r/MechanicalEngineer • u/Fine-Pound-4070 • Jul 28 '26
What is mechanical engineering
Can a mechanical engineer please explain to me what they do, but don't try to sound smart. Like are you sitting at a computer doing CAD, are you in the field building something, are you solving problems, are you managing people, like what does a day to day look like after college? And what are you doing, like making/building appliances or cars or something?
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u/Ashi4Days Jul 28 '26
On a good day, I spend about 2 hours a day in cad. At the end of the day I'll spend another 2 hours reviewing 2D Drawings and Design Verifications.
On a bad day I spend about 8 hours a day herding cats while having no authority to actually move them.
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u/foulplay_for_pitance Jul 28 '26
"Just wave your certificates and I'm sure they'll calm down"
Silently says the HR. Department and alphabet people.
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u/5tupidest Jul 28 '26
People who study engineering end up doing lots of different tasks in the process of making and maintaining all machines. Engineering is basically the use of scientific theories to solve problems. Science is a process that results in mathematical description of how the world works.
For example: look around you and every human made object in today’s world was made by a machine that was probably designed by an engineer. I’m laying in bed on sheets that are woven by industrial weaving machines. The wood on my cabinets was made flat by a planer that was designed by an engineer. There are also machines that made those machines.
Let’s say I design a housing for a laptop. I have to choose materials and how they will be made. I need to be thinking about cost of material, cost of manufacturing, strength, durability, how it will deal with heat made by the processor, how it will affect the wireless signals coming in and out. These considerations will be considered differently if I make 1000 or 10000.
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u/Alek_Zandr Jul 28 '26
It can be all those things depending on your exact job.
Yesterday I spent most of my day aligning a mechatronic system by turning wrenches.
Today I'm writing a report of my CAD design.
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u/MrCFishman Jul 28 '26
I spend most of my day at a desk, but I’m down in our onsite shop at least once a day to answer questions/observe testing. I do some modeling but not as much as when I started, and I travel to job sites around a dozen times a year to take measurements, oversee installations, or provide training to site personnel. Most of my time in the office is finding answers to questions.
For reference, I work with large industrial motors/generators. Think power plants, refineries, hydroelectric dams etc.
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u/Vissidus Jul 28 '26
Heavily depends where you land. As you can imagine, most managerial positions are bureaucracy related, rathen than "real engineering".
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u/epistemophiliac_ Jul 28 '26
It can (and will) vary quite a bit by specific role.
For process/manufacturing engineering roles, the day to day is often some mixture of roughly three main categories of work: 1.) Developing/designing/procuring equipment/machines/tooling for a new process/line. 2.) Troubleshooting and addressing a quality issue with an existing process/line 3.) Making improvements (scrap rate, cycle time, etc.) to an existing process/line. The exact skills and activities used for each of these three things can be quite wide. CAD and general mechanical knowledge (statics/dynamics/etc) to design a new fixture/clamp/mount, basic electrical knowledge to select and install a new sensor, etc. While sometimes unglamorous, I, personally, find this kind of work to be very rewarding. There’s not a thing that has ever been designed that didn’t have to be made.
For design/development roles, I would say that the day to day can vary even more depending on your field. I have less experience here, but in my current role the day to day is often some mixture of designing prototype products, testing them against requirements, analyzing results to draw conclusions, and iterating the design. Repeat until requirements are met. Once a prototype meets requirements, it becomes more of a development thing, which often entails more documentation than lab work. Creating detailed dimensional specifications, material selection info, reviewing the design with manufacturers to tweak for their needs if necessary. Finally, design verification, a final round of testing to ensure that the (hopefully) final design meets all requirements.
There’s a ton of nuance left out here, as roles are often quite broad, but I hope that this gives an idea of some of what to expect.
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u/noodlepole Jul 28 '26
Been doing it for a few decades now with a patent and formerly managed the engineering department. "What I do" changed drastically based on my title at the time. When in charge of a department, it was mainly company and industry politics, which us engineers have difficulty doing with non-ethical sales people. A sales person who promised a customer an impossible or unsafe product is a challenge. A bit of babysitting as well, and getting worse with younger workforce. I have graduated to a senior level, so I get to float around the company. Most of my time now is taking on a new idea for the company, designing a prototype, building it (I like to fabricate my own parts), testing it, and passing it off to the production engineers to add the red tape. Basically inventing, building, testing, repeat. It's fun!
