Interview a MECHANICAL ENGINEER

[jaredmurray22]

Hi, I need to interview a mechanical engineer for a school career project, and I was wondering if a mechanical engineer would be kind enough to answer some questions. I am really interested in studying to be one. I'm currently a junior in high school. Here are some questions, and I was wondering if you couls answer them.


What is your job title and where do you work?


Do you know an average starting salary?


How long have you been in the engineering field?


How many hours do you work daily?


Do you have to work weekends and/or holidays?


Is it hard to balance your work life with your personal life?


Did you find going through college difficult? Do you have any tips on how to adjust with the classes?


Was it hard to find a job once out of college?


What advice would you give a student planning on entering this career?


Is there a lot of travel involved?


Do you need to be able to use a computer quickly?

 

[Newtalie]

Hi I'm Natalie, 27, Mechanical Engineer @ Research and Development for Manchester University. I'll happily answer your questions.


What is your job title and where do you work?
Mechanical Engineering Technician
Manchester University -UK
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Research and Development DeptDo you know an average starting salary?
Around £24k for my department, depending on qualifications.


How long have you been in the engineering field?
4 yearsHow many hours do you work daily?
7
7:45am - 15:45pm


Do you have to work weekends and/or holidays?
Nope, however we are an educational research facility. In industry I'm aware that shift work, weekends and holidays, you are required to work.


Is it hard to balance your work life with your personal life?
No however it's hard to balance studying to be a Mechanical Engineer with having a life.
There is a lot of work involved, mainly theory and calculations.Did you find going through college difficult? Do you have any tips on how to adjust with the classes?
YES! however i was studying part time whilst working full time. I study three to four hours a night after work every night and about five hours a day on sat and sun.Was it hard to find a job once out of college?
I had an apprenticeship whereby they pay you and for all you courses whilst you study and work for them.What advice would you give a student planning on entering this career?
Be prepared to start at the bottom and work your way up. You'll get loads of crap an boring jobs, but once you're older and more capable you'll realize why you had to make 72bolts all within 0.02 of a mm!

Is there a lot of travel involved?
My training is external so yes, when i first started my technical college was 2hrs bus ride each way. Be prepared to work hard and you need to really want to do it.


Do you need to be able to use a computer quickly?
Personally we don't use computers much at all. Most of my peers are 50yr old men who don't know how to work their Nokia handset nevrmind navigate their way around emails and CAD or CNC's.

I hope that this helps

~ natalie

 

[jaredmurray22]

Thanks and if anyone else could help out it would help.

 

[xxChrisxx]

Note to OP you may want to ask what kind of work they are doing specifically, as Mech eng is a pretty broad field. You may also want to ask what qualifications they studied to (although some may been that to be a personal question).
What is your job title and where do you work?
Recent graduate, currently looking for work.
My role is design and development or analysis. Usually involving some kind of simulation. Do you know an average starting salary?
Depends on company, average starting salary for graduate = £24000
Those are most of the offers


How long have you been in the engineering field?
4 yearsHow many hours do you work daily?
N/a atm.


Do you have to work weekends and/or holidays?
Probably will.Did you find going through college difficult? Do you have any tips on how to adjust with the classes?
I found the first two years difficult, until I changed the way I was learning then it became much easier. My tip is find the best way to study that suits you, try a variety of methods.Was it hard to find a job once out of college?
Yes-ish. I found it very hard, because I graduated right as the recession hit. Currently as graduate opportunities reopened I've been getting far more call backs and offers.

What advice would you give a student planning on entering this career?
Be prepared to start at the bottom and work your way up. Listen to the older guys, they have been doing the job for donkeys years and know it inside out. You may have a degree at the end of it, but there really is no substitute for experience. Oh and get stuck into playing with actual physical bits.

Is there a lot of travel involved?
Yes, all jobs I've applied to have stated that travel will be involved. Some projects may require temporary relocation.

Do you need to be able to use a computer quickly?
Yes, for the roles I undertook I used a computer extensively. Mainly CAD, FEA and CFD work. Although you are required to be able to do calcualtions and 'back of the evelope stuff' on site away from a computer. The level of maths required is quite high.

 

[berkeman]

Sorry folks, we no longer allow interview threads at the PF. Too many were being used for identity mining. Thread closed.