• Casio: All fx-115 models. Any Casio calculator must contain fx-115 in its model name.
• Hewlett-Packard: The HP 33s and HP 35s models, but no others
• Texas Instruments: All TI-30X and TI-36X models. Any Texas Instruments calculator must contain either TI-30X or TI-36X in its model name.

Calculators not listed above will not be permitted in the exam room.  According to NCEES,  Examinees possessing unapproved calculators during the administration of an exam are  subject to dismissal from the exam site.

Click here for a complete list of calculators available through Amazon.

To purchase a specific calculator, simple click on the buy button below each calculator.

Casio

Hewlett Packard

Texas Instruments

Related Content:

1. Studying and passing the FE Exam General information on the FE exam plus a helpful guide...

Managing change requires that any change be documented in a timely manner, openly discussed, reviewed, and approved in a timely manner before implementation. Changes can be intentional or unintentional. Changes can originate from many parties, not just the customer. Changes can have both negative or positive impacts to cost and schedule.

When writing a change order, the originator must think in terms of scope, cost, and schedule. Contract requirements, customer procedures, and internal policies must be followed. The cost of the change including appropriate supporting documents need to be compiled. Being honest about the change may require a full disclosure of the all costs including overhead and profit.

The customer has a right to change their mind. The supplier (contractor, engineer, whoever) has a right to get paid for the work delivered. Bridging this gap requires appropriate change management.

Understand true, estimated, bid, expected, and budget costs – Back | Next – Day-to-day guide for engineers

Related Content:

1. An engineer’s guide to understanding true, estimated, bid, expected, and budget costs As a consultant, I am fortunate to work in many...
2. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
3. A Day in the Life – Civil Engineer A Day in the Life - Civil Engineer...

For example, If you have lost your job, perhaps it is time to reconsider the direction of your career. Maybe you should pursue self employment.  A post-job loss assessment is a good way to rethink everything about your life and figure out which trajectory you want your life and your career to follow onwards.  Besides, you now have the time you always said you didn’t have.

This article will by no means provide you with a solution but rather attempts to point out certain points worth considering.

Opportunities

Every immigrant who comes to America comes believing that in America there exist many opportunities. Many have followed this idea and became millionaires, Nobel laureates etc.  Many accomplished this by taking advantage of the ever-arising opportunities.  Look around and you and figure out what are the changing trends and figure out how you can take advantage of such opportunities.  Once you have figured that out, align yourself accordingly.

Which industry sectors are growing

If you are to take advantage of new opportunities, you also need to understand which industries are growing.  Not all industries and sectors have been affected severely by the economic slowdown. Some of the sectors are still doing well and are creating new opportunities.  If you determine that a certain sector is worth pursuing, then figure out what you need to do to make it happen.  For example, if you are a civil engineer working in the transportation industry and you see opportunities arising in the sustainable building design, then its time you looked into LEED certification.

Plan for long term

Just like anything else that worth having, it is always better to plan you career for the long term.  Certain industries and sectors are there to stay and will report growth in the next few decades. Some areas are also better than others in creating job opportunities. Relatively younger regions would not have reached the peak of the growth curve and hence will have more opportunities than others. Most of the developing countries are reporting substantial growth in their economies despite the slowdown.

Education

Once you have identified the sector and region that you want to focus on, you can take advantage of the new opportunities by honing the skills that you already have. You can acquire new skills and knowledge through continuing education.  Today there are many online schools that offer degrees on different disciplines. You can take advantage of the Internet revolution and add to your knowledge base.

This may also be a good time to consider shift in careers to take advantage of new opportunities arising in other fields. As an engineer you may not have pondered on a career on finance though finance interests you. You may want to take up new opportunities in financial sector, which also requires an engineering background.

In these tumultuous times, it is worthwhile to remember that you need to shift your focus from what you are doing to what you can do. Greater flexibility is required to take advantage of the new opportunities created and quicker you are to adapt, faster you will succeed. Opportunities will not come knocking out at your door, you need to go all out and sniff out those new opportunities and seize them to ensure a lasting growth in your career.

Related Content:

1. 10 Simple Steps to Midlife Career Change Success This mini course will guide you through the midlife career...
2. Handling job relocation to different city or country In uncertain economic times, radical changes in your career might...
3. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....

10. GOOGLE/Bing your name and see what comes up

Look up your name using all available search engines to find out if there is something embarrassing or incriminating that comes up. If you made a silly comment on a raunchy topic many years ago, chances are the comment is still there for potential employers to see. If that is the case, contact the site’s webmaster to have the comment removed. If Google’s site crawlers cannot find the page, they might erase it from their search results. Note: your Amazon wish list might also be available through the searches. Adjust your “wishes” accordingly.

