Is engineering boring?
Is engineering boring?
(OP)
I graduated two years ago with a Mech degree and I found school to be both fun and challenging. I loved it. Since then I've held two full time jobs (one with the government and the other a large defense contractor doing CAD) and I've found both to be unchallenging and boring - I end up finishing my work after an hour or two, then beg for additional work and ultimately stare at cubicle walls. After a couple of years of this, I've become awfully frustrated. I understand that I'm young and I have ALOT to learn, but I've looked around at the senior engineers and their work doesn't seem all that exciting... Maybe this is engineering?
I would like to get my hands dirty -see what I'm good at and what I suck at. I would like an interesting, challenging and technical engineering job, but I don't how to go about finding one without job hopping. It seems horribly inefficient for all involved. Any advice on where to go from here? Do I continue taking jobs and hope that one clicks? Go back to school and get into R&D?
I would like to get my hands dirty -see what I'm good at and what I suck at. I would like an interesting, challenging and technical engineering job, but I don't how to go about finding one without job hopping. It seems horribly inefficient for all involved. Any advice on where to go from here? Do I continue taking jobs and hope that one clicks? Go back to school and get into R&D?





RE: Is engineering boring?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
The effort is more educational when you are fortunate enough to have access to product that's been used, and especially, broken.
Eventually you understand why "we've always done it that way", and once in a great while you stumble across a better way.
I'm also continuously trying to improve my own process, not necessarily for this job, but also for the next one.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Is engineering boring?
Been there. It's not you, it's poor management. Use your time and learn other software applications, tools, machines, whatever.
I learned CATIA and Flex3 during the time my boss had his....never mind.
Stick in there, a better job will eventually turn up.
Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP4.1
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: Is engineering boring?
No, this is not engineering. You need to move to the private sector where making money is important, not wasting it. 30 years ago I had to move as I was in the same situation working for a government entity.
Up and until the past year, I was always busy with lots of work and little time to do it.
For now, if you are still in that government job, stay there as it will pay your bills. However, if and when the economy turns, follow the road to the private sector. Hopefully, by that time, and the sooner the better, you will have enough experience to get hired, if you have not been pidgeon holed already.
Some here will disagree with me, but to each their own. That does not invalidate my experience.
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: Is engineering boring?
Regards,
SNORGY.
RE: Is engineering boring?
When your task list is either short or dull, spend some time inventing or implementing things you know your customers would like, but haven't asked for. Most large companies stifle this kind of activity, but grab anything good that comes from it.
One of my bosses created a World-leading product through skunk works, which exists today. He got the boot several years later when a not-so-successful product was developed in a similar way (i.e. without management buy-in)
- Steve
RE: Is engineering boring?
Alternatively try and get involved with other people to see what they do. Network, as they say. If you have spare time take the opportunity to learn new things. It'll help you expand your skills and move into different areas where the work may be more interesting. Alternatively, take drum sticks into work.
corus
RE: Is engineering boring?
Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud. After a while you realize that them like it
RE: Is engineering boring?
After one more stint with a large company, I have always sought work with smaller companies. Less pay, less benefits, less people, more work, many more hats to wear, certainly less stability. But generally the work was good and interesting and it made me want to wake up in the morning so I could go to work.
Try unemployment during a recession with a family to support: now THAT's thrilling.
When you're 50+ you'll probably wish you had a nice cushy boring job that paid well and had great bennies because you'll be pre-occupied with your family isssues and actually thinking about retirement.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Is engineering boring?
I agree with msquared48 in that I worked - but it was not engineering. And I did get pigeon holed. When they downsized I found that I didn't have 7 years of experience -I had 14 iterations of 1/2 years experience and nobody wanted what I was experienced in.
It took me a long time to rebuild my career with good experience.
Stay while the bills are paid - find things to do that will be useful - take advantage to learn new things and then get out.
RE: Is engineering boring?
