Becoming a rollercoaster designer/engineer

I think you might me thinking of S&S, Antuan, they are in Utah..not CCI.

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Mayday - Memorial Day Weekend - Nonpoint, Nickelback, Oleander, Staind
Ozzfest - June 8 - Drowning Pool, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Black Sabbath
Awake Tour- June 15 - Darwin's Waiting Room, Puddle of Mudd, Deftones, Godsmack

First of all Jesse, you might want to spell better. You misspelled what (wut), and know (now).

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SFA 2002-What are they building?

Mantomatic said:

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.

Jeff made a very good point. I am currently enrolled in the computer engineering program at RIT and I am having my butt kicked. Be prepared for lots of work, bad grades, and possible failure. My advice would be that if you get into it and realize you can't handle it, change quickly. Don't try to gut it out like me or you'll just dig yourself into a bigger hole.
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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

You are the same as me! Except ive done my GCSE's and got A's in Maths, Physics and I.T. I am now doing A-Level in these three subjects and then i'm going to university, for a masters in Civil and Structural engineering combined, which is a five year course with one year placement. During this one year placement will be my make or break moment when I will send a CV to most coaster companies and hope for a reply. Untill then, I'm finding A-Level enough to keep me occupied!!!

Chernabog said:
"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."

Heh, heh, heh, from your above comments, I can only assume that you arent very far into your engineering program. Because if you were, you would know that fluid dynamics and solid mechanics are nothing BUT calculus (differential and integral). Sure, there is some underlying physics, but there is a TON of math to wade through.
lata,
jeremy
--not trying to be discouraging at all, just realistic

That's not entirely true, there are a lot of differential equations in there too...

That being said, engineering coursework isn't really that bad. In the real world FEA takes the place of most hand calculations anyway. It isn't phys ed easy, in fact it isn't even physICS easy, but it's certainly not impossible.

CPgenius said:

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).

I'm not sure about the combined IU/PU campuses, but I know that if you graduate from a regional Purdue campus your degree is the same as the West Lafayette campus. My friend graduated from Purdue Calumet (NW Indiana), and his degree says "Purdue University," just like one from West Lafayette.

Comatose said:
"That's not entirely true, there are a lot of differential equations in there too...."

I know all too well that there are differential equations in there (more specifically partial diff E-Qs), but let's remember, diff-E-screw is nothing but a subsection of calculus.
jeremy
--who has a fluids, heat transfer and math class ALL based on partial differential equations

...sounds like great fun! :)

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Mayday - Memorial Day Weekend - Nonpoint, Nickelback, Oleander, Staind
Ozzfest - June 8 - Drowning Pool, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Black Sabbath
Awake Tour- June 15 - Darwin's Waiting Room, Puddle of Mudd, Deftones, Godsmack

2Hostyl said:
Heh, heh, heh, from your above comments, I can only assume that you arent very far into your engineering program. Because if you were, you would know that fluid dynamics and solid mechanics are nothing BUT calculus (differential and integral). Sure, there is some underlying physics, but there is a TON of math to wade through.
lata,
jeremy
--not trying to be discouraging at all, just realistic

I haven't taken any fluid dynamics courses yet, but I've done some work with it outside of school. I realize it's calculus, but my sentiment was meant more as a "AP Calc. alone is useless," as it doesn't teach you how to apply the math to real world situations.
Integrals are useful, but only when you're doing something with them. Doing an integral just for the sake of doing an integral is kind of boring and useless, unless you're a mathematician.

*** This post was edited by Chernabog 3/31/2003 12:38:35 PM ***

Dag!!!!.....this is bringing up some harsh memories. :)

Harsh realities right now for me. I am a first year student at The Ohio State University, and I am taking part in the Freshmen Engineering Honors Program. I can deffinitely agree already with the above who say it is tough work. I took me a while , but I think I've found my groove for college now. It's a whole lot more work than HS ever was. As engineering student I am in class twice as much as a friend of mine and she is earning one more credit hour than I am.

OHCoasterfreak - i hear ya! im in a similar program at RPI in NY. im in class so long, although the workload hasnt been to bad this first semester next semester its gonna be pilling up :(

There is an incredible amount of engineers mojors on coasterbuzz, it is quite impressive!! I think I might be joining your ranks in a few years.
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The world's a roller coaster and I am not strapped in, maybe I should hold with care, But My hands are busy in the air- Incubus

Good luck everybody, but i want you all to consider how hard it is to get into coaster design. more than likely, none of you will, so before you get too far, you need to consider what you will be doing with an engineering degree besides rollercoasters. If it doesn't appeal to you, then you may need to reconsider.
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Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

ravenguy98 said:
"more than likely, none of you will

What kind of statement is that? Do you think that all high school/college aged kids are mindless drones with no ambition or thought process?

Of course we know what we're getting into! Why would we be taking physics and calculus in high school? You act like we're little kids...when choosing a career, you think about something you love, you'd never get bored with, and the benefits of the job. Do you think we'd be getting into [relatively] hard math just to become english majors?

Its a realistic statement. How many coaster designers do you think there are in the world? Not a hell of a lot, and there is a very big number of people just in this thread alone who say they are studying to become coaster designers. I'm just saying that watch out, because i have a feeling that most of the people that are getting into engineering just to design coasters aren't going to be happy when the best job they can get is designing air conditioning systems. Its just a fact of life.
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Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

"You can achieve anything if you're born to do it". (Craig David) Therefore, if all of us on here are determined to become Rollercoaster design engineers and follow through on our endeavours....it will happen. So ravenguy...lay off the negative comments...entiendes??

No, Ravenguy makes a good point. There are very few coaster designers compared to the total number of engineers in the world. The odds of getting a job in the field are pretty slim. Just realize what else there is to do with an engineering degree... if those options don't appeal to you - don't go for the degree.

I plan on at least trying to persue my dream of designing coasters, but if I continue toward a Mechanical Engineering degree I may alos look into the automotive industry, cars have always been an interest of mine. I also may consider majoring in Welding Engineering, the program looks interesting and OSU has the only acredited welding engineering program in the country, so there is a great demand for the graduates from that program