Work environment for mechanical engineers

[patb]

First post here, I have been considering a career in mechanical engineering, but have a few questions...

1. What sort of environment can a mechanical eng. expect to work in? I love working outdoors, with my hands, troubleshooting, or in the shop, traveling locally... Basically I would never and could never sit in a cubical in an uncomfortable suit and tie all day, with the same boring routine, punching numbers into a computer.

2. I was never a fan of writing papers, english class, or business classes but have always loved and had a strong understanding of maths and sciences. I love learning about how things work, especially in the automotive and heavy equipment industries, and solving related problems (find myself always coming up with what seems to be a better way to do something while working with heavy equipment at my current job) and was wondering about specific career / education paths to get into that field, incorporating my preferable work environment from question 1...

3. I also love the simple pleasures in life, from camping and fishing to skateboarding and snowboarding, and will always work to live, not live to work. Is it possible to become a mechanical engineer and still remain active in these activities on a regular basis or will I be stuck writing reports from home late into the evening and through the weekend?

4. I am very interested in BCIT's "hands on" approach to mechanical engineering, is anyone currently taking this program or have taken it in the past? http://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/8020beng

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[dav2008]

1. Most mechanical engineering jobs are done from a desk/computer. Of course nobody wears a suit and tie anymore and the atmosphere is generally pretty casual. That being said, the amount of hands-on work will vary based on the company. There are plenty of opportunities to coordinate with experimental testing and production departments where you're actually looking at the test equipment or the product in the fabrication line. If you're more hands-on inclined you can typically find opportunities to put that to use. Of course, if you're interviewing for a job you should make it clear that you're into hands-on work.

I believe most of the strictly hands-on positions like lab technician are going to be geared towards people with 2-year degrees (or other degrees that aren't strictly "mechanical engineering"). I'm not too familiar with these things so maybe someone else can chime in here. Of course as a mechanical engineer you always have the opportunity to do hands on work as well, and, again, this will vary from company to company. Especially if you're dealing with production, you'll get the chance to interact with suppliers, vendors, manufacturing lines, etc.

2. I think any engineering job will require you to write reports. In the end, you are performing some kind of analysis and need a way to communicate the results with other engineers, managers, etc. As far as finances and such, you'll have to deal with that no matter where you work, but in engineering you can typically go for a technical path or a management path. In your case, you'd want to go down the technical path, which let's you concentrate more on the engineering aspect, and not the project management "big picture" aspect.

3. There will be times where you have a deadline and you need to put in the extra hours, but there will be other times when you might decide to leave work a bit early. Past that, it's up to you. I'd say you don't have anything to worry about when it comes to having free time. The great part about having a job is it's not like school. You come home at the end of the day or for the weekend and you don't have to worry about homework or anything like that. You want to take a few days vacation and you do it worry-free, no questions asked.

My best advice would be to find a career fair and speak with engineers from companies and ask them questions about what type hands-on work engineers do.

The good part about a degree like mechanical engineering is that it opens up a lot of opportunities and you can choose what path you take.

Edit: My views are based on limited experience, but I'm sure there are more seasoned engineers that can share their experiences

 

[Ben Espen]

dav2008 is pretty much right on. Ask around to find a company that fits your desired work style and then try to get hired there. What you want is entirely possible.

 

[patb]

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it!

 

[Cosmic Reign]

Um, Construction Project Management, Oil Exploration and Production, Welding Inspector, Field Service Engineer (Terex, Cat, etc.) come to mind.

 

[tygerdawg]

Not every ME job requires one to sit at a desk in an office. I learned early on that I hated this kind of work situation: "being stuck in a box full of testosterone-addled jerks."

I spent most of my career in Manufacturing Engineering, and specifically the robotics & automation side of that. It gets me out of my office, hands on work, dealing with all levels of people in the organization, constantly changing, a genuine sense of accomplishment of getting new products made or new machines/processes installed. Pay is generally less than for office workers, though.

Then there are all of the Field Engineer positions in a variety of different industries. Lots of responsibility, autonomy, but many times one must live like a gypsy.