Any Engineers?

[shakurov]

New to the forum..recently bought a Yaris so I've been browsing the different threads and have spent countless hours reading DIY's and the like. Classic reading material.

I'm currently a/n undergraduate/graduate student at the University of South Florida majoring in Mechanical Engineering so am naturally wondering if there are any practicing/retired Mechanical Engineers on this forum. If so, what sort of work do/did you do?

Thanks in advance.

Eugene

p.s. attached are pics of my hhwhip

[Brentorius]

Undergrad Mechanical Engineering @ FIT here; I gradate in May

[wildmongoose26]

Mechanical Engineer, Graduated 2008 from SMU

my work title is "Associate Technical Professional - Mechanical" heheh

[shakurov]

Undergrad Mechanical Engineering @ FIT here; I gradate in May

What are the plans after?

Mechanical Engineer, Graduated 2008 from SMU

my work title is "Associate Technical Professional - Mechanical" heheh

What sort of work does that entail; i.e. what software do you use?

[Brentorius]

Originally Posted by shakurov

What are the plans after?

I Interned with RS&H in Merritt Island last spring. I might try to get a job with them or somewhere in the space coast when I graduate.

I take the GRE on the 9th of Jan so grad school is on my horizon if only part time (have to pay back the loans ).

[shakurov]

Ya I just got in the grad program here it's a 5 year masters deal and it's my 4th year here but I still gotta take the GRE...I'm going to try to get an internship going this coming summer as well.

Do you guys have any SAE teams(formula, baja) over there?

[Brentorius]

Originally Posted by shakurov

Ya I just got in the grad program here it's a 5 year masters deal and it's my 4th year here but I still gotta take the GRE...I'm going to try to get an internship going this coming summer as well.

Do you guys have any SAE teams(formula, baja) over there?

Thats actually my senior project <SAE formula>. I think a team did the baja car 2 years ago.

[shakurov]

Thats actually my senior project <SAE formula>. I think a team did the baja car 2 years ago.

Its optional here but good experience...we're not doing formula this year..not enough funds but we're in the middle of building the baja car now

[m911gt]

Hi Eugene, I just graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering from a small school in Wisconsin. I moved to Chicago a few weeks ago to start a job as an energy consultant. My emphasis was energy systems and power plant design.
-Matt

[m911gt]

Originally Posted by PK198105

hey buddy welcome back and congrats

Thank you PK, life had been a little crazy but I should be settled for awhile now. How have you been? How's school?

[Dave]

I'm a mechanical engineer. I do building facilities, energy analysis, HVAC, plumbing and drainage, fire protection, blah blah blah.

[shakurov]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've actually decided to graduate this Spring and get a Bachelor's and see what the job market is like in the summer. If nothing comes up I have an offer to do a Ph.D that I might pursue.

Hi Eugene, I just graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering from a small school in Wisconsin. I moved to Chicago a few weeks ago to start a job as an energy consultant. My emphasis was energy systems and power plant design.

I'm a mechanical engineer. I do building facilities, energy analysis, HVAC, plumbing and drainage, fire protection, blah blah blah.

How hard was it finding a job? How heavy were they on SAE/3D Solid Modeling experience when looking for potential employees? Also, is the work you're doing now what you thought you were going to do when you got out of school?

Thanks in advance.

[m911gt]

Originally Posted by shakurov

Thanks for the replies guys. I've actually decided to graduate this Spring and get a Bachelor's and see what the job market is like in the summer. If nothing comes up I have an offer to do a Ph.D that I might pursue.


How hard was it finding a job? How heavy were they on SAE/3D Solid Modeling experience when looking for potential employees? Also, is the work you're doing now what you thought you were going to do when you got out of school?

Thanks in advance.

The job market should be getting better as time goes on so by this summer you should have better odds than my graduating class. It wasn't particularly difficult for me to get a job due to my luck with getting experience while in school. Only four of my thirty classmates received offers prior to graduating in December, so overall it still isn't great. I received two hard job offers, neither of which were concerned with modeling skills but neither job was to be a traditional engineer either. I didn't think I would be doing what I am today but I am glad I'm in the energy field; it's so interesting and new developments in technology make it exciting.

Best of luck with your decisions.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by shakurov

How hard was it finding a job? How heavy were they on SAE/3D Solid Modeling experience when looking for potential employees? Also, is the work you're doing now what you thought you were going to do when you got out of school?

Thanks in advance.

Finding a job wasn't terribly difficult, but I started while the construction industry was absolutely booming back in 2006. I interviewed in May of my final year of school and started work in June. I probably spent two months seriously looking. Things were really lean for the first half of 2009, but they picked up last October. I think most companies have significant backlog now to see them through to mid-2011.

3D/solid modeling isn't a huge part of what I do. That said, we're moving in the direction of Revit and it (building information modelling, aka BIM) is becoming a valuable tool for clash detection for mechanical services.

Mechanical engineering is such a ridiculously broad field, particularly when you're in school and are being prepared for potentially dozens of different industries, I'm not really sure if I can say that I'm doing exactly what I expected when I was sitting in lectures. I took a year off engineering to finish an English degree, and decided then that I wanted to work in the building industry. There's a lot less heavy math and a lot more "people work" (internal coordination, working with our managers, meeting clients, working with contractors). What I'm doing now is pretty much on par with what I thought I'd be doing once I interviewed for this particular position. It's a great job and I'm happy with how it's all turned out.

[Shinmei2006]

Hey i go to USF as well! Perhaps i've seen your car on campus? (could have been 1 of 50 or so black Yaris on campus lol)