I’m thinking about going into mechanical engineering being that this is my last year of high school.
If you are a mechanical engineer, what do you do? I mean like at your job.
I primarily want to work with cars, is this even the right field to go into if I want to design cars for a living?
How much money do you make? if you dont mind saying.
I’m one. I love it. Especially for the chicks.
Hehe. Just kidding about the chicks part. But I do love being an ME. You can specialize in design, or manufacturing, or research. Many automotive engineers are MEs, so that’s a good path.
Personally, I teach, and I consult with manufacturing companies to make them more efficient. But in early jobs, you mostly design components, or design processes to manufactur components. Both are fun, if you are geek enough.
Money-wise, you can make as much or as little as you care to, depending on how you choose to ply your trade. The sky’s the limit in management or consulting, but the rank and file design guy makes, maybe, 60 to 70k these days.
The main requirement to be a good engineer is a high tolerance for tedium. In other words, can you enjoy really getting deep, deep, deep into a topic? Like, can you spend dozens of hours studying what makes one beam stronger than another? And how to design the strongest possible beam at the lightest possible weight? If that sounds like a world of jolies to you, you just might have what it takes to be an ME.
But… if the Dark Side tempts you, and you are considering Electrical Engineering, just remember: You can’t spell Geek without a double-E…Timmy
p.s. - if you really want more advice, feel free to e-mail me
I’m a mechanical engineer. I think there are quite a few of us here on the SDMB.
At my current job, I design equipment for refineries and other petrochemical applications. It involves mechanical/structural/thermal/hydraulic design. Most people would find this pretty boring, actually.
When I was your age, I decided to major in mechanical engineering partly because I was interested in automotives, and partly because I was working part time in a machine shop at the time. I don’t think it’s uncommon for ME’s to have some background in automotives. Many of my friends were active in SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) competitions. I think most universities offer an elective course in Internal Combustion engines for undergraduate ME’s. If you want to design cars for a living, mechanical engineering is what you should be majoring in.
Last year I made $70K (no OT). When I entered the workforce five years ago, I started off making $45K/year. Some of my classmates started off in the low- to mid $50K range. I don’t ask people how much they make, though, so I really can’t give you a precise figure.
I am but am not working in that field as I started my own company out of college which has very little to do with engineering.
ME (or any E for that matter) gives you an understanding on how things work around you and I don’t think it was a waste of time getting the education.
Well, a few things to consider here. I’m a ME, and one of my close friends works for an automotive supplier in Detroit. How do you feel about living in Michigan? Because if you want to work in automotive, you’ll either be in Detroit or Flint or somewhere else nearby (geography is failing me).
Also, keep in mind you probably won’t be “designing” cars for a long time, you’ll more likely be designing something like a suspension system or analyzing actuators in the ventilation system to determine why they’re failing.
I don’t mean to deter you; the ME field is so diverse that you can specialize in nearly anything you want. I have another friend that got a summer internship working for Colt. Yes, that Colt. Feel free to e-mail if you want, just identify yourself as I get lots of junk mail and sometimes miss the wheat from the chaff.
Another ME who loves his job checking in.
Do you like building things, analyzing stuff to death and the application of science? Are you good at performing under the pressure of deadlines? If so, I have a job for you. Most professions (lawyers, accountants, salesmen) are involved in the redistribution of wealth, you’ll be involved in the creation of wealth.
You need to be strong in math and physics and have a very good working knowledge of the theory of both. More importantly, though, you have to be able to apply those theories in a practical way.
You need to have good common sense. One of the greatest failing of designers is not knowing when to stop. You can always improve a design but you have to consider cost and time. My boss has a sign above his desk that says: "Sometimes better is the worst enemy of good enough. Think about that.
Very strong communicaton skills are also key.
What you can do as an ME is diverse as can be illustrated by my career:
Company #1:
I went straight through and got my BS and MS in ME from a top school. My first job was in high volume manufacturing of disk drive components. I designed the initial components, taking generic parts and applying them to a specific customer application. I supervised the building and testing of the prototypes and used the data to spin the design. Finally, I went over to Asia to our very large factories and transferred the designs to them. Eventually, they made 10,000 of these doo-dads a week.
My next job at this same company was as a team leader of a cross functional design team. I had MEs, EEs, physicists and managers on the team. We designed the next generation of our product that was eventually used in everything that we made for the next couple of years.
Unfortunately, Company #1 went out of business after I had been there for eight years and I had to find a new job. It was tough because I was in a very specialized industry and I didn’t want to move out of town. On the side I studied for and passed the P.E. licensing exam and that helped me to get a job at Company #2.
Company #2
This was an architecture, engineering and construction consulting firm. We designed and built server farms, telephone equipment facilities and data centers. As an ME, I designed all of the plumbing, duct work and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems. On some projects, I just did the ME design. On others, I was the project lead and coordinated the efforts of the MEs, EEs, civil/structural engineers and architects.
Unfortunately, after two years, they wanted to transfer me out of town so I resigned.
Company #3
I am currently a Senior ME at a robotics company. I work in the high precision robotics division. Our robots have a resolution of around 15 nanometers and are primarily used to assemble photonic components and lasers. I work with our customers on developing a process to use our robots on their products. This includes designing metal and ceramic chucks to hold the parts, writing software and working with solders and/or epoxies to use to adhere their components.
