I am getting ready to graduate soon so this is my last chance to take advantage of the low rates for students to enroll in IEEE. I am wondering if it is worth the money and if anyone has ever benifited from joining this, or any other, engineering organization? Are these things just resume fluff or are they worth while?
Do you need the Transactions? Like, do you enjoy reading them, or will you need them for research, or are you planning to publish in them? If no, then probably a waste of money.
Subscribe later, if you see a clearer need. (IMHO).
It can be useful for contacts if you wish to become a chartered engineer, and a number of organisations are impressed if it is included on your CV.
Other than those two questionable benefits, they do have very good, if rather expensive, annual dinners.
…and the lottery held during the annual dinner they run is very expensive indeed, be advised on this.
I joined ASCE when an undergrad, and have kept up my member ship for koffkoff years. :).
I personally have found professional society membership helpful. When I was a green novice, going to the chapter and state meetings enabled me to meet many of the “movers and shakers” in the engineering business. Ours is a state small in engineering population, so I would see these folks again and again. It helped me become “one of the fold”, so to speak. I was even State Section President (there went my fifteen minutes !!).
You could make two lists: reasons to join and reasons not to join. The point about the publications is a good one; you can get a lot of good references at discounted prices. Also, reading this fresh material keeps you up to date through the years.
I have benefitted greatly from my membership in ASCE and other organizations; however YMMV.
This is more a matter of opinion than fact, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO.