I've read various threads on the forum, and talk to Kevin (Trackbird) frequently, and just figured this would be a good place to put my question out there. I can't very well get it answered if I don't ask.

I'm fresh out of high school, and currently plan on going to Kettering University (the former GMI) in the fall. My question is this: What exactly goes on during an average day for you guys? I'm talking automotive mechanical, of course. I love playing around with my Miata, thoroughly enjoyed my short ownership period of an LT1 TA, and have been learning intensively about cars in the last few years. I always find myself wondering how something could be improved when tackling a problem, or processing a variety of ways to attack a problem. I strongly feel this is something I want to do, and could enjoy doing for quite some time.

What I don't want is to be sitting in front of AutoCad for 10 hours a day, 50 weeks a year. This is not saying I don't want to use something like that weekly, even daily, just not all day every day. I'm not an artist, either, much past giving poor representations during dinner on napkins . I see myself wanting to be with a few other people, bouncing ideas back and forth, finding shortcomings and improvements on each other's. I don't mind working the often required late hours, nor do I mind traveling. I'm not sure how much it really matters, but when I recently took a questionnaire through school a few months ago, asking me about my interests, interaction habits, and other personality traits, engineering was high an the list of recommended occupations.

With all of that out of the way, I come back to the initial question: What is an average day like? Is there any advice you can give me about this field? I appreciate any and all input.

Do you just want automotive? I'm a senior ME and have spent 3 semesters co-oping at a coal burning power plant.

I'd prefer to stay in automotive if I can. Many of Kettering's co-ops are automotive, but not directly for automamakers (ie Delphi and Blaupunkt, etc).

Getting a job in the automotive industry is extremely hard nowadays. My brother is a mechanical engineer (he was a good student as well), and he had no luck finding a job automotive related even though he is extremely knowledgable when it comes to cars (my dad is a mechanic with 35 years of experience). Actually, he has had no luck finding a job in his field, so he works as a structural engineer right now

I can also tell you about a friend who used to work for Honda. He got the job straight out of college, and he said he did nothing but AutoCAD for one year straight. He doesn't work there anymore, instead he spends his days doing tests on cars at TRC in Ohio. Must be a very boring job, driving cars around all day

So as you can see it can go both ways. Be the best student you can be, get involved at the school's SAE chapter and do things with them like the Mini Baja races (if they do it, of course) and try to do as many internships/co-ops as you can. Doors will open for you once you have the grades and the experience to back it up. Good luck.

I went to GMI!! Just about the time when they changed their name. Unfortunately it was only for 3 semesters. It was harder than what I planned on and they told me not to come back. After that I got a CAD certificate (it does get boring after a while) from a community college and continued taking math classes. Now I'm at NJIT.

If you survive the math and chemistry then the next hardest part would be picking the right professors. That's the same story at every college. I'm going to graduate next year and plan on taking any engineering job that comes my way. Although I know someone at a well known performance manufacturer that graduated from GMI another is a research engineer for diesel emissions. It's luck of the draw, for the job and co-workers!

If I could do it over I would have forced myself to study more and find more study groups. Groups are the key to making your way through college.

I'm not a very, very good student...just "midgrade". However, a piece of paper from Kettering seems to be worth more than its weight in gold. I've heard that a degree from there has a great pull on getting a job in the auto field (many are people who have no affiliation with it). I'd absolutely love to drive cars all day long. I am that way now...I'll drive anything, just to drive it, just to see what's different. Everything from Geo's to Benz. I'd love to go higher someday. Kettering is huge on Formula SAE and have been really competetive in the past years. "1 in 6 Kettering graduates will go on to be CEO's or Presidents." Not a bad statistic I'd say.

I know a guy who runs Spec Miata and his profession is to review the new models. He drives them, then simply writes in depth reports. Not too terrible-he got that right out of college. Apparently he's now seeking something that yields more driving.

Stay out of the Automotive market...get away from here!!! :leaving:

Go design and fix toasters.

I fear for the automotive market in this area.

With that being said, keep your head down, get through a couple of years and get into CO-OP prorams.

ERV

I was on the same boat several years ago when I got my MET degree (mech. engineering technology - basically same as ME sans a couple of calculus). I just wanted to get a job something related to cars.

I currently work for one of street rod chassis manufacturers. I did learn a lot about suspension kinematics (on my own) and chassis fabrication skills, but it hasn't been what I call an exciting job. Sit in front of computer 40 hrs a week, mostly being a draftsman drawing chassis for stupid & useless show cars with 22" wheels and air suspension. Very little "R&D" work, and all of those were done on computer (Solidworks, WinGeo, etc).

We did build a test mule a couple of years ago, and I only got to drive it once on street. Then it was covered in pretty paint right after the car was tested by one of hot rod type magazines, and now it competes in show car circuit.

I'm about to move on to better things. I got attention from my new employer because of the work I've done and the knowledge I gained at my current job, so at least it was a good stepping stone.

Unless you have a guarantee on landing a cool job like a test driver, don't limit yourself to automotive industry. I'm not saying you shouldn't get into auto industry - just don't limit yourself and miss out on good opportunities.

Generally speaking, automotive engineers are way under-paid. I know many UAW workers get more than engineers. Many engineers (including myself) get in this industry for something other than money, but the reality is you need money to make good living and enjoy your life. It'll be cool to play with company cars with company expenses, but I'm sure you want to play with your own cars as well. Racing or tracking your car gets pretty expensive.

