Why Materials Engineering?

[Yook]

Howdy everyone. I've come here every once in a while for advice, usually when I'm about fed up with my current job, and I truly have appreciated the advice you have lent each time.

I left my last job because I was a lone wolf materials engineer doing failure analysis and felt like there was not a good avenue to self teach to the level I thought necessary in order to give confident engineering opinion on critical designs.

I now find myself in a similar situation, where I am the most experienced person on my very small team, and I don't see much path forward in a technical sense. My job consists of reviewing others' designs and providing materials selection, coating, corrosion protection, etc. advice. Even when I feel like I have absorbed much of the information available to solve a specific problem, it seems like my final answer is very hand wavey and intuitive rather than quantitative. I don't feel very confident because it's very difficult to determine if my approaches to problems are valid or just me spit balling and then rationalizing. I've put in a good chunk of time into this discipline and it's quite disheartening to find myself in this position where I am quite aware of how much knowledge I lack, yet don't see a useful means of learning or anyone even excelling in this field. All the while, my managers tell me I'm "doing a great job, keep it up," when nobody even checks my work. This has led me to question this discipline in general and I'm hoping you can set me straight.

A MSE curriculum teaches you 30 different concepts and then never puts them together into a coherent skillset like mechanical, civil, chemical, electrical, etc. engineers. I can see why this discipline is useful if I wanted to spend my life in academia, but I feel like I was suckered into this degree which has no real world applications. 99% of what I do is help others with topics from the same intro materials class every engineering major has to take. It makes me feel like this discipline should be offered as a minor and not a major.

What even is a materials engineer? I've been doing this for 3 years and still have no clue what it "means" to be a materials engineer. Nobody from my graduating class that I have spoken with is fulfilled in their job or feels competent at much of anything. Every materials engineering position I've seen is either a glorified lab technician or someone who sits and waits for obscure questions from designers which I have next to no idea how to answer. I feel like I'm always just scrambling like mad to find a reference which helps me. I really hope that is not what you all consider engineering. I don't feel like I'm gaining competence or building transferable skills. The teams for MSE are so small and everyone seems to be a generalist.

Where are the competent materials engineers(outside of this forum) and why aren't they transferring their knowledge downwards? ASM handbooks are cumbersome to teach oneself with and haven't changed in years. They are hardly ever enough to actually help solve an issue and really just build background knowledge. ASTM and SAE standards are no use in actually understanding the state of any given industry. Vendors are oftentimes the most competent materials engineers I speak with. I see the knowledge gaps in the materials selection abilities of the mechanical, fluids, and electrical engineers around me but I have no clue where to find the answers to help them design better.

Why should I stick with Materials Engineering? I'm on the edge of leaving this discipline behind and trying to find something else to do with my life.

Sorry if this seems whiny, I've truly given this my all and I want to hear if you guys have had differing experiences and I should give this one more shot at a different job.

 

[berkshire]

It sounds like you have a bad case of " Imposter syndrome." , even competent people get this way from time to time, you need to find a support group, like a professional organization.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[EdStainless]

For most of my career I have been the only materials person on staff.
It is a slow learning process like that. At a few places I was fortunate enough to be able to do a few very different jobs, but all still materials engineering.
A few times I have been fortunate to be part of a materials team.
And although I never had a real strong mentor at least in a team environment you can learn from each other.
I have worked in four different industries, working for six employers over the last 40 years. After all everyone uses materials.
And I have done research in metals, ceramics, and electrical components.

Do you belong to technical societies?
Do you attend meetings and conferences?
It sounds like you need both technical and career advice.



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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[weldstan]

I was lucky to start as a metallurgist/materials engineer in a fully integrated steel mill and had excellent mentorship during that time. I got work experience in all aspects of steel making and was able to do development work in low temperature steels and deep drawing steels as well as failure analysis in my first 3 years. Over the course of 45 + years, I've worked in selecting materials for oil and gas production, refining, nuclear fuels processing, hydro-metallurgical processing and power generation facilities and developed welding, processing and coating procedures for all.

I have had slow spells where work was low and I could perform my functions sometimes in less than an hour during an 8 hour day. Having said that, there was always something around the corner to challenge me, if not in the company for which I worked but in a new opportunity with another employer.

