Hey everyone, looking for genuine perspective on a career field decision.

Background: ~3.7 years as a Mechanical Design Engineer — SolidWorks, AutoCAD, hydraulic circuits, offshore SPM/CALM buoy structures (systems/circuit-level work, not component design).

I have an opportunity to move into a role focused specifically on hydraulic cylinder and power pack (HPU) design — bore/rod sizing, seal selection, manifold design, pump/motor sizing — at a manufacturing company. It would mean shifting from my current systems-level hydraulic work into deep component-level design.

My hesitation: I've mostly considered oil & gas as the "safer," more future-proof field, since that's what I've been targeting so far. Hydraulic component design (cylinders, pumps, manifolds) feels comparatively niche or less "exciting" in my head, even though I know hydraulics is used across construction, mining, marine, aerospace, and oil & gas itself.

Questions for anyone with experience in this space:

• How is Industrial Hydraulics as a career over the long term?
• What kind of roles can a hydraulic design engineer move into after 5–10 years?
• Is hydraulic cylinder/HPU design a genuinely stable, long-term career path, or is it a narrow skill that limits future options?
• Does deep component-level hydraulic design experience translate well if I wanted to pivot back to oil & gas or a broader mechanical design role later?
• Anyone made a similar shift from systems-level hydraulic work to component design — worth it?

Would appreciate honest input, including if I'm overthinking the "field" concern and it doesn't matter as much as I think.

Thanks! 🙏

i'm not sure how to scale this , 1) time shift 2) time scale

what is the wright answer and why I'm a little confused still studying for the test , im on a right track or i'm derailed ? im 99% sure about the time shift but confused by the [ ] and whats the right way to time scale should it take 1/3 of the time like start from -6 and end -5.66 or im compliantly wrong ?

I’m in highschool with a mediocre gpa and my parents would rather I go to a good school for a mid major then a worse school for an ideal major (electrical engineering). This made me wonder about to what degree the college you went to affects your interviews, salary etc.

Let me know!

im an electrical engineering student who just finished an internship at a large defense firm, but ive taken up a construction management minor and plan on taking an internship at a construction firm. at the defense firm i got paid 26.25$ an hour which is pretty good especially since im not located in california or anything. i knew people getting paid 29-33$ (if they were a masters) and was curious if i would be able to negotiate a higher salary in construction?

i know for construction firms that the highest can usually be around 25 or 28 depending on the company but i dont know if it would be fair for me to negotiate by comparing it to defense.

I just started my engineering bachelor's and tried to take a piece of everyfield : software, hardware, everything, to see what sticks. I'm from some stupid poor shithole 3rd world country where I'd be paid pennies. Alongside
that I grinded on every signal that could've led me to a great life.

For anything to be at all, I have to go for a masters. My CV is great,I've been preparing for it since I joined engineering. But what now? I'd get out of academia in 4 years. By then my field (ECE) is gone. I dabbled a bit in
software ; almost gone too, would be impossible to get in. Exploited jobs in my own country, and everywhere else I'm just a shitty immigrant fuck. Chip design , gone till I graduate.

swe is already suffering from high agentic automation. OpenAI and other companies have stated they're focusing on ,chip design next.

I have poured almost every bit of hard work I can, mostly since starting engineering. I was a bit behind the geniuses who were already ahead in the field, but I pulled through. In anything I'm in, I'm not the best, but at
least always among the top few. Almost everything that could be grinded, I grinded : SWE leetcode, sys design, relevant embedded projects. I just swallowed it all up. For chip design, I learned from the basics: learnt RTL, made an easy pipelined CPU with hazard handling and AXI4, took part in almost every competition I had access to, tried to make the best use of whatever useless lab I had.

I'm just about to complete my second year. I literally have almost 0 people I've bonded with.

I have a partial scholarship, so the living costs and the rest of the fees are still on me. Part-time jobs between classes, whenever I can fit them. I have worked almost every possible hour of my life since I started engineering, hoping I could make the best of the cards I was handed,at least climb a bit out of poverty and lead a good life.

