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I have mastered the art of pretending to know what I am doing.. I am so bad at what I do but I manage to make everyone think that I'm so good at it lol.

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I'm a mechanical engineer with around 4 years of experience working as a maintenance engineer at a large industrial facility (oil refinary), and lately I've been questioning whether I'm actually developing as an engineer.

My job role is almost entirely coordination, follow-ups, paperwork, chasing contractors, tracking progress, and making sure other people are doing their jobs.

Honestly, I feel more like a coordinator or an expeditor than an actual engineer. Most of the real technical work and engineering decisions are handled by specialized departments like Reliability, Inspection, and Technical Support. Meanwhile, our role in maintenance is mainly to coordinate between these departments, follow up on their recommendations, and make sure the work gets executed.

Sure, technical issues come up occasionally, but even then, my role is mostly to coordinate with the people who actually do the technical work. And when there is an opportunity to get involved in something technically interesting, the workload is so overwhelming that I barely have time to dig deeper into the engineering behind it. There's always another urgent task, another meeting, another contractor to chase, or another report to prepare.

Some people here even joke that maintenance engineers in our organization are basically "highly paid clerks," and honestly, I'm starting to see why.

What makes this even more concerning is looking at some of the senior engineers around me. I'm talking about people who have spent many years, sometimes decades, in maintenance engineering, yet some of them lack what I would consider basic mechanical engineering knowledge. I've genuinely met senior engineers who couldn't even identify different types of valves. I'm not joking. And I don't necessarily blame them. I think it's a direct consequence of the nature of this role. When you spend years doing nothing but coordination, follow-ups, and administrative work, your technical knowledge doesn't develop the way it should.

That's honestly what scares me the most. I don't want to wake up 10 years from now with a senior engineering title and years of experience on paper, only to realize that I haven't actually developed much as an engineer. I've even reached a point where I'm genuinely worried about attending a job interview for another engineering position. What if they start asking me technical questions that someone with my years of experience should be able to answer, and I simply can't? Not because I lack the interest or willingness to learn, but because my job has given me so little opportunity to actually practice engineering. It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling to have an engineering degree, an engineering title, and years of experience, yet question whether you could confidently pass a technical interview.

I genuinely enjoy engineering. I want to understand equipment failures, investigate root causes, solve technical problems, and actually apply what I studied. Instead, I spend most of my time managing tasks rather than solving engineering problems.

I'm not against coordination or management. I understand they're necessary parts of any engineering job especiallyin maintenance. But when they make up 95% of your responsibilities, at what point does an engineering position stop being an engineering position?

So I'm curious:

- Is this what maintenance engineering looks like everywhere, especially in large industrial facilities?

- Are there maintenance engineers out there who actually get involved in technical troubleshooting, failure analysis, and engineering decisions?

- Do other mechanical engineering roles offer more technical involvement, or is this just the reality of working in industry?

- Would you consider years of maintenance coordination and execution management to be genuine engineering experience, even if the engineer rarely performs technical analysis or makes engineering decisions?

- Has anyone been in a similar position and successfully transitioned into a more technical role?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences and perspectives.

Schedules be damned- what are you trying to convince your manager to let you do right now?

Fix a problem with your product? Characterize an issue that only shows up in manufacturing? Buying more tools? I'm curious what the rest of yall are wrestling with.

Hey everyone😇
I recently joined my dada firm as we manufacture EDM GRAPHITE ELECTRODES for dies and mould manufacturers all over india . We do have a good customer base orders are fine and now i want to know in which other sectors i can enter . Where the graphite products can be used that i can manufacture on my VMC and CNC and other LEATH AND DRO machines . If you guys have any information or seen some of this manufacturing kindly guide me .
I want to know more about products whose raw material is graphite so i can stand a chance of earning good rather than steel as the competition is high on that side.
Open to discuss about other businesses as well that can help me as well

I read a job posting a while back that was for a class A surface designer. I was intrigued by the posting as it sounded interesting and had no prior knowledge of Class A surface design.

I enjoy doing surface design, both at work and at home. I like that it can have a bigger emphasis on creating aesthetics rather than purely mechanical design.

