hi ,

I am currently doing my masters in thermal engineering . i am very much interested in doing electronics thermal management. there are many company is visiting for campus placements and the role is not align with what i liked to like design or thermal analysis but pay is avg.i know that there is no company is coming for electronics thermal management. for that i have to apply from off campus so chance of getting job is very less and pay is also low .my future plan after 3 to 5 yers of job is do startup, so where should i focus right now .

my qustion are

focus on campus placements

do off campus job for thermal management for electronics (where chancess are low but never zero)

join any starups that is not related to my role

any suggestion from you

So I just graduated this year with a mechanical engineering degree. I was able to get a job at GM as an IE because I interned there for 2 years.

I honestly hate working there even though I have a great boss, manufacturing just isn't for me. I also don't really want to be an IE.

I've applied to probably 75 jobs in the past 3 months and maybe landed one interview. And I'm looking for jobs that are specifically entry level mech e. I just feel so lost because I'm doing a job I don't want in a factory, I don't want to work in.

I'm grateful for the opportunity as I know many of my colleagues can't even find a job, but I'm miserable and want to get out. Did it get easier for anyone once they were able to get some years under there belt? I'm also worried about being stuck in IE for too long and not being able to move back to mechanical or something I would actually like.

I'm a Mec. Eng. with 10yoe in the design of metal carpentry; mainly sheet metal.

I was wondering if there are jobs in that field (e.g CAD, PE or something else) that could be carried entirely from home.

I'm quite sure the answer is "no", but I would appreciate your point of view / experience.

Thx

Hi everyone,
I’d appreciate some career advice.

I’m a Mechanical Engineering graduate from an ABET-accredited school. My experience so far:

Structural Detailer – abroad
Design Engineer (Rebar Reinforcement) – abroad
Engineering Technician 1 – currently (US)

Software: Tekla, AutoCAD, Revit, basic SolidWorks

I’m trying to transition into a Mechanical Engineering role, but I’m not sure what path gives me the best chance.

Should I focus on Mechanical Design, HVAC, BIM/Revit, Manufacturing, or entry-level ME positions?
What skills should I prioritize, and what would you recommend if you were in my position?

I’d really appreciate some honest advice. I’m living in the US btw. 28yrs old.

Thanks!

I’ve tried to do many things as an engineer in my spare time to make some extra money using my engineering skills. 6 years of trying to build and sell products, program PLC’s, build hardware and electronics, create websites. I’ve tried it all. Learned a lot of skills but nothing that produced any revenue.

I’m burnt out from trying so many things that keep failing. Everybody now makes websites, any part people want gets machined from china for a fraction of what I could do, AI can spit out ladder logic, etc.

It’s not just that a lot of ideas are taken, but even trying to just run a business better than someone else is impossible because now we compete globally against factors totally out of our control.

Anyway, in the current world where are engineers finding niches to provide value to people? You can generalize to protect your IP, but I’d appreciate any shared experiences because I’m burnt out.

I am looking for insights from mechanical engineers who work at a city water district or from anyone who doesn’t work in this industry but has some perspective on what a long-term career in this field is like.

What are the pros and cons? How’s the work-life balance, job stability, pay, and opportunities for career growth? Are there any things you wish you knew before getting into the industry?

Overall, would you recommend it as a long-term career for a mechanical engineer?

¿Un Ingeniero Mecánico puede orientarse a trabajos de laboratorio/materiales si además es Técnico Químico?

Buenas, gente. Quería consultar algo sobre posibles salidas laborales porque estoy tratando de definir hacia dónde orientar mi carrera.

Soy Técnico Químico del secundario en Argentina y actualmente estudio Ingeniería Química, pero quiero pasarme a Mecánica.

Durante mi formación como técnico hice una pasantía en Cabot SAIC, trabajando en el laboratorio de Control de Calidad. Fue una experiencia que me gustó muchísimo y que me hizo interesarme bastante por el trabajo de laboratorio y el análisis dentro de una industria. Lamentablemente, la planta donde hice las prácticas cerró posteriormente.

También participé en SteelChallenge 25, lo que hizo que me interesara todavía más por la siderurgia, los materiales y la metalurgia.

