One for the mechanical engineers...

Carraig Rua · 05-06-2013 11:43AM

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 · 05-06-2013 12:44PM

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 · 05-06-2013 01:57PM

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 · 05-06-2013 02:46PM

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

I'm a qualified mechanic,

Are you a mechanic as well as a mechanical engineer?

Captain Slow IRL · 05-06-2013 03:49PM

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

hypersonic · 09-06-2013 01:13PM

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 · 09-06-2013 09:26PM

I may have to take language lessons in spanish then!

starWave · 09-06-2013 11:22PM

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 · 10-06-2013 09:35AM

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

starWave · 10-06-2013 10:32AM

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.

One for the mechanical engineers...

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