 

[Ron]

Materials Engineering in an incredibly important part of engineering. Unfortunately, it is often ignored as a discipline. I started my career in structural and materials engineering, as related to construction. My materials engineering experience has spanned from soils to concrete to various metals and composites. I have learned an incredible amount of "stuff" over the years and have come to the conclusion that if any discipline of engineering....civil, mechanical, electrical and others does not understand the materials with which they must deal, their understanding of their discipline is incomplete and borders on negligence! Maybe that's a bit harsh, but guys like EdStainless and others know their materials inside out, and as a result they are better prepared to provide their clients with a better service....that's what we do as consulting engineers.


A Great Place For Engineers to Help Engineers

Follow me there.....

 

[EdStainless]

At some point fairly early in my career I realized that most engineers are not good in front of people.
They are not comfortable and they are not good speakers.
I made a point of working on those skills.
Today I present papers at technical conferences a couple of times a year, and I present in front of customers over 75 times a year.
Some of these are simple as a 90 min Lunch and Learn, and some are a full 4hr or 8hr training session.
This is a learned skill, just like the rest of engineering. And not one to be overlooked.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[Dhurjati Sen]

Dear Yook,

Do a quick search of this site and find out how many veterans like EdStainless & weldstan & metengr are still active?

From the new generation count the number of ironic metallurgist.

You would be amazed to find out that they are so few in number because they are exceptional.

In this age of start-ups, name one that is based on materials or metallurgy!

If you do want to change your discipline, the earlier the better. Of course, you may feel sentimental, but you need to get over it quickly.

Choose your path wisely.

Best regards,

DHURJATI SEN
Kolkata, India

 

From the new generation count the number of ironic metallurgist.

I am not that far behind EdStainless & weldstan & metengr ...

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts."

 

[EdStainless]

Watch out D Sen, If you have some initiative new product that has a physical aspect to it then material engineering should be involved. Oh you say it is made from some new bio-polymer? How are you synthesizing that? What does the process equipment look like, what are the catalysts?
And how many product have you used over the years that didn't last as long as you expected for physical reasons? They looked good and when they were new they worked fine but in the long run they broke or wore out too quickly.

One problem in this business is that there are many companies that need/want/should have professional materials advice but they can't afford to hire someone with enough experience to actually help them.
Even with that said there are still a lot of opportunities in material engineering, especially considering how few of us there are. One side effect of this being a rather small field is that while there are jobs it is highly likely that there are not multiple opportunities in the location. Over the years I have moved four times for new jobs. Maybe it is time for you to take the plunge.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[mrfailure]

Most people who think they want a complete change in career find when tested by career counselors that they are actually best suited to continue with the discipline they are currently on. (Otherwise, I would have switched my career to acting long ago!)

Yook, you should think about what type of materials engineering you would prefer to work in (for example, welding, coatings, testing, failure analysis, etc.) and in what sort of environment. Like Ed, I really learned the most when I was part of an interactive team. As a failure analyst, the specialties of others I was teamed with in.0 a large company taught me much that I use today, as the learning is a cumulative process. If this is the environment you want, then you should consider Ed's advice and look for a more suitable employer. As he also points out, the need for materials engineers is plentiful but you have to be willing to move to find the job with the right fit as our profession is not practiced everywhere.

 

[bobjustbob]

I often think that today is the day my boss is going to figure out I don't know enough to be doing this job. I try to keep those feelings at bay but it is tough sometimes. Usually it peaks right before an audit and then subsides for a while.

I am not really a Materials engineer. As a metallurgist though I know I cannot know all of the answers or even where to look all of the answers up. You need to build up a network of competent people in all fields. When I was working at the foundry I was fortunate to have a really smart metallurgist as our technical director and another as our CTO in corporate. That company like to hire metallurgists as casting engineers so I had lots of others around to help. I also was able to cobble together a network of individuals at our customers. They sat on a number of different committees like NACE, ASTM and API. So if I had a question about a PQR to NACE MRO103 I knew I had someone to go to. Or if they didn't know, they could often point me in a direction of someone who could. The best way I have found to cobble together this kind of network is to be as helpful as possible when someone comes to me with a question. If you become the person they can come to for a quick, honest reply, it makes them want to help you when you need it.

I am now the only metallurgist at my facility and therefor become the answerman for any question about metal. It is a different industry but those same contacts can help with completely different questions.

Trade shows and technical conferences are great to attend as well. I just attended some training through one of our suppliers and met guys at an outfit that I had never heard of that may be able to help me with a problem. Even if you don't think you will get much out of attending a conference or trade show go if you can. You may be the guy that can answer someones question.


Bob