Am I on the right track? 1

[bradpa77]

It's so hard to know if you are moving at a good pace. I don't have much to use as a measurement as how much I have learned and where I am as an engineer. It brings up a lot of uncertainty in myself. I want to be sure that I am setting myself up for a good future and keeping myself marketable as an engineer.

I've been working for 5 years now and I just feel like I haven't learned nearly as much as I would have liked. It seems like I get involved in repetitive projects that last a year or more. They involve repetitive designs on Pro/E and repetitive ANSYS analyses. I just imagined that I would be given a new project more often so I could broaden my knowledge base of the company and of engineering in general. It just seems like this place likes to pigeon hole you and then keep you pluggin' away at the same task for a long time.

Is this normal? Should I be concerned that I'm not learning enough to be keeping up with other engineers at my level?

 

[csd72]

The squeeky hinge always gets the oil.

You need to speak to someone about this, explain that you feel you are not developing your career at the moment and you really want to move onto something new.

If they value you, they will look for something new for you, if they dont then you need to make other arrangements (at another company).

 

[sms]

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice...

How do you get good at an engineering job??


-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[prohammy]

brad,

Take a look at the other engineers in the company that you are working in. What sort of projects do they get?

If they are older/more senior than you then they will always get the juicier work. If you want to get better projects (more responsibility goes with that) then maybe you need to sell yourself a bit better. Don't wait for work to come your way, go out and find what interests you in the company and let your boss know that you want to be involved. SELLING YOURSELF DOESN'T STOP ONCE YOU GET THE JOB.

If all the other engineers are doing basically the same sort of work that you are doing (repeatative tweaks of a standard design is what it sounds like), then that suggests that that is all that your company does and there is not much chance of getting any better exposure where you are. In this case, time to up stumps and find a new challange.

Kevin Hammond

Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK

 

[GregLocock]

Assuming this is your first five years out of uni, then yes, you have blown it. That time period is where you need to learn the fundamentals of being a fully rounded engineer, not just an FEA analyst.

5 years in you should be able to run smallish design/build projects pretty much by yourself. Can you?

However all is not lost. Start now. Leave your comfort zone.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Twoballcane]

Sorry to be cynical, but nothing cures stagnation than moving to another company in a different field. Your engineering skills are transferable so look for another field to ply your skills. By doing this you will learn new skills because some time your old skills are na in the new field.



Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[bradpa77]

Assuming this is your first five years out of uni, then yes, you have blown it.

Oh geez. That sounds really terrible. I hope I haven't blown it.

Now I'm a little worried.

Here. To help out, I posted some key stuff from my resume. Please take a minute to read over it and see if it sounds like I'm where I should be at this point in my career.


Education:
B.S. Mechanical Engineering Technology
Graduation Date: December 2001
Cumulative QPA: 2.97
Major QPA: 3.19

Computer Software Experience:
Pro/E Wildfire, Pro/E 2001, Pro/Intralink, Pro/Mechanica, ANSYS, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Lotus Notes, Microstation SE, Labview

Training and Certifications:
EIT Certified
Introduction to ANSYS Part I Training Course
Introduction to ANSYS Part II Training Course
Introduction to MathCad

Experience:

January 7, 2002 – May 21, 2004
Compressor Design Engineer
• Developed Company Wide Gas Seal Spreadsheet for in-house flow calculations
• Developed Company Wide Impeller Spin Speed Database and Spreadsheet
• Responsible for Impeller Speed Limits and Key Calculations for all Shop Orders
• Responsible for all new and old volute designs on shop orders
• Analyzed and Designed Flow Paths and sizing of discharge volutes
• Designed and Analyzed Compressor Nozzles
• Performed Stress Analysis for Miscellaneous Components using Hand Calcs and FEA
• Contributed in the Automation of compressor component creation in PRO/E

May 21, 2004 – Present
Product Development Engineer
• Designed and Analyzed Mechanical Components, Mechanisms, and Actuators for Adjustable Inlet Guide Vane Project
• Designed Motor Assembly fixture for permanent magnet motor
• Worked on improving steam turbine components to reduce cost and improve efficiency
• Designed Steam Turbine casings
• Determined Speed Limits of Turbine Blades using ANSYS and hand calculation methods
• Performed Fracture Mechanics Analysis on turbine blades
• Performed Creep Failure Analysis on turbine blades
• Designed valve lifting mechanisms for multi-valve turbines

 

[GerryMoore]

I can't help you with your resume since I am electrical in nature, but this is what I did when I was a few years out of school:

-Look around at all the opportunities to learn in your company.
-Set some goals for yourself based on that.
-Communicate this to your management.
-When you see a project coming up that willhelp you to achieve these goals, request it.

