Struggling to get my footing in Mechanical Engineering 1

[thenewME]

Hello fellow engineers and engineers to be, new member here looking for advice and insight.

Heres the situation Im currently in. Last year I graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. My overall GPA was a 3.1 and major GPA of 3.3. The problem is I never had an internship in my field during college (major mistake on my part, that I regret), mainly due switching into ME late into college and having to catch up with courses.

Ive spent a year searching for a job in the field with no success, due to the lack of experience. How do I gain experience if no one will hire me because of lack of experience? Ive looked for post-grad internships (that dont pay) and haven't had luck there either.

Im sorry for the long first post. Im looking for advice from experienced engineers and those that have been in a similar situation on how to begin my ME career. At this point, its feeling hopeless and don't know where to turn.

 

[kirrer]

Seconding the tips about your own projects/hobbies. Creating and running your own project shows that you have the capability to identify the goals you want to achieve, conceptualize a design, analyze the design, create preliminary or advanced drawings, manufacture parts, etc. For instance, if you created a go-kart frame (I'm speculating because I've never done this), your frame needs to support the weight of the rider/cart/dynamic loads arrising from vehicle acceleration & motor/gearbox torque. The concept should demonstrate you understand frame rigidity. The analysis can be simple (classical shaft/bar analysis) or complex (if you have a student CAD/FEA package). The drawings can be simple or advanced (just dimensions or including GD&T), the construction can show your ability to choose material based on requirements, and assembly can show that you understand how to weld & what surface preparations need to take place, etc. This is just an example, and I'm a bit biased coming from automotive, but if I interviewed an entry level student and they had no formal experience but could logically step through each of these processes, that's a very strong footing. Plus, hobbies like these are great ice breakers.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[moon161]

Self-assigned projects are neat. I made a heat pipe while I was working in tech support. Made a good conversation point in interviews.

Vo-tech courses are useful, will get you acquainted with hands on aspects of whatever you're interested in. New York state had a grant that gave you basically free training in energy star building envelope (blower door course)& HVAC. A refrigeration course at vo-tech will give you a head start over people for whom the vapor dome is just a chart, and a micron is just a distance. My local adult ed has stationary engineer courses at night (building operation).

 

[CharlesHeard]

Having spent a decent amount of time from graduation to getting my engineering job I understand the frustration. I know one thing that helped me a lot is I used some government services to help me in my resume and cover letters. Those people are often used to working with people that have difficulty finding a job due to lack of skills/ability so I got excellent service because I was a different challenge. They may be able to help you out with other avenues to finding work.

On geography:
I am not sure what the American job market looks like for engineers, but I know a lot of Canadians being educated in Ontario and east are finding the best opportunities for in the Alberta energy industry where people are needed at all experience levels. As an example, I have a friend who is going into his last year of civil engineering. His summer employment fell through with less than a month until end of term and had trouble finding a job where he was in Vancouver. My sister (project engineer at a very large construction company) was able to pass his resume onto her HR department. Received resume on a Monday, interview on the Tuesday, offer on the Wednesday, move to Edmonton on the Sunday, started work on Monday. His (out of school) experience is summers working for a renovation company.

My understanding is that there is a similar boom in Montana, so removing your limitation on geography may help you out.

I know of people who were educated in Ontario, got their initial job in Alberta, ended up loving it and staying. I also know others that got their experience here then moved back after attaining their P.Eng so that they were closer to their families/friends.

If you don't have one already, I would also recommend finding any form of employment for the meantime. I ended up working at BestBuy when I ran out of money and it led to me getting 3 business cards from customers and my full time employment. More importantly I felt a lot better about myself because I was doing work. Unemployment sucks.

Best of luck to you. There are places in this continent that really do need more mechanical engineers of all experience levels and quality people get promoted or options to change companies. I remember in one class a professor was talking about the Oil Sands in Fort McMurray. One person asked what kind of qualifications people needed to work their. His answer: a pulse.

 

[JayMaechtlen]

FWIW- When a company wants a new grad/no experience, they will likely recruit on campus. What about all the companies that recruited at your (and comparable) schools over the last few years?

good luck!
(if you're a car guy, you'll enjoy the automotive forums here, too!)

Jay Maechtlen

http://www.laserpubs.com/techcomm

 

[Twoballcane]

You may have to look for stepping stone jobs to get to a full fledge Mechanical Engineer position. My first job out of college was a field engineer, which was a glorified technician. So, when I went on to my interviews, I was able to speak to some experience with mechanical mechanisms, industry standards, and work ethics (filling in time cards, getting the job done, working with customers…etc) and in eight months I was fortunate to get into a company as a entry level Mechanical Engineer. So as a Mechanical, maybe start looking for technician work too, but don’t take your eye off the prize of a Mechanical Engineer position.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”

Perception is reality: You may build your skill set, but what you think of it doesn't really count. The only thing that really matters is what your boss and or customers think of it. Likewise, the real you is how others perceive you, not

 

[lacajun]

thenewME, I don't see anything wrong with your GPA or lack of experience. How does any engineer get experience as an engineer? Do ChemE's graduate with the ability to design a refinery? Does a new EE graduate with the ability to design a control system or a radar system? I remember those days of studying P&IDs, vendor catalogs, books, talking to a lot of others with experience, etc. for days, weeks, months, and years. Gaining experience takes years.

My perspective is different than "it's your resumé" or "lack of experience" stuff. It's the economy and there is too much change coming with recent bills passed. Business needs stability to plan.

US Economy Going From Bad to Worse: Roubini

Quite a few of my friends have said companies seem to be window shopping. From my experience, I agree.


Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC