Moving Between Job Roles

[workForFood]

I'm a senior in mechanical engineering expecting to graduate in May 2015 with a BS. I'd like to get a job that involves some sort of design, analysis, R&D, or some other serious technical component. However, it looks like I'll end up with a job as either an Applications Engineer doing glorified tech support, a Field Engineer being a glorified technician, or perhaps another option that involves a dubious amount of "real" engineering. How hard would it be to transition to the kind of work I want to do from one of these types of roles? Would taking an applications engineering job pigeonhole me or would it be realistic to do something design/analysis oriented after 2 or 3 years? I know I'll need a MS to do the really interesting work, but due to the cost, I'd like to postpone it until I can get an employer to pay for it.

 

[ScottyUK]

If you've used or maintained the type of equipment that you'll be designing, then it could be very beneficial experience. I know a few design engineers who should go out and try to use or build the stuff these design, because they would have more idea what works well and what doesn't. Don't under-estimate the value of practical experience.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Applications Engineers and Field Engineers are directly involved in solving customers' problems. Do not continue to sneer at their contributions.

A kid with a PhD is worthless for design, analysis, R&D, or any other serious technical component, unless (s)he has also learned which end of the soldering iron to pick up.

I should also note that AEs and FEs are closer to the corporate money stream than are the R&D design monkeys kept in the room behind the back room, so they are more likely to paid well, or at least well enough.

Further, their role as the company's (inter)face to the customer, and their visibility to the company's Big Guy makes them somewhat less likely to be RIFed when hard times come, and better positioned to find another slot when really hard times come.

You're probably all lathered up about cool stuff like doing FEA. You'll be less enthusiastic about it when you've spent years analyzing stuff that others have synthesized, predicting how it will fail, seeing it go into production anyway, and watching it fail exactly as you predicted. Product evolution is a very messy process, and is more politicized than anyone wants to admit. You can't steer it at all unless you're The Big Guy, and the people who have the skills to get there, by the time they do, don't have the proper and current technical skills to do the steering anyway.

Your mileage may vary, but odds are against it.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I prefer if my jobs are more FE or AE in nature... that's where the real on-the-fly engineering takes place, the fun stuff. Personally, I wouldn't stick a fresh engineer in either of those positions. They just don't know enough to be useful yet.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[tygerdawg]

Scotty, Mike, & Mac are exactly right. Pay attention to what they say.

Of course, you're champing at the bit, your head filled with theoretical knowledge, ready to take the world by storm by doing what you've been doing for four years. Sorry to inform you, but your education is just about to begin.

If you really want to be locked away, nerd-style, in a back room staring at a monitor crunching numbers all day, then I'm sure there is a job for that somewhere. You'll learn how to drive a software package that has a half-life of two years. Getting your fingernails dirty, shoulder-to-shoulder with customers, helping them solve their problems, understanding their concerns & needs...that is knowledge and a skill set that will make you a powerful analytical / design engineer at a later time. I'm sure glad I spent my early time twisting wires, turning wrenches, banging out programs in the middle of the night, and learning how to make it happen before the next shift started.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[1gibson]

You're not going to be a "glorified" anything, at least not for the first year or so. People may resent you because you think you know more than you really do.

You might need to define what you think "real" engineering is. Real engineering is paperwork, emails, trying to juggle multiple tasks and deadlines, and learning to work with a team.

 

[workForFood]

Thanks for the replies. My idea of these jobs is actually what some of my friends in these jobs who graduated last year have told me. They generally hate their jobs and feel like they aren't real engineers. I don't doubt that these types jobs are important and can be useful experience even if my friends' jobs are bad. I guess they might just be facing the reality that work will rarely be fun or glamorous no matter what. Hard to say.

My real concern is that most jobs want not just experience but relevant experience. If I accept a job that is on the opposite end of the spectrum from what I want in terms of function, is it going to be hard to transition in the future without starting at entry level again? Do employers care more about the industry you're coming from or your previous job function? Does it not really matter as long as you've been working as a mechanical engineer? I want to make sure I'm just paying my dues and not heading down the wrong path.

 

[kingnero]

get your hands dirty, then start to engineer.
Where I work, I can tell from the work some people deliver, whether or not they've ever been in the "real" world or not.
It's very valuable experience.

 

[BrianPetersen]

Same here. You need to know how real things get built by real people before you start designing and analysing stuff.

Besides, the real world stuff is way more engaging. I'm a couple decades and change past graduation, and I'd rather be the field service engineer dealing with real things and real people than sitting cooped up at a desk in front of a computer.

 

[SPDL310]

I am a recent graduate my self so I cant give you much advice on the career path front. Lots of excellent advice has already gone your way. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. It is my experience that many young college graduates in many disciplines are misguided impression that someone is going to pay them lots of money to make decisions and do very little actual work. Design isn't all it is cracked up to be. Like another poster already said the design process is much more political than those who haven't observed it first hand expect. Documentation is much more tedious and time consuming that any school project you have ever had, and catching flack for third party review organizations not being able to turn around design packages to meet an unreasonable sales deadline is always tiring.