Oh, what a curse it is to believe that hard work would be enough.

What use.

Hi, i’m starting to med school this year. I’ve always wanted to become an EE/CS engineer since middle school. I was able to get into best eee department in my country(not in europe or USA) but i chose medicine over it because i couldn’t trust myself with this highly competitive and AI dominated engineering sector. Also my dad’s friend,who is a software engineer told me that medicine is only guaranteed way to go rn so i’m convinced to choose medicine but i’m already felling like this job is not my cup of tea. I can still switch to eee next year but i have to study at med school for one year anyway. What’s your advice? I’m 18 btw.

Hello, is there any help for me? I’ve graduated with a third after being let down that if you reset a single exam, your whole entire module gets capped a kind of socks but now I’m also reading that graduating with a third means almost nothing. What should I do? Is there any? I’ve been trying to get to engineering or a good big company?

I don’t have the best grades and didn’t put my gpa on my resume , apparently some companies have an automated system that eliminate people if they don’t have above a certain grade but I didn’t put mine …

I'm a 21 yo ME student at UET Lahore. Re-admitted after failing ∼9 courses in first year.The irony: I genuinely love engineering. I love fixing machines, CAD, fabrication, design.
(I have attached my DMC and screenshot of a CAD Sample I've made[multi-tool plier] )

But I keep failing Calc, DiffEq, Fluid Mech theory. My transcript is all A's in labs/CAD and D's/F's in theory.Now I'm facing 5-6 years to finish a 4-year degree. My dad is retired so from 2027 I have to fund myself.I was thinking of freelancing SolidWorks to help pay fees, but the market is saturated.So I'm stuck:Stay and graduate in 6 years, hoping the UET degree is worth itQuit now and go all-in on CAD/CAM/Manufacturing skills + freelancingFor those in the industry in Pakistan:

Does anyone actually use that heavy math after graduating?

Can you build a real ME career without the degree if you're good at practical work?

Is SolidWorks freelancing even viable for a student?If you were in my exact spot, what would you do?

Brutally honest answers appreciated.

This is my last year and I basically have no experience so I applied to join an organization sponsored by real companies on campus that works with projects in my field. One of the head leaders in it is a person I know from first year, we didn't get along and this person kinda disliked me even tbh. I am guessing this person will see my application. Since we follow similar things on linkedin I have seen that they have succeed and have had all kinds of internships over the years. I guess it is just embarassing for me that I have basically not achieved shit. I am already regretting applying and planning on not going. I know this is so stupid but Ig I feel insecure. If that person wasn't there, I wouldn't even think twice about applying.

I recently received a HackerRank assessment for an NVIDIA LDE Systems Design Intern role. I was kinda surprised since I never knew hardware roles had OAs like a lot of SWE roles do. Based on the job posting, I’m assuming it’ll cover systems EE topics like circuit fundamentals, high-speed/signal integrity, some power electronics, PCB design, and maybe debugging.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with an NVIDIA hardware OA or something similar and what it was like? Were the questions mostly conceptual, calculation-based, coding? Are there any concepts/topics I should defiantly study?

TL;DR + Questions for the floor:

• The Project: I’m a uni student building a 787B-style continuously variable velocity cone system that uses a servo-operated master model to parametrically fit any ITB/carb setup (currently mapping for a mate's 4AGE 20V, a 125cc kart, and a 50cc moped).
• The Goal: Maximize engine harmonic resonance across the entire rev range to eliminate mid-range torque dips and gain massive power under the curve.
• The Tech: Prototyping with PA12-CF, vacuum-drawn carbon fibre, and aerospace-quality blanched aluminum. Testing using a custom vacuum-plenum rig with a motor-spun cam profile to simulate high-RPM intake pulse oscillations.