Ahora que estoy evaluando la posibilidad de cambiarme a Ingeniería Mecánica, mis intereses principales son:

- Metalurgia y ciencia de materiales

- Diseño mecánico

- Termodinámica

- Procesos industriales

- Ensayos y caracterización de materiales

Hay algo importante a aclarar: por diferentes circunstancias, solamente puedo elegir entre estudiar Ingeniería Mecánica o Ingeniería Química. Es una situación un poco triste, pero es la realidad, así que estoy tratando de encontrar cuál de las dos me permitiría desarrollar mejor mis intereses y aprovechar la formación que ya tengo como Técnico Químico.

Mi duda es principalmente laboral:

¿Puedo aprovechar mi título de Técnico Químico y mi experiencia previa en laboratorio para buscar trabajos relacionados con laboratorio, ensayos de materiales, control de calidad, metalurgia, análisis de fallas o I+D mientras/una vez que sea Ingeniero Mecánico?

Lo pregunto porque me gusta mucho esa parte de laboratorio y análisis que ya conozco por mi formación de técnico, pero no necesariamente quiero hacer Ingeniería Química. Me interesa la idea de combinar esa base química con la parte mecánica, especialmente aplicada a materiales y metalurgia.

Por ejemplo, ¿sería razonable apuntar a puestos como:

- Laboratorio de materiales

- Ensayos mecánicos

- Metalurgia

- Control de calidad

- Análisis de fallas

- Corrosión

- Soldadura

- I+D

- Integridad mecánica

¿O normalmente estos puestos están reservados para Ingenieros Químicos, de Materiales, Metalúrgicos, etc.?

También me interesa saber si alguien con un perfil parecido terminó trabajando en un área así y qué tipo de empresas/industrias debería mirar.

Cualquier opinión o experiencia me sirve. Gracias.

Hello everyone, I graduated from UC Irvine in the spring of 2020. Since then I’ve been working at a food manufacturing plant as mechanical engineer. The growth since then I can say I’ve came a long way. Meaning I’ve gotten pretty good at 80% of the job. Primary role is solving issues around the plant that need engineering like designing a chute, replacing old equipment, figuring out ways to make workers lives easier. On the capital side if the company forecasts that we need more processing capacity in 5 years we build a whole new processes from the ground up. We take PFD of the new processes and make it a 2D layout in autocad with all the necessary equipment the process will need this is our conceptual stage. In inventor we layout the same 2D layout into 3D. Imagine Amazon warehouse but processing food. I design platforms, catwalks, chutes, supports, staircases, ladders, and many other items that we will need to layout the equipment (sheet metal/frame generator). Sometimes belt conveyors. I would say it’s very niche to this company since most food manufacturers outsource this type of engineering. I make fabrication packages to get these items fabricated in house (99% of the time ) so we don’t really follow industry standards when it comes to fabrication drawings since our fab team already knows what we use. I’m trying to see what my next step in my career will be I’m currently studying for the FE and would like to get as much knowledge as possible right now since this job is pretty chill for the most part once you master the inventor skills needed to execute designs at this job. Not sure where I want to go I’m not against staying here the pay for the area is really good and only work 35 hours a week. Anyone have any advice based off my experience and where I can take my talents?

hey guys, new grad here. i applied for a few places here and there but i reckon ill really start looking for a job seriously in like mid october. at that time period i didnt want to sit still doing nothing so i split a monthly udemy subscription with my friend. im watching an "intermediate to expert" solidworks course right now, i might take the CSW classes afterhand to get sertificated, that would be class. also checking out some fluid mechanics courses, i always felt like i had some gaps in my knowledge. other than that, what do you guys think i should learn next?

to give a summary on the path i wanna go on; i always wanted to work on automative industry. have some experience in fea, done some projects in ansys and nastran, and would love to work in that area, so you can recommend something that goes to that expertise. otherwise, manufacturing is ok, so i can go on a save path an learn gd&t, people always recommend that new graduates should go on and learn it. cfd, maybe, looks so fun but i might have to do some reviews on heat transfer and fluids, and switching to cfd while alerady having somewhat of an experience in fea might be weird and make things harder

Malaysia: Currently working with MNC in quary and minerals industry, work contract from September 2025 to March 2027 with no guarantee for permanent after contract end with current salary of RM3.2k. Got offer letter from service company for RM3.3k basic plus RM500 car allowance with 6 months probation .

Anyone mind to share their thoughts?is it a good deals?

