I'm a mechanical engineer with an auto supplier - original degrees were in chemical engineering and pulp & paper chemistry (for working in paper mills), then went back to college for an ME degree when I discovered I really didn't like chemistry all that much. Well, that and the fact that my lungs are seriously messed up and I can't tolerate breathing chemical fumes anymore. This is a good example of thinking things through beforehand - when you're deciding on a career path, decide both what you're suited for and what you enjoy doing and/or find interesting.

As far as mechanical engineering goes - especially relating to the auto industry - I'm not sure what to tell you. Sometimes my job is interesting and rewarding, and sometimes it is mindless meetings, paperwork, and rushing to get things done at the last minute. The job is nice, but over the years the development time has been reduced to the point where the job is getting more stressful. Plus, for some reason I seem to get called to all sorts of meetings that don't necessarily relate to what I do and serve no real purpose (except to take me away from my project). Then, on my last performance review one of the comments was that my "knowledge intimidated the other engineers". What the heck does that mean? Is that a compliment, or are they saying they want me to play dumb?

Anyway, I don't want to discourage anyone from becoming a mechanical engineer - it's a good career path, and if you're really interested in that sort of thing I think you should definitely pursue it. You have to take into account the fact that I'm a grouchy old fart (well, grouchy middle-aged fart) - so my viewpoint has been skewed by my underlying bitterness.

LK

 

I think that's just about enough of the middle age jokes. Maybe someone here needs to check out that other forum on the age demographics I think that today is the day when the 45+ group shows our stuff.
From an outsiders point of view i think any of the engineering disciplines have the potential for a better than average income.
I know nost of the engineers I met drove a lot nicer grade of car than I did that is until I got onto this site.
When it comes to career advice I would have to agree with the other posts on this topic. get your education in first and maybe put some feelers into the job market.
Whatever choice you make its going to get rough sometime.
Longevity is what makes a career, everything else is just a job.
Personally if I had to do it all over again I would pick something that I have relatively little interest in and I would squeeze every dime out of it i could.
Kind of like what I do now!
I am one lucky guy, cuz lord knows I'm not smart enough to have planned things as well as they're turning out.

 

i wanted to be a mechanical engineer.... there's no way i can handle the math and the calculus though. i barely made it through my first year of calculus, and i doubt id make it much farther. definitely a cool major, and a good future if you can do the work for the classes.....

 

I'm a mechanical engineer. I bend things, fuse then together and then smash em to bits when it don't look good.

Just kidding!

 

I would also like to add that what you are qualified when you get out of school isnt necessairlily what youll be doing in the job market. I got a bachelors in industrial electronics and automation with a minor in physics.
I wont insult the guys that actually got the ME, and say its the same thing, but my job title is Engineer and im paid on the same scale. Calc was my weak point too, so i just worked around it. So much of school is just learning how to learn.
The Physics minor is what has helped me more than anything. It just stands out from all the other jokers i graduated with.

Stick with it

Tony Warren
Nebraska

 

Jokes on you guys:
I added it up and figure you guys gave me about 963.00 worth of advise an I ain't gonna pay!

On a serious note I told everyone that there are engineers giving away free advise here so you might have to change your names.

Anyone know where I can find a good Spec writer?
What you say theres no such thing?
That is intended as a joke,.....
you guys need to lighten up a little.
Thanks again
Franklin

 

Are you referring to a Mexican novelist???........How about Speedy Gonzalez Gonzalez...........fd

 

Mexican Novelist I like that.
Can I plagerize that?

After a project is completed we start a bonfire and hold a ceremonial burning of the funny papers.

Ever hear of a S.W.A.G. estimate?
I understand its a common engineering term.

 

Guess I am the first to chime in as A Mechanical/Systems Engineer in the aviation industry.
My last several years has been to design the total system architecture and components for business class aviation. Basically I design the millionaires aircraft so that he can have all the audio and video at his fingertips. He can push a button from his seat to do just about anything.
I love what I do, though since the aviation industry crashed, it has been hard. Been layed off for about 8 months now. GuessI should look into a different field in engineering.

 

Huh?

