More Involved In Design

[georgy]

I am currently an officer in the military with a BSME working in the field of nuclear propulsion. I have been in the military for 5 years now and have gained alot of good experience. I am required to have a good technicall knowledge to do my job, and have developed excellent operations and management skills. However, the one thing I miss about my job is that I am not involved with the actuall design of anything.

My question is this. If I were to leave the military how would I get into a job were there is more mechanical design work involved. I'm afraid that not having any real previous experience in the area of design will work against me.

I'm planning on taking distance education courses towards my MSME hoping that will help my marketability. Is there anything else I can do to increase my chances of finding the type of job I want in the civilian world?

Thanks in advance,

Gary

 

[mekanicles]

Gary;

I think you should narrow the phrase "mechanical design". You can design a lot of things, from a pen to a space shuttle. Define the area where you will like to work. This will also help you to select your courses in your MSME.

You always can choose classes that give you what you are missing, design experience.

 

[xnuke]

Reposted and modified from my earlier post in a different thread:

I'm ex-Navy enlisted nuke ET with a BS in physics and math, and I've gone back to school part-time for a MSEE while working as a control systems design engineer. I've talked to many engineering students who were thinking about the joining the military after graduation, including the Navy nuclear program. I cautioned them that they should think about whether or not they wanted to be design engineers since a tour in the military usually provides them with several years of non-design work experience, and this may make it harder to find an engineering job after getting out. Engineers in the military tend to develop a background more suited to operations and maintenance engineering jobs rather than design engineering, as you've said above. I now have two threads justifying my advice.

It's not impossible for you to find a design job. I think your background makes you an excellent candidate. Like mekanicles said, it depends on what area of mechanical engineering in which you want to work. I'd recommend trying to find a job designing manufacturing plant systems. You probably have an excellent background in pumps, valves, heat exchangers, boilers, turbines, compressors, chillers, generators, etc., since all are generally found in a nuclear plant.

One other thing: if you haven't, take and pass the EIT. It will make you more marketable.


xnuke

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

 

[RDK]

This question, in many variations, gets asked a lot here. There are a number of military personnel getting out of the service and wanting to get back into the hard engineering field.

I don’t think that a few years in the military would hurt anyone’s career. I do think that a lot of years in the military would be a determent to someone wanting to get back to hard engineering. (The time away from the cutting edge of technology and the vast differences between military and civilian administrative and management philosophy and techniques make the difference.)

A normal career will span 35 or more years. Five years is usually only just enough for someone to see what area of engineering they want to specialize in. The five-year military tour has given you a lot of things that normally cannot be taught. These are maturity, judgment, self-discipline, leadership and often the administrative functions of budgeting and cost control.

What a military person often does not experience is the hard design and engineering duties that a junior engineer spends his or her first few years doing. This can be overcome by showing a willingness to start at the bottom, taking some additional education and in the US working towards your PE. Your military experience and work ethic that the service instills will help you to regain your position relative to those who graduated with you and soon surpass them. Treat it as a military exercise and do your situation planning and tactical analysis.

Georgy, you do not say what country you are in but I am assuming the US because of the nuclear references. One benefit to the US military system is that there are a lot of people who do their tour of duty and then return to civilian life. Here in Canada military is more commonly a life long career.

It would not surprise me if in a lot of cases you were going to be interviewed by a fellow ex-serviceman. The more patriotic nature of US society will also help you since prospective employers will want to help a serviceman who did his duty for the country. Remember Jimmy Carter started out as a nuclear navy officer and look where he ended up, building houses for Habitat for Humanity with a couple interesting jobs along the way.

One thing to remember is that you are now out of the military. Often the military philosophy is based on a need for operational effectiveness on a battlefield. This means that cost is less of an object and that overwhelming force is often used to overrun obstacles. In civilian life cost is critical and you seldom have the resources to overwhelm any problem. You also will not have a manual for everything and will have to do a lot more for yourself. (i.e. the military has a full and complete personnel administrative manual, in private practice, especially the smaller firms this is often an ad hoc function.)

I know a lot of ex-servicemen who have told me that the hardest adjustment was having to decide what to wear in the morning.

Good Luck



Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[TheTick]

Gary,

I'm an ex-nuc MM and NROTC (medically disqualified mere months before commissioning). I haveworked as a design engineer since '94.

TheTick

All this machinery making modern music can still be open hearted.

 

[georgy]

I know mechanical design encompases many things. I am actually very interested in the design of heavy equipment such as mining or farming equipment. I tend to be drawn more to the mechanics and structural aspects of their design.

I appreciate all the suggestions given so far.

 

[funnelguy]

I had a friend working on an engineering project related to undersea cable laying (fiber optic). Might be worth looking into? His descriptions of the problems and challenges were pretty interesting. Oddly, it is somewhat like farming. Just a thought, I have no knowledge of the field or its future promise.

 

[TheTick]

The heavy equipment market is sees a lot more extremes in its ups and downs. Still, by my reckoning, it it one of the easier mech design fields to break into. I got my start in ag equipment.

I spent all of my college summers doing midshipman cruieses in the fleet Since I was going to be commissioned and on active duty after graduation, I saw no need for co-ops or internships. When I had to face graduation without a commission OR having done any co-ops, I was in a bind.

I took on some short-term contract drafter/designer assignments to get my feet wet in design. This eventually led to a position as an engineer after about a year. My having a degree actually raised a few eyebrows (why is a guy with an engineering degree going for temp drafting jobs?), but when I explained my position it came off as a plus.

The difference for me-then vs. you-now is that the job market is extremely slack. There are more big fish going after small bait like temp designer positions. If you're still in the navy, why not stay an for an extra hitch until things heat up again?

All this machinery making modern music can still be open hearted.

 

[TheTick]

Oh, yeash. Pick up a personal copy of SolidWorks and start practicing. SW has a program for free, limited, personal licenses.

 

[somas2003]

Nowadays practising any 3D Models are just Fantasy ,
Creating 3D models are like making 2D Drg , but with extra care and manipulation.
No Doubt 3D models are very valuable and the outputs are huge compare to 2 D .

Apart from above , Design Engineer should have basic Design knowledge and How to Optimises the Product in better way in both Cost & Manufacturability.

Learinig 3D models alone can't help for Product Design.
and almost 70% of Engineers are just converting the 2D to 3D, instead of Making Concept Design.

 

[TheTick]

Still, 3D CAD literacy is a basic requirement for nearly all of the decent design jobs I have seen posted. t is more important if one is going to stump for drafter and designer experience in order to shore up one's design skills portfolio.

No, CAD literacy does not imply design literacy. Still, I have watched in agony as certain designers and engineers compromise the integrity of their designs in order to not overstrain the limits of their CAD skills.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open hearted.

 

[plister]

My hat is off to you for your service. Thank you.