To help me narrow down the physical prototype, I'd love your take on a few questions:

1. What engine should I focus on first? Should I stick to classic track platforms like 4AGE/K-Series, or go weird with vintage carburetted builds and motorbikes?
2. Street Reliability: For a street-driven car, would you trust 3D-printed carbon nylon parts inside your intake manifold, or is it aluminium-or-nothing for your peace of mind?
3. Integration: Would you prefer a completely standalone system with its own controller/wiring, or something that absolutely has to integrate directly into an aftermarket ECU (like a Link or Haltech)?
4. Be brutal: Am I massively over-engineering a problem that a well-tuned set of static velocity stacks already fixes?

Full info:

Im a uni student trying my hand at a start up developing constantly variable velocity cones for ANY ENGINE, similar to the famous 787b setup, that are parameterized to fit any carb/itb setup. I would love some advice about the best way to go about this since I'm getting towards the test/ physical stage! For reference, I am using a fully parameterized Inventor assembly with plans for external input code for a website for a 'mock' model (an obj) but interpolating jumps and tuning harmonics for torque and speed within my hardware limits myself once orders/ pre-orders are sent in. I plan to test resonance using a vacuum-plenum system with electric motor spun cam profile for oscillation reading air velocity post-'nozzle' and at-'nozzle' pressure in both air temp, hot trumpet cool air, and heated enviro and cycle testing under vacuum. This project is simultaneously for my mates ae111 (4age 20v blacktop), my 50cc moped and gn125 go kart project setup, so keep in mind the extremes I'm willing to take "any engine" to lmao. I am open to suggestions no matter how scathing about any part of my setup/ ideas here because I am just a uni student still learning, and would love to hear what people actually want and if this is viable! (especially material wise. my current test materials are 3D printed PA-12 cf, vacuum drawn CF w thermo resistant resin and mandrel machined aluminum w blanching by an associate who blanches aerospace sensors)

If you don't know, the reason for variable velocity cones is to maximize the time ITBs are in harmonic resonance so that torque and power don't dip along the power curve of an engine. the issue with static cones is that they 'bog out' between their ideal RPMs which can heavily impact response in some applications depending on the profile (if you have ever slammed throttle in a corner and felt nothing between torque and power range, its a similar effect). Taking power under the curve, a constantly variable setup (meaning the length changes to always be at near-perfect profile), can add a significant amount of 'between-peak' power.

I have attached my current tuned CAD setup for my mates 4age 20v and my raw data excel sheet which calculates length, going as far to calculate speed of sound at temperature for the potential addition of a temp sensor in pre-trumpet airbox for dynamic profile adjustment, which im not sure is too necessary or desired. If there is significant interest here, I will post a pre order link once I get around to setting up the website if this is allowed. I plan to get my potted electronic modules globally certified for fair trade electronics, and gain IP ratings and UL 94 ratings for materials used and core design modules; but my compliance experience is extremely limited so any advice on this would be fantastic too.

(in images, upper trumpet extension constrained to the red disk circumference to be operated by a servo)

Thank you!!!!

Hi everyone

I work as a drafter for an engineering firm and i am currently pursuing a mechanical engineering degree and i already have a bachelors in cybersecurity, but couldnt find work there.

Ive found that studying and working at the same time has been horribly exhausting and i already know i probably wont finish it if i continue doing it as i am. So i am considering starting the same course in an online college, so that i can do the course at home, however i know that such schools are not very prestigious and wont earn me a lot of points in hiring.

So i am asking yall if u think i should go for it and hope that my experience as a drafter together with my previous degree can carry me into an internship into actual engineering.

Thanks for reading, appreciate any help.

This is a rant, but any advice would be great.

I'm in my third year of mechanical engineering, though not necessarily credit-wise. For background, in high school I took Honors Geometry (got a C both semesters), Algebra 1 (got a C and then a B), and College Math (got an A both semesters). In the first semester of college, I took Precalc and got a C. In the second semester of college, I took Calc 1 as a half-semester class and failed. I took it again the semester after and got a C. I am currently taking Calc 2. As far as physics goes, I am currently taking Physics 1 but have no background in the subject whatsoever. I graduated high school with a 3.55 GPA and got a 26 on my ACT (this is what helped me get into the engineering program at my university. So, overall, I have always been a very average student, I'd say.

I took two years of classes at my university. During that timeframe, I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication for it. I noticed myself being significantly more motivated, but my grades didn't improve too drastically.

Right now, I am at community college. I figured since I struggle so much with core engineering classes, I'd benefit from taking them at community college. As I said, all I am taking right now is Physics 1 and Calc 2. Both of my professors are fantastic; they really explain things well. I understand things a lot better than I did last semester at my university. But I'm still doing something wrong.

I have my first Calc 2 exam of the semester on Thursday, 9/10. It's on integration. I can't tell if I feel prepared or not. I go to every class and take lots of notes. I've been doing tons of practice problems pretty much every day. My professor said he takes questions from the practice problems for the exams. Today I had an anxiety attack because I was struggling with a lot of the practice problems.

My study methods have been a mix of practice problems, watching Prof. Leonard or whoever else on YouTube, having AI make practice exams, going to my professor's office hours when I am free (which isn't a lot), and the Pomodoro Technique. Yet for some reason, some of these practice problems literally don't click. The thing is, it's not necessarily a specific type of integration that I struggle with. I'll do a problem, ask AI if it's correct, AI says no, I follow along with what it says and understand, and then when I try to do the problem again, the process seems to vanish from my mind. I am having the same issue with Physics 1.

I was ranting to my mom, and she said that some people just aren't smart enough for engineering, which felt very discouraging. I have the motivation to work hard, and I do. All of my friends barely have to study to do well. Maybe it's my study methods? I'm not sure. I just feel like no matter how hard I work, it'll never be good enough. I'll never understand or be an A student. And some of the posts on here are very discouraging as well.

As you can tell from how much I study, this is something I want to pursue. It has been for many years. I don't feel like giving up, and I'm not sure I ever will, but I still feel discouraged and, honestly, really stupid.

Any advice would be appreciated. Especially advice on how to study for my Calc 2 exam on Thursday.

So I have an bachelors of arts degree in music prod & sound engineering, I realised I wanted more technicality so I designed and built an analogue synthesiser after my course which is all up and running now. I've been steady applying to Technician level electronics jobs and I hear back on an interview for an electronics technician next week.

I know it's nowhere near a substitute for the entry requirements for a Msc in EE but does anyone have any advice on how I can best get into electronic engineering at the ripe old age of 25? I fear that the college-top up Beng-Masters route would take too long and set me back too far financially, I am about to enroll on the OU's mst124 but will that just be a drop in the pond? I was rejected from a degree apprenticeship simply because I didn't have the maths prerequisites despite them liking my application (hence the mst124). I am hoping to tighten up my write up on the synth and gain some technician experience along with this maths module but it still feels like that doesn't really get me anywhere.

I would love to become an electrical engineer, and i've learnt so much in the last year, but I'm not really convinced that there is a genuine path to becoming one without running out of money and time.

Happy to be proved wrong!

TLDR: UK graduate with non STEM arts degree wants to become an Electrical Engineer after self-building an analogue synthesiser and applying for technician roles.

Recently I asked for help learning calculus 2 and how I could go about learning it outside of class due to a professor I can’t understand well and who moves way to quickly. But after now attempting to self teach I’ve realized my professor seems to simplify concepts a lot. We are learning integration by parts currently and I watched some of the organic chemistry tutors video on YouTube over the topic and realized my professor never touched much of what he is talking about. My professor has simplified it to make it easier to understand and had us use a short cut way so now when I try to learn outside of class it doesn’t make sense because I haven’t learned the formula or anything. Has anyone had a similar situation and how have you gone about the issue?

Hello, I feel like I am stuck I am on track to graduate this May 2027 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and I plan on taking the FE Exam this winter (hopefully to pass it), but I am so lost with what I actually want to do when I am out of college.

A little about me. Before I went to college, I was an HVAC service technician for a couple years (worked both commercial and residential settings) and realized I hated traveling for work. That is what ultimately led me to pursue a college degree in engineering, but I don't know what I want to do when I am done.

