What textbooks for engineering are standard for all undergraduate and graduate students (1 Viewer)

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I plan to learn many things before I go into 'the real world', engineering is one of them.
 

SylviaB

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lmao just focus on the hsc

I 100% guarantee you that reading some university engineering books now will have zero impact on anything

what WILL impact things is obviously getting into your course, but also being as good at maths as possible to make it easier to do university maths and the engineering courses that use that maths

same to a lesser extent for physics and chemistry (for some types of engineering) and written communication
 

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lmao just focus on the hsc

I 100% guarantee you that reading some university engineering books now will have zero impact on anything

what WILL impact things is obviously getting into your course, but also being as good at maths as possible to make it easier to do university maths and the engineering courses that use that maths

same to a lesser extent for physics and chemistry (for some types of engineering) and written communication
I already got accepted into the school and course I wanted.
 

dasfas

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You will need to have a strong foundation in 4U maths (especially mechanics), Physics (for more mechanics), some Chemistry (materials) and need to learn programming (literally every other class).

So 3/4 you should be doing now. Learn programming during the holidays.

But yeah, this is kinda silly. You need to chill after the HSC
 

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You will need to have a strong foundation in 4U maths (especially mechanics), Physics (for more mechanics), some Chemistry (materials) and need to learn programming (literally every other class).

So 3/4 you should be doing now. Learn programming during the holidays.

But yeah, this is kinda silly. You need to chill after the HSC
I don't chill, but thanks for the support.
 

blyatman

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I wouldn't bother learning actual course content - you'll find that it won't really be of much use outside of one specific subject. If you really want to do something productive, learn soft skillls that could be used throughout your entire degree, as well as in your career. For uni, the two most important skills that come to mind are:
1. Matlab. There's a free open-source version called Octave: https://octave-online.net/
2. LaTeX

Outside of these, I would recommend learning other programming languages like Python.
 

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I wouldn't bother learning actual course content - you'll find that it won't really be of much use outside of one specific subject. If you really want to do something productive, learn soft skillls that could be used throughout your entire degree, as well as in your career. For uni, the two most important skills that come to mind are:
1. Matlab.
2. LaTeX

Outside of these, I would recommend learning other programming languages like Python.
Is Matlab like Maple 17?
 

blyatman

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Is Matlab like Maple 17?
I know UNSW primarily uses Maple, USYD primarily uses Matlab, so I'm assuming you're going to UNSW.

I've never used Maple, but I understand that it's primarily for solving symbolic math equations. In contrast, MATLAB is more about numeric programming. Hence, the two are very different. However, I've never encountered a company that uses Maple. In contrast, almost every engineer that I know is familiar with Matlab. When I did my engineering grad studies in the US, they all used Matlab as well (in addition to Python, C++, etc). Personally, I've never heard of Maple being used outside of UNSW engineering lol.

You can google Maple vs Matlab to find a bunch of forums that compare them.
 

dasfas

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I wouldn't bother learning actual course content - you'll find that it won't really be of much use outside of one specific subject. If you really want to do something productive, learn soft skillls that could be used throughout your entire degree, as well as in your career. For uni, the two most important skills that come to mind are:
1. Matlab. There's a free open-source version called Octave: https://octave-online.net/
2. LaTeX

Outside of these, I would recommend learning other programming languages like Python.
Outside of programming, what would you say are the top 5 skills to learn for a mech engineer?
 

blyatman

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Outside of programming, what would you say are the top 5 skills to learn for a mech engineer?
I didn't study mech, so I wouldn't know, although it's not too different to what I studied (aero) for me to provide some generic thoughts. Programming and learning how to use certain software is honestly your best bet. Learning theory is not all that useful, as it's highly likely that your job won't require it (even if it did, you would probably only apply like 5% of the content). As such, learning theory is not really a "skill" you can sell on your CV. Rather, familiarity with using certain software (e.g. solidworks), and expertise in programming languages, are hard skills that are of actual value. Everything else, you can learn on the job.

I've seen a lot of mechanical jobs on seek which require drafting skills. So learning how to use software like Rhino, Revit, Creo, Solidworks, and even FEA packages (e.g. ANSYS) would seem beneficial.
 

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Just to add.

The skill set you need to develop will depend on the job you are going for. So learning MATLAB may not necessarily be useful.
 

blyatman

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Just to add.

The skill set you need to develop will depend on the job you are going for. So learning MATLAB may not necessarily be useful.
Yes. There's an endless amount of mechanical engineering fields, each one having their own relevant skills. I'm just listing out skills that are likely to be useful based on what I've seen. My point is that it's better to learn Matlab than read a textbook in some obscure topic, as the former is more likely to be used and has a more employable and transferrable skillset compared to the latter.
 

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Yes. There's an endless amount of mechanical engineering fields, each one having their own relevant skills. I'm just listing out skills that are likely to be useful based on what I've seen. My point is that it's better to learn Matlab than read a textbook in some obscure topic, as the former is more likely to be used and has a more employable and transferrable skillset compared to the latter.
I plan to do something 'along the lines of' aerospace engineering. Since you said previously that you yourself think that Matlab is industry standard, I'll dabble into that while doing other more commonly used programs like C++ and some C#.
 

dasfas

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I plan to do something 'along the lines of' aerospace engineering. Since you said previously that you yourself think that Matlab is industry standard, I'll dabble into that while doing other more commonly used programs like C++ and some C#.
MATLAB is the industry standard for numerical calculations, but there is a slow shift in uni to python (mainly because MATLAB is expensive and python is free)
 
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