9. UPDATE your Facebook profile picture

If you have a Facebook account, make sure the profile picture is professional looking. One portraying you in your favorite Halloween costume probably wouldn’t get you a call back let alone an interview. As unfair as it is that that your personal life could be used to assess your professional caliber, realize that the employer has nothing to go by but what is now readily available on the net.

8. ERASE your Myspace page

Some might argue that Myspace was attractive several years ago, but we can all agree that it has now become a distasteful congregation of bored teenagers and Viagra spammers. Your membership on the site only undermines your credibility as a serious professional.

7. Make sure you have a LinkedIn account

While most engineers are still ambivalent about social media, LinkedIn has been more readily accepted by most engineering professionals for online networking. It will therefore serve you well to have a professional account for the purpose networking and potentially getting a job through. At the very least, an account with LinkedIn shows that you are serious and tech-savvy.

6. Join Professional Associations

Some professional associations provide their members with certain perks. Some of these might be access to job boards and lists of companies. Having access to such information gives you an added advantage over the average jobseekers relying on Monster and other engineering job search sites.

5. Call your friends

Every engineer knows another engineer working for another company. This would be a good time to call the old buddy from college and let him know that you are out of work and that he should keep his ears open for you. If more people know that you are looking for work, the more likely you are to have opportunities come your way.

4. Obtain several professional references

This should be done before you even start looking for work but if you don’t have a stockpile of reference letters, it might be a good idea to call your former bosses and have them jot down something nice about your professional life.

3. Know what you are looking for

And what you are willing to settle for. This also includes salary and benefits. Are you comfortable taking a 30% pay cut in a relatively new industry. You should analyze your situation and determine what you are willing to accept.

2. Update your resume and cover letters

This goes without saying. Check out our 10 résumé tips for engineers for tips and suggestions.

1. Have a plan

Know what is it you are looking for and what you have to do to get it. If you need to attend a conference to further expose yourself, allocate the money and time.

How to move on after a job loss | Back – Next | Top 10 tips for writing effective resumes

Related Content:

1. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
2. Guide for New Engineers An article series for engineers new to the profession. These...
3. You’ve lost your job, Now What? The “you’ve lost your job, now what?” articles are an...

Relocating to another country

Job relocation to another country is far more complicated than relocating to another city within the same country. If you are moving to a different country, the biggest factor to handle will be the cultural and language issues. If the residents of the new country speak a different language, it can be a real issue for many people. A common language is important for proper communication and a lack of it can add to a lot of stress. Some countries are not quite tolerant of foreign culture and religion.

You can handle job relocation to a different country by researching a little before even going there. Make sure you understand the cultural differences and get yourself and your family prepared for it. Once you are aware of the differences, the cultural shock will be easier to handle. If you currently live in a city with lots of different cultures, it might be a good idea to find someone ( through Craigslist or Facebook) from that country to tell you more about their country’s culture, language, religions, beliefs etc.

VISAs

The next important issue to handle is obtaining a work visa. In some countries, getting a work visa can take many months. Also, resident visas are issued to family members only after the allotment of the work visa to you. Even this can take many months. Entrust the responsibility of work visa and resident visa formalities to your new employer. You also need to ask the employer to take care of any legal requirements for your stay with family in the new country.

Schooling

Schooling becomes an important issue to handle when there is job relocation to a different city or country. You will want to check out the curriculum of the schools before you enroll your children. Also it is important to check the requirement of your home country or city schools in the event you return back. The education of your children will not get adversely affected with a little planning from your end.

Think positively

Relocating to another city or country is a major change in your life. You will not see all those familiar faces and places that you were so used to. Maintaining a positive attitude will help you to positively handle the job relocation to a different city or country. Remember that you are moving to enrich yourself with better experiences and tap newer opportunities. Relocation is a big move for the family as well. It is morally-uplifting to have them on board from the day you are planning to relocate. A buy-in from the family from the beginning will help ease out many bumps associated with the relocation. Relocation is indeed difficult and painful, but how you handle it will determine how successful it is.

No related content found.

If you ever decide to advance in your career, either by learning a new skill or going back to college you will find our back-to-college guide very insightful.  Over the years, we have made purposeful use of the collective intelligence of engineers who use our site, by collecting articles and surveys on their career, lifestyle and educational experiences.

Our back to college guide is a product of this collective intelligence. The sole goal is to provide engineers with insightful and important articles aimed at guiding you through the decision making process and the actual implementation of getting advanced degrees.

Do you have anything you would like to share on this topic?  If you are an expert on any subject in this topic, please share your thoughts, and opinions by submitting your articles to us.