Okay, you lost me on that one...I have no idea what you're talking about, though it sounded like you were responding to my post. Were you offended by the fact that I called myself a "grouchy old fart"? If so, I don't understand why you would consider that offensive - since I was applying the label to myself, not to anyone else.

LK

 

I am currently pursuing my Associates of Science for Mechanical Engineering. I can only go to school part time and at night classes. I'm trying to support my family, bills, house payments, and hobbies with full time work while pursuing my Mechanical Engineering degree. I have spent the last 8 years in the communications/telecom industry only to be laid off and recently switched from pursuing an Electrical Engineering degree to a Mechanical Engineering degree. There is generally more money with an EE versus a ME but I enjoy designing mechanical devices more than electrical circuits. I plan to have my Associates degree in spring '04 and will then pursue my BSME. I was not one of the good kids in school. I can't count how many math classes I failed or barely passed by a few points. But now I'm buckling down and pulling constant A's and B's. College classes are not easy. It takes a lot of time and effort, but it's worth it. I think it means a lot more if you're paying your own way through college, versus having it paid for by someone else. I can't wait to be the first person in my family to not only graduate highschool, but to earn a college degree! Eventually I would like to work with NASA, or maybe Fatman Fabrications?......


Also, for all ya'll in the military, I highly reccommend signing up for the GI Bill. The initial $1200 investment is small compared to what you get in return! I made up that loss in less than three semesters of part time schooling.

 

I work with a whole flock of ME's...they are almost as funny as real people....
Had one come down to x-ray to look at some pictures...he asked me if I could shoot a 180 degree picture...so I pulled the film off the viewer, flipped it around and stuck it back on the viewer and said..."It'll look something like this..."

 

That's funny. I've know many ME's here that are like that. It seems that after point you lose your common sense and sense of humor. I'll have to give it up if that happens. I like to laugh too much. It's like my roomate. He's a senior here, only 19, got one or two semeters left, already working for firestone, but I can't tell him a joke b/c he tries to analyze it. I can't watch tv with him b/c he tries to figure out the forces in things. He's never seen any thing on tv I don't think. He's never see Jaw's or Forrest Gump, or ever heard of them. He's strange, but he'll be making a lot of money I guess. That ain't what I want though. If I make some money, I want to have something fun to blow it on.

 

Hey Cornbread, I just noticed you're from Clinton, SC. I go to The Citadel in Charleston, graduating in CE in May. I've actually taken ME courses at Clemson, as many of your core sciences overlap with ours. I was wondering if you go to Clemson? I took Dr. Miller for Fluid Mechanics for ME's, it was a heck of a class. The difference that I've noticed in that class is that for you guys, you get more into dynamic systems and turbulence more than we do, becuase we use fluid mechanics to design wastewater systems and treatment plants, as well as water distribution systems. No doubt y'all take a bunch of very cool classes that I wish I could take.

Study hard,

TK

BTW, you're friend that thinks too hard, you need to smack him around. You might think that he's going to be very successful in the job market, and he might be, but I promise you that nobody likes working around people like that, and a good sense of humor will make you a more effective manager of people, which is every bit as big of a part of engineering as technical knowledge is. Engineers are people too, we tell jokes that would make other people just shake their heads for lack of a word more intense than "dork", but it's no fun not to have a sense of humor. Take him to a strip joint, and get him drunk, or do something. We've got Cadets here that do the same thing, you just gotta make them loosen up a bit!

 

Oh no, he done got me started. My father-in-law worked for a certain organization who shall remain nameless except to say that they are a large government organization that shoots rockets to the moon and Mars. He worked in the boiler plant for this organization's large Mission Control Center in a nameless large Texas city. Part of the operator's duties was to walk out to their little weather station to read the rain gauge each day. Of course when it was raining, they got wet and so they complained. The soultion, designed by engineers but never implemented, was to build a roof over the rain gauge. If you don't see the problem here you have a bright future in government service.

They had five boilers all in a line in his building, numbered 1 to 5 from one end to the other. One day, one of the engineers came down and asked him which one was boiler number three. Walter told him, "the one in the middle". This genius then asked him, "but in the middle from which direction" to which good old father-in-law replied in his best you're a moron tone of voice, "the middle is the middle no matter which end you start from".

Working with engineers is always interesting.