The fate of Mechanical Engineers
The fate of Mechanical Engineers
2
flowdude (Mechanical)
(OP)
To all,
I am sure there are alot of engineers who have the experience level (3+ yrs in design) that I do and would like to know the answers to these questions.
"What is the fate of mechanical engineering? There are many different areas for mech-e's (HVAC, Packaging, Hydraulics, Drive Systems, etc...) which do YOU think will become important in the future? I invite the veterans to answer/debate this issue."
I ask this question because after 3+ yrs of working I feel I need to know the direction to take my career so that after 20 yrs I do not look back and think "Hmm.. I should have done the other thing..". I know the answer is not easy. I am not looking for a "You gotta do what you like son" answer either. I would like to know exactly what is going in each field and what the future holds for the field. Maybe you can shed some light or even point out a direction. :)
Any help on this subject is appreciated...
Blurry Eyed and Bushy Tailed :)
I am sure there are alot of engineers who have the experience level (3+ yrs in design) that I do and would like to know the answers to these questions.
"What is the fate of mechanical engineering? There are many different areas for mech-e's (HVAC, Packaging, Hydraulics, Drive Systems, etc...) which do YOU think will become important in the future? I invite the veterans to answer/debate this issue."
I ask this question because after 3+ yrs of working I feel I need to know the direction to take my career so that after 20 yrs I do not look back and think "Hmm.. I should have done the other thing..". I know the answer is not easy. I am not looking for a "You gotta do what you like son" answer either. I would like to know exactly what is going in each field and what the future holds for the field. Maybe you can shed some light or even point out a direction. :)
Any help on this subject is appreciated...
Blurry Eyed and Bushy Tailed :)





RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
William H. Bernhart, P.E.
I work as a development engineer for AMP - Tyco Electronics located near Harrisburg, PA. I help design interconnections and electrical connectors for aerospace applications.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
If you work in industry you will get exposure to other disciplines and lots of good experience. The more remote the location the better the experience. The draw back of course is you get too much experience, get too high priced, and price yourself out of the market.
Depends on what you want:
- an exciting and varied career: then go the industrial route.
- live in the big city: join a consulting firm.
- good pension: work for the government.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
I do not mind this to much with the exception of the over educated with a attitude that
They are the best there is and will not listen to some one with experience.
My self: besides being a ME, I am a Master machinist and a Foundryman, I came up from the bottom the old fashion way, dirty hard work, which I still believe is a good teacher.
The future is in the past, make sure you know some of the old tricks to solving a problem, (even if you use a computer to fix it) I do, and always look at new trends
Engineers are historians and futurist (sci-fi nuts) all rolled in to one.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
William H. Bernhart, P.E.
I work as a development engineer for AMP - Tyco Electronics located near Harrisburg, PA. I help design interconnections and electrical connectors for aerospace applications.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
I have 12 years of experience in the Pulp & Paper industry, I have a BSME, my PE. This June I will graduate with my MSME in Mechanics. In that time I can say that I have used every bit of my education and then some. Work is, like school, what you get out of it is directly related to what you put into it. College only brushed the surface of all the classes that I have taken. College proves that I have the ability to learn. By far, the majority of the things I have learned have been on the job and out in the field. I have always asked for the opinion of others when it comes to design & solving problems. It's amazing the things that you can learn from the shop guys on how to make better designs. Education & Experience go hand & hand, but I would rather have the experience people around me if I had to choose.
I too, have had the experience of starting out doing code calculations by hand, board drawings, doing things the old-fashion way, then learning the ins and outs of the P.C. spreadsheets, engineering software applications such as Pressure Vessel Design, CAD, FEA, and now learning the Parametric Design rope.
In this down-sizing engineering world, I feel that engineering and the methods of getting it from your brain onto a sheet of paper so someone or something can manufacture it, are becoming automated, but still require the attention to detail and the "Reality Checks" that real experience brings to the table. Garbage into the P.C. equals (Garbage out)^2. The computer is a great tool, it gives engineers the ability to solve more difficult problems, even problems we don't understand (a Bad thing), but people need the ability to recognize when the computer is lying to them. You will be successful in any direction you go in if you, "like the Machinist", keep your tools sharp. ie. Keep learning whether it's higher education, a college tech class, a training course, talking with the shop/field guys that have to deal with what you design, or listening to the guy that's been sitting in the same seat doing it for 35 years......believe me, they have a valuable contribution, whether it's the way to do things, or the way not to do it, it will save you latter on. Good Luck.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
It sounds like you want to stay in a traditional mechanical engineering position that has a good future. You need to evaluate each job and ask yourself what you are learning that other companies will be looking for in the future. I have always picked areas that are cross fuctional such as opto mechanical, mechanism design and project management. If you are a good instrument designer you are needed in many of the new fields such as bio tech, optical communications and next generation semiconductor manufacturing equipment. These type of companies are always reinventing themseves because their product lifecycles are so short and there are many spin off companies that have very high growth rates. Where there are high growth rates there are more opportunities to move up and do what you like to do while making a good living.
