One for the mechanical engineers...

Captain Slow IRL

What is your job title and what does your workday entail? What are the pros/cons of your job?

I'm a first year undergrad and just want to get as much info about different roles as possible.

Frogeye

I get in early, check my diary, check my to do list, get a cup of coffee and then......spend the first half of the day sorting other peoples f##k ups out while the coffee goes cold, followed by sorting my own f##k ups out, followed by actually getting some work done for about 15 minutes and then going home late with my head spinning..

Pros: the weekend
cons: Monday to Friday

sorry, its been a bad day...maybe tomorrow will be better and i will be able to give you more balanced insight.... unlikely but .........

enda1

I develop and analyse the structure of cars. From high volume b segments to top end supercars.

Captain Slow IRL

Who do you work for Enda and how'd you get into it?

It's not that bad Frogeye, is it?!

starWave

Design and install flexible pipes for offshore oil fields, typically in the North Sea, West Africa, Brazil or Western Australia.

enda1

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Who do you work for Enda and how'd you get into it?

It's not that bad Frogeye, is it?!

Graduated with a top degree in Ireland so could join a top OEM on its graduate programme.

Then quit for a change of country and company. Moved to a supercar mannufacturer. Got bored there and now am a contractor at a small analysis firm working on various programmes.

Frogeye

[QUOTE
It's not that bad Frogeye, is it?![/QUOTE]

today isn't too bad. Its lunch time now and so far I have only had to sort out my own problems. the afternoon is looking like it could be productive but i won't get my hopes up.

PS I design skid mounted equipment for the oil and gas industry.

bradyle

Um I'm only a graduate so dunno if I really count but here goes.

I work for a material's company with a fairly diverse portfolio. I'm currently in the carbon side and my site mostly makes seals and bearings. My title is process engineer

My day differs depending on what site I'm on.

Site a: I’m the only process engineer which is ok because we only really have one process. If something comes up with this I have to try and work with it. However most days there isn’t so I just do other things like at the moment I’m trying to collect data for a materials database and sometimes the quality or production manager or the application engineer will have something they want me to do. My manager is in finance here so he randomly uses me like an assistant and gets me to make charts and stuff, its fairly boring and I actually probably spend quite a bit of time on the internet or talking to people

Site b: this is a much larger site and there are a few process engineers here. This place has very high scrap so I mostly work running trials to see if we can find something that works better. I spend most of my time measuring things and yes it can get boring but I don’t mind doing it because I know it has to be done and I quite enjoy the analysis bit ones the results are in.

Captain Slow IRL

What king of problems do you experience on site A, Bradyle? I'm, admitedly, clueless to a lot of different aspects of this profession and I just want to know as much as possible.

bradyle

Em not so much problems it's more like if the operator notices something I get called to look at it and give an opinion about it. I've only been working like 8 months and while my knowledge has grown loads usually when this happens it means I hit google and other colleagues on other sites to find out.

The process is an impregnation process to make the carbon seal air tight. The current process we use take 32 hours if done with no delays so it really stunts our lead time. My main role here is to shorten the lead time. After a lot of analysis it came down to buy more equipment to make two lines or change over to a different material for the impregnation that has a shorter lead time. They chose to change so I had to get all the quotes and info on this ready. We're now stuck waiting in the approval phase. But because we're going to be using the same equipment I'm trying to organise trials on the impregnation vessel and autoclave to see if there are many variances within this that will affect the process.

This is all complicated by me not speaking the language of the operators...but I get help so thats good.

Nukem

Title: Regional Facilities Engineer (only here 4weeks)

Looking after facilities maintenance and energy. Setting up the energy management system and identifying projects for energy improvements. Coordinating day to day facilities maintenance activities.

So far so good!

Last job i was the Energy Manager for a large multi national pharma company. That was probably one of the best jobs I have ever had, f**king really challenging and really rewarding.But doing 60 hours a week when only meant to be doing 35 was turning me old and my wife nuts.

