Is having to do calculations absolutely key as a mechanical engineer? & How complex are they? 4

[Banana_Duck]

So TLDR: I'm a junior engineer progressing to a engineer with little to no experience in hand calcs and stress analysis and I'm concerned about future jobs.

I've been an junior engineer for 8 years now through various apprenticeships and have a BEng Degree in Mechanical engineering which I did part time so I have some basic knowledge, just lacking in experience applying it to industry. My company has been lacking in opportunities for me to develop practice in calculations and FEA, I've only had experience at uni (which I don't think prepares me for the real world as everything is 'ideal' scenarios). The company has a specialist stress department which does the FEA. I cover every other criteria for an engineer easily, just the analysis I struggle with.

I'm browsing other jobs for an engineer and see that most require you to undertake analysis and calcs autonomously, which I don't feel confident with really unless it simple like bolt requirements and beam bending.

So are most jobs supportive in helping engineers or is it expected for them to simply know how to analyse with little supervision and how complex are calcs in general?

Edit: I'd like to add I work in the UK for a large consultantcy with little design so it's not overly common for every engineer to do analysis. I've probably worked more as a project engineer but want to progress to an engineer by say US standards.

Thanks in advance

 

[Christine74]

btrueblood, that might be true for the more rudimentary calculations but not for the kind of advanced technical skills that would actually appear on a resume.

Expertise in, say, Turbomachinery doesn't necessarily translate into expertise in Electronics Packaging. In general, the greater your technical expertise in a particular field the narrower your field of potential career paths you have applying those technical skills.


-Christine

 

[rb1957]

Christine, all I can say is that we work in very different industries.

"Hoffen wir mal, dass alles gut geht !"
General Paulus, Nov 1942, outside Stalingrad after the launch of Operation Uranus.

 

[IRstuff]

You guys are both using English, but talking about different things.

"Knowing how to solve math problems" and "Expertise in, say, Turbomachinery" are two different things

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[Orange_kun]

I'm a design engineer. I do prototype pumps, compressors, or the test rigs for such things. I also have designed a planetary speed reducer and some high pressure Stirling Engines. I have 6yrs experience.

Lots of my stuff begins and ends in MS Excel. Provided you have a solid understanding of what is supposed to happen, you can go a long way with simple hand calcs (simple excel calcs) to check the suitability of a concept, or to check the sizing of a part.

I also use FEA from time to time to check my understanding of what the loading is doing, or what a particular feature might be doing on a part. But even then, if you don't understand the 1st principles... what on earth are you doing using the software. FEA is the definition of "garbage in, garbage out". I have had far too many occasions where I correct a PhD on their CFD or FEA loading conditions, because they either made the wrong assumption about the request or didn't understand the true system in question.

I might not be familiar with exactly how to use ANSYS Forte or OpenFOAM or similar, but I need to be able to follow along and flag the wrong boundary conditions. Or help interpret results. I can't just blindly accept FEA result plots and make design decisions.

The ability to use FEA/CFD software is overshadowed by the ability to understand the system in question from 1st principles. It's a useful skill, to be sure. But all the places I have worked have had experts in the particular software package we use, and I just help describe the problem to them and interpret the results. I don't need a software package to tell me a 3mm-wall aluminum tube is fine for 2bar pressure. And the software isn't going to tell me that repeated cycling from 0 to 2bar might be a problem for long term operation. Unless you know to ask it that.

You're better off knowing your basic mech eng textbook backwards and forwards, in my opinion. If you need to learn a particular software package, that's easy. It's not like they send you to school for 4yrs to cover that stuff. If you WANT to do that stuff (and it can be very cool)... it sounds like you need to find a smaller company where you can wear more hats. I've had good luck with places of no more than 50 employees.

 

[Pud]

Get yourself a slide rule.
Learn how to use it and you'll be fine...

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[Gr8blu]

The OP indicates that their professional background is as a consultant, with an strong emphasis on the "project management" side of things, rather than the "design and analysis" side. It was also disclosed that the OP is (or at least was) based in the UK and is looking to see how that compares to the US (and presumably elsewhere in the world).

As with most skills - both engineering tracks mentioned above (project management vs design and analysis) are a case of "use it or lose it". Not exactly, but the confidence associated with having the calculations or interpersonal and financial data at one's fingertips is a function of usage. If the OP has a basis in the theory of mechanical engineering (in whichever sub-niche interests them) and knows where to go look for answers (Roarke, Shigley, etc.) ... and has an basic understanding of the physical phenomena to be explored, then transitioning from the less technical track to the more technical is only a matter of time.

The ability to use a specific software package is irrelevant: it can be brought up to speed quite quickly ... if the initial background in physics, chemistry, and materials science is also there. The ability to "build a model" is dependent on that background, as is the ability to understand what constitutes acceptable inputs and outputs. The ability to build a model FAST is simply familiarization with the software package itself.

As to the UK vs the world? There are a lot of "project management" type openings out there, as well as the more "technical" openings. Both are going to be pretty much the same regardless where (on the globe) the job is located - the major differences will be in knowing and understanding the applicable local codes. (The overarching international standards will remain the same, but every locale has some interpretation that is unique to itself.)

Converting energy to motion for more than half a century

 

[btrueblood]

Christine,

Not quite. A general ability to not get scared by vector calculus is useful across engineering disciplines. I've done "rudimentary" calculations (bolt joints and the like) on up the spectrum to acoustic simulations of liquid propellant rocket engine combustion chambers. The important thing is to dig into the subject and find both the most economical and firmest foundations for a problem solution. And, in the end, be able to explain it to an MBA type (not that they listen anyway).