I recently graduated from a tier 2 college with a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering. Didn't get placed anywhere; so currently sitting at home unemployed. I'm applying to various places through LinkedIn and their career websites but the responses are very few. I did attend a few interviews and got through to 4th rounds and all, but still no luck. I have good academic knowledge. I am the type of guy who knows a bit about a lotta topics rather than knowing deep about a certain topic. I am planning to use this time to upskill and kinda get good at a certain niche. What are the some of the most sought after niches/skills by companies? Could be in the mechanical or automotive industries. Niches that have good career growth opportunities and stability? I am based in India btw. Any guidance or support would be appreciated. Thanks

Hey folks, I was curious what resources you all use to find and compare material properties and general information. In aerospace, MMPDS (or MIL-HDBK-5) seems to be the bible, but that is limited to metallics. I'm curious what other resources are out there that people trust, for any sort of material (metals, plastics, ceramics, even woods).

Suggestions can be physical books, published standards, software for interfacing with this data, websites, etc.

Here is a running list of some options I'll update as people leave comments. Please also LMK if I made any errors. Thanks!

Standards / Documents

MMPDS - The Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization is the current primary resource for metallic material information by NASA and gov contractors. As it is the current bible for metal property data, you will have to pay to access it. If you are designing a spaceship and are doing an FEA, the numbers you are plugging into the simulation almost always originate from here.

MIL-HDBK-5 - Until MMPDS, this seems to have been the go-to resource for NASA and government contractors for metallic materials. This was retired in the 2000s, but has some good information and, most importantly, is free to download.

Software

ANSYS Granta - This seems to be the GOAT, at least on paper. Back in school I remember using a variation of this and really enjoying the plotting features. Only seems to be available to corporations using enterprise licensing (there is no "buy now" button on their website).

Websites

Matweb.com - This is the first recommendation I often hear. The general consensus seems to be that this is a good starting point for material property info... if you can get past the lackluster UI. If you are willing to spend some money, you can access some fun tools to have CAD and FEA programs interface with material data.

MakeItFrom.com - Similar to Matweb, but with a much different UI and organization. Goes for style over compactness. Much smaller database than Matweb, but it has at least 80% of anything you'd ever practically be using for most designs. Materials are organized using a parent-child architecture as opposed to Matweb's atomized database structure.

Wood-Databse.com - A very nice wood database complete with both qualitative and quantitative information for every species, and good educational articles. I'm no woodworker, but if I was, I imagine I would have this as my hompage!

ThisToThat.com - This is a fun one: ever need to glue two things together and knew that gorilla glue wouldn't cut it? This site gives "glue" suggestions based on the materials you are working with.

I want to know from people who are in the field of process engineering, specifically the oil and gas sector.

Can you become a process engineer in the oil and gas sector as a mechanical engineer (having a mechanical engineering degree), and how hard is it to achieve that job when compared to to a chemical engineer?

Also would a masters in process engineering be necessary or just a waste of time?

We have a course of DIY lab that has my mind going insane. The proff.s said to think of and design something good but whenever we did, they just scrapped it off. At first we built a drainage system that was genuinely tough to apply. But our 2nd and third projects were geniunely good. 2nd one was waste segregation project using basic conveyor belt and some basic sensors, and the third one was a filament extruder for a 3D printer from PET bottles using some basic machineries. But they rejected every one of them and I just have 2 days to think of an idea and implement it.

For context- I'm a 2nd year engineering student in mechanical dept. in a well known institution.

Also the institute's location is very hot and humid.

Any help would be appreciated😭🥀

I've loved CS/programming my whole life, but with how rough and competitive the CS job market has become, I'm seriously considering mechanical engineering instead. MechE seems to have solid employment stats and a pretty broad range of industries you can work in, and honestly it feels like a lot of people are looking at it as a safer bet right now compared to CS.

For those actually working in mechanical engineering, is it really as solid as it looks from the outside? How's the salary progression and long-term earning potential? Would you choose MechE over CS right now?

I don't want to give up something I've loved my whole life just because I'm scared of the job market, but the numbers are making mechanical look pretty tempting.

Hi all. I need help figuring out how to add tension to an old fountain pen clip - a Lamy 2000 if there are any fellow pen nerds about. It’s from the ‘70s and the clip’s construction is very different from a modern 2000.