Many of my mates are working with multi nationals in biomed, pharma, refineries and oil. Pretty wide net as you can see that you can through your hand too

Captain Slow IRL

I'd say biomed would be the preferred choice for me, due to who's in the area. There are some small scale production outfits around, I'm gonna try get a summer job with one of them to get my foot in the door.

Timmaay

I'm a mech graduate here also, but totally alternative path taken! Just finishing off a research masters at the minute, but am a part time dairyfarmer after I took over my dads farm, the problem solving skills I learnt during my degree does most certainly help me on the farm! As well at that I'm in the process of setting up a business timing athletics races, skills like excel/computer programming have most certainly helped me with that business. This might not at all answer the questions you asked, but just shows one of the many routes that you can take following your degree.

mawk

Ok, its Monday and I'm in work.

Currently my role is a quality engineer but Its a small company so I wear a lot of hats, as does everyone here. Been here for about 1 year straight from college

I not sure I will have time later but Im going to try call back every few hours and give a blow by blow of my day.

So far, I have arrived in, made a coffee and had a chat with the operators that come in before me to see if anything crapped out over the weekend.

Then I got to my email, which thankfully was not too much. Only substantive work was going through a list of drawings for a vendor ensuring that the parts ordered are from the correct drawing revision. (been a problem lately so I'm checking)

Next I'm going to go through the scrap material that was generated recently and decide what can be reworked and what is coming off the system.

and after that I will check any metrics that are relevant to today's production meeting.

That will bring me to about breakfast time

mawk

Best laid plans..

I didn't get a chance to deal with the scrap.

I had to set up an optical power test jig and screen a batch of units to keep production going. Repetitive and boring but production has to come first. On the plus side, everything was fine

mawk

Spent the early afternoon collecting info and taking pictures so I can write an accurate Process flow/SGOI/SOP/WI/ETC for a product we are going to be making. Its an expensive product and obviously I dont want any made incorrectly adding to scrap and making customer delays.

I also set up an online mirror to a folder of documents that a customer is always asking for and gave them access. This hopefully will save me 20 minutes a week attaching files to emails..

mawk

1/2 an hour spent researching Nitrogen/dry box storage options. day is shaping up nice and varied..

Captain Slow IRL

What kind of award do you have Mawk? degree, diploma or higher?

Thanks for the updates, btw!

mawk

No problem cap,

I have a lvl 7 in mechanical and a lvl 8 in AMT. Both from CIT


To round off my "day in the life of"
I spent most of the afternoon writing up that work procedure and filling in purchase request forms for parts from farnell.
Some fabricators have promised us new burn in cabinets to arrive tomorrow which means I need to crimp up a stack of power cables and wire up a few power supplies tomorrow or the next day.

I dont really have a typical day.. some are very hands on, some are very much spent at my desk.

I couldnt advise enough to try get some relevant experience while you are in college. work free for a summer or two if needs be. company names on your CV make the difference between struggling for work and having options. Also, practice excel.. everyone uses it.

Captain Slow IRL

What's AMT?

I'm writing up a new cv in my spare time, gonna stick it into a few local places over the next few days. Last summer exam is on wednesday so busy studying for it at the moment.

mawk

Its Advanced manufacturing technology. An one year add on lvl8 taking applicants mostly from Mech, Biomed and marine engineering ordinary degrees
but probably most suited to mech.

Areas covered include:
Project managment
materials
maths and stats
automation and control
design
reliability and maintenance
manufacturing systems
facilities

grateface

I've a masters in Mechanical and Manufacturing.

I'm currently a process engineer working in a certain Multinational Semiconductor manufacturer in Kildare. ahem.

Usually have a passdown with techs first thing for any issues from the night before. During that we go through the metrics: Cycle time/ Tool availability/ Inventory/Feeds for the day and cost. All data pulled from huge data bases and a LOT of different type of SQL scripting to get the data you want in a form you need.