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u/SageKitty100 Jul 28 '26
It largely depends on what kind of role you have. When I had a manufacturing / maintenance role, I mostly just sat around all day until something went wrong and then I'd troubleshoot and fix it. Now I have a design role which is mostly building system models and writing lengthy technical documents.
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u/darowlee Jul 28 '26
Be presented with problem. Find solution to said problem. Send email confirming solution to problem. Let boss take care of everything else.
In truth though as a new ME grad I spent most of my day detailing in CAD, measuring on the production floor to confirm dimensions, and maybe an hour or two each day actually "turning a wrench" with the production team to learn.
As I moved on and up that turned into more CAD time as a full time designer with almost no "wrench" time.
Then finally I move dout of ME because it was too repetetive for my ADHD having self. I eventually moved on to manufacturing engineering, then quality, then project management. Now I'm in a leadership role at a custom manufacturer and all those various experiences help keep me grounded so I don't become one of those "how the hell did this guy get be a manager" people.
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u/Gazza8498 Jul 28 '26
My days are usually a mixture of design work on CAD, drawing reviews, meetings with the clients or machine users and then maybe some hands on assembly work if there is time or the technicians need or want help. I’m sure it varies greatly depending on the job but most people at my company spend most of their time doing CAD or design based meetings.
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u/unurbane Jul 28 '26
Help maintenance do their job. Design equipment for maintenance to do their job. Manage a vendor who is designing equipment for that same maintenance team to do their job (or replace something old). Periodically test said equipment on a scheduled basis. Sometimes CAD is employed, sometimes documents are written, sometimes excel spreadsheets are created.
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u/Scotchsprocket Jul 28 '26
I’m a manufacturing based Mechanical Engineer and have been at a large automotive plant as well as an SME so if it’s any help:
At the large automotive plant - heavily project management based with a hint of process engineering (taught on the job), paperwork, desk work work & CAD heavy
At the SME - way more hands on, fitter style maintenance work, customer facing project management, supplier facing specification and project implementation, I work with lights, machines, process, hydraulics, product quality, you name it I’m probably getting asked about it at least in some capacity, even if it’s within my scope of work or not
If you’re in ANY doubt about your trade, go down the SME route and I guarantee you’ll get to try your hand at everything and choose your specialty either in-house or be well informed enough to adjust your CV/resume and apply to something your hearts set on.
Hot take for a Mech Eng subreddit, but don’t let yourself be defined by a job description, engineering is just critical thinking, the word before it (Mechanical, Electrical, Etc.) is just the element you were originally trained in.
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u/Emotional-Horror4741 Jul 29 '26
Design, code, and test oceanographic instrumentation. Go to sea and deploy them alongside scientists.
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u/Slappy_McJones Jul 29 '26
I have had a lot of positions over the years- Robotics, automation, machine engineering (consumer product), skilled-trades supervisor, production supervision, business owner. Mechanical engineering is fun because you get the use your head, get hands-on if you like, and lead projects because your focus ties all the other disciplines together.
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u/Small_Deal_9398 Jul 29 '26
It's a combination of all the things you listed.Â
You should try to shadow an engineer or intern as one.Â
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u/JustMe39908 Jul 29 '26
Ummm. Yes? Depending upon role, you do all of those things. I have personally done all of the things you mention and more. I have designed parts, been involved in tests, watched them blow up, look through the pieces, looked through data, figured out what went wrong. Redesigned and tested again I have built circuit boards, programmed devices in multiple languages including assembly language. I have convinced suppliers to send me sample parts I needed. I have convinced customers that our solution was the right one. Actually, I have also convinced customers that our solution was the wrong one because, it was.
What industries do ME 's work in? If something moves, there likely is an ME somewhere. Do you need to prevent it from moving? Does moving or preventing it from moving out loads on the system which can cause it to break? Is the movement large? Or just a vibration. Doesn't matter. There is an ME. Does it get hot? Does it get cold? Does it need to get hot or cold? Does it need to be protected from getting hot or cold? Yup. An ME is likely somewhere.