Inr the field of fluid dynamics you can design large plants for refining oil with a 3% growth rate or work for a genetic engineering bio tech company with a 30% growth rate. Both areas have the need for engineers with fluid dynamics knowledge.
I think the future will be using mechanical engineering to help develop new technologies and products in telecommunications, bio technology and eviromental life sciences. That's where I'm going to be.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
A million dollar question for all the dare devils who were attracted towards Mechanical engineering for its elements of challenge, creativity & applied common sense, for job satisfaction. Slowly the fire of real hardcore mechanical engineering is cooled off.Most aspects of mechanical are perfectly covered by standards to achive optimum.
Engineering companies all over the world, excluding a few, are selling their once so called premium products, at throw away price just for survival. Fierce competition & well informed customers makes bussiness tough.
Future is for Technology in evolving stage where the mantra is "So much to do & so little is done". Few of them are, composite materials, cost effective manufactuing, enviorment engineering &, clean water & power projects.
With the web of Information Technology customer is strongly placed. Those who are in the bussiness of adapting to the requirements of the client shall perish while those who are able to change the requirements through pace setting shall survive.
Regards
I'm Bharat Dani working in field of Power Generation since last 13 yrs, & enjoying every bit of it.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
I too am afraid of what the future is bringing down the pike. Engineering used to come from knowledge that started on the bench or out in the field, was built on by experience of making mistakes and fixing them. Or simply being exposed to many ideas due to the need of finishing what was started.
I am very impressed with the knowledge that new engineering grads have as far as being "book smart", but what is happening to the to the old toolmaker who has a number of tool boxes with every wigget you can possibly imagine in it to get thru a job that there seemed to be no fix for.
I just hope that we don't end up losing all of that "hands on" knowledge to someone who makes a weld projection to .0025 tolerance because of a book telling him that is what it has to be.
Thanks for the ear,
Rick (rdhd)
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Get your hand dirty, learn who to run a mill, lathe, or welding. Mix book smarts with hand-on experiences. I paid for college by working as an operator in a refinery. In one of the companies I worked for all employees had to work on the shop floor for 1 month to learn the products that we manufactured.
40 % of all product involve some welding, bonding or soldering. What do you know about these processes? Some of the areas that are in need are: plastic bonding & welding, bonding of biological materials to metals and polymers, composite materials.
Material handling? not everything is transmitted by electronic means. This whole are is in despaired need of innovation.
Learn about automatic identification systems and how they are implemented. How are barcodes used?
Improve yourself, take classes and get certified. I am a PE, Certified Plant Engineer and Certified Welding Engineer.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
What I would recommend is to be strong in your core engineering experience. Know how to do your calculations, design tolerances and know your materials. These are foundations that when you keep them up to date, you can always learn a new engineering discipline.
I would enhance your core ME background with some classes in control theory. Most technology today requires controls and the ability to fine tune the operation of a system.
Just in the automotive industry, hybrid power trains, fuel cells, CVT transimissions, improved plastics are challenging engineers all over the world. Pick what you enjoy, be flexible and always keep up with your learning.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Thanks
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
As one of our coleagues said, earlier in this thread, it is annoying when people hand in a CAD drawing with no real idea of how it is to be physically rendered and perhaps this is because the students of the profession are getting more theory than hands-on experience now.
To my mind and from what my peers, etc have said, Engineering is heading toward PC orientated solution's and students are being taught that PC's are the start and end point of every problem thus learning more about Comm's, CFD, FEA, CAD, electronics et al should be the way to go for anyone contemplating a move in specialism.
However, I think that this kind of attitude will produce PC literate engineers with no practical background upon which to base designs etc and this can only be for the worse.
Where is engineering going, I would like to know too as a budding engineer myself.. but back to basics for all may be a good place to start.. and that is why things like these forums are so good.
Keep it up everyone, spread the knowledge and help all of us out..
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
that is if no one gets hurt by falling apples........
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Be Jack of all trades (don't be master of anything
Note: Mind you I am still practising it.
