Work in Mechanical Design Engineering

pprendeville

Anyone know what the prospects in the mechanical engineering sector for the next few years are like. I was working in this area for 2.5 yrs mainly using SolidWorks but can't find any work since February. Hoping to be accepted on a FAS Industrial Automation course in August to keep me ticking over and upskill on the electronic side of things.

CatFromHue

that really is the 6 million dollar question!
the answer depends on alot of things like the economy picking up.
You're not the only one hoping it picks up soon, and I have a job!!

Did you see Stryker are looking for a design engineer at the minute.

http://www.recruitireland.com/job/?JobID=13428540

Turbulent Bill

pprendeville wrote: »

Anyone know what the prospects in the mechanical engineering sector for the next few years are like. I was working in this area for 2.5 yrs mainly using SolidWorks but can't find any work since February. Hoping to be accepted on a FAS Industrial Automation course in August to keep me ticking over and upskill on the electronic side of things.

There's no way of knowing what will happen in the future, but cross-training in another field is a very good idea. Lots of my mech classmates went into building services, which is being badly hit by the construction slump, so the elec side might be more useful.

random.stranger

I did Mechatronic Engineering & FAS course in industrial automation. The reason I did the FAS course was because of the 2 blocks of work experience in the course (they have this in athlone, i don't know about elsewhere), this is a great way to get the foot in the door with a prospective employer as FAS pay your wages during the work experience. It worked for me & got me a job in a local automation company. The course is pretty interesting & hands on.

Stryker sound like a really interesting place to work. I applied for a job there over a year ago (didn't get it I'm afraid). The recruitment process is pretty hardcore, they do a telephone interview with you for about an hour & if you pass that, they arrange for a professional to do another telephone interview with you (i think the company is called gallupp), they ask you loads of questions & if you lie on any of them, they will catch you out (the conversation is recorded & analysed by a psychiatrist to profile your personality/check your credibility). If you meditate, I recommend you do this before your interviews & just tell the truth with the questions.

Any questions, just let me know.

pprendeville

Moonbaby wrote: »

Did you see Stryker are looking for a design engineer at the minute.

http://www.recruitireland.com/job/?JobID=13428540

Just looked at the role now. No experience in biomedical so I think I'd be wasting my time there. I know you'll say it's worth the experience but I've done and interview with Stryker before and they go for people with a relevant track record.

pprendeville

I've applied to do the Industrial Automation course alright and passed the interview. Think it's not starting up til August though as they're changing the fromat.

Have had an interview with Stryker before. Fairly rigorous alright. the Gallop interview would annoy you. Had 2 of them. First one was grand-flw through it but the second one was the same questions again and the lady was a bit strange and I just got bored half way through and my answers were rubbish as I was nearly half asleep. Did manage to get an on-site interview down in Limerick for a manufacturing engineering position and thought the intervie I'll just keep looking.

rocketballs

pprendeville wrote: »

Anyone know what the prospects in the mechanical engineering sector for the next few years are like. I was working in this area for 2.5 yrs mainly using SolidWorks but can't find any work since February. Hoping to be accepted on a FAS Industrial Automation course in August to keep me ticking over and upskill on the electronic side of things.

I suppose im the opposite of what ur doing, im currently doin the Industrial Automation course in FAS( although not at the moment due to course restructuring - should be back in 3-4 weeks) and i begin my masters in Mechanical Engineering in September. the course focuses somewhat on renewable and sustainable engineering, so im hoping that there will be work as a mech engineer over the course of the next year. However, most realistically i would imagine will be having to move to the UK where imo the graduate programmes and jobs for graduates with a few years experience are so much better. Reading the quotes above, that stryker interview is absolute balls imo, and jobs for graduates in general in ireland, the recruitment process is pretty much ridiculous. from experience, as an example, the recruitment process for kerry group in ireland theyre only short of asking what you ate for breakfast during your junior cert, where as the uk process is a lot more realistic and focuses on what situations you would encounter in the future etc....

sorry for the rant, back on topic, heres hoping for you, me and others alike that there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future

random.stranger

rocketballs wrote: »

I suppose im the opposite of what ur doing, im currently doin the Industrial Automation course in FAS( although not at the moment due to course restructuring - should be back in 3-4 weeks) and i begin my masters in Mechanical Engineering in September. the course focuses somewhat on renewable and sustainable engineering, so im hoping that there will be work as a mech engineer over the course of the next year. However, most realistically i would imagine will be having to move to the UK where imo the graduate programmes and jobs for graduates with a few years experience are so much better. Reading the quotes above, that stryker interview is absolute balls imo, and jobs for graduates in general in ireland, the recruitment process is pretty much ridiculous. from experience, as an example, the recruitment process for kerry group in ireland theyre only short of asking what you ate for breakfast during your junior cert, where as the uk process is a lot more realistic and focuses on what situations you would encounter in the future etc....

sorry for the rant, back on topic, heres hoping for you, me and others alike that there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future

As somebody that has been through the "experience" of stryker's recruitment process & failed- I wouldn't dismiss trying. I think it's worth checking out if the job *really* interests you. From what I've heard- it's a great place to work. I think a lot of this recruitment process is to get a group of like minded people in the company, I think a lot of other companies could learn from this (I've worked with too many blaggers, boasters, blameshifters...).