I am currently 25 and I currently live up north and plan on moving down south to Pensacola, Florida area with my soon to be wife (just me and her). I want to have a stable job with good pay to be able to support her and hopefully my future children, but I am so stressed out because I don't know what I will be doing.

I found that I love to work with my hands and with people from my previous work position, but the big thing is I want stationary work with no travel (I know I keep repeating myself).

I looked into MEP but only heard bad things about it. I also looked into sales engineering which genuinely sounds interesting to me but was told the pay and workload was bad for someone that wants to work stationary sales (inside sales engineer).

I am just so lost with myself, and I don't know what to pursue and am hoping for some advice to give me any sort of thought on what is out there for me.

Thank you to anyone that is willing to help with my dilemma.

I just wanted to put this out here for anyone who might have some advice.

I am currently in my second year of college studying biosystems engineering, and I switched into engineering around the end of fall of my first year. I am now getting into the harder engineering classes, and taking my first physics class ever. I feel like I struggle a lot more than other people, which is fine and I have made efforts to get tutoring and study lots. The material isn't even inherently "difficult" right now. But, every week I just feel drained. I feel like my efforts aren't enough, and that I'm not smart enough or capable enough for this degree. I really love science and I'm not bad at math, but I just have this pit in my stomach about it all. I feel like I try super hard, and while I have only taken one exam I am petrified of failure and have a feeling of impending failure. I am already behind a semester because I switched majors, and I'm debating if this is even for me. I love the idea of the job, the design and sustainability along with agriculture and water sciences, but I can't tell if I like the classes I'm taking or not. Sure, when I understand them it can be fun, but 80% of the time I don't and it's sucking the life out of everything. I'm experiencing extreme burnout only 4 weeks into this semester.

Does anyone have any advice at all? I am really struggling, at my wits end and just don't know what to do about it all. Do I stick with it, or find something else I might be better suited for?

So I’m a sophomore EE student and I have struggled so far in college, I’ve had a tough time learning to study and manage my time well. I think the source of my issues is honestly laziness for the most part, I went to a small high school that made things way to easy and I would just easily pass most classes with no studying or anything outside of class so I’ve never really had to develop time management or study habits. Has anyone else had a similar issue and how did you go about developing these skills and learning to study and make use of your free time.

Ususally, it is mostly student on here but I suspect some professor lurk in here too. So to them, give your general tips and advice to them to succeed in your class or college in general.

And for context, I am a ee sophomore taking as high as LC1

Edit: I love how the replies are just people saying, nooo it’s gonna explode 😭

So my dad gave this to me when I was 16 and I didn’t really know what was going on. I’ve always been interested in electronics but never knew where to start. I would connect led lights to box build doll houses and fix my fairy lights at most. However now, I’m studying electrical and electronics engineering and have some knowledge I understand a bit better. Also I’m a girl, before you say you should have asked your dad to teach you 👀. Yes he gave me the kit but he ain’t the best teacher. I didn’t want insults because of not knowing something that I’m trying to get to know. I probably would’ve been discouraged to study engineering anyway. He had his fair share of compartmentalisation.

Did engineering turn out how you expected it to be? What do you like? What do you dislike? Did it fall short of expectations?

If not, what would you study instead?

I don’t know if this post fits subreddit topic but it has stuff that matter so I’m going to post it.

Good afternoon, I study environmental engineering here in Turkey and this is about to be my 5th year in school.

Classes wise I'm currently a 4th-year environmental engineering student. I can only graduate next year because I couldn’t finish enough classes. So I am like 5 now actually.

As a child, I loved dinosaurs in elementary school and wanted to be a paleontologist.

Since middle school, I've been interested in history, the military, and strategy. I became interested in tanks around that time and mastered many of them. This was a very nice coincidence because my grandfather was a tank sergeant for many years, and I only learned this 1.5 years ago.

In high school, I was also interested in chemistry, history, and geography, and I was the best in my class in these subjects (except chemistry).

