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What does a day as an engineer look like And how has taking an engineering major changed your life??
I'm a Junior in High School and I'm thinking of pursuing an engineering major when I'm in College, just to try it out. I'm curious what life is like after taking an engineering major or what a day looks like as an engineer, depending on what kind of engineer you are. I'm looking more towards mechanical engineering.
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john’s Answer
Getting into mechanical engineering has also affected my personal life as well. I've become very creative at solving problems, even outside the field of engineering. It made me more patient for designing or building or troubleshooting takes patience to determine the root cause of an issue and then figure out a solution. I think more outside the box than others and have learned that everything can be repaired, improved and finetuned to make it work extremely well. It may be very analytical and I've learned that you have to dive in the details to figure out the cause and a solution.
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Tony’s Answer
To answer your second question first - working as an engineer has given me an appreciation for the complexity of some of the systems that people take for granted in their lives, as well as the immense responsibility to ensure that these systems are effective, safe and reliable.
A "day in the life of an engineer" is hard to answer because it really depends on so many things - your role, your project, the phase of the project (specification, development, testing), the product, the company. There is definitely the potential for variety, in some cases a great deal of variety.
There are some common characteristics to many engineering roles:
= if you are performing design or analysis you will likely be using some sort of CAD (Computer Aided Design) or EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software. An important engineering skill is learning how to use such software effectively - and when to not trust the software results.
= communication is a critical skill. You will spend a fair amount of time on communication: informal team communications (emails, slack) and formal communications (creating or reviewing specifications, documentation, analysis results). And every team has meetings....
= you will face a certain amount of scrutiny from your managers, other teams, and customers. You need to be prepared to defend your design or your results and communicate them concisely and effectively.
= you will most likely be expected to work to a schedule and to complete certain tasks by a certain time.
Will you be at a desk, or in the lab, or in the field? Some roles or projects may involve all three activities at different times, depending on the nature and phase of the project. In one of my roles I performed some circuit design at my desk, then worked with our manufacturing team to build and package the design, assembled a testbench to test the circuitry and spent a fair amount of time in the lab trying to figure out why it wasn't working. Our company manufactured satellites, and while I never had the opportunity some of the other engineers were deployed at the launch site to support the preparation and validation activities required for a successful launch. At a job I had as a summer intern, most of the time was spent performing analysis at my desk but I also had the opportunity to ride in a van through the streets of Chicago to test a prototype location-based system (this was before GPS).
Will you be working on cool products? Quite possibly. However, there is a good chance you will be working on a specific piece of a cool thing, not the whole thing. A system is made up of several subsystems, each made of of many components, and all of those components require engineers to take ownership of the effectiveness and quality, and to make sure the component interfaces properly with the system. Somebody has to work on the brake control system or the USB bus.
Will you be designing things? Perhaps, many engineering roles involve design. But many roles involve analyzing results rather than designing them, some roles may design algorithms rather than products, and some roles may involve optimizing processes. On many projects design verification and validation is a much larger part of the project than design implementation. At one company where I worked, some engineers were focused on quality testing of parts, and for them the engineering was about designing an efficient parts testing process and ensuring that the results were accurate and reliable. At another company, we sold EDA software that our customers used to design computer chips; my role involved customer visits to help them use the software effectively; in my mind I was designing vicariously through my customers.
Engineers in project management or team leadership roles have additional responsibilities associated with those roles which can alter the day-to-day aspects of their careers. While the tendency of such roles may be to move farther away from directly performing design or analysis, some leadership roles still permit some amount of that activity. In my current project management role, one of my challenges is to find ways to "sneak in" some hands-on engineering activity from time to time!
To summarize: In your engineering career, you will have opportunities to take on a variety of roles and projects. Some will focus more on certain activities or characteristics, and as you progress in your career you can make choices to give you more or less of certain characteristics. Just remember that ALL of those activities and characteristics will contribute to your experience and proficiency as a well-rounded engineer, and you may find that something you thought you would dislike may turn out to be something you actually like, or may lead to other opportunities.
A "day in the life of an engineer" is hard to answer because it really depends on so many things - your role, your project, the phase of the project (specification, development, testing), the product, the company. There is definitely the potential for variety, in some cases a great deal of variety.
There are some common characteristics to many engineering roles:
= if you are performing design or analysis you will likely be using some sort of CAD (Computer Aided Design) or EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software. An important engineering skill is learning how to use such software effectively - and when to not trust the software results.
= communication is a critical skill. You will spend a fair amount of time on communication: informal team communications (emails, slack) and formal communications (creating or reviewing specifications, documentation, analysis results). And every team has meetings....
= you will face a certain amount of scrutiny from your managers, other teams, and customers. You need to be prepared to defend your design or your results and communicate them concisely and effectively.
= you will most likely be expected to work to a schedule and to complete certain tasks by a certain time.