Remember, management wants people to step forward and request work. They will work with you if you work with them. If they don't then you know what to do.

When I did this I found myself on some really juicy projects with some decent experience at a young age. I still do this today, and find that it still works. Good Luck to you! It is healthy for you that you are asking these questions.

 

[Noway2]

A few years into my first job, I discovered that I wasn't doing what I wanted to and I enrolled (part time) in graduate school as a result. I am still amazed at how many doors starting graduate school opened up for me, both with my employer at the time and future ones.

 

[kchayfie]

Another way to develop your career and boost your self-confidence is to mentor new graduates. Can you find someone fresh out of university to take under your wing and give the benefit of your experience? This will
a) show your bosses that you are ready for more responsibility and you're not the lowest in the food chain so you can get some of the more interesting work and
b) serve to remind you of how little you knew when you started, how much you've learnt since then and how much variety there may actually have been over the last 5 years.
Hindsight makes all my projects look a little same-y and repetitive but teaching the new kids has helped me to remember that on project X we tackled it like... but on project Y, it was better doing... and things are a bit more varied than they seem.

 

[macmet]

Brad,

I feel the same way you do a lot of days. I look at my future at this company and I am worried I will fall into a long spell of no development where I just wait for a position to open. Because of that, I am starting to think the only way I can continue developing is a new job.

So, you are not alone.

 

[KENAT]

Looking at your resume you're a bit more well rounded than you initially made it sound but areas that I worked which I don't see explicitly listed on your resume are:

Project management, Manufacturing Liaison, Vendor/Customer liaison, bid preparation, create test/trials plans, carry out testing/trials, mentoring/supervision of junior staff, FMEA/FMECA analysis, risk analysis, design certification, preparation of detail drawings to industry standards GD&T etc, investigation & incorporation of ECR/ECN, Being some more senior engineers assistant/secretary/gopher,…

On the other hand it looks like you’ve done far more analysis than I’ve ever managed, which to some people is ‘real engineering’, while some of my tasks fall more in the Designer/Draughtsman field.

If you’re looking to advance into lead engineer/management type roles rather than becoming more of an analyst or something then I’d definitely try to get some project management experience, or if you have it then make it more obvious in your resume.

This is more a general perception than a fully justifiable statement but to me it seems that in the USA Engineers tend to specialize more than in the UK. As such if you’re in the USA then your limited scope of experience to date may not be as significant, so long as you want/are happy to more or less keep doing what you’re doing.

The same is true in some larger companies, although many switch you around various departments for the first few years. I initially worked in a small Design office so had to be pretty much a jack-of-all-trades, the only area we really had specialists that handled most work was stress analysis.

Look for extra responsibility, while I never explicitly asked for more responsibility I kind of grew into it. I’d go above & beyond on jobs, taking it just a little further than strictly necessary, I’d get involved in conversations/discussions that didn’t directly affect me just to try and get more knowledge experience and If I saw something needed doing, even if not explicitly asked I’d get on and do it. You obviously have to be careful not to become a loose cannon and wasting time on tasks that you haven’t been explicitly told to do but being proactive can work out.

 

[JamesBarlow]

My best advice is to find a small company with very little money and get a job there.

This is what I did, although I didn't know about the money thing till later.

I went from being one engineer of about 50 working for a manufacturing firm to being one of two engineers. My first day on the job the President of the company sat down with me and gave me some old drawings and hand sketches and told me to build this machine.

It was trial by fire but it worked. 8 years later, and at a different company, I am handling several million dollars of design work with a staff of one - me.

Take the plung before you become dependent on the salary and find a small place were you will have to learn.

Financially it has left it's mark on me, but professionally it was the best thing I could have ever done for my career.

 

[bradpa77]

Thanks for all the help everyone. That's all great advice. I don't have time to respond to all of you personally but I do appreciate everyones tips. Thanks.