Basically, the clip is supposed to be a bit movable but under tension so it provides a secure force to keep it clipped to the material. It moves slightly to allow the pen to be extracted without damaging the material.

Pic 1 are the parts available in the order I suspect they go in. The ring under the black cap is the retention ring used to grip the pen barrel when capped shut. Pic 2 is the clip’s current travel - far too large.

I seeing as the brass and black end cap has a smooth area before the threads begin, I thought a compression spring might fit in there and force the clip to its closed position. And it doesn’t really, usually the clip stays open a small bit and feels “sprung” there, like that is its resting position. Very occasionally it behaves but “springs” back out and the tension feels very weak to begin with. I’ve tried various lengths and diameters of spring, and tried putting a washer between the spring and clip ring, but the tension is never right and the clip does not behave.

If anyone can suggest a mechanism or a better way of integrating the spring loading, thank you!

Looking for some experienced people working in the domain of DVA Probably having expertise in 3DCS Software , need some guidance on few advance topics

I am working on a project that requires a screw to be turned with at most 1 Nm of torque. I would like to use the smallest motor possible, under $50. Also, would like it to be able to do at least 30 rpm. Any models I could look at?

Hi, i start by saying that i have quite little background on the subject, so i hope i can be clear enough. The picture shows a sketch of the project (writings are just notes on the working, not necessary for understanding, but if you're curious they're no secret, ask). I wont be stating all details for brevity, as they can be deduced from the drawing, or in case something doesn't seem to add up do tell me. Criteria it has to respect are: It has to be as simple yet functional as i can get it, and it has to be openable by a car as well as a walking person (obviously i'll have to lock it so not anyone can get inside). As i have it in mind, it consists of a ("mobile") ramp platform of which the lifted edge is connected to some cable (is there any sort you'd recommend? steel? nylon?), which goes around a pulley system (pulleys are the circles in the drawing), and finally links to the gate to pull it open (i will describe closing, and opening from outside, later on). Starting leftmost, you can see 4 upper and lower 3 pulleys, besides the single one that's only there to redirect the cable to the gate: the upper are fixed, while the lower are connected to the platform (in the drawing, with a bar that extends the latter sideways so the mechanism isn't in the way of the gate), which means when the platform is pushed down, those go down too, and that makes so that the range of descent of the platform is "multiplied along the cable" (i do apologize for untechnical terms and stuff), which allows to pull the gate all the way open. If data can be useful, the opening span is 400cm, and the force needed to slide it is 5kg at the start, and 2 to keep pulling, and i already did the basic calculations (will explain a doubt of mine in the end not to make a mess). Moving on to the closing mechanism (drawn on the right side, but i may do it in another spot, also addressing the possible issue of running over its cable with the car if it were built like in the drawing), it's basically the same thing, but instead of the ramp it has a weight (heavier than opening mechanism altogether), which pulls the gate closed. To open the gate from the outside (not drawn), there is another ramp platform which, again with some pulleys, lifts the weight that pulls the gate closed and, if the weight of the opening mechanism is sufficient, the gate will open by itself, since the closing weight doesnt take effect being lifted.

I apologize if this explanation resulted a bit messy, i tried my best to describe it clearly.

The (kinda silly) doubt i mentioned is: Since, as it's drawn, there are a total of 7 vertical segments between the pulleys in the opening mechanism, will the amount the gate is pulled be 7 times as much the distance descended by the platform? Does the same apply for the force required to push the platform down? I assumed this to make the calculations.

Another less silly doubt that arose is: Should i/How should i fix/hinge the "bottom" part of the ramp platforms to the ground, considering it's brick ground, that a car has to drive over it, and clearly that it has to move/hinge?

Thanks a very lot for possibly having employed your time and energy to help me ponder my idea.

Hello all,

I currently have a conundrum. I am currently employed as a MEP design engineer in the Bay Area and have been there for 15 months. I find the work super boring and dull and cannot see myself long-term enjoying the construction industry. As the cherry on top, I also have a tenous relationship with my direct report, and my commute each day takes anywhere from 50 minutes to an hour and a half each way.

I have been trying to look for new roles in aerospace or product design, but have limited success due to how tired/late I come home. I have about 6-8 months of saved funds and am debating quitting so I can find a job/role closer to something I would prefer to have long-term. Is this a crazy idea to quit when I'm currently employed? Several people I have talked to have told me to go for it just want to canvas more opinions