If you are bored with working for the government, then you will probably be bored in the private sector. I've worked for bad management in both private and public, and one thing that hasn't changed is that in the government, managers are only too happy to load you with work until you drop, if you volunteer. Same genral rules apply to both, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. While private sector certainly had lots of dead wood and high paid nothings with "OVERHEAD" stamped on the forehead, they always seemd to have to stick their fat little fingers into engineering to justify their existence. Just like the pointy-headed boss on Dilbert. My experience with the gub'mint is that those same types do not have to justify an economic payback hence keep their chubby little fingers out and work on their buzzword generators.
Being with the gubmint, I've had experience opportunites that you just don't get in the private sector, and it has been anything but boring. It's been a lot of work with ASHRAE, IMC, CDC. NIH, etc., especially for facilities which had not yet had standards and criteria developed. More than once when the priate sector could not perform design, work was moved in house. If you are still truly bored, Uncle Sugar is always looking for people to relocate to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Not saying private or public is better for you, just that you don't need to be bored. A large benefit of gubmint work is it allows you to hold ethics over dollars. My last private sector job wanted me not to just bend the line, but defecate while crossing.
RE: Is engineering boring?
University is interesting because you are continuosly learning. Work gets boring very quickly when that learing peters out. You need to position yourself into a job where the learning doesn't stop.
- Steve
RE: Is engineering boring?
There are fun, exciting jobs as well as boring jobs in engineering (I have had both) as there are fun and boring jobs in almost any other discipline.
The trick is to find and keep the good jobs and leave the bad ones in a hurry.
I count my blessings that although there are many bad things in my current job, there is fun to be had and learning to be done every day.
RE: Is engineering boring?
I don't think that you can fairly compare school, which is on a rigid schedule, with work, which is not.
Nonetheless, I don't think engineering is boring at all. There's tons of new things to learn every day, and I'm constantly amazed that someone actually pays me to do this!
TTFN
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RE: Is engineering boring?
So long as you're getting your 'core work' done mangement should be OK with it. Be careful not to tread on anyones toes etc, it can be a political minefield, but basically find stuff you can do that adds value to your job while giving you a chance to learn stuff.
Big organizations like yours tend to be better at paying for training of employees, see if there's anything available.
Maybe do stress analysis or something of the parts you're working on in CAD. If you're actually creating the drawings then I can tell you for a fact there are a lot of things you don't know about that after 2 years. While some may not consider it hard core engineering you could try and learn about GD& T & tolerancing etc.
Basically, in your apparant 'free time' find something usefull & interesting to do.
Small companies may answer some of your issues, but they aren't a panacea. Some people are happier in them than others. Maybe they're the right place for you, maybe not.
Oh, and yes there is a lot of dull stuff in engineering, a lot of that dull stuff gets sluffed off on junior staff, partly as a learning experience and partly because more senior staff don't want to do it. It's amazing how little cutting edge, make or break stuff there is in comparison to the more laborious stuff, funnily most of the few exciting/critical tasks aren't given to inexperienced junior staff that often.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
It can require much personal initiative to get beyond the 'little picture' stuff, but if you are bored or don't have enough energy to face the day, it is probably because your work isn't presenting big enough challenges.
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
As others have mentioned, engineering can be boring, but similar to Mike, I have not had that experience yet. I worked for a couple of years at a large construction company which afforded me the opportunity to get on job sites and meet with the people building off my designs. This was good and bad, but even today in my current position as an engineer for a consulting firm, I often look forward to getting in the field for a day or so. It makes the office time fly by and while the traveling can be a pain at times, I like to meet with customers at their sites. Maybe I am a minority, but I find the variety is what makes engineering fun for me.
JWB
RE: Is engineering boring?
Fighting a new concept in subframe isolation through, and proving it is works? Not boring.
Delivering an innovative product, on time, with better performance than promised? Not boring.
Being bored at work? Very boring.
Oddly, you are the only person who can decide to be bored.
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: Is engineering boring?
There are only really 4 materials - concrete, steel, wood, and masonry (I'm sure I'm leaving something out and someone will point that out), but the manner in which they're used and understanding the behavior NEVER gets boring.
Another way to prevent boredom is to make spreadsheets (complex ones) and make sure they're as idiot proof and fool proof as possible - this will exercise your mental muscles.
RE: Is engineering boring?
