Validation or Product Development Engineer: career paths

[NoGrip]

Hi,

I have a question that I'm not sure where to post, but this forum seemed more relevant than others. I've been lurking in this forum for a a few years, mostly for modelling help and other things, but this is my first post!


So I just graduated with an ME degree and have interviewed for two positions, in the same field, but at different companies:
1. Validation Engineer at an OEM
2. Product Development Engineer at a Tier 1.

I have experience with both from co-ops, so neither would be an entirely new environment for me, and I feel I will adapt quickly as an Entry-level Engineer.


Since the OEM outsources to a Tier 1 for this particular product, I wouldn't be able to design it at the OEM, which I honestly feel I will enjoy more and have more passion about; I do enjoy testing though. However, since the OEM is a larger company, there may be more opportunities to grow upwards within the company, which is a big bonus for me, even thought the Tier 1 is fairly large as well.

So my questions are:
1. Which of these positions has a better potential career path?
2. Are either of these positions more important than the other? I know they sort of rely on each other...

Thank you very much!

 

[GregLocock]

I hate the way the auto industry has gone down this path. OK, so the choice is do you want to spend your time specifying and then ordering parts from your supplier, writing parts change notices to the workshop, writing test requests to the testers, and arguing with them and the supplier about the results, or do you want to design and develop the parts themselves?

As you say the second job sounds better, but as you know, life is more glamorous at the OEM, what with a bar fridge in every cubicle, hot cars to drive in the car park, and all that.

1 OEM
2 No, they are equal, bottom rung engineering jobs (but hey at least you aren't in sales).

In my experience it is not hard to switch from Tier 1 to OEM, once you have some experience. However you would be likely to move into design and release for the component you have experience in, D&R is basically a releasing clerk/project management function these days, the engineering is done by other people.

So it rather depends on what you'd really like to do in the long term.




Cheers

Greg Locock


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