Then it's ensuring that any preventative maintenance that is scheduled to be carried out that day is kicked off or any other planned work.

Next breakfast followed by a team module review of our area in lithography. Different items on the agenda but its usually high level planning. Root causing quality issues, reviewing rework data and tool health. Defects and wafer thickness are the critical parameters.


Presently i'm working on doing a full upgrade of an old tool. So thats into the high end technical skills, replacing valves, tubing, nozzles, sensor calibration, chemical filtration systems, fin flow meters, circuit boards etc. A lot of this work would be done in conjuinction with the high level technicians who'd have many years experience in Teaching robots and troubleshooting.

Depending on the day of the week you'll have various other meetings like staff, cost meetings, quality etc.all zzzzzz.

Darren1o1

I'm working for a contract design/manufacturing medical device firm in a Design/development role in the US.

Captain Slow IRL

grateface wrote: »

Presently i'm working on doing a full upgrade of an old tool. So thats into the high end technical skills, replacing valves, tubing, nozzles, sensor calibration, chemical filtration systems, fin flow meters, circuit boards etc. A lot of this work would be done in conjuinction with the high level technicians who'd have many years experience in Teaching robots and troubleshooting.

Are you hands-on with this or just doing it on paper?

Apart from meetings, is there any other aspect of your job that bores?

grateface

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Are you hands-on with this or just doing it on paper?

Apart from meetings, is there any other aspect of your job that bores?

Completely hands on.Tool owners are expected after a few years to be the complete expert in the process. We revert to scehematics and paperwork to replace any component that we need to order if its not on hand in the warehouse.

I actually enjoy all aspects of the work, the one area that can be boring and frustrating is running monitors.
This involves sending test silicon wafers through the tool and sending them to metrology tools ot check defects levels.

EVERYTHING - in the semiconductor business boils down to total defect free wafers. Big particles are a die lost and money down the drain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8kxymmjdoM

Gives an insight to what goes on in the Fab. Every big tool and robot you see in it belongs to a different module and controlled by the tool owners. Technicians are there to carry out repetitive work and run monitors.

Mr. Tezza

mawk wrote: »

Its Advanced manufacturing technology. An one year add on lvl8 taking applicants mostly from Mech, Biomed and marine engineering ordinary degrees
but probably most suited to mech.

Areas covered include:
Project managment
materials
maths and stats
automation and control
design
reliability and maintenance
manufacturing systems
facilities

Did that, great course!

I currently have a BEng. Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a BSc. Hons Degree in Advanced Manufacturing Technology ( also have a Higher Cert in Mechanical Engineering)
I suppose I could call myself a graduate, took nearly two years before I landed the job I'm currently in...

N/C Programmer to a sheet metal perforating company.

My day consists of writing programs using software programs (Radan) and drawing up stuff using autocad (a little bit of drawing using solidworks too on the side).

Captain Slow IRL

I'm starting to love Solidworks! Couldn't get my head around it at the start but it's very easy when you get the hang.

Mr. Tezza

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

I'm starting to love Solidworks! Couldn't get my head around it at the start but it's very easy when you get the hang.

I have to agree, when I started out it was all about the ucs system, manipulating the xyz, that kinda stuff, but lately I've been using solidworks quite a bit and have to say once you get used to it it's very easy!

I've a cousin doing mechanical engineering in dublin and they went straight into doing 3D models using solidworks, when I started autoCAD 2004 had just come out, we spent 2 years doing 2D stuff before we even thought about 3D stuff, had to teach myself when I went back to college then in 2009, its good but its no Pro E...

mawk

Mr. Tezza wrote: »

Did that, great course!

I currently have a BEng. Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a BSc. Hons Degree in Advanced Manufacturing Technology ( also have a Higher Cert in Mechanical Engineering)
I suppose I could call myself a graduate, took nearly two years before I landed the job I'm currently in...

N/C Programmer to a sheet metal perforating company.

My day consists of writing programs using software programs (Radan) and drawing up stuff using autocad (a little bit of drawing using solidworks too on the side).