I had a budget of ten months, with another colleague to complete the piperack design on a major project. We completed it in two months and we knew management were not interested in hearing that! So we invented a new project for ourselves in a spreadsheet design. It was great and innovative work.
If you can find a "partner in crime" you'll find even more tremendous opportunity to learn.
Like yourself, I struggled in my first two years after university and found the culture shock of the drawing office too sedentary and boring. I quit and went back to university. When I left and came back into the profession, the jobs were better, more interesting but more so I had more ideas and more confidence.
If you have a hankering to learn more, then learn more now.
Robert Mote
www.motagg.com
RE: Is engineering boring?
drawn to design, designed to draw
RE: Is engineering boring?
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
RE: Is engineering boring?
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/status.html
But it all depends on your outlook.
Two designers in the same group were asked what they were working on: The first one said "A bracket to put a p-clamp on"; the second said "The next generation moon rocket".
RE: Is engineering boring?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: Is engineering boring?
Well, getting out of industry that's funded by the gov't is going to be harder to do in the States.
______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.
RE: Is engineering boring?
Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud. After a while you realize that them like it
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
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: Is engineering boring?
Small companies work for me, I like wearing lots of hats and staying busy.
Big companies have their R+D divisions, though, which operate a lot like small companies do. Find out what group does this in your mega-corporation, and ask what you can do to get a job in their group. I whined as a new MS, and eventually got to work on more cutting-edge stuff. But you learn to live and die by the budget axe then, as others have pointed out. Can be scary when the layoffs are imminent.
RE: Is engineering boring?
Start trying to see what you can get away with. Take on all resposibilities you can find. Look for forgivness, rather than permission.
**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world's energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies) http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/
RE: Is engineering boring?
- Steve
RE: Is engineering boring?
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: Is engineering boring?
In my spare time I improve spreadsheets. Pressure Vessel, ASME, PD5500 etc.
The equivilant software costs £10,000 for a yearly license. If I go contracting I wont have to worry about that license.
Design Spreadsheets to be as perfect as possible and then add any required Visual basic addons to top it off.
RE: Is engineering boring?
At the risk of being the go to guy there are always these little projects that you have to get around to when times are slower. I spent the time on setting up the drawing templates and working with marketing on the new catalog for the company. Neither required a big rush but when done, they saved a hell of a time. Sometimes accounting would come looking for similar things like designing a new form for whatever and you have two choices...be the go to guy and do it for them or simply point to the software and give them your template to get them gong themselves. I usually do the latter. Then when it's 90% done I will help them tidy it up in my spare time.
drawn to design, designed to draw
RE: Is engineering boring?
Later on I wrote articles for publication, wrote work instructions, and continuously tried to clarify methods of analysis. The boss appreciated this because it allowed less qualified engineering people to perform efficiently.
[I had to slap the hands of salesmen who tried to engineer products, something they were not qualified to do. One salesman had the audacity to sell the most expensive approach to customers until I got that under control.]
Engineering is not boring. In the Army, officers used to say 'when time allows, improve your foxhole.' Keep busy.
RE: Is engineering boring?
GJC
RE: Is engineering boring?
TTFN
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RE: Is engineering boring?
Until they gave you the shaft, right?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Is engineering boring?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
My take is that the world is full of dreamers, historians and the can do people.
The dreamers are actors, authors, politicians and scientists who dont actually get to the end point and throw up a million ideas in the process. Then someone has to fix on one and make it happen.
The historians cannont do anything until something has happened. When the wheel was invented someone wanted to insure or sell it. the attorney wanted to patent it and the medico heal the bloke it ran over. All this happened after the event.
The can do people. Well you guessed they are engineers. They sort the ideas into practical things and give the historians something to do. That take the science and employ their technology to better the world.
If it did not grow an engineer was behind it!
RE: Is engineering boring?
Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net
RE: Is engineering boring?
No, you claimed Civil Engineers. HE posted mining/geotechnical.
RE: Is engineering boring?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud. After a while you realize that them like it
RE: Is engineering boring?
If you are still bored go bungy jumping, mountain climbing or base jumping. If you still bored find a Buddhist monastery. its your calling.
