2 answers
Ki'yon
Student
Hopewell, Virginia
7
Questions
Asked
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What is being a Mechanical Engineer like on a daily basis?
Since I am a freshman in high school, and nobody in my family has a similar occupation, I am curious about how work is on a daily basis and what some expectations are on the job.
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2 answers
Iryna Tam
Writer, copywriter
141
Answers
Hagerstown, Maryland
Updated
Iryna’s Answer
Hello!
Being a mechanical engineer involves a mix of problem-solving, creativity, and technical skills. While the specifics can vary depending on the industry, company, and project, here’s a general overview of what a typical day might look like for a mechanical engineer:
Typical Daily Responsibilities
Design and Analysis
CAD Software: A significant part of the job involves using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create, modify, and analyze engineering designs.
Modeling: Engineers often develop 3D models of components or systems and perform simulations to test their performance under various conditions.
Collaboration
Team Meetings: Regular meetings with other engineers, designers, and project managers to discuss project progress, brainstorm solutions, and coordinate tasks.
Interdisciplinary Work: Collaborating with electrical engineers, computer scientists, and other professionals to integrate different aspects of a project.
Problem-Solving
Troubleshooting: Identifying and solving technical problems that arise during the design, development, or testing phases.
Innovative Thinking: Coming up with creative solutions to meet project requirements or improve existing systems.
Documentation
Reports and Specifications: Writing detailed reports on designs, project progress, test results, and maintenance procedures.
Compliance: Ensuring that designs meet safety, regulatory, and quality standards and documenting compliance with industry regulations.
Testing and Prototyping
Building Prototypes: Creating physical prototypes of designs for testing and evaluation.
Conducting Tests: Performing tests to assess the performance, safety, and durability of products, followed by analyzing the results to inform adjustments.
Project Management
Time Management: Keeping track of project timelines and ensuring that deadlines are met.
Budgeting: Reviewing project budgets and resources to ensure that costs are controlled.
Skills and Tools Used
Technical Skills: Proficiency in engineering principles, mathematics, and physics. Knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes.
Software: Familiarity with CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, AutoCAD), simulation tools, and project management software.
Soft Skills: Good communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and analytical skills are essential for collaborating with others and solving complex problems.
Work Environment
Varied Settings: Mechanical engineers may work in offices, laboratories, manufacturing plants, or on-site at project locations. The work environment can vary significantly depending on the type of projects.
Work Hours: Most engineers work standard business hours, but there may be times when long hours or overtime are necessary, particularly when approaching project deadlines.
Career Advancement
Opportunities: Mechanical engineering offers diverse career paths in various industries, such as automotive, aerospace, energy, robotics, and manufacturing. There are also opportunities for advancement into management positions or specialized technical roles.
Continuous Learning: Engineers are often required to stay updated on the latest technologies and materials, so ongoing education and professional development are important in this field.
Overall, a day in the life of a mechanical engineer involves a balance of design, analysis, teamwork, and innovative thinking. If you enjoy working on technical problems, collaborating with others, and being hands-on with projects, mechanical engineering could be a fulfilling career for you. As you progress through high school, consider taking courses in mathematics, physics, and engineering to build a solid foundation for your future studies in mechanical engineering!
Being a mechanical engineer involves a mix of problem-solving, creativity, and technical skills. While the specifics can vary depending on the industry, company, and project, here’s a general overview of what a typical day might look like for a mechanical engineer:
Typical Daily Responsibilities
Design and Analysis
CAD Software: A significant part of the job involves using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create, modify, and analyze engineering designs.
Modeling: Engineers often develop 3D models of components or systems and perform simulations to test their performance under various conditions.
Collaboration
Team Meetings: Regular meetings with other engineers, designers, and project managers to discuss project progress, brainstorm solutions, and coordinate tasks.
Interdisciplinary Work: Collaborating with electrical engineers, computer scientists, and other professionals to integrate different aspects of a project.
Problem-Solving
Troubleshooting: Identifying and solving technical problems that arise during the design, development, or testing phases.
Innovative Thinking: Coming up with creative solutions to meet project requirements or improve existing systems.
Documentation
Reports and Specifications: Writing detailed reports on designs, project progress, test results, and maintenance procedures.
Compliance: Ensuring that designs meet safety, regulatory, and quality standards and documenting compliance with industry regulations.
Testing and Prototyping
Building Prototypes: Creating physical prototypes of designs for testing and evaluation.
Conducting Tests: Performing tests to assess the performance, safety, and durability of products, followed by analyzing the results to inform adjustments.
Project Management
Time Management: Keeping track of project timelines and ensuring that deadlines are met.
Budgeting: Reviewing project budgets and resources to ensure that costs are controlled.
Skills and Tools Used
Technical Skills: Proficiency in engineering principles, mathematics, and physics. Knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes.
Software: Familiarity with CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, AutoCAD), simulation tools, and project management software.
Soft Skills: Good communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and analytical skills are essential for collaborating with others and solving complex problems.
Work Environment
Varied Settings: Mechanical engineers may work in offices, laboratories, manufacturing plants, or on-site at project locations. The work environment can vary significantly depending on the type of projects.
Work Hours: Most engineers work standard business hours, but there may be times when long hours or overtime are necessary, particularly when approaching project deadlines.
Career Advancement
Opportunities: Mechanical engineering offers diverse career paths in various industries, such as automotive, aerospace, energy, robotics, and manufacturing. There are also opportunities for advancement into management positions or specialized technical roles.