Back to college guides for engineers

Back to college guide | Top 10 Engineering Graduate Schools
Back to college guide | Masters in Engineering or MBA?
Back to college guide | All about the GRE exam and how to successfully tackle it
Back to college guide | Online vs. On-campus learning
Back to college guide | An introductory guide to online engineering degrees programs
Back to college guide | Colleges and universities offering online engineering degree programs

Search for Schools

Begin | Start here

Link to this guide:

Related Content:

1. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
2. Guide for New Engineers An article series for engineers new to the profession. These...
3. Taking advantage of new opportunities in uncertain economic times An engineer's guide pointing out alternatives to engineering and how...

Since our creation (est. 2009), we have made purposeful use of the collective intelligence of engineers who use our site.  By gathering articles and surveys on their career, lifestyle and educational experiences, we have been able to compile a series of articles which address these important aspects of our engineering lives.

Our day-to-day guide is a product of this collective intelligence. The sole goal is to provide engineers with insightful and relevant articles aimed at guiding them through the day-to-day challenges of an engineer’s life and career.

If you are an expert on any of the following areas topics please share your thoughts, and opinions by submitting your articles to us.

Do you have anything you would like to share on this topic?

Day-to-day engineer guides

Day-to-day engineer guide | Should an engineer be an expert in one thing, or ok/good at everything?
Day-to-day engineer guide | What it takes to be an international engineering company: An introductory guide
Day-to-day engineer guide | Understand true, estimated, bid, expected, and budget costs
Day-to-day engineer guide | How to effectively manage an engineering design team
Day-to-day engineer guide | Managing project changes
Day-to-day engineer guide | 10 essential networking tips
Day-to-day engineer guide | 7 tips on how to work well in a team environment
Day-to-day engineer guide | Conflict resolution in the work place
Day-to-day engineer guide | How to write effective and convincing proposals
Day-to-day engineer guide | Assessing your long term career objectives
Day-to-day engineer guide | Timeless public speaking tips for engineers

Begin | Start here

Related Content:

1. A back-to-college guide for engineers Our back to college guide is a product of this...
2. Guide for New Engineers An article series for engineers new to the profession. These...
3. You’ve lost your job, Now What? The “you’ve lost your job, now what?” articles are an...

The ESTIMATED COST of a project is the contractor’s expectations on how much the project will cost based on estimating guides, “swag”, or previous true job costs.

The BID COST of a project is how much the contractor wants to charge the customer to do the project. It includes the estimated cost plus overhead and profit. The contractor considers risk versus reward when establishing the bid cost.

Now with the customer, The EXPECTED COST is how much the customer is will to pay for the project. This may be based on previous experience, a guess, other bids, a third party estimate, or industry standard (ie – $/sq ft).

The BUDGET COST is how much the customer can afford. Hopefully the customer establishes a reasonable and accurate expected cost then factors in a contingency for unknowns, changes, and available funds. Ideally, the magnitude of these costs increase in order from true cost to budget cost. Meaning, the contractor makes a reasonable profit at the end of the project and the customer meets the time and financial expections for the project.

What it takes to be an international engineering company | Back – Next | Managing project changes

Related Content:

1. An engineer’s guide to managing project changes Upfront project scope definition is critical. However, it is unrealistic...
2. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
3. An engineer’s guide to smart budgeting and realistic debt management You are finally finished with college and you are happily...

Budget

It is worth mentioning that you should live on what you earn. Most people end up in debt because they have chosen a lifestyle which they can not sustain based on how much money they earn. The first step to prevent yourself from falling into this all-too-common trap is to come up with a budget, clearly noting all inflow and outflow cash amounts.

While creating the budget, please note the following:

1. Make sure you conservatively estimate for all essentials, rent, insurance, food etc.
2. Always save a portion of your income, say 10% and stick to it
3. Allocate a standard amount which you are comfortable with to debt repayment. Several factors should be in play here, how much you have in debt, how long you need to pay off your debt, interest rates etc. (more under “paying off your debts” below).
4. If you are planning a major purchase in the future, a simple excel worksheet should help you determine how much you should save every week.

No matter how deep in debt you might be, stay away from Debt Management Companies

The way these companies work is that they take a monthly lump sum payment from you and distribute the money to your different creditors. In some cases they might negotiate with your lenders for lower payments, or reduced interest rate. For these “services” they will charge you a standard or monthly amount. DO NOT sign up for their services.

Most credit card companies are willing to make exemptions if a customer calls them directly. You do not need a paid emissary to negotiate a better rate for you with your creditors. A simple call to your creditors explaining your financial difficulties might be all you need.

Paying off your debts

Use your budget to help you plan your debt-reduction strategy. The first step is to list all your debts, from the highest interest rate to the lowest. Aggressively pay down the highest-rate balances while making on-time minimum payments on all the others. The amount you allocated for debt repayment should dictate how much you can devote to paying down your balances each month.

