CAD Junky Mechanical Engineer stuck in Requirements Management job. 3

[candh]

A little over a year ago, I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. My courses were focused primarily on design engineering, which has always been my main interest. I love CAD (especially SolidWorks) and analysis, and where other engineers may see that as a dead end, that's the type of work I've wanted to do my entire life.

Upon graduation, I started working as an engineer for the government in a DoD rotational internship program. Unfortunately, the only experiences I have been able to get in CAD have been on short external rotations; my sponsoring program doesn't have any CAD tools, and they focus almost exclusively on high-level requirements documents and verification/validation. All of the "real" engineering work is contracted out, leaving me little ability to demonstrate my knowledge.

So here are my questions: How can I make the leap to an entry-level CAD-heavy engineering job, when my current job is leading me down the wrong direction? What are some good ways to explain to hiring officials that despite the fact that my experiences have been mostly in requirements management, they should consider me for a CAD engineering role? Especially when my current job is paying me a ridiculously high amount for an intern engineer ($56K)?

Thanks in advance for any insights and advice you may have.

 

[ctopher]

Learn and understand FEA and maybe some CAM/CNC programming. CAD is almost everywhere these days, go beyond it and learn other applications it is used for. Make yourself marketable.
There are plenty of drafters and designers that can do just CAD.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[candh]

@ctopher:
I have a great level of interest in both CAM/CNC and FEA, but I have not had a lot of practical exposure to either, professionally or otherwise. Can CAM/CNC programming truly be learned without having a machine on hand for testing things out? Many hiring companies require 5 or more years of experience in these areas, which complicates matters even further.

I will look into developing these skills further, and look forward to any further insights you may have about this matter. Thanks for your prompt response!

 

[photoengineer]

candh,

Your career will take many interesting twists and turns. Starting out as a requirements engineer is the first of many.

Simply keep your eye open for interesting and fun positions and apply for those that sound interesting. I wouldn't limit yourself to CAD just because it was interesting in college...I'd keep your eye open for new opportunities as they may arise.

For example, you might decide that want to be the engineer in charge of Hoover Dam. No CAD work involved but a very cool position.

Cedar Bluff Engineering

http://cedarbluffengineering.webs.com

 

[ctopher]

<Can CAM/CNC programming truly be learned without having a machine on hand for testing things out?>

Yes, you can do programming and watch virtual machining on your monitor. Actual machining is up to the machinist.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[MikeHalloran]

Many machine tools come with an offline PC-based simulator that you can use to program, and to visualize toolpaths. You just have to find the install disk.

One other thing you can do is get copies of the 'tapes' for production parts, and decompose them by hand, Elbonian style, at your desk, alongside a print of the part. G-code comes in plain text files, and is very compact, so a person can actually make sense of it with a little study.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[TheTick]

I went to engineering school so I could [!]DESIGN![/!] I have a degree and a bit more. Big companies want the likes of me to be Gantt chart pushers, and leave the CAD to the designers.

Small companies need more versatile people, including engineers who can do their own CAD and drafting. That's a better place to work. Also, contract gigs are less picky about the overqualification.

When addressing the question about being overqualified, you need to be clear about what your goal is. You need to show you are in the game for a design position, and that's where your heart is.

Being FEA literate is a plus, and helps to keep you at the CAD station. If I could trade design for a full time FEA gig at this point, I would.

Honesty may be the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[KirbyWan]

candh,

Most government jobs that involve engineering are systems engineering or requirements analysis. If they want something designed they figure out the reqirements and then ask people to bid on it. If you want to do design you need to find those companies that are making the bids and try and get hired by them. I prefer smaller companies because of the variety of problems you get to work on, but then you don't get to be just a CAD jockey. On the other hand you do get to work on CAD. A lot of larger companies will have dedicated CAD jockeys that are not engineers and save the engineers for design work with a CAD jockey assigned to work with them. I think an Engineer should be doing most of the CAD work himself and on larger projects have help from a CAD specialist to tweek and perfect desings and create drawings.

-Kirby

Kirby Wilkerson

Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.

 

[KENAT]

As others say, smaller company may offer more chance of doing real engineering while still doing serious 'design documentation'.

For the design documentation side, knowing a specific CAD package is only a small part of the requirement, though an often overrated one.

When you say CAD Work, do you just want to create pretty 3D models that a drafter/designer then tidies up to allow cost effective manufacture, creates the drawings, addresses tolerances...

Or, do you want to do the whole thing, from concept modeling, to detail modelling, to creating drawings per ASME Y14.5M (or equiv) including appropriate GD&T...

The govt probably isn't the place for either of these options. Large companies may let you do the modeling but often won't have you finishing them off.

Many folks around here look down on Drafting & Designing as not being real engineering, in fact some State Boards don't even count drafting time toward experience for PE. You may find your pay lower than folks doing project management/systems engineering or specialist analysts etc.

However, if it's what you enjoy, and you can make a living at it, who cares?

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[photoengineer]

I think that designing molds for plastic injection parts is some of the most difficult CAD work. If your really want to test your CAD skills, see if you can find any tool making positions for plastic parts.

 

[mauricestoker]

I did a two year engineering internship with the DoD 25 years ago. The entire first year was bureacratic, learn the process, learn the reg's, learn the acquisition reg's, etc. Now I mostly do design, as it is the eaisest way to stay out of management/supervision. The two years I spent in the internship were very valuable in learning how things get done, stumbling blocks that management will try, and how to get projects funded prior to designing them. The resource management wienies run the engineering and construction for the gub'mint, so if you want to get funding, you need to understand the language and mentality of the wonks. You'd be surprised how much A-E's charge for a DD 1391. For a classified site, you're talking a year salary for what can take two weeks. Used to do them for free just to capture the design and construction management. If you plan on leaving government for CAD work, getting a clearance first will not hurt what you can demand for a salary.

While I do not endorse the Corpse of Enginerrs, and would mostly use them to park administrative funds, if you want to do solid design and CAD work, that may be a consideration. In the 90's when we had a turndown, I moved from mechanical design to GIS-when business picked back up, it was straight back to design.

While the government is not to compete with the public sector, the COE has right of first choice for design.

Energy modeling and BIMS are two CAD intensive areas, as well as GIS. If you have strong database skills to go with CAD, BIMS or GIS may be one area to look at.

There is a lot of design work in the government, and very frequently some very challenging design. Once you have your internship complete, you'll probably have a lot more doors open to you. If you don't like the COE, there are a lot of field operating activities where much of the design is performed in house. Because budget wonks run the program, security and time constraints often force the government to design in house.