Excellent grammar there Ray!
Yup. One day I'll avoid sarkasm.... even the subtle stuff ;-)
Not all graduates are useless (as you and I both know.. :lol) however too many are. Despite this, they think that they are God's gift to engineering.
It helps to remind them every now and then....
ie. 'a vague memory of some of the theory', and 'being able to get a sensible solution based on best practice AND a calculated result within a short space of time' are completely different things.
Matt,
Every accredited Mech-Eng course has to have machine training - completely worthless though unless you spend a couple of years at it. Even if you did train to be a machinist, tool room skills are no longer college taught and you'd end up learning the difference between G01 and G03's from day 1.
The real point of the machine training is to help students understand that putting something on a drawing has consequences to the manufacture of the parts .Therefore as machines have finite capabilities, the manufacture method has to be considered in the design.
That's slightly off point - all I meant was that a skilled machinist is nothing to look down on, compared to having a degree on paper.
Don't write all graduates off as theory bound bumbling fools. What about the practical people that go and do degrees etc??
So How did they build your Moggie then Matt by using theories.
Websites: 