In addition, consider these tips:

• Use any extra cash — bonuses, extra paychecks, lottery winnings — to pay down debts.
• Based on your budget you should be able to figure out how long you will take to pay off the debt. If paying that debt within that time-frame is not possible, you might need to consider alternate ways of generating income such as, volunteering to work overtime, getting a second job or selling merchandise on eBay.
• If you can’t earn more money, you’ll need to spend less. Try these tips.

NO NEW DEBT

A successful debt-reduction strategy is only so if you do not accumulate any new debt. Be mindful of traps which might lure you into debt such as an unnecessary credit line increases. Spend wisely on the essentials and avoid getting ripped off.

Transitioning from college to work | Back Next | Finding the right mentor

Related Content:

1. Guide for New Engineers An article series for engineers new to the profession. These...
2. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
3. An engineer’s guide to managing project changes Upfront project scope definition is critical. However, it is unrealistic...

Related Content:

1. A Day in the Life – Civil Engineer A Day in the Life - Civil Engineer...
2. A Day in the Life – Mechanical Engineer A Day in the Life - Civil Engineer...
3. A Day in the Life – Nuclear Engineer A Day in the Life - Nuclear Engineer...

Related Content:

1. A Day in the Life – Civil Engineer A Day in the Life - Civil Engineer...
2. A Day in the Life of an Aerospace Engineer A typical day in the life of an Aerospace Engineer....
3. A Day in the Life – Nuclear Engineer A Day in the Life - Nuclear Engineer...

Related Content:

1. A Day in the Life – Mechanical Engineer A Day in the Life - Civil Engineer...
2. A Day in the Life of an Aerospace Engineer A typical day in the life of an Aerospace Engineer....
3. A Day in the Life – Nuclear Engineer A Day in the Life - Nuclear Engineer...

The “New Engineer’s Guide” articles are an ongoing series of articles for engineers new to the profession. These articles offer helpful tips, recommendations on issues that most engineers have had to deal with in their careers. These articles range from transitioning from college to the work environment to studying and passing the PE exam.

New Engineer Guides

1. New Engineer Guide | Studying and passing the FE exam
2. New Engineer Guide | Landing your first job as an engineer
3. New Engineer Guide | Search for your first engineering job
4. New Engineer Guide | An introduction to the 401k retirement plan
5. New Engineer Guide | Transition from college to work
6. New Engineer Guide | Debt Management and Smart Budgeting
7. New Engineer Guide | Finding the right mentor
8. New Engineer Guide | Owning or Renting?
9. New Engineer Guide | Buying your first home
10. New Engineer Guide | All about the PE exam and how to apply for your license
11. New Engineer Guide | Studying for the PE exam
12. Suggest a topic | -
13. Lost your job, now what? | A step by step job loss guide for engineers
14. Thinking about going back to school | Back to college guide for engineers
15. Get ahead at work | Timeless public speaking tips for engineers

Are you a New Engineer? | Start here

Link to this guide:

Related Content:

1. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
2. A back-to-college guide for engineers Our back to college guide is a product of this...
3. An engineer’s guide to smart budgeting and realistic debt management You are finally finished with college and you are happily...

Unfortunately, more and more engineers are losing their jobs everyday due to the current economic climate.

The “you’ve lost your job, now what?” articles are an ongoing series of articles aimed at easing the transition from one job to the next. These articles will attempt to suggest relevant information, motivate and possibly make you laugh and forget the fact that you have lost your job.

Do you have anything additional you would like to share on this topic?  If you are an expert on any subject in this topic, please share your thoughts, and opinions by submitting your articles to us.

You’ve lost your job, now what? ….

1. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | Rolling over your 401K to an IRA
2. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | How to move on
3. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | Who is hiring? Visit our job postings page
4. You’ve lost your job, Now What? |10 things you MUST do before you start looking for an engineering job
5. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | 10 résumé  tips for engineers
6. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | Writing an effective and convincing cover letter
7. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | Best job search websites for engineers
8. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | General guidelines for interviewing well
9. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | 10 common interviewing techniques used by engineering companies
10. You’ve lost your job, Now What? | Assessing Job Offers and Negotiating Better Terms
11. Found a job? | See our career management section
12. Was that your first job as an engineer | See our guide for new engineers
13. Can’t find a job, Now What? | Going back to school
14. Don’t want to be employed? Now What? | Starting your own business
15. Suggest a topic | -

Would you like to contribute on any of the topics discussed above?  Please submit through our  easy article submit and your article will appear on our website soon.

You’ve lost your job, Now What? | Start here

Link to this guide:

Related Content:

1. Guide for New Engineers An article series for engineers new to the profession. These...
2. A day-to-day guide for engineers Our day-to-day guide is a product of engineers' collective intelligence....
3. A back-to-college guide for engineers Our back to college guide is a product of this...