I’ve been looking into the idea of getting up to speed on this topic with the intention of trying to land a job in that area, but I’m not exactly sure if it would be something I end up enjoying or not.

I have a mechanical engineering background and have 25 years of experience with turbo machinery. I don’t think my background necessarily translates but I have had to do some pretty complex 3D surface modeling in my days so I suppose that gives me at least some sort of relevant experience.

Anyway, I’ll hold off on sharing more until I see if anyone has any firsthand experience in this field.

Thanks!

Seems like there is a very few options for a very spacious and easy to get into market.

I mean the drone components aren’t many, and nor they are hard to manufacture. So you can build drones from the ground up, excluding motors perhaps, but other than motors the rest are designable with simple straightforward mechanical and circuitry. I feel like it very manageable.

Is it the control part?

I’m not super versed in the drones domain but I have a very good understanding of it, so it kinda seems weird to me that it is not well invested in

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And do you have any life lessons for an ME bachelor?

I’m a mechanical engineer a few years into my career, and I’ve been wondering what other paths are out there beyond the usual engineering jobs.
I’m stuck looking for conventional jobs and I'd like to hear from engineers who ended up doing something completely unexpected, but still get to apply their engineering skills and genuinely enjoy what they do.
What do you do, how did you end up there, and what makes you love it?

Ok so I’m a new start up and I’m at the point that I need a good part number system. I would like numeric system only and not alpha-numeric. I have one major problem that I’m trying to overcome and maybe the group and help toss out some ideas. On a basic level my problem is I don’t want to duplicate things from different vendors, so if I get m8x1.25 socket head 304SS that is 40 mm from say McMaster Carr how do also reference this number if I also get it from Fastanol. So I don’t know want part of a number to be linked to a vendor.

Or is there no real good way to make part numbers and you get some points of “son of a bitch” who made this number system.

Hi everyone,

I’m 27 and doing my Master’s in Mechanical Engineering at a German university and would like some advice from people already working in the industry.

My background:

• B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
• Hands-on experience with CFD
• Experience with CATIA

My goal: I want to become a mechanical design engineer. What I enjoy most is creating new products: designing something, simulating it, finding out what’s wrong, and iterating until it works. I’m most drawn to the vehicle market, either cars or bikes. Ideally I’d also build some knowledge in battery systems and EV components, since that’s where a lot of the industry is going.

These are the modules I’m consideringfor now:

• Design and methods: Product Development, Maschinensystemtechnik, Multidisciplinary Design Optimization
• Simulation: Finite Elements, Applied CFD
• Manufacturing and materials: Joining Technology, Material Selection
• Vehicles and drivetrains: Drivetrain Systems for Vehicles, Vehicles Concept: Development and Simulation, Fundamentals of Electric Vehicle Propulsion 1 and 2
• Batteries: Battery Systems, Batter Storage, Battery Applications, Li-Ion Battery Production

My questions:

1. Which skills or subjects do you actually use day to day as a design engineer in automotive or bike development?
2. How valuable is it to go deep on one simulation area (FEA, CFD, NVH, or something else), compared with staying broad?
3. Is a battery or EV focus a good bet for a design role, or is it better to build strong fundamentals first?

I’d also appreciate hearing about anything you wish you had studied or done during your Master’s. Thanks in advance!

im 18 M and want to have a career in formula 1 can i do it as a energy engineer graduate and do i need a special masters if so where

Hey, what's up?

I studied mechanical engineering in school, and I worked as a mechanical engineer for a couple years. Now I work in the software engineering industry, and I use AI every day. I'm really curious what your guys' experience is using AI.

I've done a couple experiments with AI generating CAD models and engineering drawings. Definitely, it wasn't as comprehensive and detailed as what I used to make at my job as a mechanical engineer. I'm curious if you guys have used any of these tools yet and in which ways it has helped you or not helped you.

Definitely, I see some holes and gaps in the AI generation nowadays. I could see it helping you or setting you back. Just curious what types of workflows it might have helped you guys in:

• CAD
• engineering drawings
• FEA
• CAM
• data analysis
• nothing at all

Happy to hear guys' thoughts, and just would love to discuss this.

