I'll Never Understand....

[Porter]

3 hours ago, baddog said:

Well, I kinda hit on something. Jobs requiring degrees and America has been dumbed down for years. Sad.

Look at this! It just gets worse! Smh
 

 

[baddog]

9 minutes ago, Porter said:

Look at this! It just gets worse! Smh
 

 

That’s very scary. Our local college was top 10 in the nation for engineering degrees back when I was attending. Lots of foreign students there to become engineers. Too bad a few bad apples have to spoil good educations.

[OlDawg]

17 hours ago, baddog said:

That’s very scary. Our local college was top 10 in the nation for engineering degrees back when I was attending. Lots of foreign students there to become engineers. Too bad a few bad apples have to spoil good educations.

The running joke about Lamar & Engineering degrees back when was they were Pakistani State.

I’ve honestly never met anyone with an Engineering degree from Lamar, and I was in the business a loooooong time.

[baddog]

25 minutes ago, OlDawg said:

The running joke about Lamar & Engineering degrees back when was they were Pakistani State.

I’ve honestly never met anyone with an Engineering degree from Lamar, and I was in the business a loooooong time.

Maybe they came here for the education then went back home. 

[OlDawg]

33 minutes ago, baddog said:

Maybe they came here for the education then went back home. 

I believe that was the situation. I remember hearing LU had a special program for them to do just that. Not sure how it worked with visas and such.

[BBtater984]

On 6/5/2026 at 9:24 PM, tvc184 said:

I don’t care if they have the public’s interest at heart. I want to support a person who votes the way I wish. Motivation is almost meaningless.

I would rather have a politician vote for my beliefs most of the time, even if for selfish reasons on his part than a person who is truly caring and votes for everything I hate.

If a politician votes the way you want, why are you worried about analyzing his motivation or thought process?

You note that in your opinion that every single one is corrupted by self interest. Okay, so they are all equal on that point. So you never vote or care who wins because they are all the same?

I most certainly do vote... but before I vote I do my own research. I shy away from mainstream media (FOX, CNN, etc.) and I do not listen to mainstream reports. I don't need memes or snippets to try and sway my vote. I'll look for websites that I think and feel give me the best example of a candidate(s). And when I'm in the voting booth I am not thinking about public interest, I'm thinking about the research I've done and the candidate(s) that is most closely aligned with my morals, thoughts, and wants.

[BBtater984]

19 hours ago, OlDawg said:

The running joke about Lamar & Engineering degrees back when was they were Pakistani State.

I’ve honestly never met anyone with an Engineering degree from Lamar, and I was in the business a loooooong time.

I work with a bunch of engineers that graduated from LU. When I was at LU (late 90s/early 2000s) most of my classmates (industrial engineering major) where from the US.

[OlDawg]

48 minutes ago, BBtater984 said:

I work with a bunch of engineers that graduated from LU. When I was at LU (late 90s/early 2000s) most of my classmates (industrial engineering major) where from the US.

Lamar is—comparatively—very affordable, close to industry, and has a good track record from my understanding. I assume most of the US grads stay fairly local. There’s a good network for referrals.

Baddog and I are discussing a time decades before your attendance.

Were there many international students in the Engineering program when you attended? Curious about it since the immigration system has been tightened up.

Incidentally, I always liked hiring ET's. I also liked hiring ex-fitters. Both brought more 'common-sense engineering/design' to the table than many other new engineering grads. Maybe, because I was ex-operations before my degrees, and could see more of the value. I just never ran across many--or any--resumes from Lamar. So, I always presumed they stayed more at the direct client level in the Golden Triangle.

Glad to hear there are still others who aren't just going for Liberal Arts degrees. We need them, and all crafts, skills, and trades.

[BBtater984]

26 minutes ago, OlDawg said:

Lamar is—comparatively—very affordable, close to industry, and has a good track record from my understanding. I assume most of the US grads stay fairly local. There’s a good network for referrals.

Baddog and I are discussing a time decades before your attendance.

Were there many international students in the Engineering program when you attended? Curious about it since the immigration system has been tightened up.

Incidentally, I always liked hiring ET's. I also liked hiring ex-fitters. Both brought more 'common-sense engineering/design' to the table than many other new engineering grads. Maybe, because I was ex-operations before my degrees, and could see more of the value. I just never ran across many--or any--resumes from Lamar. So, I always presumed they stayed more at the direct client level in the Golden Triangle.

Glad to hear there are still others who aren't just going for Liberal Arts degrees. We need them, and all crafts, skills, and trades.

Lamar is extremely affordable when you start looking at other universities in Texas that have good/great engineering program and no not many international students when I was at LU... at least not in the industrial engineering program.

For what it's worth, I think that if you are majoring in engineering, you should have at least 5 years of work experience before being able to graduate. That way you have some real world work experience to go along with the book(s).

[baddog]

58 minutes ago, OlDawg said:

Lamar is—comparatively—very affordable, close to industry, and has a good track record from my understanding. I assume most of the US grads stay fairly local. There’s a good network for referrals.

Baddog and I are discussing a time decades before your attendance.

Were there many international students in the Engineering program when you attended? Curious about it since the immigration system has been tightened up.

Incidentally, I always liked hiring ET's. I also liked hiring ex-fitters. Both brought more 'common-sense engineering/design' to the table than many other new engineering grads. Maybe, because I was ex-operations before my degrees, and could see more of the value. I just never ran across many--or any--resumes from Lamar. So, I always presumed they stayed more at the direct client level in the Golden Triangle.

Glad to hear there are still others who aren't just going for Liberal Arts degrees. We need them, and all crafts, skills, and trades.

