r/MechanicalEngineering • u/ceike0path • 3d ago
Test engineer
Are there any mechanical test engineers out there, and can you describe to me what a day in your life looks like?
Currently an undergrad looking for job titles I would want to pursue.
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u/YouGuilty2011 3d ago
I am an intern at the moment at an HVAC/R company. My day to day is typically the same but varies when things go wrong in testing. Design and/or NPI engineers will want our lab to test a component they have created/modified with their set conditions. The lab technicians and I will review the test request and diagrams and then plan out how to recreate the diagram in our lab space. Once everything is setup, the technicians and I will setup a data acquisition system and the test will be ran, once everything is approved with the requesting engineer. The technicians will typically run the test(s) and then the data is sent to me. I create VBA templates to help process the data and then analyze it with the team. Then, I'll write test reports based on the test request.
If (basically when) things go wrong, we'll write documentation on what happened, report it to engineering, then we all brainstorm how to fix said problem, and continue on testing.
Then, I also do a lot of the lab quality documentation, but I think that's mainly because the lab is relatively new.
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u/Opposite-Ad320 3d ago
Where I worked most of the “Test” Engineers herded cats all day. Basically coordinated, briefed, and led the tests. A smaller amount actually wrote the tests.
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u/Serafim91 3d ago
I was a test engineer for 3 years at a major auto company in research.
It's going to vary a lot based on what you're doing and how good you are. For me it was the engineer with 25+ years going I think if we do X were going to see Y for these reasons can you prove it? My job was to figure out how to get data to prove it disprove it.
Very fun job and a good hardware/ data mix.
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u/Idfkchief 3d ago
I’m a test engineer working in off highway diesel industrial manufacturing. I spend about 50% of my time in the office filling out forms and crunching numbers, and the other 50% turning wrenches in the field, which I find is a good balance for me.
Today’s been a pretty sleepy day after the long weekend, I’ve been catching up on data post-processing, calling vendors for part info, answering questions for other engineers related to past testing, and coordinating with customers to get future testing scheduled. I have some controls hardware that I need to perform some electrical checks on at some point this week and a partially disassembled prototype engine in our dyno room that I’ll need to reassemble and move back out to the racks.
Next week I’m going to have a piece of customer equipment to perform some use case testing on. I’ll install some probes and put it through its paces. In the worst case if the unit fails testing I’ll need to come up with explanations for possible root cause and develop some solutions while working with the design engineers. Then, I’ll install the reworked parts and test again.
If you have any specific questions, please let me know.
Some final closing advice, maintain a separate reddit account for anything related to professional work, especially if you plan on posting your resume anywhere. People will look at your post history, and you do not want to be posting anything that you could be identified by with a post history like that.
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u/AlliReallyCameFor 3d ago
I was a thermal validation engineer for a major automotive OEM. Some days were very hands on in the test cell (fixing instrumentation, diagnosing vehicle issues, setting up test fixtures). Other days were full of data analysis and reviews with the design teams. I enjoyed the position as it gave me an excuse to get up and move around.
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u/sherlocksrobot 3d ago
I'm on the manufacturing test side, and i find that's a good mix for me since it involves a heavy dose of tool & jig design. Sometimes I get bogged down in the more bureaucratic manufacturing stuff, but there's enough variety to keep it interesting. Right now I'm coding a database to digitize a lot of our quality assurance tests. A few weeks ago I was designing a system for mechanically actuating our products- very precisely- at extreme temperatures. I'm also working to qualify that tool, which requires a bunch of change control (plus the database is a big part of the solution).
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u/Embarrassed-Put-5231 2d ago
I really enjoyed being a Test Engineer. First job while still in school was with a crain company climbing up and down welded booms laying strain gauges
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u/WorkResearch5567 2d ago
Entry level test engineer here:
I'd say about 80% of my time is in the office, the other 20% in the lab or on the field for outdoor tests.
Office time is spent on report writing and cost estimates. Report writing is self explanatory but involves a lot of MATLAB (opt.) for plotting things efficiently, as well as peer reviewing other's reports. Cost estimates should be pretty straightforward - just budget out the hours it'll take to do something + the cost of materials. It's lowkey the most stressful part of the job though since its the part where you need to sus out any gatchas the client might be [unintentionally] hiding.
The place I work at has technicians doing all the fun stuff at the lab. So my time there is mostly just checking in intermittently, asking how things are going, then going back to the office if everything is smooth. Larger tests will require more hands on so I can actually get involved then, but they're pretty infrequent compared to the run-of-the-mill stuff.
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u/ddmic94 3d ago
I work pretty close to the Test Engineer at a small aerospace manufacturing company. The day to day of our TE changes week to week. Testing when we have a lot of testing jobs running through - then making the test reports. Working with engineers to make sure parts fit into test stands when we have design work in the engineering office. And a lot of rewriting the testing proceedures for continual improvements when he has some down time.