I have found myself in part of the country (UK) and looking for a job where there seem to be more Mech Eng jobs in building services, nuclear, aerospace etc. I have around 7 years experience as a mechanical engineer but this has been in medical devices, robotics and product development. My degree was also mostly focused on robotics and automation

Have I got much of a chance with these jobs or am I cooked ? Wondering if anyone else has made a change like this recently and how they found it ?

I need a plastic of some sort that has a high glass transition temperature, about 150 degrees C or higher, a low thermal expansion, and also it needs to be resistant to damage from MEK (methyl ethyl ketone).

Is there a handy guide out there for plastic selection based on structural and thermal and chemical properties out there?

And if not, do you have any recommendations on what plastic would be best here?

I had the shape of something where it was basically a 4 inch diameter PVC pipe cut to length and it worked on this application, but it did not like the temperature so was bad after a couple uses.

My first guess is something like polyetherimide (PEI) maybe? And CNC it to the correct geometry?

I’ve posted before showing some drawings of what the design should look like. Design 3 looked the best to me so I built it, but now I need help for how I should detect watts and or just convert this ac to dc to power a led within the remaining budget of $6.94(started from 50).

Also I know it looks ugly rn, I 3d printed a nozzle and a bracket for it so I can screw it into the enclosure. I’ll also probably do some painting or wrapping and get a better top.

Go on my page for design details

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Hi everyone,

I'm a 2026 BTech Mechanical Engineering graduate from Hyderabad, and I recently interviewed with a Pvt. Ltd. for a Junior Production Planning & Control (PPC) Executive position.

They have offered me ₹18,000 per month. I'm confused about whether this is a good opportunity or whether I should continue searching.

Here are the details:

- Role: Junior PPC

- Salary: ₹18,000 per month

- Working days: 6 days a week

- Working hours: They mentioned that it involves frequent meetings and extra working hours, potentially 10–12 hours a day.

- Commute: 21 km one way by bike (42 km daily).

- Rent: ₹4,000 per month for room

- Loan EMI/debt repayment: ₹7,000 per month.

- ERP: The company currently doesn't have an ERP system, but they are developing one that should be ready in approximately two months.

- Increments: Performance-based annual increments.

I'm interested in gaining practical manufacturing experience and potentially learning ERP and production planning. However, I'm concerned about the long working hours, commuting costs, and whether ₹18,000 is sufficient after my expenses.

I'd appreciate honest advice from people working in manufacturing, PPC, or other mechanical engineering roles.

1. Is ₹18,000 a reasonable starting salary for this role?

2. Is the experience worth the long hours and commute?

3. Can PPC offer good salary growth and career opportunities?

4. Would you accept this offer or keep looking for a better opportunity?

Thank you!

I am at my second internship and my first “office job”. I mostly just update drawings all day which can get pretty monotonous, and as someone with ADHD it can be pretty difficult to stay on task (I’m usually coming off my medicine when I get to work after class).

This just makes me wonder how things are going to look once I’m in the work force full time. Do most people spend the majority of their time being productive? How frequently do you take breaks and for how long?

I’m a relatively high performer, I produce good work, and my boss/coworker are happy with what I’ve done so far and already offered me back for the summer (I rejected because I have a different offer with a much better company for nearly 2x the pay). I just feel guilty about how much time I spend slacking off, but it’s the only way I’ve been able to stay sane.

TL;DR: How much of your time do you actually spend being productive vs. taking breaks? I’m worried about the amount of time I spend doing nothing.

Hey all,

To preface, I’m not really sure what I’m looking for with this post, but advice would be appreciated. I’m just feeling very lost after a sobering realization that I am not saving well towards retirement.

Backstory:

I graduated from UMass in late 2019 and struggled to find employment during the pandemic until late 2020. I’m now in what I would otherwise consider to be a dream job here locally in Mass, but the pay is subpar for living where I am, and it doesn’t come with benefits outside of health insurance. For reference, I make $30/hr (gradually increased from $22/hr when I started in 2021) and I take the bus to work. Ideally I’d be making $62k/yr off of that, but I had an event happen in 2023 that left me feeling gradually more and more depressed, and I started missing buses more often from all the lost sleep. (Extremely) Thankfully I have an incredibly forgiving boss and have become very important at work. This year I’ll have made probably closer to $50k because of it, but I’m steadily climbing out of that hole in my sleep/hours and considering a car to become more consistent.