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Ibertest Internacional S.A.
http://www.ibertestint.com
RE: Is engineering boring?
... on the other hand, just a mile or so away from the office, there are tradesmen and technicians who bust their ass doing labor and work real hard for their dollar who wish they can make x amount in that amount of time and effort. I feel fortunate to have it in this sense. I plan on starting my Master ME next year, and having a low stress job will def make things go easier.
RE: Is engineering boring?
TTFN
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RE: Is engineering boring?
Fe
RE: Is engineering boring?
In my limited experience, things can get boring in a company when they are going too smoothly. For example the company is raking in profits on an existing product line where most of the bugs are already worked out, and the main focus is on slashing costs to squeeze out even more profit. If you get into a situation where a new product is being developed, or better yet put into the field for the first time, life can get interesting in a hurry. If there are problems, that's when the company will need your brain the most. But, you might get burned out with too much of this kind of thing.
I work for a company that has a lot of government contracts but we're all very busy. Not all the work is interesting of course, but there is no lack of work to go around.
RE: Is engineering boring?
"Interesting: As in pertaning to ones death. Nothing so captures the mind than the knowledge that one is about to die."
Be careful what you ask for.
Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net
RE: Is engineering boring?
If things arn't exciting, you're just not going fast enough.
---Mario Andertti
**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world's energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies) http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/
RE: Is engineering boring?
Lot's of engineering is boring/dull paperwork and calculation, for me once the concept of a solution is worked out I lose all interest. Unless its making parts for my bikes.
RE: Is engineering boring?
I do hope you can find work that turns your crank, rather than just keeping you so busy that you don't notice how bored you are..
RE: Is engineering boring?
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Is engineering boring?
MALK's comment reminded me right away of an old friend of mine. He's a really smart guy educated as a mech eng, but his mom used to complain to me that he was useless to her-anything she needed fixed around the house he'd be happy to take apart, but as soon as he found what was wrong he lost interest and NEVER put anything back together again.
Would he be an ideal manager? Perhaps if he's forced himself to hold his nose and work through the details enough times that he can empathize with his staff who actually DO suffer the details- otherwise, I'm thinking salesman rather than manager!
RE: Is engineering boring?
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Is engineering boring?
I constantly get down on myself for precisely this reason, I typically work really hard and fast on something until I see a solution, then have to force myself to get it completed fully detailed. I mean my mind finds all sorts of better things to do with its time.
this message has been approved for citizen to elect kepharda 2008
RE: Is engineering boring?
Hmm.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Is engineering boring?
If you then think engineering is boring change course.
RE: Is engineering boring?
Interesting, I wonder what you would do on exams.
BTW, there is a solution to every problem in this world. The 'details' are the remarkable part.
Fe
RE: Is engineering boring?
It's not just knowing there is a solution. It's knowing enough about the solution to know, roughly, how it would go. For some types of problems and some types of people, the most interesting part, by far, is that push from "I don't know how that works" to "I see a way it would work", and then the biggest thing to look forward to is the next problem when one can make that breakthrough again. For some, the bigger joy is in working the solution out fully to make it work.
For some, french fries are delicious. For some, french fries are an excuse to eat ketchup. I'm not sure which is which in this analogy.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Is engineering boring?
Perfect...just perfect.
"A Designer knows that he has achieved Perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away" - Antoine de Saint-Exupry
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Maybe theoretical physics is more the game for that type of whom like to 'think' and not 'DO'.
P.S. french fries make your ass stick out.
Fe
RE: Is engineering boring?
I worked for a large government contractor and all I was given was small tasks. My work ethic at that time wasn't necessarily the best and I didn't pursue more for myself, but I look back and realize that I would have been doing little tasks forever. I wasn't pressed to work. When I went to the private sector, I needed to perform and, fortunately, my work ethic changed once I realized that I enjoyed my work.
The point is that if you are bored, you are working in the wrong place. You need to make a move. There are all types of companies out there.
It is possible to work at a place that challenges you, is interesting, is ethical, and is not a sweat shop. Just make sure that you know what you want, and think long term such as if you'd like to be a project manager, field engineer, etc. Make sure to convey this to a prospective employer. They will appreciate the honesty and won't hire you unless they can provide you with what you are looking for. When you get hired, it will be a win-win situation.
