this has sort of been covered in the "to switch or not to switch" thread, at least partially.
I'm currently working as a designer for a large company and have gotten pretty good at designing plastic components. I've been there for a while and it used to be a stable place except now HQ has stated that R&D should be concentrated abroad. Seems like a rushed decision and for some reason negotiations have been slow to start. The possibility for "special products" are there but nothing concrete has appeared and without those "special products" the department will be cut from 20 heads to 6 heads (possibly a couple more, 6 just doesn't seem enough even for product maintenance). Being possibly the strongest designer left right now (and the only designer who has worked in the laboratory and acquired the kind of product knowledge only laboratory testing can give you) I'm not sure what my chances are.
So of course I'm looking at my options. I have applied for a job as a designer at a small company. This company works with rather specific sheet metal components. My experience working with sheet metal is limited but I don't expect it to be much more difficult than designing plastics, mostly a matter of learning the limitations of the production machinery.
To complicate matters, when I started looking over my options I revisited the idea of becoming a high school teacher. I quite like the idea of teaching CAD, mechanical engineering and possibly math at this level. This does seem like an impossible option if I go with the small company as I would be one of only two designers in addition to being "the new guy". If I stay at my current job and am not laid off I expect I would be able to pull it off. The main problem is the time a student would have to spend in the real world, which is 5 + 5 + 10 weeks (the 3 periods being spread over the 5,5 years of school). There's also some uncertainty whether there will be any classes at all (last year they were cancelled at the nearest university for some reason, probably a lack of students).
What are your opinions? How hard is it to go from designing mainly plastic components to designing formed and welded sheet metal components and tooling? How about the teacher thing? What would you do?
My next step now of course is to sit down with my boss to discuss my situation and his view on this whole thing.
I'm currently working as a designer for a large company and have gotten pretty good at designing plastic components. I've been there for a while and it used to be a stable place except now HQ has stated that R&D should be concentrated abroad. Seems like a rushed decision and for some reason negotiations have been slow to start. The possibility for "special products" are there but nothing concrete has appeared and without those "special products" the department will be cut from 20 heads to 6 heads (possibly a couple more, 6 just doesn't seem enough even for product maintenance). Being possibly the strongest designer left right now (and the only designer who has worked in the laboratory and acquired the kind of product knowledge only laboratory testing can give you) I'm not sure what my chances are.
So of course I'm looking at my options. I have applied for a job as a designer at a small company. This company works with rather specific sheet metal components. My experience working with sheet metal is limited but I don't expect it to be much more difficult than designing plastics, mostly a matter of learning the limitations of the production machinery.
To complicate matters, when I started looking over my options I revisited the idea of becoming a high school teacher. I quite like the idea of teaching CAD, mechanical engineering and possibly math at this level. This does seem like an impossible option if I go with the small company as I would be one of only two designers in addition to being "the new guy". If I stay at my current job and am not laid off I expect I would be able to pull it off. The main problem is the time a student would have to spend in the real world, which is 5 + 5 + 10 weeks (the 3 periods being spread over the 5,5 years of school). There's also some uncertainty whether there will be any classes at all (last year they were cancelled at the nearest university for some reason, probably a lack of students).
What are your opinions? How hard is it to go from designing mainly plastic components to designing formed and welded sheet metal components and tooling? How about the teacher thing? What would you do?
My next step now of course is to sit down with my boss to discuss my situation and his view on this whole thing.
