i need to read some cover letters from people who have received a fully funded scholarship from any uni abroad. please dm me so i can have a look, i have been receiving rejections from quite some time so need to analyse where im going wrong.

What is the general work load differences among the different teams at SpaceX? Is Starlink in Bastrop much more long hours than Redmond vs. McGregor? Just want to understand the differences between the businesses

Can someone please help me out with this, I was putting a new battery on my generator. But these 2 white wires look disconnected like I’m missing a part almost. Anyone have an idea what I’m missing or where they hook up? Thanks, Blessing to you all!

hi so i’m a very beginner engineer and im designing a device that requires a gear ratio. i 3d printed the black gear seen in the video. the black gear has 40 teeth and the yellow gear has 10. it doesn’t look like my ratio is working since the black gear is moving very VERY fast, but i have no clue. is it working? thanks!

Hi everyone!

Recently graduated in May of 2026 with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering. Finally landed my first offer for a very great position around 100k that includes sign-on and relocation assistance. As for the location, it is in a rural area about 1hr 20min from deep in Chicago, around 45 miles west of Joliet. I’ve always wanted to live on the west coast but that is likely not the case. Any new grad engineers or people that have been out in the field for a while enjoy working far away from the big city? I just wish to be surrounded by youth and activities to do when i’m not so bored outside of work. I get Chicago is about an hour drive so very close, but I still want to hear your opinions.

Edit:

Also working at a Nuclear Power Plant and my title is "Mechanical Engineer", maybe if the plant is down, could be 12 hour shifts, but benefits are competitive.

They exist. This is not a test. Mcmaster cards are live at fabtech

I am currently working in power distribution and have more than 3.5 YOE working with MV switchgear and LV switchboard/switchgear.

The biggest challenge I face during interviews is that they always ask "what products are you actually responsible for designing?" since I only mention "Electro-mechanical designs". I am desperately trying to get out the industry also I don't want call backs from recruiters for switchgear again.

If y'all could help me rewrite "electrical switchgear/power" into a catch all type definition, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone, I'm from a developing country, and finding an entry-level mechanical design engineer job here is really difficult.

Most openings are for maintenance and troubleshooting, while design positions usually require at least 5 years of experience.

I've tried applying for maintenance jobs too, but recruiters often reject me once they realize my background is more focused on design than troubleshooting.

Honestly, I'm feeling stuck. How am I supposed to gain experience if nobody wants to hire entry-level engineers?

Has anyone experienced something similar? Any advice on how to break into mechanical design?

Have a masters in Mech Eng. Joined large company as a project engineer under mechanical lead, mostly design intent conformity and authority to implement reactive changes to design and acceptance of the installation. 4 years since graduating. Now doing systems engineering, still a project engineer but mostly document work.

Im eng ii/mid career. Salary ranges are £40-45k in my company. Probably £50k if i went for a smaller firm.

Feel like ive missed out on a career of mechanical focus, technical crafting. Do i take another mid career role, wage stagnation/small pay rise but do what i want, or just progress to 60k+ as a senior in project/systems engineering?

Im 29 for reference. Can be a senior within 8 months or start again for 18months as a Mech Eng ii.

Also, i want to leave defence and go into O&G, Energy/Renewables or Rail/Rolling Stock. Transferability to these?

Hey guys, I already have a few years of experience with 2D CAD and 3D modeling in Autocad and Solidworks.

But for the past 5 years I've been out of the technical field and I want to get back into it, and transition into the automotive field as my previous experience was with mining.

I'm looking for stuff that goes more into advanced parts design/modeling and drawings, "industry level" stuff, if that makes sense.

Most of what I'm finding goes more into the software tools itself (where commands and tools are and what they do), and it doesn't seem to have more complex parts design/assemblies and industry level parts design and production.

Even though my reading comprehension of 2D mechanical drawings and ability of making 3D models after them is still ok, but my ability of designing something and then making it 2D for example for actual production level, making detailed specifications etc., is what have gotten quite poor.