If you can't get the dream job, you might as well go for the highest paying job. So get a job with good salary, good salary increase, and good incentives/benefits that you don't mind doing for several years. Invest in stocks (this may not be a good advice as of now), and buy a house. Once you're past through the stage of living on paycheck to paycheck, you can move onto better things and do what you want to do, be it a more enjoyable job, racing your car, or whatever.

Good luck!

Katz

One major problem with engineering in the USA. Overseas out sourcing.

The auto industry will do this more than about any other field.

I would suggest bio-engineering and at least a masters degree in what ever field you choose.

I got a BMSE about 12 years ago. It is about useless now.

Good Luck

Z28

Wow, it appears there are some very negative outlooks on being an automotive engineer. Honestly, I love my job. If I didn't I'd sure as heck find a better area of the country in which to live.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but during college I worked at Comp Cams, was a tech director for the NMCA drag racing series (before Hot Rod Mag bought them), then after graduation worked at Lotus in England, then Holley in KY, and now SRT at Chrysler in merry old Detroit. Just today I was in a planning meeting for a vehicle you guys haven't even seen yet. I work with a lot of other racers and guys and gals who just plain love cars. Life is good.

The pay scale for automotive engineers in Detroit is VERY good in comparison to other areas of the country for what I've seen. If you want to work with cars, this is the place to be.

OTOH, MEs can certainly work in the computer industry or even design your own widgets to sell on ebay. The possibilities are quite numerous.

I believe that once you're out of college for just a very few number of years it's your on the job experience that will count, not where you went to school. I work with guys who went to Purdue, GMI, MIT, etc and I can honestly say I don't think it makes much difference.

BTW, Eric must have just had a bad day at work. I know he likes his job. He works a few desks over from me and he always has a smile on his face at work.

94bird, thanks for some positive outlook...I was beginning to not be so hopeful about my future and love to play with cars. I'd be overjoyed to work for Lotus, or even SRT...that'd be awesome. I'm a performance guy, like most of us. I know there are a lot of good jobs to be had co-oping at GMI-when I start job hunting I think I should keep my sights set on good companies. I'm not looking to become a millionare several times over in life; just make enough to live in decent comfort. Less than six digits is no problem really. I can always hope for the best.

It really seems from the comments others have posted that ME is a really hit and miss future. But, it's beginning to sound like where you go, who you interact with, what programs you get your hands dirty with, etc, that make you or break you. And truthfully, I don't mind an obscene amount of spent time and determination over the next four years if that can significantly increase my chances of designing the next SRT supertoy.

You can make six figures as a ME in the automotive arena without too much difficulty. At that level however, you'll be just on the verge of moving into management of other engineers. Many people just settle in at a lower level and live with a little lesser salary for a lot less stress.

Your second quote is true for any career I can think of. In your college career focus on getting hands-on knowledge of how engines work. Build up a couple of engines and try to diagnose why some engines have failed if you get the chance. The smaller higher performance groups within the OEs crave engineers with that sort of knowledge.

Is this to say that it is more important to focus on study groups, extracirricular activity, and job involvement/performance than over GPA? I'm not a natural 4.0 student...but with little to moderate effort I can pull low 4's in a weighted high school scale. It's just that I don't try very hard unless I'm interested. Lucky me I love math..I got all A's in my Trig class. The mental involvement is exciting. Anyways, would it be in my best interest to try and achieve a ~3.3+ GPA and focus on other things, or get a (nearly, or outright) 4.0 and use the remaining time for other items?

If you get less than a 3.0 many doors will close in your face.

If you get a 4.0 you have many additional chances.

If you think you can get that at a college level without your full effort, you are unrealistic.

Half of engineering students don't finsh the program.

If you go into the first two years expecting to fight for every grade, you might have a good chance.

I had a professor hand out K-Mart applications after a test in a 5hr-calculus class. If you didn't like the grade, here was your option, K-Mart.

If you want to screw around, do yourself a favor and start in Bussiness school and save yourself the wasted time.

I can still recall walking out of a physics class with a score of 34/100 feeling gut shot, guess what, that was a high "C" after the curve was drawn.

I would paint you a pretty picture like the other guys, but you should be ready to Man-Up, this can get ugly.

Best of luck

Z28

It's pretty important that you get an overall GPA above 3.0 for your first few years after college (maybe 5 years). After about that time frame I do truly believe people are judging you by your work performance rather than what you did in school.

My GPA was 3.3 in college. It was almost 4.0 in high school (don't quite remember what it was). Things ARE much different in college. There are weed-out classes in the freshman and sophomore years and I had one in my senior year too (controls - ugh )

As I get older in life I've realized there is a definite balance in life. Study hard while you're in school but remember not to focus solely on learning things in class and books. When you leave class make sure you have time to have some fun and most important of all learn by doing things first hand, not by solving formulas. I basically do not use ANY formulas in my work anymore. I still use what I learned by working on my own car and hanging around the race track.

Speaking of really bad grades and curves... How many of you have acutally gotten good grades in most of your classes before the curve?

I can only think that most of my classes work that way. How are we expected to learn anything if we can fail the tests and still wind up with a solid B on the transcript? I know most of my calc classes were either curved or the lowest grade was dropped, same for quite a few core classes. Then I take a design class that doesn't teach much of anything and has the hardest grading becuase you have to squeeze ALL of the prof's notes on 1 page. Heaven forbid you mislabel one of his long winded descriptions of "The mechanical process part 3" that has more made up words than anything with the 'part 6' description.

Or... If you just happen to get lucky and join a school team where a faculty advisor is supposed to be involved but the guy is always AWOL. Everything just seams to be a huge waste of time.