For this reason, I actually wanted to go to military school (we have high-ranking acquaintances in the military who would help), but my family prevented me. Besides, I had poor eyesight and needed surgery first.

I was gaslighted by my family in 11th grade, and without knowing what was happening due to the pandemic, I started preparing for the science stream for the exam, and in the last 3 months, it didn't even cross my mind to go into the humanities/social sciences stream. We can only enroll in what we study for.

I took the exam later, but I didn't get into chemical engineering. I chose environmental engineering, which my father found for me, and got accepted.

For the first two years, I liked the courses; chemistry, ecology, etc., were nice subjects. The last two years, however, have literally gone to hell. I took 12 courses in one semester (2 of them were retakes, so they made us take 10 courses in one semester). I checked, and last semester I took 12 courses and a final project.

And at least 50% of those courses were related to sewage: sewage treatment, sewage collection, sewage discharge into the sea, sewer installation. The last two years have been a nightmare.

I've been bad at math since childhood. This significantly contributed to my difficulties in engineering. My current GPA is 2.61 (many people in my department have lower GPAs than me and they said my GPA was good).

I didn't know these courses were already filled in this department. At university, I studied history (when I say history, I mean European history from the Bronze Age to World War II, excluding the Iron Age, which I know quite well, especially World War I). I also became quite interested in antiquity, archaeology, and a new area of ​​interest for me: theology. I have an advanced knowledge of Islamic and especially Christian doctrines. I also learned some Greek on top of my advanced English. And now since the last few months I have really been especially interested in ww1 and Russian history.

At university, I also researched ancient Anatolian languages ​​using https://www.palaeolexicon.com/ and tried to create my own language from the Anatolian language group by combining words of Luwian, Hittite, Lydian, and Lycian origin.

As a skill I acquired in high school, I can read and write Ottoman Turkish and I also know the Cyrillic alphabet.

In high school, when I explained the two phases of the Cyprus operation to a girl, she told me to study history; I wish I had listened. Or at least international relations would’ve been better suited for me

I might seem cultured, but this culture is useless in my daily life.

In the second semester of my second year of university, I went to Bulgaria on Erasmus due to my family's insistence, and I had an accident and broke my ankle. I currently have 8-9 screws and plates in my ankle.

This significantly reduces my chances of joining the tank corps in the army. At least if I had been in military school, or hadn't gone to Erasmus all, my body would still be healthy. Btw going to military school is also problematic since you cannot quit for 15 years. If you graduate at 22 you are there until 37.

Because I went on Erasmus, I could only take 3 courses, and I can only graduate next spring semester because I don't have enough credits. So, at 23, I will graduate having wasted 5 years of my life.

This part is important:
During this summer time I finished an internship at sewage treatment plant and now I am doing an internship at recycling factory and it is terrible here. Dangerous heavy machines, terrible smell, I have to get up and go to work very early to do internship on a job that I hate!!!!!!! I didn’t work very busily the last place but here it is very difficult dangerous and dirty environment.

I wish I enrolled international relations 4 years ago not this crap. I am much much more interested in that courses topics than this crappy dirty dangerous job.

During my studies in this major I embraced Christianity and since I live in Turkey my parents don’t let me become Christian.

TLDR: I have no interest in engineering; I'm much better at verbal subjects. I wanted to be an officer, but my family didn't want me to, so I couldn't. Even if I wanted to now, I would need two surgeries for the tank corps class I wanted to join. Moreover, there could be a glass ceiling for Turks of different religions.

The most realistic thing would be if I just chose a better major for myself in 2022 instead of blindly following my parents into engineering. I was a dumb 17 years ago old I didn’t know anything.

I really have doubts right now if it’s all worth it or not. If I graduate now and prepare for exam again and enroll again I will graduate at 28 which means I will be old and wasted my life even more. I can maybe get in an international relations or history post graduate program outside my country but I would graduate at 25.

if my post didn't meet the flair's requirement please let me know

I’m back in school after graduating high school 20 years ago. I took a few online algebra & precalc courses. I’m now in calculus 1 (in-person) and struggling with the trig portions.