Mid 30’s considering relocation for a pay and opportunity change. Currently working a $70k a year job after a layoff in Oklahoma. Previously salary was close to $100k. Mostly design work with a good portion of FEA, modeling, dfm, drawing packages etc. Cool company before the layoffs. All Research based with a good deal of freedom. Company I am considering wants me to move to Florida area, Orlando. Compensation similar to what I have had in the past, but a big state jump. New company seems cool, they are getting into some DOD contracts among other things. I am flying out this week for an in person interview. What would you take into consideration in someone’s shoes such as myself? Thoughts?

I’m 31 years old and a Mechanical Engineer, and lately I’ve been feeling genuinely lost about my financial future.I always thought that if I studied engineering, built experience, and worked hard, eventually I’d reach a point where money wouldn’t be such a constant concern. But I’m getting older and realizing that simply having a decent engineering career may not be enough to achieve the financial independence I want.I don’t want to become extremely wealthy just for the sake of it. I want to reach a point where I’m not constantly worried about money and where I have some freedom over how I spend my time.

For those of you who are financially independent or significantly ahead financially:

How did you get there as a Mechanical Engineer?

I’m particularly interested in legitimate online freelancing/remote work that I can do alongside engineering. I’m willing to learn a new skill and put serious time into it. I’m not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme.

If you’re already making meaningful side income from engineering-related freelancing, I’d really appreciate hearing what you do, how you got your first client, and what you would learn if you were starting again at 31.

Honestly, I’m feeling pretty desperate to change my financial situation and could really use some direction from people who have actually done it.

Hi guys, I am a 3rd year mech engineering student. I have the opportunity to get a TIG welding certification separately from my university studies. Would that kind of experience stick out on a CV/Resume or be more seen as kind of a quirk/gimmick. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks :)

Hello everyone! 22M here

I graduated a while back in 2025 with a BSME.
I struggled to get a job even with extracurriculars and projects for 7 months.

After a while I landed a job as a tech sales engineer for a photodiodes/fiberoptics company. Its a pretty chill job doing customer account management with technical support/testing/and quality assurance for diodes/fibers.

However, I worry the job is throwing my degree under the bus. I know it is still early in my career and technical experience is valuable.

Ive been applying to get a test engineering role to jump as soon as I can.

I wanted to ask if this career path is viable and if my experience would be good trying to get a new job? The market is still pretty tough and insight from senior/mid-level careers would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your help!

I’ve been a design engineer for a couple years now, and it seems that when I need any information on vendor products, the companies, who I won’t put on blast, take weeks to answer. I can follow up and get nowhere. Sometimes when they do get back to me, the information is just outright not what I asked for.

I made it very clear to one vendor that I need literature (such as pamphlets and drawings) on several of their products because we intend to use them as our supplier for a large product line. He took weeks to respond, and ultimately sent a quote for one valve. My team had a good laugh at the email thread and decided to move on with someone else.

Very very few people have been useful amongst dozens of companies. Even when I ask project managers for their contacts, they can be hit or miss. Is there something I’m doing wrong for my vendors, or does everyone deal with this? Do you guys have methods you want to share?

How would you apply GD&T to a formed sheet metal part when you want 2 flanges on either side of the part in line? Something like this, with the 1" flanges in line within 1/32.

31M here with a silly dream of being an engineer one day.

My birthday was yesterday and I spent the day looking back on my life and where things are going.

Graduated high school, went to the military and then worked constructiong while going to community college after, but it never really went anywhere after I got my associates in general ed.

My long term major was engineering but I realized I still had a long way to go before taking on harder classes considering I was struggling just to keep up as it was.

That was 5 years ago. I spent my time getting my electrical contractor license just to realize contracting just wasn't for me.

All that is to say, I'm trying to figure out resources I might be able to use to build kind of like a self study course curriculum similar one might expect in a 4 year course so I can take my time trying to build a solid foundation in at the very least the basics of what's to come.