I don’t know what the job scene is like today. In the early 70s, there were plenty of jobs available, even for the trade schools. I went undeclared for a couple semesters which was a huge mistake. Unless you know your life’s ambition, paying to go to school is like a merry-go-round. There are lots of kids graduating high school who don’t have a clue what their job interests are. I was one of those kids. Should have stayed with the A/C field. There were like 10 jobs available for every graduate, but economics was a problem and I still wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted. Even back then, I couldn’t believe the ease of the basic subjects in the trade schools. Both math and English were on 4th or 5th grade levels. Math tests would have 1/2 + 1/4 equals……I would actually have people looking over my shoulder for answers. Maybe I should have tried engineering….lol. Long story short……economics was a key factor in my not finishing at Lamar.

Nowadays, and probably back then, process operator classes would have been the best route for this area. Actually, back then, you could hire on in the plants straight out of high school. Nepotism ran rampant back then, so who you knew was a great application attachment. I submitted several and got no calls.

Today’s youth don’t know what work is. If you want to test a person’s determination in keeping a job, let him hire on pouring concrete. Give him some rubber boots and jump in the middle of a form having to use rakes to move the pour. At the end of the day, you’ll know where he stands. I apologize for the meandering.

[BBtater984]

4 minutes ago, baddog said:

I don’t know what the job scene is like today. In the early 70s, there were plenty of jobs available, even for the trade schools. I went undeclared for a couple semesters which was a huge mistake. Unless you know your life’s ambition, paying to go to school is like a merry-go-round. There are lots of kids graduating high school who don’t have a clue what their job interests are. I was one of those kids. Should have stayed with the A/C field. There were like 10 jobs available for every graduate, but economics was a problem and I still wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted. Even back then, I couldn’t believe the ease of the basic subjects in the trade schools. Both math and English were on 4th or 5th grade levels. Math tests would have 1/2 + 1/4 equals……I would actually have people looking over my shoulder for answers. Maybe I should have tried engineering….lol. Long story short……economics was a key factor in my not finishing at Lamar.

Nowadays, and probably back then, process operator classes would have been the best route for this area. Actually, back then, you could hire on in the plants straight out of high school. Nepotism ran rampant back then, so who you knew was a great application attachment. I submitted several and got no calls.

Today’s youth don’t know what work is. If you want to test a person’s determination in keeping a job, let him hire on pouring concrete. Give him some rubber boots and jump in the middle of a form having to use rakes to move the pour. At the end of the day, you’ll know where he stands. I apologize for the meandering.

I graduated high school wasted a couple of years going to Lamar cause I had NO idea what I wanted to do.... so, I started framing houses and then worked for North Star Steel. Both of those jobs had me back at Lamar pretty quick lol.

 

[OlDawg]

13 minutes ago, baddog said:

I don’t know what the job scene is like today. In the early 70s, there were plenty of jobs available, even for the trade schools. I went undeclared for a couple semesters which was a huge mistake. Unless you know your life’s ambition, paying to go to school is like a merry-go-round. There are lots of kids graduating high school who don’t have a clue what their job interests are. I was one of those kids. Should have stayed with the A/C field. There were like 10 jobs available for every graduate, but economics was a problem and I still wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted. Even back then, I couldn’t believe the ease of the basic subjects in the trade schools. Both math and English were on 4th or 5th grade levels. Math tests would have 1/2 + 1/4 equals……I would actually have people looking over my shoulder for answers. Maybe I should have tried engineering….lol. Long story short……economics was a key factor in my not finishing at Lamar.

Nowadays, and probably back then, process operator classes would have been the best route for this area. Actually, back then, you could hire on in the plants straight out of high school. Nepotism ran rampant back then, so who you knew was a great application attachment. I submitted several and got no calls.

Today’s youth don’t know what work is. If you want to test a person’s determination in keeping a job, let him hire on pouring concrete. Give him some rubber boots and jump in the middle of a form having to use rakes to move the pour. At the end of the day, you’ll know where he stands. I apologize for the meandering.

Off of TexasForever’s initial topic. But, good discussion.

Grew up on the farm. THAT was work! lol

I also initially went to college on a scholly, became disillusioned, and joined the Navy. I’ve spoken about some of that experience. When I got out, I was hired on at a local petrochemical as a ‘B’ operator partly because of being a vet, was encouraged to go back to school while working, and got an AAS in Engineering Design. From there, I got my Mechanical and went to work contract at multiple firms. Got my PMP, and led projects for years. Got tired of working 80’s for straight pay, went back to school for my BSBM, and was asked to join Sales.

I finished up as lead Downstream BD for Mustang/Wood Group, Fluor, Jacobs and a couple smaller outfits before calling it quits to take care of family.

Better 1/2 was an Aggie ChemE, and son is a Nuclear Engineer.

[baddog]

14 minutes ago, BBtater984 said:

I graduated high school wasted a couple of years going to Lamar cause I had NO idea what I wanted to do.... so, I started framing houses and then worked for North Star Steel. Both of those jobs had me back at Lamar pretty quick lol.

 

I knew a man who worked at Georgetown Steel back in the day. He operated the overhead crane. He may have still been there when it became North Star.

[OlDawg]

Guess I should say, my son—after 13 years as the Nuke power Chief on the USS Ronald Reagan—got his Nuclear Engineering degree.

Funny thing is, he actually works for TI in Dallas as one of the technical engineers that build and maintain their ultra pure semiconductor wafer machines. His Navy clean room, real world engineering experience made all the difference. Texas Instruments likes to hire Navy Nuclear Power vets for this position, and they pay them very well.

Hopefully, he’s got a pretty solid job future. He’s been there going on 6 years I think, and really seems to like it.