Like I say, I didn't get the job, but I think it's worth a try, after doing 2 of their interviews all other job interviews seemed easy;)

pprendeville

rocketballs wrote: »

I suppose im the opposite of what ur doing, im currently doin the Industrial Automation course in FAS( although not at the moment due to course restructuring - should be back in 3-4 weeks) and i begin my masters in Mechanical Engineering in September. the course focuses somewhat on renewable and sustainable engineering, so im hoping that there will be work as a mech engineer over the course of the next year. However, most realistically i would imagine will be having to move to the UK where imo the graduate programmes and jobs for graduates with a few years experience are so much better. Reading the quotes above, that stryker interview is absolute balls imo, and jobs for graduates in general in ireland, the recruitment process is pretty much ridiculous. from experience, as an example, the recruitment process for kerry group in ireland theyre only short of asking what you ate for breakfast during your junior cert, where as the uk process is a lot more realistic and focuses on what situations you would encounter in the future etc....

sorry for the rant, back on topic, heres hoping for you, me and others alike that there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future

A I think the Stryker interview process is like your man says - to get like minded ppl together. Only thing is you have to be well able to bull**** in my opinion and I aint no good at bull****ting.

Have applied for that Industrial Automation course and sat the tests 2 weeks ago and passed so I'm waiting to be called also. Is it worthwhile?

rocketballs

pprendeville wrote: »

Have applied for that Industrial Automation course and sat the tests 2 weeks ago and passed so I'm waiting to be called also. Is it worthwhile?

Yeah its good i must say and i was pleasantly surprised, a lot of the 3rd level colleges could learn a little from the FAS setup with regards to teaching methods(more practical) and equipment used, as a lot of this equipment is more likely to be in industry than some of the outdated stuff they have in the colleges. I must say in some instance that i have a learned an awful lot very quickly with some of this course.

Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of in-house fighting between management and course lecturers in FAS which is really holding the students back. hopefully they can get their act together soon because managemnt seem to be totally incompentant whereas the guys who teach are actually really good and know their stuff after working for years in industry

Sisu200

pprendeville wrote: »

Just looked at the role now. No experience in biomedical so I think I'd be wasting my time there. I know you'll say it's worth the experience but I've done and interview with Stryker before and they go for people with a relevant track record.

Hi, a word of advise, I have worked for 10 years as an Engineer, 6 years as a Mechanical Design Engineer (Solidworks, Pro-E, Inventer), and 4 years in a Manufacturing engineering role, I was part of a class of 12 designers from college and now there is only 1 in full time design. I still do quiet a bit of design but basically I am a production line engineer resp for new product introductions and all engineering tasks on the product line. Been a designer will allow you to diversify into many areas, I worked in the Medical industry for 2 years and hated it (thats just me, a career in medical device production is a great step), however I still got a job in the industry with no experience in medical device. Just because it says it is a requirement, you can still put your name forward for it (Get to know GMP and understand the requirements for a role). I have learned that there is only so much you can do in the design field, you should eventually begin to diversify into other areas of Engineering. I have been lucky to travel with my job and have seen how in low cost countries engineers work, Ireland is trying to compete in machine building for instance, it is going to get a whole pile tougher to do this. Never underestimate your ability to diversify into another area of Engineering, thats my 2c worth, best of luck to all of ya:)


PS, as for Stryker, I know an Engineer there who worked with me and he started in there with no Medical Experience, he studied the GMP principles and understood the role before he went for interview, you must relate your work to the requirements of the role;)

Ball_of_Sex

Moonbaby wrote: »

Did you see Stryker are looking for a design engineer at the minute.

http://www.recruitireland.com/job/?JobID=13428540

I did my Coop with Stryker. They use UG and Pro-E, They seem to sub contract alot of their design work to CAD techs.

Getting a job with them is tough anyway you must pass about 6 ridiculous interviews. I Remember mine, two silly HR girls asking me stupid questions and trying to psychoanalyze me ...eg "Whats the greatest achievement of your life" and "do you like to know a lot about a little or a little about a lot". If you you say a lot about a little than you won't get the job no matter what.

Stryker like to make it seem really hard to get in, Like a night club that only leaves in good looking people with expensive clothes. I remember engineers and lab tech from Boston scientific, Abbot and DuPuy who left their old jobs to come to stryker thinking it was the Rolls Royce of BioMed.

If you really want the job there a recruitment agent who gives special interview tipps for passing the stryker interviews.

x in the city

tbh they can fluck themselves with all that malarkey

would drive me nuts.. stupid waste of resources.

stryker hr : define how you wasted stupid resources in your last role....:rolleyes:

random.stranger

Ball_of_Sex wrote: »

I did my Coop with Stryker. They use UG and Pro-E, They seem to sub contract alot of their design work to CAD techs.

