Career advice for enthusiastic mechanical engineer 1

[Hamza1988]

Hi, I am a Mechanical engineer with a Bachelors degree currently working in Maintenance. Now that I have almost completed 3 years in maintenance, I feel that I should move on and go for a Masters degree. Maintenance has taught me a lot about the basics including design and operation of turbomachinery and other machinery but I feel that I can develop myself more if I change my path to engineering and design. Why? because I know I am very good at drawing (engineering/conceptual) and I love using CAD software for design and simulation. Secondly, I want to get a MSc degree in something that can polish my talents/skills in drawing and design as I believe I can be more successful in a career related to that.
I seek advice from you guys on what exactly should I study so that I can effectively change my path to a career that can suit my skills and which school do you think is the best in that discipline.

Thanks.

 

[IRstuff]

I don't get why you spent 3 yrs in maintenance. Read the other threads about similar subjects. The MS just puts you another year away from doing actual engineering.

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[oldestguy]

I don't agree with IRS. I went on for a Masters and it made all the difference I wanted, both in job type and salary. Was considered at least as good as one year of experience for PE. I spent 2 years on it.
Don't forget that Masters thesis should be creating some useful information that you may use later also. Work with a company or agency where they need that info. You might get a scholarship for that work also.

 

[IRstuff]

A sufficiently large enough company can and will subsidize a masters degree.

TTFN
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[urgross]

I also don't agree with IRStuff, which is unusual. I spend quite a bit of time as a mechanical engineer in the O&M side. It takes a different kind of engineering mentality, and ability to quickly make intelligent responses, especially when down time is at a premium cost. I agree with the MSME statement, unless it would be something like large systems engineering.

 

[TheTick]

If you want to get elbow-deep into design, an MS degree would most likely be a road block. It's hard enough to find design work with a BSME, as the actual design work typically goes to "designers" with less education.

A generation ago, an MS degree would be a plus if you wanted to specialize in simulation. The "democratization" of simulation has made it more accessible, and thus industry perceives less of a need for MS-degreed engineers to make colored plots of poorly-constructed analyses.

If you want to design, quit wasting your time not designing. Get yourself somewhere where design is happening and you get to be part of it.

 

[KENAT]

How good at drawing are you? Knowing where all the buttons and commands are on a specific CAD package does not make you good at drawing.

Are you familiar with the relevant drawing standards and especially with correctly applying dimension schemes and tolerances etc.?

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[IRstuff]

I wasn't implying that it was not useful, just unusual; someone interested in doing design engineering would normally get a starting design engineering job. The fact that the OP didn't raises questions about whether they are really focused on design, or whether they are "fickle," and not yet ready to buckle down to a career. The OP still doesn't even know what they want to do, "a MSc degree in [highlight #FCE94F]something[/highlight] that can polish my talents/skills"

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
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[Hamza1988]

Thank you guys. Let me put it this way...what I want to do is to change my career to Engineering design but what I want to know is that to change my career from maintenance to engineering design, will it be better if I get a MSc. considering the fact that getting a job in Engineering design at this point is difficult for me as I have zero experience in it. Will an MSc. add value to it and increase my chances of landing a career in design sector. And if yes then MSc. in what discipline? and which school is the best in that discipline. Cheers

 

[urgross]

If you have not been gaining relevant experience in O&M, what are you operating and maintaining? I think if you actually want to be good at design as opposed to performing design, having hands-on experience in O&M and construction cannot be beat. If you want to know how HVAC will or won't work, taking care of the units for a year can teach you a lot if you care to learn.

 

[Hamza1988]

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.