my name is alex and i just entered a community college to get rid of my general ed and what not. and i have a question. it may sound kind of dumb. what type of major would help me in starting a career in bike building? i went to jitensha studio in berkeley, ca and the owner said he started with a mechanical engineering degree .i checked around on specialized's website and they want a degree in industrial design for their model maker.this was true for some other companies as well. my plan is to work for a company and then eventually start my own line of bicycles. so right now i'm trying to decide to pick an engineering major or the industrial design major. i don't really want to double major. i know this sounds dumb. but please help me out. any suggestions? 😕thanks a lot.
Try to get a job (any job) in the bike business (there are lots of bike companies in the Bay Area: WTB, Marin Bicycles, etc.).
Be a competitive bike racer.
------ My reasoning for the above is that a degree alone won't get you in the door. You will also need to do everything you can to learn about bicycles and the bike business, which a college degree won't do for you. In fact, a college degree is not the most important thing. If you rode, raced, and wrenched on bikes you would learn a heck of a lot more than you would sitting in a classroom. There are lots of engineers out there who would love to get into a bike company but it is very competitive so you will have to show some serious bike credentials as well.
I totally agree with endcats' response.... except with one other angle. If your final goal is to have your own company building bikes I'd go with a business dagree. This is for a couple of reasons, one experience is everything. Get into the scene, whether it be as a racer, wrench or whatever, get in there and learn how bikes work from working with them. The second reason is that most design companys won't fail because of bad work, but will fail because the owners don't know what they're doing. There is a lot more to it than making a good quality product and selling it.
Me personally.... not much of the school person. I prefer learning from the field. I'd suggest looking towards a business degree. Either try racing or be a wrench if you're not the competive type. Than look for work that would give you experience working with metals and welding. This way you can make and hope fully save a lot of money working in machine shops... even if its sweeping floors to start than when you're done your degree, you'll have the confidence and money from all your hands on experience to start your own company.
Just a thought... hope it helps
speedstarfelix said:
hello,
my name is alex and i just entered a community college to get rid of my general ed and what not. and i have a question. it may sound kind of dumb. what type of major would help me in starting a career in bike building? i went to jitensha studio in berkeley, ca and the owner said he started with a mechanical engineering degree .i checked around on specialized's website and they want a degree in industrial design for their model maker.this was true for some other companies as well. my plan is to work for a company and then eventually start my own line of bicycles. so right now i'm trying to decide to pick an engineering major or the industrial design major. i don't really want to double major. i know this sounds dumb. but please help me out. any suggestions? 😕thanks a lot.
