Job Availability question

[electricblues]

I'm not sure if this is a good place to post this, but it looks like the best yet. I was wondering how possible it is to get a job engineering components for internal combustion or turbine engines? I am really interested in this line of work but not sure if it is feasable. (sp?) Maybe it is just a pipe dream. I am planning to study mechanical engineering when I start college, but don't want to end up no where. thanks

 

[GregLocock]

It is certainly possible. With a well aimed rubber-band I could probably annoy 6 engineers designing parts for IC engines from my desk at work.

What you'll need is good maths results from school, a good mechanical engineering degree from a reasonable university, an internship or two, and experience in an FSAE team or equivalent. If your uni does not run FSAE or equivalent then take that as a warning sign. Don't let FSAE spoil your grades. Make sure they have engine dynos for your lab work.






Cheers

Greg Locock

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

 

[MikeHalloran]

Don't focus on just the one thing. Sure, there's a steadily declining demand for incoming engine component engineers, as the old ones die, or (more commonly) reach the age of 50 and find that their services are no longer required, by anyone, or don't even get that old, and find that their factory has been exported, and their job with it. But there's a lot more to mechanical engineering than just designing engine parts. When you reach the job market, there may be a demand for designers of ... well, stuff we haven't dreamed of yet.

The point is not that you will not end up _no_where, but that you could end up _any_where, so prepare for _that_. Get a good grasp of the basics, even the stuff you think you won't like, and the stuff your entire class agrees is silly, because you may need it.

<old joke>
A famous alumnus gave the commencement address at a famous medical school. It was short. He said:
"I have two admissions to make.
1. Roughly half of what you have worked so hard to learn will turn out to be either utterly useless, or just plain wrong.
2. NO ONE knows which half that will be."
</old joke>

The joke rings true for engineering school, too. Not necessarily because anything you'll study is wrong or useless now, but because the world changes. At least our understanding of it does.

If you haven't already, try to see James Burke's TV series "Connections" and "The Day The Universe Changed". You're almost ready to appreciate his revelations about how _everything_ is connected, and nothing stays the same.

It wouldn't hurt to learn a little Chinese, either.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[SomptingGuy]

Don't bank on the internal combustion engine lasting as long as your career does. I would speculate that it'll last as long as _most_ of the old buffers on this site, myself included. But when I'm old and grey(er) I'll be boring my grandchildren with the same sort of "golden days" stories I got from my grandfather. His were about steam; mine will be about diesel.

It'll be a sad day when all the combined knowledge about IC engines and gas dynamics in general becomes obsolete. I just can't seem to get excited about fuel cells and other potential future power plants.

Ok, back to the question. Greg's right. Focus on your maths, get some pre-university experience and choose the right uni.

 

[electricblues]

What about quasiturbine engines? Or gas turbines? Internal combustion is tried and true but has too many limitations. If I was to get into fuel cells then I would need chemistry. I was thinking of minoring in physics or geometry (or some useful mathmatics). Anyways, thanks for the replys.