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No rating yet Subject: Re: [OT] Why there are so few New Grads who want to Author: David Stapp Date: 2008-04-18 12:12:21 Agreed Chris. I like the way you think. The point is understanding the problem. Simulation leads to answers (right and wrong) not understanding. I've known guys who are excellent model builders but when it comes to really understanding what's going on with the subject of study it was lost on them. I developed a course for Bose corporation years ago for the fundamentals of finite element analysis and we spent zero time building models. Instead we covered the fundamentals of statics, dynamics, and talked about what finite elements can't do.
I've seen plots of results proudly displayed in engineering offices that from ten feet away you could see were hopelessly flawed without even knowing the boundary conditions.
So the real question is "where are the grads that are really learning and using the fundamentals of engineering?" I can teach people to build models. If they didn't come out of school with critical thinking skills then I spend all of my time checking and redoing their work. I have a test that I give potential employees. Simple statics problems. I have yet to have a new grad be able to answer them all correctly. And there's only three questions.
I keep asking myself if my expectations are just hopelessly too high.
David Stapp Peregrine Consulting, Inc. www.peregrineconsulting.com
-----Original Message----- From: xansys-bounces_at_xansys.org [mailto:xansys-bounces_at_xansys.org] On Behalf Of Christopher Wright Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 12:38 AM To: ANSYS User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Xansys] [OT] Why there are so few New Grads who want to doSimulation
On Apr 17, 2008, at 6:12 PM, wrote:
> Many of our customers are complainging that they can not find > enough quality new graduates who want to focus on simulation for > their career, especially at the graduat level and especially when > you require US Citizens. I'll take a shot. Simulation isn't a career for anyone, except maybe people who develop simulation software. Simulation is a tool, not an engineering discipline. The reason we get so many people hopelessly balled up with gigantic models they can't troubleshoot or results they can't interpret is that they think ANSYS lets you simulate behavior you don't understand.
I don't think your customers realize that a new graduate hasn't anything like the depth needed to understand physical processes common to engineering design, let alone the associated practical issues. Using myself (and some colleagues) an an example, the time to take up a career involving simulation is after you've worked in the field long enough to know what constitutes good practice--which envelopes to push and which is stay clear of.
Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at chrisw_at_skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen. .......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864) http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/
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