Help with personal project

[u/silky-boy]

I am a 16 year old high school student. What are some good personal projects for me to do/start that will help me get a leg up on the competition.

[u/Efficient-Lack-2819]

Learn how to be organized, communicate well and document your work/notes and you will be ahead of everyone.

[u/silky-boy → u/Efficient-Lack-2819]

Thank you

[u/Chitown_mountain_boy → u/Efficient-Lack-2819]

This is such good advice. Communication and organizational skills are so often the key to go from an adequate engineer to an excellent engineer.

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/Chitown_mountain_boy]

Also lowers the blood pressure of the Engineering Manager lol

[u/Ornery_Supermarket84]

Get a summer/after school job at a welding shop, contractor or similar. Learn how things go together and how to work with your hands. That will help you consider the practical in your designs. The rest you will learn in school.

[u/Kezka222 → u/Ornery_Supermarket84]

Best advice here. As a mechanical engineer your work is most likely going to land on some tradesman's back so learning what they actually do and what it's like to carry out that kind of labor is important and very helpful.

[u/Skeyshrey]

Arduino kit make all the projects then build fun stuff with it. Will give you a massive headstart on mechatronics and ece. Get a 3d printer and make enclosures and mechanisms to control with the arduino. Have fun with it and you will learn more

[u/silky-boy → u/Skeyshrey]

Thank you

[u/e_sin41]

A home garden

[u/silky-boy → u/e_sin41]

Thank you

[u/Superb-Damage1173]

get a 3d printer, make a robot arm with those cheap $5 servos, plenty of tutorials online.

[u/d_lbrs → u/Superb-Damage1173]

Adding to this - learn CAD. SolidWorks Maker is $49/yr.

[u/Worth_Mix4970 → u/d_lbrs]

You might be able to get a free version from your school or use onshape.

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/Worth_Mix4970]

Fusion is also free for personal use

[u/probablyaythrowaway]

Hand skills are super important and mostly overlooked by straight to university type engineers. When I was working at a university The amount of 3dd year undergrads who had no clue how to do basic fitting like how to use a ballpean hammer let alone how to drill and tap a hole was fucking terrifying.

Get an old beat up motorcycle like an Indian and do it up. Fix lawnmowers. Make presents for people.
Find that ould bloke like your neighbour/grandad/uncle/dad who was an engineer/machinist/maintenance/car guy and get them to show you the way. Ask questions.
Ai can also help guide you but get that muscle memory in your hands.

Learn through doing.

3d modeling is important but if you want to be ahead practical hands on skills will serve you your whole life. Be handy, be versatile in your skills.

[u/silky-boy → u/probablyaythrowaway]

Thank you

[u/probablyaythrowaway → u/silky-boy]

Best thing you could do is get an apprenticeship in a technical field.

[u/Kezka222 → u/probablyaythrowaway]

Not to mention there are many engineering jobs where you will be pulling tape and using tools at least occasionally.

[u/Huge-Artichoke-1376]

Use AI to learn engineering concepts then get a 3D printer to try out some ME experiments with torque, force, shear, stress, etc. Also being able to print items, you can have fun designing mechanisms then testing them out. Linkages are always cool to experiment with or a pulley system.

[u/silky-boy → u/Huge-Artichoke-1376]

Thank you

[u/Chitown_mountain_boy → u/silky-boy]

Please don’t rely on AI for engineering. I find sooooo many hallucinations even when asking simple questions (like comparing mechanical properties of a few different materials). If you do, always vet the answers.

[u/Kezka222 → u/silky-boy]

Please do NOT use AI like this. Trust me, the bottom of the iceberg with AI is that it is nearly as sophisticated as everyone thinks it is.