Will you be at a desk, or in the lab, or in the field? Some roles or projects may involve all three activities at different times, depending on the nature and phase of the project. In one of my roles I performed some circuit design at my desk, then worked with our manufacturing team to build and package the design, assembled a testbench to test the circuitry and spent a fair amount of time in the lab trying to figure out why it wasn't working. Our company manufactured satellites, and while I never had the opportunity some of the other engineers were deployed at the launch site to support the preparation and validation activities required for a successful launch. At a job I had as a summer intern, most of the time was spent performing analysis at my desk but I also had the opportunity to ride in a van through the streets of Chicago to test a prototype location-based system (this was before GPS).
Will you be working on cool products? Quite possibly. However, there is a good chance you will be working on a specific piece of a cool thing, not the whole thing. A system is made up of several subsystems, each made of of many components, and all of those components require engineers to take ownership of the effectiveness and quality, and to make sure the component interfaces properly with the system. Somebody has to work on the brake control system or the USB bus.
Will you be designing things? Perhaps, many engineering roles involve design. But many roles involve analyzing results rather than designing them, some roles may design algorithms rather than products, and some roles may involve optimizing processes. On many projects design verification and validation is a much larger part of the project than design implementation. At one company where I worked, some engineers were focused on quality testing of parts, and for them the engineering was about designing an efficient parts testing process and ensuring that the results were accurate and reliable. At another company, we sold EDA software that our customers used to design computer chips; my role involved customer visits to help them use the software effectively; in my mind I was designing vicariously through my customers.
Engineers in project management or team leadership roles have additional responsibilities associated with those roles which can alter the day-to-day aspects of their careers. While the tendency of such roles may be to move farther away from directly performing design or analysis, some leadership roles still permit some amount of that activity. In my current project management role, one of my challenges is to find ways to "sneak in" some hands-on engineering activity from time to time!
To summarize: In your engineering career, you will have opportunities to take on a variety of roles and projects. Some will focus more on certain activities or characteristics, and as you progress in your career you can make choices to give you more or less of certain characteristics. Just remember that ALL of those activities and characteristics will contribute to your experience and proficiency as a well-rounded engineer, and you may find that something you thought you would dislike may turn out to be something you actually like, or may lead to other opportunities.
Updated
Sheila’s Answer
Thanks for the great question. I am a mechanical engineer by training, and so I will comment on what was interesting for me over my career.
Mechanical engineering is a fantastic foundation for many roles. Initially, I worked in the thermal area where I worked on requirements creation, vehicle development/validation testing (including testing at our proving grounds and out in Death Valley), building analytical models, and designing/releasing HVAC/Powertrain Cooling related systems. Next, I had the opportunity to work as a Vehicle Systems Integration engineer for Propulsion systems which included early vehicle concept, development, and production activities. After this, I shifted to system safety role which included software, controls, and physical part safety. I then led a team for the Advanced System Integration of defense/military vehicles and projects. I currently lead a company which helps businesses operate more efficiently using software tools and artificial intelligence aids. The mechanical engineering foundation enabled me to have a wide variety of career experiences.
A great foundation for this career is math and science classes. To be a mechanical engineer, you would need to go to university for 4 years. Many people enter programs which offer co-op/internships. For these, you can work a few of your school terms. This enables work experience, different career areas to experience, and an opportunity to earn money along the way. For these programs, it could take 5+ years. Mechanical engineering also has many focus areas, so you can pick the area(s) that you find the most interesting. Some examples include: Thermal systems/fluids, Mechanical Structures, Materials, and Automotive design.
Best wishes to you as you explore your future career.
Mechanical engineering is a fantastic foundation for many roles. Initially, I worked in the thermal area where I worked on requirements creation, vehicle development/validation testing (including testing at our proving grounds and out in Death Valley), building analytical models, and designing/releasing HVAC/Powertrain Cooling related systems. Next, I had the opportunity to work as a Vehicle Systems Integration engineer for Propulsion systems which included early vehicle concept, development, and production activities. After this, I shifted to system safety role which included software, controls, and physical part safety. I then led a team for the Advanced System Integration of defense/military vehicles and projects. I currently lead a company which helps businesses operate more efficiently using software tools and artificial intelligence aids. The mechanical engineering foundation enabled me to have a wide variety of career experiences.
A great foundation for this career is math and science classes. To be a mechanical engineer, you would need to go to university for 4 years. Many people enter programs which offer co-op/internships. For these, you can work a few of your school terms. This enables work experience, different career areas to experience, and an opportunity to earn money along the way. For these programs, it could take 5+ years. Mechanical engineering also has many focus areas, so you can pick the area(s) that you find the most interesting. Some examples include: Thermal systems/fluids, Mechanical Structures, Materials, and Automotive design.
Best wishes to you as you explore your future career.