Good Luck!
RE: Is engineering boring?
Anyhoo, be happy in what you do. Funnily enough I am trying to get into a management post at he moment. Also I try to give any graduate engineers reporting to me interesting work to do and I do emphasise the importance of dotting the is and crossing the Tees.
RE: Is engineering boring?
You have eagerness to learn... You will get a job you like... May be in the pvt sector.
Product Design Funda!
http://www.productdesignfunda.com
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
If you love someone, you put up with a certain of irritation. If you don't, then you won't put up with any irritation.
TTFN
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RE: Is engineering boring?
The trick is to get to know yourself, and what you like - what is it that really gives satisfaction - an obvious contrast is between people who like to be 'hands-on' and design the article, through to those who prefer think in the abstract or 'system' level.
For me, I worked in a govt R&D situation for a few years, and then, thinking I wanted get more specialised, I went to Industry. Now been there 18mths, and the work seems repetitive, and lacking the interest that makes me want to be an engineer, and I looking to get back into investigative work.
Hope this helps
RE: Is engineering boring?
Your chances of getting into more high tech and interesting work are higher in government than industry. However, it all depends on your skills and the size of the company. If you work for a large defense contractor you are one of hundreds of engineers, and a lot of those jobs are boring. The products that those companies make are very cool, but unfortunately you will be such a small piece, that the coolness factor is somehow lost in the day to day grind.
I went from one such company to a small privately owned manufacturing firm. I found life at a small company not to be much better. The engineering department at this company was four people. There was no room for advancement and no cash for cool toys. We didn't even use 3D CAD (this was around 1998). We did our drawings (which were done by us engineers) using some no name 2D CAD program. There was no FEA and no calculations. Nearly all of our new products were just derivitives of existing products, so designs were based not on engineering principles, but on experience and rules of thumb-very low-tech. I was a glorified draftsman and paper pusher. By Thursday of my first week on the job I was bored silly. I lasted one year there.
I have found that I prefer medium sized defense compaines. There is more real engineering going on (analysis on nearly every project) and even R&D. There is more money and overall better pay. Plus, there is room to grow and advance within the company.
My ideal company has between 200 to 400 employees.
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
To do any sort of interesting research, you have to running a lab, which means that you have to:
>> teach classes
>> grade assignments
>> mentor students
>> supervise your postgrads
>> curry favor to get grants
>> be on the road about 25% of your time to glad hand potential customers
>> grind out analyses proving your position
>> oh yeah, spend some time doing some real research
When I was a kid, being a rock star sounded like something that was glamorous and exciting, but the reality is that the only exciting part of the day is the one or two hours on stage, and everything else is gritty and mundane, unless you've made it to the top, but the luxury and glam appears to be insufficient for many top rock stars that spiral into drinking and drugs to blot out the periods between performances.
The bottome line is that nothing you'll do will be 100% exciting 100% of the time. However, there's enough excitement in doing the things that get yiou out of bed in the morning to keep you contented. As in the old song, " you can't always get what you want, but you sometimes get what you need."
TTFN
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RE: Is engineering boring?
At least you get 'some' stuff of the interest. Many jobs this 'some' is nonexistent.
" you can't always get what you want, but you sometimes get what you need."
Fe
RE: Is engineering boring?
Just consider the people that clean your office. The biggest thrill for some of them is to find a cache of soda cans that they can recycle for $20 or so.
TTFN
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RE: Is engineering boring?
Sorry New Postjck87 but there's relatively little real cutting edge new product development.
A lot more of the stuff Mike mentions.
For instance, for every guy coming up with the planform or wing section of the next super fighter, there are probably dozens that get stuck analyzing release of the same weapon from a couple of different hard points under the wing of the same aircraft at various stages of the flight resume...
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Is engineering boring?
At least with cars, a large percentage of the people involved in initial system design/selection tend to be the core of the group who will see it into production (usually described as "go to woe").
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Fe
RE: Is engineering boring?
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Is engineering boring?
RE: Is engineering boring?
Fe