for crossover with the right experience.

(I say this having spent about three quarters of my day with a mechanical eng tech that's working as a service rep for CAT)

Enc · March 2015

Usagi wrote: »

Actually, Enc, no. There are Engineering Technology curruicula for various and sundry fields in engineering, and you'd get specific coursework for that field.

The major difference is the level of math required for an Eng Tech degree is way lower than a BSE, but there's a lot of overlap in duties between a degreed engineer and a technician/technologist. As the latter you'll more typically end up in hands-on type fields (service, sales, installation, testing, etc.) rather than system/component design, but there's a lot of opportunity for crossover with the right experience.

(I say this having spent about three quarters of my day with a mechanical eng tech that's working as a service rep for CAT)

My institution's catalog is a bit different than that (we describe it as a generalist engineering path), but I work in the Bio-Chem side of STEM fields so I don't often play with the curricula in other colleges. That's good to know, thanks Usagi! I'll correct my post.

Thro · March 2015

Late to this post, but,

I'm currently in Georgia Tech's online program for MS in engineering. I know we have a decent amount of classes offered in EE, CE/CS, and ME (not sure about Engineering Tech). Unlike most online degrees it's exactly the same as the on-campus one (you can even show up for physical class if you wanted to).

They recently started an online undergrad degree (B.S.) in CS. Might be worth checking out?

Priest · March 2015

From my experience in Mechanical Engineering & Engineering Education, you will not find these programs online. ABET requires decent amounts of hands-on work for program accreditation, something that an online degree just really can't confer.

You may be able to get away with doing half of a program online at best, but at some point, you're going to have to drive to a school/campus for labwork.

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