Regards,
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
good luck !
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
In my view, an engineer should first get a good grasp on the elementary principles of his/her trade. Then he should polish it by working in two or three branches of the field selected by him for 5-6 years. Then, he must, repeat, must, acquire a management degree MBA etc. This is required for him to understand the management principles, and also to understand the mind of owners/enterpreneurs for whom he will be working, or perhaps he becomes an enterpreneur himself in time to come.
Additionally, he must be a master of at least one area, be it machining, welding, transportation, or what have you. Believe me this is the era of specialisation, not generalists.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
The answer is in your question, "Go with the Flow, Dude"
Nanotechnology sounds mechanical to me. Check it out with Newt Gingregh at his web site. It definitely has a future with very little past and no long history of competition.
An embarrasment to BSME is to relegate combustion engineering to the environmental or civil engineering department. Combustion engineering, although technically unchanged from creation, has declined in expertise since the invention of a. the IC engine which has not seen a major improvement since initial conception and b. fossil fuel combustion which has declined in expertise since the advent of the word "environmental" c. decline of nuclear technology because of the military application d. decline of aerospace engineering because of political financial reductions
Wake up ME's. Recent testing proves that fossil fuels can produce power in an environmentally manner with virtually zero air and zero LOI solid effluents. Electric generation with coal is being produced as we speak that is cleaner than natural gas. The method is to simply maintain the correct fuel/air mixture from lightoff through the tail pipe or smokeless stack. Problem is the word stiochiometry has been misapplied. Sivilian Engineers think it means add 100% air at lightoff of the combustion process. BSME should realize it means "continue to add the correct amount of air during the complete conversion process from a solid piece of fuel until completely converted to single elements." NOT A SINGLE COMPOUND CAN BE ALLOWED to pass through the tail pipe or smokeless stack. REDUCE EVERY SINGLE COMPOUND TO AN ELEMENT. For fossil fuels, conversion to compounds (NOx, CO, HxO) consumes energy. Power generation should release energy rather than consume.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
I assume you would likewise conclude that any racecar automobile that injects nitrous oxide into the combustion chamber runs backwards!!
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Please could you explain your theory as requested.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
I always wondered how they get those cars to reverse!!! As an environmental engineer, I better get checking if the compounds get put together in reverse and if that makes them harder to break down than compounds put together in forward.....
BSME's are suffering the same fate as all the rest of us engineers, we are making ourselves useless through infighting and nonsense. People see us as freaks of industry and choose to discount our skills at every step of the way....
BobPE
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Lets define career first. What we want out of career?
Job satisfaction? Money? Employment till we die? Feeling of having everything under control?
I want to do something of my liking when I get fifty which is definetly not 9to5. Not for money to live.
I want to use my thirties/forties to earn money. So I see what feeds me with more money next 10 to 15 years. Off-shore oil field does I gather. Technology of deep water working. MEs got lot of specialised courses in that field (one can look at google for web sites). Next is bio-engineering. We MEs can fit into these seamlessly.
Guys! whether you are with me or not post me with latest in the above fields.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Being a specialist may or not make a difference - depending on the industry.
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Just curious since you seem to work in industry, if PE's were reguired in the US for what you do, do you think your position would go to India. It's a complex question that we talk about a lot in here but it seems to have serious consequences with people careers, like yours, in industry.It seems like industry likes the freedom of the industrial exemption and you bring to light another reason why, money..
Good luck with your job, I hope it doesn't make it to India..
BobPE
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
With international reciprocity agreements for Professional Engineers, having a PE would not necessarily mean the position would stay in the US. A "PE equivalent" in India might still get the position. Try as we might, economics will decide the future of more careers compared to licensing.
http://www.usciep.org/what_is.shtml
Regards
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
I have yet to see international reciprocity and believe me, I doubt it will happen here in the USA for some time if at all. I know there have been talks with respect to NAFTA, but just talks. States will not recogonize foreign PE's or equivalents without first completing the reciprocity requirement of that state. A PE equivalent is in the imagination of industry so that they don't have to deal with us engineers. The beauty of the PE is that economics has very little to do with the public health and safety, it only comes into play after a design meets the requirements of the public health and safety. Industry is backwards, economics first, lawyers second, public health and safety third, engineers last......
Our first step is demanding that American Designs be the responsibility of American PE's. The message is getting out to the public, but unfortunately, it's a complicated message, and industry exploits this fact.
Sorry for getting on my soap box, lol.....
BobPE
RE: The fate of Mechanical Engineers
Jon S