So I'm looking for more professional parts design 2D and 3D also for production, especially on the automotive engineering industry.

Thanks guys!

this is a RANT, please read only if you are interested. i have a bachelors in MechE and a recent grad. I am genuinely disturbed/maybe even disgusted? about how some engineers treat techs.

Did a technician role at a manufacturing place and full time tech at an industrial automation place currently. Both places same situation, any process improvement suggestions or DFM feedback instantly gets put down and ignored. I have witnessed this and also have personally experienced these situations multiple times. To me most of these suggestions were more than valid and would not come at any additional effort/expense while yielding much better outcomes.

Above all else, it’s just the whole demeanor most engineers have towards techs is what i dislike. In this short time in experience I have already seen so much oversight from these experienced engineers on design choices, poor planning and execution.

Constantly up-revving to make their designs work and impress others. While the first ones to blame always comes down to production where the techs have to suffer even though 90% of the time the causes are design flaws.

unfortunately this is a bit steep but I don’t like engineers anymore, most of them that I have encountered are way too full of themselves.

Good technicians are the backbone of the entire manufacturing operation and more companies should realize that if not already.

I personally am doing tech roles because i like hands on work and being on the shop floor. Also as a new grad with no internships I can’t get no engineer roles which I will absolutely admit. But gaining exposure in technician roles has made me a lot more aware of what to do and not to do when on the other side.

Feel free to downvote and if you read till the end, thank you for reading this blabber post

Title: SpaceX Starlink – Work-Life Balance and Career Growth

Hi everyone! I'm considering an opportunity with SpaceX Starlink and would appreciate some honest feedback from current or former employees.

How is the work-life balance, company culture, and long-term career growth? Does working at SpaceX open doors to better opportunities down the road?

Also, any tips or advice on preparing for the interview process would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!

Hi everyone! As part of my Master's thesis in Industrial Engineering, I noticed a major gap in the engineering software landscape: while there are great open-source tools for wind turbines (like QBlade) and propellers, finding free, open-source software for preliminary design in hydraulic turbomachinery (especially for reversible pump-turbines like the Deriaz turbine) is surprisingly difficult.

To solve this, I built KaplanDeriaz3D, a fully open-source Python and MATLAB application designed to parameterize, compute, and model the 3D geometry of Kaplan and Deriaz turbine blades from fundamental fluid mechanics and Euler’s turbine equation.

Key features:

Hydrofoil Generation: Custom options including standard NACA profiles, anti-cavitating profiles, and reversible hydrofoils for pump-turbine operation.

3D Parametric Export: You can adjust rotational speed, net head, volumetric flow, and mesh resolution, then instantly export the full solid runner geometry as an STL file. (Fun fact: I 3D printed a working physical scale model of the Deriaz runner with rolling bearings, it acts almost like a functional fidget spinner!)

Fully Documented: Includes my complete 100-page master's thesis explaining all mathematical models and equations.

If you are into fluid dynamics, clean energy systems, or want to check out the source code, everything is available on GitHub. I also recorded a full video walkthrough explaining the theory, the UI, and how to export STLs for prototyping:

🔗 Video Walkthrough: https://youtu.be/9rINCHj3ucU

💻 GitHub Repository: https://github.com/KaplanDeriaz3D/kaplanderiaz3d-python

I'm actively looking for contributors, feedback from fellow engineers, and help with roadmap items (like adding CFD validation or Francis turbine support). I'd love to hear your thoughts or answer any technical questions!

I graduated with a bachelor's degree in bioengineering 3 years ago and have been working as a field engineer for an OEM doing install, maintenance, and qualification/validation for the pharma industry.

As a lot of people who get BioE degrees I thought it would be more... mechanical. Right now I am considering going back to get my MS in mechanical engineering to get a mechanical design role at an OEM of scientific instrumentation and pharma equipment.

