Becoming a rollercoaster designer/engineer

I want to now wut i would have to do to become a rollercoaster designer or engineer.

Choose Mechanical engineering as your major in college. The you scout for the roller coaster manufacturers and send them your resume!

Bet bet would be to work in actual construction and work your way up.
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I pray that I will never see a Six Flags Conneaut Lake

Oh, I see. Thats in a while though. Because Im only in 10th grade.

try and get into AP Physics....that will help you out alot

Oh, its like been my dream for ever. I just love coasters, but dont we all?

I'm in Physics now, and hopefully my school will offer AP Physics next year.

If you get a Purdue degree in engineering, does it matter if you get the degree at West Lafayette, or is it the same if you get one a local college like IPFW (Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne).

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Recruiters do look at your school, it's accreditation, reputation, faculty etc...so you might wanna do some research before you make your decision

Well, I'm a senior, and I'm in both Physics and Calulus. I guess those would help alot? I'm wanting to get into the Roller Coaster/Thrill Ride engineering Industry. Where are certain ride companies located? Just wondering

><> Aaron <><

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Be ready for a tough workload, it's fun to have dreams about being a coaster designer but the reality of engineering school is that it's tough. Just be sure you know what you're getting into. After 1 year of engineering school classes, I dropped it for something more suitable for me that wouldn't drive me insane over my time at school.

Just a little advice from someone who gave it a try! Might not go the same for you, but remember... engineering isn't for everyone, even if you have dreams of becoming a designer.

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Jeff Tobe
tobejeff@pilot.msu.edu
THRUST AIR!

Arrow - Utah

Giovanola/Morgan - Cali

CCI - Utah

Premier - Maryland

(correct me if I'm wrong)

Study Mechanical, Civil, or Structural Engineering. The former are responsible for moving bits and pieces, while the latter design structures and such. You can research who has the best engineering programs for you. They're not easy, but if it's something you like, the workload isn't that bad. I'm currently enrolled in the M.E. program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and our program was ranked 5th best in the nation. It's not really that bad. I promise.

AP Physics and Calculus are good in theory, but in theory only. The reality of building things teaches you that theoretically perfect physics models obviously don't hold up the real world. In college, you'll take courses on static and dynamic loading, fluid and thermo-dynamics, structures, etc. That's the practical stuff that you'll really use. But, a good high school program will help get you accepted into a good engineering program.

Finally, don't have your heart set on getting a job with a coaster company right out of school. They're all very, very small companies, usually employing less than 2 dozen people. There's not a whole ton of creative work that goes on. It's mostly a whole lot of not-so-glorious number crunching and CAD work.

*** This post was edited by Chernabog 3/31/2003 12:38:57 PM ***

This all sounds alot harder than I thought. Maybe Ill stay with just riding coasters and visiting theme parks. I thought it could be alittle easiee, but its pretty hard. I may consider all of the suggestions though, thanks for all of them.

try this site.. i thought it was interesting

http://www.themedattraction.com/careers.htm

click on the 13 Guidelines on the bottom of the page and it should shed some like on a lot of stuff for you

CCI is in West Chester, Ohio.

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Danny, still wondering why PKI and CP haven't found them yet.

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Danny

PKI 2002- "The Rollercoast is Toast!"

Thanks alot ob3ronkotf, thats a great site to see where I could go for becoming a designer.

On themedattraction.com we focus intensely on story driven attractions and theme parks. There's not too much discussion that goes on about roller coasters. But, there are some fantastic things happening there, nonetheless.
If you're looking for a good list of company contact information, I'd suggest ordering the book The Fantastical Engineer. It's about how to become a designer, though it's pretty useless. But, the contact list is worth the price. While you're checking that out, also check out the fantastic, Roller Coasters, Flumes and Flying Saucers. It's the story of Arrow Dynamics as told by it's founders, and they reveal some interesting details behind many of their early ride systems.
Jesse -- Never shy away from a challenge. It's what makes life worth living.

** This post was edited by Chernabog on 11/6/2001. ***
*** This post was edited by Chernabog 3/31/2003 12:39:20 PM ***

If I just wanted to work on concepts or preliminary designs, what would I want to study ?

Does Track design fall under structural engineering or what?

Does the park design the track layout, or does the coaster company do that?

The company does that of course. If you watched the 2 hour long show on the discovery channel it showed Morgan Manu. designing Steel Dragon 2000. It was pretty cool.