Intro: Why you should work on engineering skills outside of the classroom
There are several reasons why engineering students should expand their engineering skills outside of the classroom. First of all, your time in the classroom is limited. The average engineering student takes 15 credit hours a semester. This correlates to 15 hours in the classroom a week. This leaves engineering students with a lot of time to learn in a non-classroom setting. In order to be a competitive engineer you must take advantage of this extra time and expand you knowledge and skills.
How to expand your skills.
With the surplus of resources available, there are many ways to improve your skills as an engineer outside the classroom. Here are some examples:
Books
As an engineering student, you will have several textbooks required for your courses. It is beneficial to read these textbooks and take full advantage of them. Although the content in textbooks can often be dry and difficult to understand, the more time you spend reading the textbook the better off you will be.
Other good resources are books available in your campus library. When looking for books in the library find something that piques your interest. You don’t have to read engineering books to become a better engineer. A good engineer is knowledgeable in many different areas of study. Reading books about finance and business is especially good if you want to transfer your engineering skills to the business side of things.
Online Resources
Online resources are a great way to learn more about engineering and other topics. One of the best online resources is Youtube. There are several good engineering YouTube pages, you can easily find pages that will teach you a great deal of information while still providing entertainment.
Another way to expand your skills online is to pick a topic you are interested in and do as much online research as you can. Researching different topics will give you a wide range of knowledge you will be able to tap into during your courses, and in the industry when you graduate.
I would discourage you from paying for online education sources. There is so much information available for free from resources mentioned on this page that you will not need to pay for any subscriptions. Check out this article to read about Chegg in particular.
Hands-On Skills
Most engineering students enjoy doing hands-on work rather than sitting and reading all day. There are many different projects you could work on to improve your hands-on applicability as well as improve your knowledge in engineering fields. One of my favorite ways to do this is with small robotics systems. You can get started in robotics for a small price of $45 with the Arduino starter kit. The Arduino allows you to practice coding, circuit assembly, and mechanical building. This is a great way to practice your skills hands-on while also improving your knowledge in several areas.
Other ways to practice hands-on skills would be to invest your time in learning specific trades. Learning how to do mechanical work, plumbing, electrical, metal fabrication, and plumbing will put you very far ahead of your peers in the engineering industry. Several universities offer electives where you can learn these skills, but you can also practice them on your own time working on your house, or car, or just practicing with scrap material. Everything you need to know about these areas can be found online and learned with practice.
Engineering Blogs
Engineering blogs are a great way to expand your engineering skills or know where to get started. This blog, for example, provides many insightful articles with advice on how to be a successful engineering student. There are many other blogs that provide similar information. Taking advice from people who have already completed an engineering program can be very valuable. However. when reading these sources you must use your intelligence and intuition to decide whether the information is biased in a direction you do not find helpful. You must do what is best for your learning style.
