To be an expert in one specific engineering course/subject VS know all of them a little? 3

[youngEngineer818]

Hello All,
I am a young Engineer with BSME and one year experience in designing pressure vessel parts. My goal is to learn and apply specific skills to become a successful engineer. I have a lot of different options. For example, Autodesk inventor modeling, GD&T and checking drawings, manufacturing processes, Stress Analysis of different solid shapes. Please suggest me more if you can.

I want to invest on myself early in my career so I can be successful in future. I have two questions here.

1) Is it better to be an expert(spending thousand of hours ) on one or just know all of them to some extent?
2) In Mechanical Engineering, people with what kind of skills are getting paid the most?

I have also thought of getting a MS degree in Engineering Management. I will wait for your reply. Thank you All.

 

[zdas04]

There is a gem in IRstuff's post that should be highlighted.

I've survived a number of layoffs that took my fellow generalists and I'd like to attribute that to a combination of being able to pick up enough knowledge to be dangerous, and being a reasonably good presenter/communicator.

Being able to communicate in writing, in tech presentations, in management presentations, and to the public (and knowing the difference) is crucial in either a management or a technical ladder. You need to know enough MicroSoft Word to know why it is important that you think about and use styles every time. You need to know enough PowerPoint that you never ever ever skip over the right format for a slide because you don't know how to do a table or a smart graphic (and you know enough to know that flashy by itself is a negative). You need to know enough Excel to hate it (if you love it you are going down a serious dead end where you become everyone's Excel Bitch). Learn Access so you can dazzle everyone around you (the ones using Excel) with your ability to turn tons of data into the relevant information.

Engineering is truly about communication. I've seen generalists that have had IRstuff's career (I'm one of them) and I've seen specialists that have become indispensable (and highly compensated if that matters to you) by communicating effectively. The first people out the door in a downturn are those engineers that personify the old joke "How to you identify an extrovert engineer?" "He looks at your shoes when talking to you instead of his own" it doesn't matter if they are generalists or specialists, if they can't communicate they are of less value than they should be.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[TheTick]

I don't even know where to start. The overall tone is that you wish to secure a stronghold which no one else may enter and no one can dislodge you.

It doesn't matter what you do. All paths to that destination are equally miserable.

Because most likely you can be the only one who knows the subject from real depth.

There is no security in such a position. If anything, such a mindset breeds fear and brings much negative attention, which helps advance one toward the top of the list when it's time to cut headcount.

 

[GTstartup]

Don't let the naysayers get you down. Yes you can make 200K or pretty close to it with 10 years experience. Specialize in gas turbine field service or commissioning, get a job with one of the big 3 (or soon to be big 2) put your life on hold, work all the hours you can until you are tired of it. Then take a huge pay cut and go back to the office. Banking the per diem is nice too.

 

[SNORGY]

Looking back on it now after 35 years, I am more happy than unhappy that I chose the path of a "generalist" (not particularly expert-level smart at ANYTHING) over that of a "specialist" (brilliant at one or two things). I had the opportunity in 1989 to become a piping stress analyst back in the day when CAESAR II was at Version 2.01 for DOS and came on 20+ 5.25" floppy disks; I learned the program and the basics but I didn't want to do one thing for the rest of my life. I still do the odd pipe stress assignment from time to time, sometimes by hand but most often with CAESAR II. I can't do a vessel FEA, I can't do a compressor analogue study, I can't use HTRI to tune a heat exchanger design into the perfect size, I can't run HYSYS. But put me in a design review or HAZOP setting with those experts, I guarantee that I'll end up being the guy who can put it all together and make it all work.

Sure, there are some things that I can do where I am considered as a "go to" resource, but in truth, I'm better off being a "Jack Of All Trades, Master Of None". In this stage of my career, I have seen and done things that I like, and things that I absolutely hate (like running projects, which, sadly, is what I do best...). Now I just do whatever I want.

 

[Ron]

"Expert" is relative. It's like two guys running from a bear....you only have to be faster than the other guy! You can be expert in more than one thing as others have noted.

 

[SNORGY]

I don't consider myself an expert. Indeed, the minute I come across somebody who knows more about something than I do, I feel that I forfeit my right to call myself an expert. And, in truth, I've never done or been a single thing in which I didnt, ultimately, come across someone who knows more than me. In those instances, I immediately go into my "holy toot, I better listen closely and learn something from this person" mode. To do otherwise would be a blend between right-fighting and acceptance that I have already become everything that I am prepared to become.

When I'm in that state of mind, I'll retire.

 

[SNORGY]

And get an MBA?

 

[BrianPetersen]

It's great to be an expert in one thing, just beware that there are no longer any significant number of blacksmiths in the workforce. On the other hand ... the jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none is expendable and replaceable.

If you want your experience to be called upon, you will have to specialize to at least some extent. Personally, I hope that retirement coincides with my area of specialty becoming redundant.

 

[rotw]

sometimes overspecialization can become like an intellectual prison....

"If you want to acquire a knowledge or skill, read a book and practice the skill".

 

[SomptingGuy]

If you specialise in some device or process that's got a limited shelf life, your job will become your hobby, no matter how good you get at it.

Steve

 

[FeX32]

From what I have seen so far in my career; the experts with good communication skills potentially make the best directors or managers.
They have the power to make or break a project. Without expert knowledge they have to rely directly on others' word, which is not ideal for a good leader.
Thus, you can specialize in something you like early in your career while at the same time enhancing communication skills and leadership skills. This will leave more doors open later on.