×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Soon to be grad looking for some advice

Soon to be grad looking for some advice

Soon to be grad looking for some advice

(OP)
Hi, I will be graduating this December and am feeling lost as to what my should be my next step.  My degree will be a bachelors in mechanical and I have been reading about and looking at the various jobs offered to mechanical engineering grads.  Mostly I have been looking at the big companies that recruit at my school such as lockheed, northrop, ge, etc.

What I would really like to work on are the large structures that contribute to society like dams, bridges and buildings.  I am really interested in their design and would like to contribute to this field.  I know anyone reading this is probably thinking "a little late to realize this now, should have went civil", but at my school I didn't have the option of civil engineering, and wasn't really exposed to the difference between mechanical and civil until later on in my course work when it was too late to switch anyways.

I was wondering if anyone had any guidance on what I should do from here.  Would it be extremely hard to switch and get a masters in civil after a bachelors in mechanical?  If I did this, would it look bad or unusual to employers? The problem with this is I really need to get a job after graduation. I know some civil engineering firms hire mechanical engineers for hvac but I'm more interested in building the entire structure and would be afraid of getting stuck in hvac if I started out there.  I don't really know any engineers out in the "real world", so if anyone here has any advice I would really appreciate it.

 

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

In the real world there should be no problem moving into structures with a mechanical engineering degree. Whether academia agrees is a whole nother ballgame, ask the relevant institution. I did some UK structures papers, they'll keep you on your toes.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

What structural courses did you take?   

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

Most of my mechanical engineering friends do civil design (water pipes). I also have a good mate that is the head of a local engineering firm that specialises in structure bridges whom is a mechanical grad.

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud. After a while you realize that them like it

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

I might consider starting in a civil engineering firm as an HVAC designer or something similar, and then trying to work your way up. That way, you may be able to get your employer to help pay for some education. Maybe just a few key courses for civil eng. grads that mech. don't take, maybe going all the way to having dual bachelors in mech. and civil, or a Master's in civil.

I would definately explain your hopes of progression right off the bat (although either leaving out or being tactical in the hope helping of payment for further schooling).

I would think there are some firms out there that would love to have an HVAC guy now that will be ready to take on the strucutral engineering aspects 5-10 years from now. Most places have somebody that will be retiring or leaving, and it would be nice for them to have somebody waiting in the wings that already know the office and that they already know.

Of course, finding a job of any form in the current economy may be a challenge, and you may not have as much of a choice about your first employer.

Best of luck to you!
-- MechEng2005

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

I have hired a few mechanicals for structural work - didn't go too well.

I am guessing that if you went back and picked up 12-15 hours in structural - you might be able to get a second degree.  Check it out.

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

(OP)
Thanks for all the replies. It seems like if I could find an entry level position, HVAC with a civil company would be a good place to get started.  At my school the civils take many different classes than mechanical students, so I think I would need more than 5 classes to get a second bachelors.  After working for a few years would it be possible for me to get a masters in civil with a bachelors in mechanical?  Also I know you sometimes need to have a bachelors in engineering to get your PE, but if you want a civil PE can you have a mechanical bachelors?

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

Wh not do what the average Aussie graduate would do. pack your bags get on a plane and travel the world. Come dowunder and get a job with SMEC. (Snowy mountains Engineering Corp well it was until it morphed into a general engineering house. You will find them on the Internet.

We Aussies are not so snobish about what degree you have. After all a mechanical engineering degree proves :-
you worked damn hard for four years,
drank copies amounts of beer,
chased women and played rugby/gridiron/football..
 and still survived.

Not much you learnt in university will be used anyhow (about 10%).
Get your self onto a big jobsite and start learning. teach yourself what you need in the civil engineering field by books or remote learning courses. Fundamentally pick the brains of those around you.

Determination and willingness to learn will beat study hands down in this country.

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

In a company I worked for 10 years ago they had an aerospace engineer doing structural engineering. Worked out just fine. He is still with them.
They also had a mechanical engineer, didn't work too well. But don't let that discourage you, this guy was a real geek. He had 10 semesters of mechanics classes under his belt and could provide a 80 page analysis for connecting 2 pieces of lumber with 3 nails. In other words, he never delivered within the budget and never met a deadline.
I can't see why you wouldn't be able to work your way into structural engineering, if you have the dedication to do so. A lot of structural work is dealing with code requirements, and you don't learn this in College or University anyway.
You might be better of with small companies, which emphasize more on getting the job done than on papers showing degrees.
Good luck     

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

I don't think you'd have major trouble getting into a civil engineering master's program.  There might be a couple of catchup classes they'd make you take as prerequisites to the graduate-level structural classes.  Pick a likely program, call them up, and ask.  

And as long as you have *some* kind of ABET-accredited engineering bachelor's degree, you should be able to eventually get licensed as a civil PE--but check with your state board just in case.  The regulations I've seen don't get specific about the discipline in which you hold your degree, and you'll have further evidence for which test you ought to take from the master's and subsequent job experience, but ya never know, so better ask.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

Don't forget that structures aren't much use if they're on a bad foundation.  Take some soil mechanics and foundation classes while you're at it.

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

In case you hit a dead end in your job search, consider the possibilities of  bio-med-eng. The path would be bio-med studies with guidance from university advisors in that specialty.  

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

If I were you, I would spend 1 extra semester in college and get about 15 credit hours in structural classes.  This opens the door to many different options for you.  If you take 1 semester of structural classes (Structural Analysis, Foundations, Reinforced Concrete, Steel & Timber) I do not think that many employers would not hire you just because your degree says mechanical.  With that one extra semester you will have a decent grasp of basic structural engineering (from an academic level).    

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

structural types aren't building anything these days now that goldman sachs and aig have pissed it all away. stimulus money is gone (where'd it go)...

i'm with our aussie friend stanier..... TRAVEL and work.... that's what i did.. us / south africa / europe.

good luck....

Thanks,
Scott

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

dams - hydroelectric facilities require a lot of mechanical engineering to design the turbines, generators, gates, cranes etc. You may need some structural, hydraulics or electrical experience also.

buildings - mechanical required to design elevators, HVAC, fire or domestic water pumps and any other mechanical equipment etc.

Bridges - most mechanicals are required to take statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials etc. did you learn any FEA? If you had any of these classes you could move into structural analysis

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

purdue 87,

I dissagree. It depends on where you are at and the type of work you do.  Bridges are always being built.  That work will never stop.  The company I work for dues 80% bridges and 20% other structures.  The bridge work has not slowed one bit.  

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

I would start looking at small companies. The gatekeepers at big companies are the flakes in the HR departments with communications degrees. Someone tells them that an applicable canidate has to have such and such degree. They don't know enough to understand that the most valuable skill you picked up in school was the ability to "go figure it out", not something that is disciple specific. I would also look "up" at the interview. You are definately going to need your license, if that company doesn't have the 3-5 PE's to recommend you, find someone else.

FYI - my degree is an engineering specialty in Green Construction, I am now in R&D in industrial heating equipment and love it. Sometimes life throws you a curve.

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

I have a BS in Ocean Engineering. Currently I am working on jet engines and aerospace. But I do live on the coast.

As has been said the specific degree does not matter as much as the skills learned and the ability to learn.

For the structures work you are interested in, do make sure that there is a PE around to oversee your work. I have not found that a PE is needed for what I do (industrial exemption), but the area you are interested in would require one.

Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

"I have hired a few mechanicals for structural work - didn't go too well."

What happened Mike?

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

In a bad economy... no jobs prospects... go to grad school while it's still fresh.  Other options:  Law School, MBA, etc..
 

RE: Soon to be grad looking for some advice

I am in this exact situation right now.  I just graduated this past June with a degree in mechanical engineering.  I spent my entire senior year interning as a civil engineer for a city public works engineering design department.  I found that I like civil engineering much more than mechanical engineering.  They strongly encouraged me to apply for graduate school and get a MS in civil.  I am in the application process right now and the admissions people have told me it should not be a problem because the background is very similar with the exception of soils mechanics.  I'm currently employed doing a job that is a combination of civil and mechanical.  I draft a lot of as-builts in AutoCAD, create traffic control plans, and help in the design process of ducts and wire trays amongst other things.  They aren't major civil work but its a start especially in this economy.  Next fall I should be jumping into graduate school for an MS but I cant decide if I should study structural or just regular civil.  I have had companies tell me that due to my lacking the civil background they cant hire me but that hasn't stopped me.  After doing a MS I'm sure I will be more fit for a full fledged civil job.  Oh yeah, passing your EIT helps too.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources