Mechanical Engineering?

book smarts

Can someone tell me what a mechanical engineer does day to day? Just an honest, simplified breakdown of the reality of the job. And I'm talking about the most common areas that graduates go into. No exaggerating or blowing of trumpets please.

What are the typical designs?
How much creativity involved, how much is reinventing the wheel?
What to read, books, online, to give a better idea?

It's like, I asked an electronic engineer once what exactly he did, and he wouldn't give me a straight answer. Kept saying crap like- "It's complicated, or you wouldn't understand" when the bones of what he's doing probably isn't that complicated at all when broken down into analogies. Patronising and dumbing down for intellectual snobbery annoys the crap out of me. Just because you have some knowledge or understanding that I don't have does not mean you are better than me!

Anyway, sorry about that, a straight answer would be appreciated. Thanks

ditpaintball

book smarts wrote:

Can someone tell me what a mechanical engineer does day to day? Just an honest, simplified breakdown of the reality of the job. And I'm talking about the most common areas that graduates go into. No exaggerating or blowing of trumpets please.
Anyway, sorry about that, a straight answer would be appreciated. Thanks

Well is is not that simply. Its a bit like trying to answer, how can you cook potatoes- bake, boil, roast, fry, waffels.......

For a start, to see what a mechanical engineer is ABLE to do, take a look at out course and what we study. From then you can get an idea of the jobs that we can do. So a typical 3rd year mechanical engineer in DIT Studies:

Fluid mechanics - everything to do with bodies in a fluid (liquid or a gas) such as wings on on a plane, winds on a wind turbine, hydrofoils on them ships, drag forces on cars etc. You also study pressure distribution with in fluids, it the pressure behind a dam, pressure in pipes, weirs in rivers..

Fluids in one of our core subjects.

Mechanics of Materials - everything to to with stress and strains in materials like metal shafts, beams and struts. How springs work and why they work, suspension in a car, loading pulleys on a shaft, bearings.

There is a lot more to this and it is a core subject.


Maths - Just maths. I hate it but has to be done.

Electronics and Electical Engineering - How 3-phase power systems work and how to size the right motor, cables, generators etc for a system. Also how amplifers work and how to use them in feedback on a system. Also, one of my favs, the PLC - Program Logic Controller - the fellas who you program and then they are used in industry to control machines in a process i.e. bottling plants, any robotics etc.

Materials Processs - Less importance of subject, All out how steel is made, heat treatments. All about carbon fiber and fiberglass, how they work and are made. Surface engineering - how to protect your surface of the component you are designing from rust and wear.


Once you know that you are able to do, then you can know what you would be able to to for work. Bearing in mind i have not described previous years subjects such as CAD and all the labwork.


How this helps you out a little bit.

dave2pvd

book smarts wrote:

Can someone tell me what a mechanical engineer does day to day? Just an honest, simplified breakdown of the reality of the job.

I can't quite tell you what you want to hear. It's all over the map; extremely diverse. Let me give you some examples:

I worked with a mech eng for most of the day today. His task was to come up with a concept to automatically crimp a large fitting to each end of a high voltage insulator. We already had the specs for the hydraulic crimper. The task was to automatically handle the part to be crimped. By the end of the day a Solidworks model of the concept was modelled, which will become a proposal to submit to the client.

The client's rep (an ME) in the meantime is busily laying out his area of the plant floor (in AutoCAD) to ensure a smooth and efficient process flow. He is also fielding questions from me (project manager for the crimper) about specifics that don't seem to be addressed in the Statement of Work document.

At least 3 vendors received phone calls from us regarding components we intended to use for the project. They are usually known as application engineers. About 50% of these guys tend to be MEs.

Now I am just describing a very narrow slice of the ME world. Talk to someone else and all they will talk about is fluid dynamics, FMEA, zero backlash, EU Norms, process validation, monthly reviews....sometimes it doesn't seem like engineering at all.

Oh, forgot to mention: I'm a DIT EE grad. I work in a company that builds custom automation machinery. I use probably 10% of my course material on a daily basis - maybe less. The subject that has been by far the most valuable for my career is business studies. There are lots of engineers out there but so many are totally bound by the fact that they can do nothing beyond being an engineer.

Pure Cork

Could mechanical engineers get jobs in civil engineering consultancies?

5uspect

I would say so, yes. I've heard of mechanical engineers getting jobs with investment banks simply on the back of their problem solving "knack".