25 replies to this topic

[moosey124]

I'm building just for fun. In a few years, I'll eigther sell them, or keep them a few more years and give them to my kids when I have kids.

[Tyrant]

Next year I plan on shifting my college major over to Civil Engineering, to help me get my foot in to the door of designing roller coasters.

Just thought I would let you know. The entire engineering staff at Premier is all Mechanicals.

However I know other companies such as GCI and TGG have their own civil engineers.

-Tyrant

[NitroRyder33]

Hmm, well what would you suggest I take.

Basically I would like to follow in your footsteps, Matt.

[Tyrant]

Honestly now after being in the industry for a while, I would suggest mechanical. Because after the foundations are laid, there isn't much left for a civil to do, while mechanicals typically attack problems regarding the trains and maintenance. The one reason we don't have civils at Premier is that we outsource the static and dynamic calculations to Stengel, so we don't need to worry about the civil part. While the parks are faced with installing the electrical, water, and air lines, so its not something that the design firm deals with.

However keep in mind every firm is different. And no matter what engineering degree you choose, it will be helpful in some way.

-Tyrant

[Antinos]

For me, it's all for fun, but the fun is starting to wane on me. I can't sit there and build for huge amounts of time like I used to. Instead, I have to do things in increments, about a half hour a session.

As for a career, the only way it could help me is seeing how rides flow, or how supports and different layout arrangements can interact with a ride experience. I don't see the fun in being a roller coaster designer. They do all the calculations and science behind the rides. I ended up quitting the robotics team at my school for a few reasons, but one was that it wasn't as fun as it used to be. Everybody was in a specialized subgroup, either building the chassis or appendage, CADing, or PRing. On chassis team, I just wasn't having fun like I was because of the specialization of the team. That made me realize that I was more of a planning and design kind of guy. Instead of trying to get an engineering degree, I'd rather get a degree in planning and/or design (or something of the like) and find an amusement/theme park that would accept me. In the P&D department, I would get to do many different things from designing to ride layouts, to theme ideas, to names, to color schemes, to landscaping. I don't see how knex can do much more than what I stated above.

For those wondering, I'll consider doing robotics again, but I just don't know if it'll work out or not. Some reasons were minor, others were pretty major and permanent. When the time comes, I'll have to ponder whether I have enough time to devote to this and also if I can overcome the major problems.

[Tyrant]

For me, it's all for fun, but the fun is starting to wane on me. I can't sit there and build for huge amounts of time like I used to. Instead, I have to do things in increments, about a half hour a session.

As for a career, the only way it could help me is seeing how rides flow, or how supports and different layout arrangements can interact with a ride experience. I don't see the fun in being a roller coaster designer. They do all the calculations and science behind the rides. I ended up quitting the robotics team at my school for a few reasons, but one was that it wasn't as fun as it used to be. Everybody was in a specialized subgroup, either building the chassis or appendage, CADing, or PRing. On chassis team, I just wasn't having fun like I was because of the specialization of the team. That made me realize that I was more of a planning and design kind of guy. Instead of trying to get an engineering degree, I'd rather get a degree in planning and/or design (or something of the like) and find an amusement/theme park that would accept me. In the P&D department, I would get to do many different things from designing to ride layouts, to theme ideas, to names, to color schemes, to landscaping. I don't see how knex can do much more than what I stated above.

For those wondering, I'll consider doing robotics again, but I just don't know if it'll work out or not. Some reasons were minor, others were pretty major and permanent. When the time comes, I'll have to ponder whether I have enough time to devote to this and also if I can overcome the major problems.

Check out Forrec.

They are the company that we are working with as far as the park design for stuff in Dubai.

Also PGAV may be up your alley. They do all the Busch and SeaWorld stuff.

-Tyrant