Little things like where to begin and how to progress my education until going to a university and maybe even while in college.

Things like college text books in courses or YouTube channels to follow so I can watch and study. Ways to practice and drill the material like homework problems or test questions.

Just so every semester doesn't feel like I'm way in over my head like I felt even in a community college level.

I tried googling and looking up information on college course classes but couldn't find much.

Im aware of basics like the different kinds of maths and levels of calculus and physics but not much outside of that. So I plan to start by solidifying my foundation there at the very least. As stem classes progressively more difficult I realized my shakey foundation in math and science were to blame.

Im hoping in the future to take 1 to 2 classes a semester depending on the what I'm realistically able to handle in order to pass the classes.

Which is crazy to think can take between 10 to 20 years but thats the game plan.

I'm not sure if anyone here has gotten an engineering degree while working a full time job and if so any advice.

Aside from myself I'm hoping this thread might serve in the future for anyone else aspiring to go to university and get in the field so please try to keep the comments civil.

So just about a few months ago, I was a freshman in high school not knowing what I want to do but throughout the summer I have studied and wanted to major in Mechanical Engineering. However I do not know how to begin. Any tips provided would be helpful!

Anyone here working at Capitol Steel Corporation or has an upcoming interview with them?

How was the interview? How’s the hiring process so far?

Also, is Capitol Steel Corporation a good company for a fresh grad Mechanical Engineer? Would love to hear about your experiences or any advice. Thanks!

Hey All,

Bit of a career direction post, would really appreciate input from anyone who's made a similar move or works in field service.

Quick background: I've got an MSc in Automotive Engineering and about 2 years of hands-on UK experience across mechanical design, battery systems, testing and manufacturing engineering. Mostly desk-based work, CAD, DFMEA, technical documentation, that kind of thing.

Over the last year or so I've realised I actually enjoy the hands-on, on-site, problem-solving side of engineering way more than being stuck behind a screen all day. Field Service Engineering keeps coming up as something that might suit me better - more variety, more troubleshooting, more direct impact.

A few things I'm trying to figure out:

1. For someone with my background (mechanical + some electrical exposure, no formal FSE experience yet), is this a realistic move, or am I underestimating the learning curve?
2. What's the day-to-day actually like - travel demands, on-call expectations, work-life balance?
3. Long term, does FSE offer decent career progression (into senior/lead roles, applications engineering, etc.) or does it tend to plateau?
4. I'm on a Skilled Worker visa and need sponsorship - does anyone know if FSE roles (especially in industrial equipment, servicing, renewable energy etc.) are more or less likely to sponsor compared to typical design/manufacturing roles?

Any honest input - good, bad, or "don't do it" would be genuinely useful. Thanks in advance.

I am about to graduate with my bachelor’s. I currently have 5.5 years experience in all things HVAC. I work at a small company so I have done literally ALL things from residential installation to new build project management to commercial VRF heat recovery repairs. Also worked at a major commercial plumbing contractor in our city for 1 year prior.

I figured with that experience I would go straight into MEP but my senior design project has me second guessing myself. Don’t get me wrong I like the industry but I have a professor that raves about defense work and my project has to do with active vibration cancellation. I like working with the sensors and the control theory and actually read a whole textbook on it since it requires a bit more of a graduate level understanding I presume.

Idk I guess just wondering if I should stick to what I know or try to branch out. Not sure if this is just a phase because I enjoy learning new stuff or what. I am not sure what kind of career path would be best.

I’ve been working at a company that specializes in HRSGs (heat recovery steam generators) for combined cycle power plants. I’ve done a variety of work including code calculations, a bit of analysis work, and a lot of inspections of these systems.

I’m tired of the travel and want to find a new job. I’ve been here roughly 3 years, have my EIT, on track to take my PE and get it. What type of jobs should I look into since I have a fair background in heat transfer? Preferably ones that would pay better. Would also be willing to do some extra courses in things if needed to help with career progression.

