So, as many of you know, I am currently attending college. I will be graduating this coming Saturday with my degree in Mechanical Engineering. I dropped a few hints about the company that I was interviewing with a few months ago, and accepted an offer from them back in December. Today I was finally told what my starting location would be, so with great excitement I wanted to announce that on June 13th I will start my career as a manufacturing engineer with Ford Motor Company at the Wayne Michigan plant. It is going to be a whirlwind here for a few weeks as I look for apartments as I have just over a month before I start, but I am very excited.

Now for the bad news. Since I will be moving a great distance, my truck will unfortunately have to go on hiatus for a while. This opportunity with Ford is a rotation program, so there is a good possibility that I will be moving between a few of the assembly plants for the next 2.5 years. That is going to make it very difficult to bring the truck with me, not to mention the fact that I will have to buy tools. To tide me over though, I am hoping to buy some kind of running and driving vehicle that I can tinker with. Something that is not as in depth as my F1.

I really have this hobby to thank for this opportunity. The fact that I worked on vehicles and new a fair amount about them got me the internship with Mack, and the internship with Eaton added on to that, and now those experiences landed me a job with Ford. I couldn't be more excited!

 

I am a young guy that went an interesting route with college: I went part time and work part time and still haven't finished, really I'm only halfway after 8 years. It really encourages me to hear stories like yours, so thanks for sharing.
Really happy for you and hope the best in the future.
Peak in from time to time with some updates on your career challenges and goals, things that turned out how you expected and things that surprised you.

 

Congratulations! That's a great accomplishment, you should be proud. You never know where life will take you. You just make the choices and enjoy the journey.

You may lose interest in the truck as other things come up or you may never lose the interest and get back to it someday. Either way, stay in touch if you can. Old guys like me like to know where life takes guys like you with our common interests. Have a great life!

Scott

 

Great News Nick. Congratulations!

 

What a great opportunity! Congratulations to you, Nick!

 

Thanks guys! And don't worry, I will still be on here a lot, keeping updated on what everyone else is up to. I'm hoping that this rotation program might keep me in Michigan, then I can actually bring the truck out and work on it.

 

Well done, Nick. Rotation programs are outstanding professional experiences - they are tough on the personal side. I'm sure you'll extract full value from the various assignments. You won the career lottery, make the most of it.

DW

 

Congratulations from a Mech Eng at the other end of the career spectrum! The skills you've shown us on your truck will serve you well no matter what you're doing!

PS -- what kind of tools do you need to buy?

 

That's great news! I remember your thread when you were trying to decide which one.

 

Well, good to know you'll still be checking in here, but we will all miss seeing progress on your truck.

Congratulations!

 

Congrats, Nick! Park your truck in a corner of your Dad's garage/shop, go to work and it will be there when you return. There will be some withdrawal pain, but think of the money you can save up to buy Truck parts!

 

Congratulations Nick! An ME degree is quite an accomplishment! The guys at Ford are lucky to have someone who has actually held tools in his hands. Lately I have been meeting new ME grads who lack fabrication skills. They're going to love you!

Don't worry too much about the truck....there will be holidays and vacations & you may have a few extra bucks to pay for parts. Your truck has been waiting for you for around 65 years. If your project takes a couple of years longer it'll be all that much sweeter when you finally get to take it for a drive!

Dan

 

Congratulations Nick! The rotation programs are a great way to explore different areas of a company so that both you and the company can find the best fit. It also helps for the long term to see different areas of the company to better understand the company. I did my rotations as a co-op while getting my ME degree. Always glad that I went that route.
Something to explore is that moves should be company moves which should be company paid, that may allow you to move your truck at some point to your new location(s). I had company help moving my multiple vehicles at different times including coast to coast moves.

 

Congratulations - My Nephew worked for ford for 30 years - He was in marketing - He rotated thru a number of locations before ending up in Detroit working at the Special Vehicles plant - He got to go to every NASCAR race and was on the design team for the Harley F-150
Just hang with their program and you will benefit

 

Nick,
Congratulations on graduating and the job! You should be proud of yourself for toughing it out through graduation. I know the struggle as I did the same thing 40 years ago in Mechanical Engineering. Now comes the next exciting part of putting that knowledge you learned and the skills you learned working on your truck to good use. Don't be discouraged about not being able to work on your truck. You will eventually get to work on it. I had to wait on my truck project, but now I'm working at it full time. Go get'em Nick.

Philiip