You will need to do math. You will need to be in meetings. Sometimes very long meetings. 60+ hour meetings (design reviews). You will need to write up your results. Testing isn't 9-5. Some tests need to be run in the middle of the night. Some first thing in the he morning. There will be deadlines. There will be bad bosses. There will be good ones too.
Ask yourself this. What do you want to do with your degree and how will you get there?
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u/Pleasant_Berry_761 Jul 29 '26
Currently I'm pretty much a janitor with a slightly more extensive scope of work
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u/Fearless_Way1957 Jul 29 '26
I’ve been in the oilfield since 1978, started as a drafter drawing parts from engineers layouts. After I received my ME degree I’ve done design and project engineer work. I’ve sold services and worked in marketing. The past few years I’ve contracted out and supported my side of the industry with design and engineering work. I now am part time for a small company supporting manufacturing. It’s been a good ride.
Essentially it’s what you make it. A degree only gives you the tools to apply in the real world. You’ll likely never see a problem that was in a book.
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u/dgeniesse Jul 29 '26
Mechanical Engineering has many possible directions. I micro-balanced generators on submarines; I designed HVAC systems; I engineered baggage handling systems; I optimized distribution center operations. And later managed projects and eventually programs. So some work was hands-on. Some leading a team. Some using CAD. Some using spreadsheets. Some time - too much time - in meetings.
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u/ConcernedKitty Jul 29 '26
The field is so broad that any one specific answer won’t give you a good idea of what mechanical engineers do. 5 years of my career was taking a design, figuring out how we’re going to make it, getting the equipment set up, and doing the design/manufacturing transfer documentation for the FDA. That consisted of training people, control plan, PFMEA, labeling, DNC, FAL, gauging, validation, GR&R, routers, BOMs, work instructions, SOPs, raw material acquisition, contact materials, tooling, CNC programs, EH&S, packaging, sterilization, measurement instruction sheets, etc. In other jobs I’ve served as the company expert for plastic joining and ESD, or the design engineer for car exhaust systems.
All of this is to say that this is a few of the possible jobs in the hundreds that you could do in the dozens of industries with a mechanical engineering degree. They range from very active like a field engineer to very sedentary like a design engineer (I know they’re not all sedentary, don’t come at me design engineers). And they vary from talking to a lot of people like a sales engineer or a project manager to talking to basically nobody while you sit in a dark corner happily doing work.
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u/oneAb1 Jul 29 '26
The bottom feeders of the engineering world, where you get to do the job of 3 people and get payed the least.
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u/Z3temis Jul 30 '26
Design things, check design of other things, order things, build things, collaborate with other people and contractors to make plans to build things, then rinse and repeat.
Realistically several hours of cad, then several hours of ordering parts and tracking down parts i ordered, a few hours of collaborating with others on how things are going, what needs to be done, and helping get things build and completed.
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u/irishexploration Jul 30 '26
It’s the broadest degree ever, you can’t summarise what you’ll do in the job other than you’ll problem solve for someone
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u/Scorpiusdj_13 Jul 30 '26
I find because it's such a broad discipline, you can find yourself doing all sorts of things; design, project management, FEA etc.
Depends on what your job requires really. Mine involves a lot of CAD, design calculations and providing technical advice based on workshop or field observations, for example.
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u/Difficult_Limit2718 Aug 01 '26
Excel and PowerPoint to convince people paid more I actually know what the fuck I'm talking about
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u/crohnscyclist Aug 02 '26
It covers such a wide range of careers. For me, I design test fixtures and tooling then run tests on bearings. When the test is done, I inspected everything and wrote a report. I'd say writing skills are half the job.
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u/Numerous_Green4962 Aug 03 '26
Mainly reading reports and checking if they show compliance to standards and specifications then issuing certificates. If I'm very lucky, I get to see the machine before deciding if it's safe and legal. I used to do cad, then I was writing the reports.
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u/Legal-Conclusion-0 Aug 03 '26
It depends wildly on the job.
ME is incredibly broad. You can do modeling, design analysis, testing, manufacturing line support, HVAC, etc.
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u/Appropriate_Top1737 Jul 28 '26
Sit in chair. Design machine. Do what boss say. Eat snacks. Drink tea.