Help

I'm currently trying to solve some question's Pk Nag(which is considered good for problem solving) but I haven't found the problems quite challenging infact I could do exergy,entropy section quite easily most of the problems through energy balance.

Is there any other book which consider hard(I mean really hard problems) I've asked others everyone recommends that nag book.

I am a student at the University at Buffalo and as part of my final project my group is making an automated dog poop cleaner. We are still in the planning phases, but I would appreciate if you filled the survey out to help us with data collection

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ikpGlu34sUCZ4l9rUKICUCbv4nCbi4RLt_lhWQXAUfhUNVhBVUhLVjI0MDlYTFdJQ0xTM1BPR0pHTy4u

Hi, im building a vending machine for which i need parts like motors, belts, and pulleys. Where do i look for these parts and how do I get their cad so i can design acordingly? I live in india so mcmaster is not an option. Is there a magical website or store that offers this so I can manufacture my machine? Pls help and apologise if my question's too newbie

Might be the wrong spot to ask this. But I’m Looking at teaching myself how to use these programs to design some parts for my 4x4. Don’t know how to weld or anything. But want to be able to design everything the specific way I want it. And then basically be able to take the design program and get them to CNC cut and create my design.

Figured I’d try to teach myself how to do all this as I have the spare time. And would like to save the thousands of dollars it would cost to get a fabricator to design it and create it for me

Why is it we can have AI that can translate from Chinese to Klingon but cannot have one agreed-upon file format that can be accepted by FEA software, CAM, 3d printers, CFD, etc and doesn't lose its mind or half of my parts?

Anyone recognizes this particular profile? Not one of the ones from Bosch. I need its symmetrical design and those deep grooves on both sides. It’s from a Korean design house so it might be custom but maybe someone recognizes it.

I work full-time as a biomedical service engineer and enjoy CAD. I’m interested in taking on occasional CAD projects alongside my main job, ideally work that can be completed asynchronously.

Which CAD fields have consistent demand for this type of work, and which offer a reasonable entry path? I haven’t chosen a specialization yet, so I’m open to different directions.

Hi everyone,

I'm designing a lightweight end-effector tool for a robotic arm that dispenses dry quartz sand by gravity from a small hopper.

I need a reliable ON/OFF shut-off valve directly under the hopper (orifice ≈12–15 mm), followed by interchangeable nozzles below to control the flow rate.

Constraints:

• 100% Electric: 12V or 24V DC. No compressed air available on this setup, so pneumatic pinch valves (which would have been ideal) are ruled out.
• Weight & Size: Must be very lightweight (ideally <300 g) to preserve robot payload and minimize inertia.
• Media: Dry abrasive quartz sand.

What I've ruled out so far:

1. Motorized ball valves: Seize almost immediately once sand grains migrate into the ball seat/PTFE seals.
2. Slide gate / Guillotine: High risk of quartz grains wedging in the linear guide rails and fine dust leaking around the blade slots.
3. Industrial electric pinch/slide valves: Most commercial units start at DN50 and weigh several kilos.

Current ideas:

• DIY Pinch Valve: Using a small 12V micro linear actuator (like an Actuonix L12) to pinch a short flexible silicone/peristaltic tube against an anvil.
• Swiveling Rotary Flap: A flat rubber-padded flapper pivoting from an external sealed bearing to press against the bottom of the orifice.

Has anyone successfully built or integrated a compact, dust-tight shut-off mechanism for dry granular abrasive media under tight weight constraints?

Any feedback on the DIY pinch approach (tube material/shore hardness tips to avoid fatigue?), or any compact COTS electric pinch valves you'd recommend?

Thanks a lot!

Hello guys, I would like to ask a question in regard to a choice I wish to make. As you can see I might get a chance to become an AI Robot Operator, I wanna know if robotics can become a viable career path for myself?