Thats really interesting. Other than editing a little vba, I do no programming worth talking about at all. Amazing where engineering fundamentals can end up bringing you

Timmaay

Hmm in the research world, almost all the mech engineers I know mostly have ended up programmers of some sort, whether it be mathlab, VBA or some fairly specialized program! Probably because there are less off the self programs for the often unique problems that research throws up.

Darren1o1

Timmaay wrote: »

Hmm in the research world, almost all the mech engineers I know mostly have ended up programmers of some sort, whether it be mathlab, VBA or some fairly specialized program! Probably because there are less off the self programs for the often unique problems that research throws up.

DCU has start teaching Maths through/with their programming classes, seems like the way forward. Back in '02 when I started, they were independent. We did a small amount of C++ and some Matlab.

Carraig Rua

I'm a mechanical design engineer for a company that makes special purpose machines for mainly the pharmaceutical industry.

My day usually consists of sitting in front of Solidworks designing small pieces of machinery to mount and connect different parts of the machines together. I haven't had the chance to properly develop a machine yet, although most of that is decided by the boss. I hope to get a chance to do something more challenging in the coming months.

Its my first "real" engineering job, and I am here about 8 months now. Any other jobs I have had have been unpaid internships or college work experience (all quite rubbish really).

I would suggest becoming familiar with the standard mechanical assembly methods and terminology first and foremost. Its hard to gain respect as a mechanical engineer (especially in Ireland), everyone knows you can bluff your way through college, and if you go into a place where you are supposed to give instruction to fitters and machinists without understanding the basics and practical fundamentals you have not got a hope. People don't respect a degree they respect someone who has a passion and deep knowledge of their field. So it can be easy to fall into a purely analytical way of thinking which is supported by universities, then find yourself in the real world where there is little respect for it in terms of mechanical industry (in Ireland anyway). In my work, there is an attitude that its better to over design it rather than spend your time analysing and optimising. So before Solidworks, before Finite Element Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics and all that high tech stuff - know the basics, and know them well. Know the popular materials that are used (Aluminium, Stainless Steel, Delrin etc.) and what you need to know in terms of practical use for as many as you can (i.e stainless is very hard to cut/modify, aluminium can break down easily if is subjected to friction). Unfortunately this kind of stuff is only picked up through experience, and talking to experienced people. So it would be a good idea to get into a company or two for your summers and ask as many questions as you can, without being irritating, it is up to you to ensure that it will be a worthwhile experience though - alot of places in this country youll be left at a desk number crunching in Excel and thats not where you need to be in Work experience, youll get enough of that in college.

From what I can see so far, Ireland just isn't too hot for engineering at all I'm afraid and I am a little let down by the whole thing. Everyone emphasized how great it would be to get into Science and Engineering during school but in any of the jobs I have had there has been no use for the Calculus and Physics I had to learn in University. If you have got ambition, get the hell out of Ireland when you graduate and don't tie yourself to this country. If you are happy to tip away in a Pharmaceutical company doing paperwork and earning a decent wage, but barely being able to use a spanner - and the analytical skills you gained in college a long lost memory, then stay. It all depends what you want.

Alot of your chances rely on meeting the right people and learning from them. So don't stay in a job where people are not willing to teach you and you are not learning anything.

Captain Slow IRL

I'm a qualified mechanic, so the hands on and technical aspects don't really phase me - if I'm tied down to a desk job, I'll still have my bit at home to keep me fresh!

Unfortunately, emmigrating is not an option - too many ties here.

Carraig Rua

Thats great, that will be invaluable to you. If you are staying here, I would advise not to get too caught up in the academic side of engineering and try to remain as practical as you possibly can, and just build up as many contacts as you can, tisnt what you know round these parts! Best of luck.

starWave

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

I'm a qualified mechanic,

Are you a mechanic as well as a mechanical engineer?