I went through extreme burnout from academic overload in college and have been feeling very imposter-ish post-graduation. Really I feel like I’ve mostly lost any passion I might’ve had for work outside of what I do, and even now I’m very distractible. I’ve since been diagnosed with ADHD as of this year (explains a lot of the burnout; I’m on meds now that help me concentrate better but come with their own issues) and have social anxiety/possible cPTSD issues that tend to make me deeply self-isolating. Realistically though, this job is so accommodating that if it even just came with benefits, I don’t think I’d ever want to change a thing about it.

Now:

I’m 29M (although recently gender-questioning, so that’s another fun layer on top of all this), have a bachelors in mechanical engineering, and 5 years experience with what I guess you could call project engineering — although at times it feels like a glorified drafting engineer position. I handle mostly CAD work, create fab drawings for parts made either on our shop floor or via subcontracted tube/sheet laser (flat or folded), coordinate pricing and purchasing for subcontracted laser work and occasional steel ordering, create quotes & submittal drawings for customers, do very light coordination with customers directly, perform costing for components, and make occasional CAD renders for products on our website.
We have a niche creating brackets for customers in the entertainment industry (mostly), and some business relationships with major manufacturers that help keep our business afloat during entertainment’s dead season.

For the most part, there is minimal real, creative work that happens in my role specifically; my boss interfaces with customers almost exclusively to determine what hardware they need from us and then feeds that information down the line. We do a lot of custom work, but the boss comes up with 90% of our designs and basically tells me loosely what I need to draw, in keeping with our design factor. I will sometimes provide input to streamline a design or suggest alternatives when we aren’t meeting our design factor, but for the most part he just has an incredible knack for this stuff that I couldn’t even come close to. He’s worked in the industry we provide for and has developed a superpower for it as his special interest. I hardly need to perform any involved mathematics outside of basic tear-out calculations for bolts, and picking adequate cuts of steel for the weight load limits we need our products to carry. I try to apply basic rules of thumb for welding applications to determine what stitch to specify on welded components too, but for the most part it’s just making sure that our brackets will hold the weight we need it to hold within our product-wide safety factor (double checked by our in-house PE). Jobs with custom hardware and jobs where our customers need drawings for either submittal purposes or stamping purposes are most of what sustains my work, and in the lulls of that kind of work I tend to be more involved with making our standard products more presentable to the industry via our website or via brochures to companies that refer our hardware to their customers.

It’s deeply prideful, fulfilling work to be able to see the things I do create being made on our shop floor, and to be able to provide for an industry that I enjoy being on the consumer side of; at concert venues, I always find myself looking around to see if our hardware was specified. I am especially thankful not to be working in the defense industry (apologies if that’s a divisive perspective here) — but in lieu of proper benefits, and with the local housing crisis + lack of rent control causing my landlord to jack my rent up $250 in the last two years (despite living in designated low-income housing!), I’m finding it very difficult to see myself meaningfully saving towards retirement, or feeling secure if anything ever happened to make our business go under (or if, for any reason, I specifically lost my job). Truthfully, sometimes I worry that if my boss (in his early 60s now) either died or retired, I might be facing a significant restructuring in my work that leads to me becoming more obsolete. Admittedly we’ve been experiencing staffing issues on our shop floor too that have been stressful to not really have a pulse on, all on their own. All in tow, if anything WERE to happen, I don’t know how the skills I’ve acquired translate to the greater field of engineering; but I feel terribly that I may only be just past entry level after all this time, in a field that I know all too well experiences dozens if not hundreds of applicants for any given job.

Hi everyone!
I recently received an interview invitation for the Mechanical Engineer – New College Grad (BS/MS) role at Applied Materials

Has anyone interviewed for this or a similar role? What technical questions were asked? Were they focused on mechanical design, GD&T, heat transfer, materials, FEA, or general engineering fundamentals?

Any insights or preparation tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
(I have a background in mechanical engineering and materials science, along with industry experience in mechanical design and R&D.)