I’ve had a diverse carreer and I have enjoyed it. These days, though, there is not a lot of stability in the working world so you have to make sure your carreer takes you in a direction that makes you useful in a lot of areas. Don’t get stuck in a niche.
Feel free to email me as well. I’ll give you my salary information via email and even my phone number if you want to talk. I’d be happy to help.
Haj
No, I’m not one.
Another ME checking in. Whether or not you want to go into ME might depend on what you expect “designing cars for a living” means. If you were to go to work for Ford or GM and participate in engineering new vehicles, you’ll likely be starting out desigining and optimizing one little part. Redesign the mold for the handle of the seat tilt control. Spec out the studs that hold the wheel on. Design the oil cap. Things like that. Since automobiles are pretty complicated, a lot of people work on them, and the chores get broken down to a pretty small level. Having a wider responsibility (in general) would mean moving up to management, and doing less actual design work. No one person really designs a car, even in broad outline.
Now, personally, I’d hate working on such a small piece of the whole thing. You may enjoy it; depends. However, there are other alternatives in employment that would allow you to work with automobilies, but not necessarily at an automotive company. Where I work now, we do research and development work on advanced engines and hybrid vehicles. Not production, true, but definately cutting-edge automotive technology. Since we’re relatively small, everyone is responsible for relatively large hunks of the pie: running and testing an entire concept engine, for instance, or designing the control structure for a hybrid vehicle.
I happen to have a BS, MS, and PhD in ME, plus a PE. Some of the guys I work with have only a BS. What everyone does depends on their background, but we all do a little bit of design work, a little bit of testing, a little assembly, part ordering, report writing, attending meetings, troubleshooting, brainstorming, computer modeling, calculation, talking to contractors, working with technicians, developing test plans, etc. Different people do different amounts of each. I’ve gotta stress, though, that my particular job is probably unusual in the breadth of the job description; I know guys that do just computer modeling, or just CAD design, all day every day. In the jobs I’ve worked, I’ve specifically looked for breadth of responsibility. You may like the same, or you may prefer to focus on carefully designing a tiny part; depends on what you like. The automotive field is pretty big, and the entire field of ME is bigger yet.
Like others have said, if you’d like me to answer more questions, go ahead and ask in this thread or feel free to email me.
Tim R. Mortiss
Ahem… guess which field of engineering I represent? 
Now we see the violence inherent in the system. You see, TheRob, by entering into the world of engineering you will constantly be bombarded by the empty rhetoric of those who disparage EE-- the one true faith. Anyway, my big bro is a Mech-E and I love him to death. I guess they can’t all be bad people…
Right out of school (4 years ago) he was making right around $55,000/year. I think he now focuses mainly on Process Engineering. That isn’t something you can really look into at the undergrad level. He does seem to enjoy his chosen field even if it does stray from the one “true” path. I say, go for it! We need more engineers anyway so we can eventually rise up against corrupt business majors!
PS: Mech-E’s are just Aero’s that are afraid of flying! Neener neener!.. 
)
PPS: The sooner you learn to admit that being an engineer is inherently geeky, the better off you will be. As fellow geeks we should all embrace eachother and fight evil HR departments the world over!
(Oh yeah, I forgot to mention… If you can spot the Python quote above, you are definite engineering material!)
Well, I’m an aerospace engineer who basically does mechanical engineering. I’ll second (or third, or whatever we’re up to) figuring out what you mean by “designing cars”. It takes a lot of people to make a satellite or car.
Do you want to design parts or how they fit together? Go for mechanical. Are you interested in the aerodynamics? Mechanical or aerospace. What about the materials that make up the cars? Material science or chemistry. If you like designing to make it easier for people to use, go for mechanical specializing in human factors. Do you want to break stuff? Mechanical planning to go into test. There are probably tons of other specialties. Usually, they let you make the final decision on your major after you’ve had a few classes (and most of the specialties aren’t really a major), so don’t worry too much about it now.
The money is good. I made 40K straight out of college six years ago, and it’ll be higher by the time you get out.
One thing - don’t think that you won’t need to deal with people. People skills are some of the most worthwhile skills I have. On any given day I have to talk to several other engineers, make sure my techs know what is needed, make arrangements with the facility engineers, and see where my hardware is. I even have to give a couple of presentations in the next couple weeks - never do a good job in front of your director.
Of course, math and science are a must. So are computer skills, from computer aided design to Word and Powerpoint.
Another ME checking in. I graduated from college two years ago and am working at a MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) firm that designs all of the working stuff that goes into buildings. I know quite a few people that work in the automotive industry with ME degrees. I also know some people in the automotive industry with EE and CS degrees. It all depends on what your interests are.
Thank you so much everybody, I appreciate the offers for additional information that you all gave, as well as the things you wrote here. Your input has definitely made me feel better about my choice.
FYI, I’d mostly be interesting in designing performance parts for cars(what can I say I love fast cars), or doing some of the design ** zut ** described as his current occupation. But from all of your descriptions, I’d be happy with many of the various aspects of the field.
Thanks again everyone! Please don’t take offense if I don’t email you, I got pretty much everything I wanted to know already and I dont want to waste anybody’s time.
“Now we see the violence inherent in the system.”
Una, P.E.
(Yes, I am a Mech E. and I’ve posted many, many times in response to this same question. Don’t take it personally I can’t post anything in detail here - I can’t re-type everything, as I’m late for work, but if you Search on this general topic I think you’ll find many other posts by people describing their ME education, work experience, and careers.)