Captain Slow IRL

I'm a fully certified mechanic and am just after finishing 1st year of my BEng in Mechanical Engineering.

hypersonic

Carraig Rua wrote: »

I'm a mechanical design engineer for a company that makes special purpose machines for mainly the pharmaceutical industry.

My day usually consists of sitting in front of Solidworks designing small pieces of machinery to mount and connect different parts of the machines together. I haven't had the chance to properly develop a machine yet, although most of that is decided by the boss. I hope to get a chance to do something more challenging in the coming months.

Its my first "real" engineering job, and I am here about 8 months now. Any other jobs I have had have been unpaid internships or college work experience (all quite rubbish really).

I would suggest becoming familiar with the standard mechanical assembly methods and terminology first and foremost. Its hard to gain respect as a mechanical engineer (especially in Ireland), everyone knows you can bluff your way through college, and if you go into a place where you are supposed to give instruction to fitters and machinists without understanding the basics and practical fundamentals you have not got a hope. People don't respect a degree they respect someone who has a passion and deep knowledge of their field. So it can be easy to fall into a purely analytical way of thinking which is supported by universities, then find yourself in the real world where there is little respect for it in terms of mechanical industry (in Ireland anyway). In my work, there is an attitude that its better to over design it rather than spend your time analysing and optimising. So before Solidworks, before Finite Element Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics and all that high tech stuff - know the basics, and know them well. Know the popular materials that are used (Aluminium, Stainless Steel, Delrin etc.) and what you need to know in terms of practical use for as many as you can (i.e stainless is very hard to cut/modify, aluminium can break down easily if is subjected to friction). Unfortunately this kind of stuff is only picked up through experience, and talking to experienced people. So it would be a good idea to get into a company or two for your summers and ask as many questions as you can, without being irritating, it is up to you to ensure that it will be a worthwhile experience though - alot of places in this country youll be left at a desk number crunching in Excel and thats not where you need to be in Work experience, youll get enough of that in college.

From what I can see so far, Ireland just isn't too hot for engineering at all I'm afraid and I am a little let down by the whole thing. Everyone emphasized how great it would be to get into Science and Engineering during school but in any of the jobs I have had there has been no use for the Calculus and Physics I had to learn in University. If you have got ambition, get the hell out of Ireland when you graduate and don't tie yourself to this country. If you are happy to tip away in a Pharmaceutical company doing paperwork and earning a decent wage, but barely being able to use a spanner - and the analytical skills you gained in college a long lost memory, then stay. It all depends what you want.

Alot of your chances rely on meeting the right people and learning from them. So don't stay in a job where people are not willing to teach you and you are not learning anything.

as an engineer with 5+ experience I'd have to agree with everything in your post. as someone who continues to pursue engineering in in Ireland I can already see that it is damaging my career prospects. soon I will have to choose between the engineering that I enjoy, or a paper pushing middle management paycheck monkey. what annoys me is I know in other countries that you can progress a lot further in your career as engineer than you can in Ireland. in Ireland engineering is something you do in college, in places like Germany it is career choice.

Captain Slow IRL

I may have to take language lessons in spanish then!

starWave

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

I may have to take language lessons in spanish then!

Some engineering industries use english as the standard language. I'm in Paris at the moment, and everything is in english. If there's a meeting with 20 french people, the meeting can be in french, but if there is one non-french speaker, it must be in english. All documentation is also in english.

Captain Slow IRL

Why is that, do you know? Does your company have any American influence?

starWave

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Why is that, do you know? Does your company have any American influence?

There are always companies from all over the world working on any project in the offshore oil industry, and I guess one language makes everything clearer. If anything went wrong, you would have an oil spill on your hands, like what happened in 2011 in the gulf of Mexico. Maybe historically US and UK are the leaders in this industry, as well.

On this project, it is a French oil company, but everything is completely documented in English. I've seen in Brazil, the Brazilian oil company will write some documents in Portuguese, but they will be translated to English when required. They only hire Brazilian citizens in this company, I think.