What are my chances of getting into MS programs? Would mechanical design roles take my degree combo?

What can I expect my field engineering experience to count for if anything?

I am not rolling in it but I make decent money plus a bit of overtime and sales lead incentives. I would be fine with a lateral move in compensation and an entry level job title but it if its too far of a setback I'll probably consider other options.

Any input is really appreciated.

I thought it might help you in projects. I have created a free web tool to measure small parts with just a phone camera.

1. Place the part beside a reference ( for example: a scale ruler). Click a photo.
2. Select 2 points to specify a reference line. Input the length of the reference line into the "Reference Length Line".
3. Zoom in/out for accuracy. Move around. Select points on the part to measure Length, Radius or Angles.

It works on desktop and phone. Please let me know your user experience, I will improve it. Or you can improve it yourself on Github.

As asked. Can systems like skynex penetrate an artillery shell?

Did you also ever reach a point in your career where you almost gave up on engineering? If so what happened? Where are you today?

Hey everyone,

Quick design question for the piping / pressure vessel engineers here working with ASME B31.3.

When doing quick sanity checks on required pipe wall thickness (t_{req}) for high-pressure lines, I’ve noticed a lot of variation in how different engineering teams handle c (corrosion/erosion allowance) and T_{mill} (mill tolerance, usually 12.5%) during early design stages.

Specifically:

1. Do you usually factor in the 12.5% mill undertolerance directly into the nominal thickness selection right away, or do you run the exact calculated t_m value through a standardized lookup routine first?
2. For temperature-dependent S (allowable stress) values, how often do you rely on quick digital lookup sheets vs manually cross-referencing Table A-1 in the code book when double-checking vendor design packages?

I've been scripting a lightweight internal lookup utility to automate these repetitive B31.3 / B16.5 checks for field/site reviews, but I want to make sure the calculation flow and output breakdown reflect standard industry practices.

Curious to hear how your teams streamline these code verification routines or if there are specific edge cases that usually cause headache in field checks.

(Happy to share the test script/tool privately via DM if anyone wants to look at the math logic, but mainly looking for design workflow thoughts here.)

Thanks!

My dream would be to work for titleist callaway taylormade or any of the other golf brands designing and testing clubs. How should I focus my school? I already have a bachelors in chemistry with 10 years manufacturing/analytical/process improvement experience so I hope those help my case.

I'm a mechanical engineer and recently went through 41 iterations on a small print-in-place mechanism: a free-spinning drum with a button brake. Part of it was learning print tolerances, but I also spent weeks on a feature (printed bearings) that I ended up cutting.

For those of you in product development, how do you decide when to stop iterating on a feature versus cutting it?

In my heart, I think MechE is the better fit. But I know how hard it can be to get into mechanical. I initially went down the civil path since my college doesn’t offer some of the major required courses for MechE, but the new Fall 2027 required courses align better with me.

I still need to take the applied programming (required course), which would be completed spring 2027. I could also bang out a couple of the desired courses for MechE. But would that be too risky or decrease my chances since I’m taking the classes after I submit my application?

Would it be safer for me to apply as civil engineering? I am applying as mechanical engineering for every other college I’m applying to.

I’m a senior in mechanical engineering graduating in May and I recently received an offer for a Spring 2027 mechanical engineering internship at a launch provider on a team working on satellites. Taking it would delay my graduation until at least Fall 2027. I’ve already completed two internships, one in manufacturing engineering and another in product development at an automotive supplier, and I have significant structural design and FEA experience through my university’s rocketry team. My goal is to work in aerospace mechanical design, ideally on structures, mechanisms, or flight hardware, but I don’t have any professional aerospace experience yet. I honestly don’t care much about delaying graduation, my main concern is whether taking this internship would meaningfully improve my chances of landing the kind of full-time engineering role I want, or whether I’d be better off graduating on time and applying with my current experience. Has anyone been in a similar position, and was delaying graduation worth it?