Getting a job with them is tough anyway you must pass about 6 ridiculous interviews. I Remember mine, two silly HR girls asking me stupid questions and trying to psychoanalyze me ...eg "Whats the greatest achievement of your life" and "do you like to know a lot about a little or a little about a lot". If you you say a lot about a little than you won't get the job no matter what.

Stryker like to make it seem really hard to get in, Like a night club that only leaves in good looking people with expensive clothes. I remember engineers and lab tech from Boston scientific, Abbot and DuPuy who left their old jobs to come to stryker thinking it was the Rolls Royce of BioMed.

If you really want the job there a recruitment agent who gives special interview tipps for passing the stryker interviews.

You sure? I thought to "know a lot about a little" was a good thing? Are they not looking for 'specialists'?

Ball_of_Sex

No. You get that question wrong and your out. No Bullsh*t.

random.stranger

Okey doke. That might be partly why I'm out...

pprendeville

Hi all,

Got some literature in the post yesterday from Institute of Technology Blanchardstown in conjunction with department of Social Welfare. There are currently limited free tuition places available in the following part time courses:

BSc in Sustainable Electrical and Control Technology (mainly for electricians aparently)
Higher cert in Engineering in Mechatronics.

Called them this a.m. and basically you fill out an application form and get it back asap (before Aug 19 I think) and they will pick 16 applicants from a hat and offer them the course. You have to be unemployed for over 6 months or recently made redundant (form RP50). It's a good offer I think personally as fees are about €3000 for each course. If you get work in the meantime, you'll only have to pay fees for the 2nd year which isn't too bad.

I've been accepted on The Industrial Automation course in Cabra but will apply for this also and see if I can do both. No harm in having my name in the hat anyway. Best of luck to ye.

God bless,

Phil.

pprendeville

rocketballs wrote: »

I suppose im the opposite of what ur doing, im currently doin the Industrial Automation course in FAS( although not at the moment due to course restructuring - should be back in 3-4 weeks) and i begin my masters in Mechanical Engineering in September. the course focuses somewhat on renewable and sustainable engineering, so im hoping that there will be work as a mech engineer over the course of the next year. However, most realistically i would imagine will be having to move to the UK where imo the graduate programmes and jobs for graduates with a few years experience are so much better. Reading the quotes above, that stryker interview is absolute balls imo, and jobs for graduates in general in ireland, the recruitment process is pretty much ridiculous. from experience, as an example, the recruitment process for kerry group in ireland theyre only short of asking what you ate for breakfast during your junior cert, where as the uk process is a lot more realistic and focuses on what situations you would encounter in the future etc....

sorry for the rant, back on topic, heres hoping for you, me and others alike that there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future

3 months into the Electrical Control Systems course and it's going quite well. FAS divided the course into 3 seperate modules, the one I mentioned, Pneumatics and PLCs. We have Brian Lambert as our instructor. He's really good. Great man for explaining things in laymans terms. I'd no electrical background before this and I found it difficult at the beginning (couldn't understand why you couldn't measure resistance with a Multimeter with power on, yet you could measure voltage) but after studying hard and learning the basics I'm progressing quite well. For me the key is study the notes in advance of doing the practical classes. That way I find it much easier to grasp new ideas. Then give them a read over again after finishing and ironing out anything I'm not sure of with questions or a bit on online study. There are great resources online like java videos and youtube etc.

We're finishing up on Jan 9 I believe. We've had 2 FETAC exams so far. First was Motor Panel Wiring and the second was ON/OFF Controllers. Did well in both although the assessor pulled a wire out of one of the contactors in the first exam. I checked them all but he must have a pretty strong hand. Hope it didn't fail me.

Applying for a few jobs at the moment so pretty hopeful of getting something but if not I'm going to go for the pneumatics after this.

Are you still in FAS or finished up. How are/did you find it? There is a lad in our course who is also doing the Masters in Renewable and Sustainable Eng. It’s a one year course by night. Looks really tough. He was showing us this excel spreadsheet that contains FEA calculations. A lot of work needs to be done. He has a group project where they have to do up a report on designing a power station I think. Don’t know how he finds the time to do both courses to be honest but fair play to him.

Hope to have another interview with Stryker soon for a CAD tech role so going to really have to brush up on my knowledge of them and do a thorough prep for the interview.

Offy

I did the Industrial Automation course in Athlone in '94, it was a year long back then and it has served me really well. Later I went on to do a degree in Mechatronics and now I work as a Mechanical Design engineer. Im planning on leaving that job to go to Uni next September. I have previously worked as an Automation engineer / Process engineer.
Design is fun but I find in my present role I design almost nothing, my boss pretty much tells me how to design and he's an electronic engineer who cant understand the law of the lever! That results in me spending months designing stuff that is never going to work and thats the reason Im going back for some post grad qualifications.
I dont see the job market picking up for another 2-3 years so Id suggest you carry out your plan to update your skills as much as possible now and wait for thee recession to end before you look for work. Salaries are very poor at the moment, 10 years ago I was earning more than I earn now, best to update skills now and look for work later.