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Mechanical Engineer Dilemma
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22-10-2015 11:19am#1Hi all,
I'm just looking for some career advice that somebody here may be able to help me with.
I've been working as a Mechanical Engineer for the last 5 years. Over the 5 years I've worked with one company for over 4 years where I wasn't overly happy. I then changed to a different company which cover a totally different field in the industry hoping that it would boost my career satisfaction.
The problem is I'm still not overly happy. I get paid relatively well, get on well with my colleagues, have a good opportunity to progress through the company, would consider myself good at what I do and I’m not under a huge amount of pressure. The issue I have is I find the work to be fairly boring and I feel that I am a bit of a ‘’Jack of all trades and a master at none’’ in the areas where my main passions lie.
A good example to describe where my passions lie is if you could imagine building a race car, sitting down and discussing the design, going out and physically pulling the engine apart, carrying out a rebuild, figuring out the wiring configuration for the engine and reprogramming the ECU. As you can see it is the actual skill of putting in the thought and physically carrying out the work whether it me mechanical or electrical is what I enjoy, not just doing the thinking which is what I am currently stuck with. However, saying that I get the feeling that the way technology has advanced nowadays very few people seem to be a an expert over a range of disciplines and more focused on one very particular area.
Some ideas I have had is getting into areas such as automation, instrumentation, etc. but I am not sure how I go about getting into these areas. I would ideally like to pursue a career where having mechanical engineering as a background will benefit.
I am 25 years old without major commitments such as kids, etc. so I can allocate the time to study further. My biggest concern is if I do break into another area will I have the same privileges such as a decent salary and opportunity to progress.
Has anyone here found themselves in a similar situation before and did you find a career that suited you? I plan to visit a career guidance counselor but I would also like to chat with someone who may have firsthand experience. Also any suggestions to careers that might suit me would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers :-)0
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Join Date:Posts: 21017
There is a big difference between doing something 'sexy and exciting' and doing day to day engineering. There are very few opportunities to get in 'sexy and exciting' and if there is they only go to the best of the best.0 -
The race car scenario was just an example to give a clear idea of the nature of the work I enjoy.
My question is based on more realistic terms such as instrumentation calibration/service and automation control as mentioned.
I'm sure there have been plenty of mechanical engineers that have felt the same way and ended up breaking into more practical fields.0 -
You would probably enjoy a product development or R&D role much more. Where you get to think up concepts (or be given them), design prototypes, test them out etc...0
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It was actually an R&D background I came from. I would have carried out a lot of researching, design and developing of test criteria's, etc. The building of the prototypes and testing would have been done by a different department so I didn't get involved much with the practical end of things except for offering advise and what not.
But saying that I think you are right, if I had of been getting my hands dirty building the prototypes and carrying out the testing I probably would have enjoyed it more as there would of been a better balance between practical and theory work.0 -
Your level of end-to-end involvement also depends on company size. A small startup will require staff to chip in on everything, whereas multinationals typically have tightly-defined roles. I'm guessing you're closer to the latter?
In my experience smaller companies provide a better technical experience, at the expense of job security and organisational supports - very few provide everything.
There's no harm requesting to be involved at the build stage of prototypes too, even if your employer doesn't think that it's necessary. Shows commitment in following up your work, not just firing it over the wall to the next team.0 -
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Turbulent Bill wrote: »Your level of end-to-end involvement also depends on company size. A small startup will require staff to chip in on everything, whereas multinationals typically have tightly-defined roles. I'm guessing you're closer to the latter?
In my experience smaller companies provide a better technical experience, at the expense of job security and organisational supports - very few provide everything.
There's no harm requesting to be involved at the build stage of prototypes too, even if your employer doesn't think that it's necessary. Shows commitment in following up your work, not just firing it over the wall to the next team.
That's a good point. From my short experience I feel that the pros for working for a multinational company far outweighs that of working for a smaller company. So my thoughts were if I went into one of these multinational companies from a different angle (e.g. an instrument technician) would I find a better balance.
I think the best thing for me to do is to arrange an appointment with a guidance councilor to discuss my options and determine what my mechanical engineering qualification can lead onto.0 -
Hi B4Dar, I think you are not alone in looking for challenges and variation in your work. I've been lucky to work in a couple of blue-sky R&D roles, which were in interesting industries, with a nice mix of technical and practical engineering (sexy and exciting work according to godtabh).
The issue is that I moved to Germany and then the UK to find these, I get paid less than my peers in Ireland and the progression within these roles have mostly be towards management. My current role is slightly different because it is in a research group in a UK University, there is room to progress and keep some form of technical role but this is also filled with time spent looking for funding to support research and looking for industrial partners.
From my experience the only places I have seen engineers work on the whole R&D process (research, design, build and test) are university research centres and in start-up companies and both come with different levels of stability to industrial roles. There are larger companies with skunk works style R&D departments but they are few and far between in Ireland.0 -
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A good example to describe where my passions lie is if you could imagine building a race car, sitting down and discussing the design, going out and physically pulling the engine apart, carrying out a rebuild, figuring out the wiring configuration for the engine and reprogramming the ECU. As you can see it is the actual skill of putting in the thought and physically carrying out the work whether it me mechanical or electrical is what I enjoy, not just doing the thinking which is what I am currently stuck with. However, saying that I get the feeling that the way technology has advanced nowadays very few people seem to be a an expert over a range of disciplines and more focused on one very particular area.
I know exactly what you mean.
I like to take a project from the very early stages to design, build, commissioning, troubleshooting, and completion. That way I know every detail and the reason for every decision as the design evolves.Some ideas I have had is getting into areas such as automation, instrumentation, etc. but I am not sure how I go about getting into these areas. I would ideally like to pursue a career where having mechanical engineering as a background will benefit.
I think that you should check out OpenHydro. Their innovative, "sexy and exciting" tidal turbine projects have a great mix of electrical, instrumentation and automation where being a mechanical engineer would be an advantage. Being able to travel (a bit) would be an advantage too.Has anyone here found themselves in a similar situation before and did you find a career that suited you?
Yes and yes.0 -
mr potato head wrote: »Hi B4Dar, I think you are not alone in looking for challenges and variation in your work. I've been lucky to work in a couple of blue-sky R&D roles, which were in interesting industries, with a nice mix of technical and practical engineering (sexy and exciting work according to godtabh).
The issue is that I moved to Germany and then the UK to find these, I get paid less than my peers in Ireland and the progression within these roles have mostly be towards management. My current role is slightly different because it is in a research group in a UK University, there is room to progress and keep some form of technical role but this is also filled with time spent looking for funding to support research and looking for industrial partners.
From my experience the only places I have seen engineers work on the whole R&D process (research, design, build and test) are university research centres and in start-up companies and both come with different levels of stability to industrial roles. There are larger companies with skunk works style R&D departments but they are few and far between in Ireland.
That's the problem. We are very limited to oppertunities here in Ireland. I think for most engineers in Ireland their careers are based on what they can get their hands on rather than where their interests lie. But maybe it's like that globally.
I currently wouldn't be prepared to travel outside Ireland so i'm thinking maybe I need to branch out in a different direction as I don't want to be still sitting here 10 years from now still feeling unhappy about my job. Hopefully a career guidance counsellor will give me a good steer in the right direction.I know exactly what you mean.
I like to take a project from the very early stages to design, build, commissioning, troubleshooting, and completion. That way I know every detail and the reason for every decision as the design evolves.
I think that you should check out OpenHydro. Their innovative, "sexy and exciting" tidal turbine projects have a great mix of electrical, instrumentation and automation where being a mechanical engineer would be an advantage. Being able to travel (a bit) would be an advantage too.
Yes and yes.
Thank you, I will have a look into them and see what they are about.0 -
mr potato head wrote: »Hi B4Dar, I think you are not alone in looking for challenges and variation in your work. I've been lucky to work in a couple of blue-sky R&D roles, which were in interesting industries, with a nice mix of technical and practical engineering (sexy and exciting work according to godtabh).
The issue is that I moved to Germany and then the UK to find these, I get paid less than my peers in Ireland and the progression within these roles have mostly be towards management. My current role is slightly different because it is in a research group in a UK University, there is room to progress and keep some form of technical role but this is also filled with time spent looking for funding to support research and looking for industrial partners.
From my experience the only places I have seen engineers work on the whole R&D process (research, design, build and test) are university research centres and in start-up companies and both come with different levels of stability to industrial roles. There are larger companies with skunk works style R&D departments but they are few and far between in Ireland.
That's the problem. We are very limited to oppertunities here in Ireland. I think for most engineers in Ireland their careers are based on what they can get their hands on rather than where their interests lie. But maybe it's like that globally.
I currently wouldn't be prepared to travel outside Ireland so i'm thinking maybe I need to branch out in a different direction as I don't want to be sitting here 10 years from now still feeling unhappy about my job. Hopefully a career guidance counsellor will give me a good steer in the right direction.I know exactly what you mean.
I like to take a project from the very early stages to design, build, commissioning, troubleshooting, and completion. That way I know every detail and the reason for every decision as the design evolves.
I think that you should check out OpenHydro. Their innovative, "sexy and exciting" tidal turbine projects have a great mix of electrical, instrumentation and automation where being a mechanical engineer would be an advantage. Being able to travel (a bit) would be an advantage too.
Yes and yes.
Thank you, I will have a look into them and see what they are about.0 -
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I would echo the sentiments that other people mentioned, you will get much more of what you're after at a smaller company. I currently work for a small product development company and we do exactly what you're asking about, the only thing we don't really do is any follow up work, once the design goes out to production we never see it again (we're a consultant). I'm also not in Ireland and at one point I did search for similar positions in Ireland and found very little.
I would question why you would think the benefits of a large multinational outweigh those of a small company, what sort of benefits are you thinking? Enjoying your job and being content in it are very important benefits.0 -
I would echo the sentiments that other people mentioned, you will get much more of what you're after at a smaller company. I currently work for a small product development company and we do exactly what you're asking about, the only thing we don't really do is any follow up work, once the design goes out to production we never see it again (we're a consultant). I'm also not in Ireland and at one point I did search for similar positions in Ireland and found very little.
I would question why you would think the benefits of a large multinational outweigh those of a small company, what sort of benefits are you thinking? Enjoying your job and being content in it are very important benefits.
Well I think the general conception is that most of the large multinational companies would be alot more comfortable financialy wise than most of the smaller comapanies. This results in more attractive salaries, sick pay benefits, pension schemes, etc. I know this is certainly not always the case, but in most cases I believe it to be true. I know from my own personal experience it is certainly true. I went from a relatively small comapny to a large multinational comapany and the benefits I recieved starting off would greatly outweight what I would be seeing if I stayed in the smaller company for another 10 years.
Another benefit I have seen through my own personal experience is the work load and pressure. I would have been under a substantial amount of pressure before which would require me to do alot of overtime (unpaid) due to the lack of resources. Now where I am the resources can be afforded so I am relieved from alot of the pressure and if overtime is required, it is worth your while.0 -
Well unless you can find a job where you can have your cake and eat it too you're going to have to compromise on something. It comes down to your priorities then, the job you really want to do or something more comfortable.
You said you don't want to still be there in 10 years, is the difference in salary or benefits enough that you'll be able to retire in 10 years? If it is then I'd stick it out and you can do whatever you want 10 years from now, if it's not then start doing what you want today and you'll be no worse off in 10 years.0
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