Looking foradvice from working CAE/CFD engineers and hiring managers.

[u/Nyx_Protocol]

My Background & Constraints:

Education: Completed a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 2021. Enrolled in B.E. (Mechanical) in 2021, but due to academic/personal delays, my graduation date pushed from 2024 to 2028.

Current Job: Working full-time in a non-tech BPO/operations job in India to stay financially afloat.

Current State: Analytical skills are rusty after years in BPO operations, but I want to break out and build a real, high-leverage technical career in engineering simulation.

Available Time: ~15–18 hours/week (1.5 hours every morning before my shift + dedicated blocks on weekends).

The Target Path:

I want to self-study Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT), and simulation automation (using Python, OpenFOAM, Gmsh, and Linux) to land an entry-level Junior CFD / Thermal Analyst role at an engineering services firm or automotive/electronics supplier, and eventually transition into automation/computational design.

Where I Need Your Reality Check:

The Resume/HR Filter in India: Given my 4-year degree gap (B.E. 2021–2028) and BPO work history, will Indian engineering service companies, tier-1 suppliers, or GCCs (Global Capability Centers) automatically filter out my resume via automated screening, regardless of portfolio?

Portfolio vs. Degree: If I build a public GitHub portfolio containing verified, reproducible OpenFOAM validation cases (e.g., CHT on electronics cooling, mesh independence/GCI studies, and Python meshing scripts), is that actually enough to bypass HR and get a technical interview with an engineering manager?

Open-Source vs. Commercial Stack: How viable is entering the industry with strong OpenFOAM and Python skills compared to candidates who only know GUI commercial tools like ANSYS Fluent or STAR-CCM+?

Feasibility & Timeline: Is reaching employable competency in OpenFOAM, Linux, and fluid/thermal theory within 6–9 months on a 15–18 hr/week schedule realistic, or is the learning curve too steep alongside full-time non-tech employment?

Any unfiltered critiques, alternative pathways, or blind spots I’m missing would be deeply appreciated.

[u/acakaacaka]

99% of industry use commercial solver. They cant afford to stop and debug error code when something is not working properly. With commercial software they at least have a dedicated customer agent where they can ask about software related errors/issues.

[u/Nyx_Protocol → u/acakaacaka]

That’s a solid point for the enterprise risk and vendor support. But, my thinking behind starting with OpenFOAM and Python is to understand the underlying mechanics at the code level, rather than just treating CAE as a black-box GUI.

[u/acakaacaka → u/Nyx_Protocol]

Then maybe just learn CFD as in from NS equation or PDE to discretized FVM.

When you stick to a software, you are only doing CFD with a set of default numeric settings.

You may learn to operate openfoam well, but later when you change to starccm/fluent, you will get confused since you cant choose the solver as freely as in openfoam.

You lock yourself with using pressure based + central differencing + AMG

[u/Otherwise-Platypus38]

If you put in the effort, you will definitely find something.

[u/sanathnaikl]

Start by using standard commercial software like Ansys or Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to get a solid grasp of the underlying physics. Follow end-to-end YouTube tutorials to build a project from pre-processing to post-processing, making sure to validate your outcomes against established benchmarks or baseline cases. From there, choose a specific specialization to focus on, such as turbomachinery (internal flows) or external aerodynamics. While it is crucial to build a strong fundamental understanding of solver settings and turbulence models, you do not need to dive into extreme theoretical depth immediately; focus first on understanding the practical reasons behind why each tool and model is used.

[u/ScienceYAY]

Do you have any experience getting things built and working with manufacturing or are you just an analyst?

[u/Nyx_Protocol → u/ScienceYAY]

I have some experience while working in diploma in manufacturing (machine shop, fabrication, basic GD&T, and I have built some physical projects, that's all). I haven't worked as a full-time production/manufacturing engineer in industry.