Mechanical Engineering Worth It?

Vadar2012

Umm where'd that come from, if you were bugging me I wouldn't be posting here trying to help you...

shushu97

I have a master degree in mechanical engineering and still looking for an interesting job.
All the jobs I had till now didn't really require all what I have learnt.
It seems that apart from military related industry (where I don't want to work) the selection is very limited.

S_Happens

As a stand alone, yes a mechanical engineering degree is a very desirable degree. It's extremely versatile and, similar to most engineering degrees, is respected enough to get you into many careers unrelated to mechanical engineering. That's just to say that it will open more doors than the MANY already available to the broad mechanical engineering field.

I'm currently a junior in mechanical engineering. I'm 29, have been working on cars since 15, and worked both offshore and in a chemical plant for about 6 years total. The hard work to get the degree AND do very well in your classes is most certainly worth it, so stick with it.

There are many interesting jobs for MEs, or at least jobs that offer some interesting aspects. The bottom line is that work is almost always going to end up being work. You're not necessarily going to enjoy every minute of it, or even the majority of it. My goal is to end up back in the chemical industry, working in rotating equipment reliability. Optimally I'd love to work in a automotive performance division, racing team, or aerospace powertrain, but like stated above those jobs are extremely difficult to get into. The bottom line is that I already have a huge foot in the door in an industry that I know I can work in and make great money. This finances what I want to do outside of work.

It's hard to say from here, but I really don't know if working in the automotive industry would strengthen or ruin the hobby for me.

Anyway, much encouragement to you. In your last two years, you'll look back and realize how much easier the initial classes you took were. If you keep working really hard, you'll probably notice how those who might have found it easy at the beginning will start to trail off. As much as I loved the fact in the early years that I could understand everything without studying, consistent success really comes down to how hard you work. My suggestion is to work extremely hard, get the good grades, and have enjoy the spoils of a hard fought victory after you graduate.

Jones64

I think you should finish mechanical engineering, it really is a very versatile study. I don't know how the technical job market is in the US at the moment, but I'm located in the Netherlands and it is really in demand here now, students at our university find a job within 1 month in general.

hotvette

Agree with what others said about versatility of an ME degree, which can actually be a bit mind boggling. Probably the most important choice you have is type of industry (looks like you have automotive in mind). Second would be the type of position you might want. In my college days, large industrey had 3 basic categories (production, development, research). There are other options, though. Somebody already mentioned law (engineers can make good patent attorneys). There is also sales or technical support of sales. I've had previous jobs as a development test engineer and in mechanical analysis (FEM). Some engineers end up being their company's standards representatives (e.g. SAE). I have ME colleagues that have taken vastly different paths (one started as a mfg. engineer in a automotive fuel injection plant and advanced to corporate VP, another performed seismic audits at nuclear facilities, another was employed at a small company that designed the first mouse for Apple, another spent 15 years in various countries around the world as a project manager, another got bored as a hydraulic test engineer in an aerospace company and spent 20 years as a navy helicopter pilot, another worked for 6 months and decided to go to medical school to become an orthopedic surgeon, another started his own company in the petroleum/chemicals industry after 3 years working for a large petroleum company, the daughter of a family friend is passionate about aerospace and only 3 years out of college just got her dream job with SpaceX and has visions of being a mission specialist). The stories go on. In the end you need to consider what type of person you are, what you believe you'd enjoy, where you want to live (geographically), how much you might like to travel, etc. The possibilities are vast.