Learn Mechanical Engineering Now – For Free

More than a few of you are pretty adept at hands on design and engineering by eye, fitting things together, adjusting here and there, just think what you could do if you had a background in mechanical engineering, do you think your might be able to kick your designs up a notch or two? So, what’s stopping you from learning? Oh yeah, I forgot, bad economy and all that. So let me ask again, what’s stopping you from learning?

Learn for free – really – no catch – for free!
Suppose someone said “Here are all of the course materials, lecture notes, videos and everything else used to teach mechanical engineering at MIT. You can have them for free, are you interested?” If you ever entertained the idea of learning engineering, the right answer should be, “Yes! Absolutely!” OK, here they are. You might have to buy some software for your computer or a few other items, but that’s about it.

MIT offers what is called MIT Open Courseware, their knowledge and materials, their entire curriculum, for all of their courses, not just ME, all online available for you to study, for free. You can decide what you want to know and dive in. You will not get a degree from MIT but you do get access to all of the course materials, whether you study them or not is up to you.

Recession equals opportunity
While some folks are sitting around waiting for the economy to boom again, others are studying and learning and doing whatever it takes to upgrade themselves so they’ll be able to take advantage of opportunities that appear. Of course, the old saying “Opportunity favors the prepared mind” holds true, no preparation means opportunities will pass you by.

Some of the most popular articles on The Kneeslider cover concept bikes and other radical or alternative engineering, the interest is high, wouldn’t you like to see what it takes? You can, today, all you need is some self motivation.

Maybe you can teach
Now, on the other hand, suppose you are a mechanical engineer and you wanted to change course a bit, maybe do a little teaching. Hmm, … suppose you had an entire first rate mechanical engineering curriculum laid out and available for anyone to take advantage of, do you think you might be able to find a few interested individuals who would sign up for a little help and guidance to assist them in their journey through this, admittedly, rigorous material? I bet you could.

Opportunities like these are available to everyone, they do require desire, perseverance and hard work, but anything worthwhile does. I love this stuff. I see opportunities like this everywhere at the same time I hear the doom and gloom, I don’t get it. Like I said the other day, don’t let this recession become an excuse. Use it as an opportunity. Just do it!

Link: MIT Mechanical Engineering Open Courseware
Link: The Kneeslider – What Recession? Just Do It!