Continuous Learning: Engineers are often required to stay updated on the latest technologies and materials, so ongoing education and professional development are important in this field.
Overall, a day in the life of a mechanical engineer involves a balance of design, analysis, teamwork, and innovative thinking. If you enjoy working on technical problems, collaborating with others, and being hands-on with projects, mechanical engineering could be a fulfilling career for you. As you progress through high school, consider taking courses in mathematics, physics, and engineering to build a solid foundation for your future studies in mechanical engineering!
Dennis Taylor
Self-employed
86
Answers
Columbus, Indiana
Updated
Dennis’s Answer
Hello Ki'yon. I read Iryna's answer, and she covered a lot of bases. What your everyday work looks like will depend on where you are in your career as well as what industry and company you are working in.
As a newly hired engineer, you might know very little about the products or the methods your company uses to produce them. Your first assignments might be shorter-term tasks where you assist senior members of a team to solve a problem or design a new part using computer models and other resources.
Here is ONE THING for you to consider: In your classes up to now, and into your college years - the problem(s) are narrowly defined so that you can focus on learning a certain concept or principle. The problem statement might contain all, or most, of the data you need to solve it. In your real job, the problems are less well defined, and some of the data or information you need to solve the problem may not exisit or may not be readily available. In that case, YOU have to become the expert and figure out what information you need along with how to obtain it. That might mean designing your own test(s) and test hardware or developing a computer model or whatever. You have to work with your team and your boss to determine the approach you will ultimately take.
My experience was to start in a development environment where we studied the various fluid flows in a Diesel engine. My focus was on the fluid mechanics and thermodynamics involved in the combustion process of the engine. Later on, I moved on to work involving the cooling system and the turbo-charger, which are components of the engine system. In that case, I had a laboratory where I could run tests and evaluate different designs and configurations. I also developed and wrote computer models of some parts of the system, so I could compare the theoretical and actual values that were measured in order to improve the model.
Later in my career, I moved into an area called "diagnostics" where we used computer measurements to assess the condition of an engine to determine what repairs were needed. I didn't do the repairs - that was a job for service technicians. My job was to develop the diagnostic tool so that the technicians could do a more effective repair. During this phase, I not only learned more about the engine, I also had to learn a lot about (mini-) computers and software along with transducers and sensors that would provide the signals that we needed. In essence, I became an EXPERT in the area of diagnostics.
Late in my career I moved into vehicle testing. For my company, this meant verifying that the engine would perform in the way we intended, especially with respect to the electronic control features of the engine and the way they integrated with the driver and the operation of the vehicle. Our team used a test vehicle and engine along with computers and data-logging equipment to obtain the information we needed. So, again, the work involved a lot of activity with computers and software, but the over-arching goal was to achieve the desired vehicle response and performance.
So, Ki'yon, you might expect a lot of different assignments as you continue to develop you own skill set. When you get a new assignment, remember, if it was an easy problem, somebody else would have already solved it.
Good luck, Ki'yon.
Find companies involved in engineering in your area. If possible, spend a day or more "Shadowing" one or more engineers at their job.
If you can't find any local companies, check on-line with either ASME or SAE and see what resources they have for aspiring student engineers.
Go on-line and look for engineering-related magazines, e.g. "Machine Design" or "Design News." Or whatever product or topic that interests you.
Talk to your school guidance (or career) counselor. They can steer you toward the right resources.
As a newly hired engineer, you might know very little about the products or the methods your company uses to produce them. Your first assignments might be shorter-term tasks where you assist senior members of a team to solve a problem or design a new part using computer models and other resources.
Here is ONE THING for you to consider: In your classes up to now, and into your college years - the problem(s) are narrowly defined so that you can focus on learning a certain concept or principle. The problem statement might contain all, or most, of the data you need to solve it. In your real job, the problems are less well defined, and some of the data or information you need to solve the problem may not exisit or may not be readily available. In that case, YOU have to become the expert and figure out what information you need along with how to obtain it. That might mean designing your own test(s) and test hardware or developing a computer model or whatever. You have to work with your team and your boss to determine the approach you will ultimately take.
My experience was to start in a development environment where we studied the various fluid flows in a Diesel engine. My focus was on the fluid mechanics and thermodynamics involved in the combustion process of the engine. Later on, I moved on to work involving the cooling system and the turbo-charger, which are components of the engine system. In that case, I had a laboratory where I could run tests and evaluate different designs and configurations. I also developed and wrote computer models of some parts of the system, so I could compare the theoretical and actual values that were measured in order to improve the model.
Later in my career, I moved into an area called "diagnostics" where we used computer measurements to assess the condition of an engine to determine what repairs were needed. I didn't do the repairs - that was a job for service technicians. My job was to develop the diagnostic tool so that the technicians could do a more effective repair. During this phase, I not only learned more about the engine, I also had to learn a lot about (mini-) computers and software along with transducers and sensors that would provide the signals that we needed. In essence, I became an EXPERT in the area of diagnostics.
Late in my career I moved into vehicle testing. For my company, this meant verifying that the engine would perform in the way we intended, especially with respect to the electronic control features of the engine and the way they integrated with the driver and the operation of the vehicle. Our team used a test vehicle and engine along with computers and data-logging equipment to obtain the information we needed. So, again, the work involved a lot of activity with computers and software, but the over-arching goal was to achieve the desired vehicle response and performance.
So, Ki'yon, you might expect a lot of different assignments as you continue to develop you own skill set. When you get a new assignment, remember, if it was an easy problem, somebody else would have already solved it.
Good luck, Ki'yon.
Dennis recommends the following next steps: