Seriously watch this before you do engineering

Key wellness, self-care, and productivity strategies

Adapt your learning approach when you start university

• University is not the same as school—you won’t be “spoonfed.”
• Professors primarily provide information; you must figure out how to learn effectively.
• For international students, you may be adapting to an entirely different education system—talk to others (students + professors) and experiment.

Use early university as a low-risk learning phase

• In many programs, the first year isn’t heavily penalized for final-degree marks, so it’s a good time to:
  • try new study methods
  • get things wrong and adjust
  • build your personal strategy before stakes rise

Plan for the “academic peak” and harder years ahead

• Don’t assume you’re done academically after high school.
• The speaker notes that many people don’t hit their true peak until around ages 17–18.
• 2nd and 3rd year get significantly harder.
• Don’t slack off after the first year—stay consistent as the workload and difficulty increase.

Protect your motivation (avoid money-only motivation)

• Engineering can become extremely difficult when challenges arrive; if you’re motivated mainly by money, that motivation may disappear.
• The speaker recommends building intrinsic motivation:
  • determination to build/create
  • genuine interest in the work itself
• If money is your primary driver, consider fields where that motivation fits better (they suggest finance/accounting as examples).

Choose your engineering path based on genuine interest

• Evaluate whether you like engineering broadly—not just a specific subfield.
• Look for enjoyment of:
  • applied math
  • physics/computer science/other sciences (engineering is multidisciplinary)
• The speaker suggests a “fit check”:
  • If you like engineering for how it applies principles to build things, that’s a good sign.
  • If you like math mainly for its own sake, engineering may not fit.

Match your degree choice to your actual interests

• If you want math for the sake of math (proofs/theory), the speaker advises:
  • consider a math degree instead of engineering
• Engineering may look math-heavy on the surface, but it’s not “just math with extra steps”—it becomes a different kind of thinking and application by later years.

Presenters / sources

• Alex (electrical engineering graduate; recent electrical engineering graduate and former software engineer at Europe’s largest bank)