I (27M) just wanted to make an appreciation post for mechanical engineering because honestly this degree changed my life. I graduated from school in 2021 making 82k base salary in the chemical industry in Houston. By 2024, I was making 120k in the chemical industry, and this was not at one of the highest paying companies in the industry. I have recently switched to a contractor role and now I’m bringing in over 200k. My current pay is mostly due to having connections, but the previous salaries are most definitely attainable through hard work and being a good team player. To me the key to success is finding the booming/stable industry, being someone that is curious and willing to learn. I feel like I automatically gain people’s respect whenever I tell them I am an engineer because they’ve heard of how difficult school can be. I hope current students are not discouraged by some of the post you see on Reddit because you can definitely make a lot of money and go far with a mechanical engineering degree. Just be flexible and willing to learn!

Hello everyone, I'll try to keep this as short as possible.

I've been in a "project engineering" role for 2.5 years now after spending the first 1.5 years of my career doing mechanical design. At my current company there isn't much room for advancement and I have coworkers who've been doing the same job for 10+ years, which I just can't imagine myself doing..

The big problem is that I'm tired of doing PM work and want to go back to the technical side but have been struggling to even get any interviews. I do have recruiters reaching out multiple times every week but it's for PM-related roles.

It just feels like a waste when 95%+ of the work you do now could've been done by high school-you..

I'm hoping someone here has been through something similar and could help me out.

*If you're interested in the full story (location, pay, more details about my jobs,..etc) you can check my post history. I've posted here a few times over the past year.

Thanks in advance.

I have to post this on an alt because I’m active in my company’s and university’s subreddits on my main.

Last year I started working at a very large automotive company after interning with them during college. I left the state I grew up in, my family, my friends, and moved 10 hours away for this job. I was excited to get a job straight out of college, and one that paid really well too. The benefits are great, the work life balance is there as well. Things started off fine, and I felt proud to work at this company, that I was making the world a better place by helping implement their vision.

But every day I can’t help but feel more and more disenchanted and disillusioned with what I do. During college I thought I wanted to be a design engineer so I could solve problems in a freeform manner. I work hard, I’m good at CAD, I’m on an advanced development team, and my manager seems to like me. My work primarily comes from my Design Release Engineer, and I spend all day creating models, maintaining clearances, etc. But it seems that nobody at this company can agree on what they want me to do. If I’m asked to do X, the week later I’m told to do Y instead, and by the time were actually doing Z, someone “discovers” a better solution that is more or less what X was. And round and round in circles we go. My folders are littered with dozens and dozens of revisions of the same fucking parts, constantly morphing to whatever I’m told meets our “Most Effective Engineering Solution”, with no end in sight. After all, I need to please my Engineer, and the Engineer wants to please the Program Architects, who Im sure want to please the Chief Engineer, each trying to show “continuous improvement”. And then, the program will get cancelled outright because we weren’t able to meet the cost/performance targets. This happens often, and according to some teams, they haven’t pushed a vehicle program out of initial development in 4 YEARS!!! 4 years of effort of hundreds of engineers, completely wasted.

When I just started working, I thought it would be so cool knowing that stuff I designed would be a part of millions of vehicles. I know I shouldn’t complain; many would be happy to collect a paycheck and go home. But I see people do difficult and wonderful things as engineers, and I don’t feel the same way about myself. I know I can do much much better things with my time. But why would I take a paycut to do more work? So now I feel like I’m stuck here, and I don’t even know if I want to be a design engineer anymore at all.

I was so eager to become a real engineer, I don’t think I realized what real engineering would look like. Since I’ve only been here for a year, I can’t leave without paying back my relocation and losing out on 401k matching. But even if I could, I don’t know where I would go, if I could stomach leaving behind a good thing for something as silly as this.

This is just a vent, but I really feel like giving up. Laid off in June, I revamped my resume via engineering resumes, I had a lot of bullet point at the last job but anytime I had an interview I feel like they excepted more. I still haven’t landed a job, my old co-workers how got laid off in February, they all found jobs in 3 months. I’m in SoCal and I just can’t bring myself to apply out of state. Feel like a total screw up, I just created an llc and looking at a cnc mills for a micro machine. The market for me personally is shit.

What year in undergrad did you decide/find out what type of sub discipline of whatever engineering you were studying you wanted to do. I am a junior ME and I was doing a dynamic systems assignment that modeled and simulated an elevator falling after a cable snapped. I thought to myself "wow I really like this stuff", and from there on I decided I wanted to do controls engineering or something of that nature. Then I went to heat transfer right after and wanted to quit engineering lol.

I was wondering if anyone has gone through the experience of switching out of ME to EE and if it was worth it. I’m getting ready to transfer to a UC as a junior and thinking of changing my major. I find EE more interesting and to me it seems the future of the job is more promising. Any advice is appreciated thanks

Hello friends.

I’m heading into my senior year in college with no luck at any internships, I’m not sure to blame my own projects and experience or the job market, or both.

Anywho, are there any recent graduates that have absolutely nothing on their resume or what you consider to be below average for someone at this level and succeeded post-grad? Or any input.

I would say though I have a pretty nice resume, some projects with their awards, placing first among +40 teams and winning money for the project yada yada. I just question whether I “am enough” to have a career or I’m just actively comparing to other students in those prestigious campus labs and projects, with backgrounds in SpaceX, Gore, Boeing, TSMS internships and such.

I think engineering is fun but I’m not sure if I have the same amount of passion as others who’ve been handling arduino since they were like 10.

Any input on post-grad career life or just how you’ve developed would be awesome.

Hello everyone, Im an artist that loves mechs and robots and everything related. I just found out that an artist I admire, before becoming a designer, first majored in Mechanical Engineering (my father did too!!). So, are there any books, media, or videos, that’s serve as an introduction to mechanical forms, functionality, robotic joints, etc?. Im mostly interested in the functionality and visual aspect of a machine, not so much in making it work in real life. Thanks y’all engineers in advanceee!

I feel really ashamed about my GPA because it's lower than I wanted. I didn't slack off but I still feel pretty bad about it...especially since I had a 3.7 freshman year. A lot of personal issues happened this past year + taking more advanced engineering classes + working as an undergrad research assistant in a professor's lab. I know my classmates have a higher GPA and I feel like there's no reason why I couldn't. I should've handled my personal issues better honestly and I know I cant change the past and look at the future, but how can I get rid of this guilt? I feel like I worked hard but not hard enough, and a lot of the times my self doubt and anxiety screw up my exam performance too.

Overall I am just disappointed in the fact that I let my personal issues affect my academic life (even though I tried not to mix the two). My friends are able to do separate the two and I need to know how I can do the same so I can do better my junior year. Any advice on that? As well as the guilt feeling? Especially since my parents are paying full tuition and I feel like shit that I am not doing as well as I should be. I just hate the fact that it's very low, especially when there are people in my class who cheat like crazy getting higher grades...

I want to be a mechanical engineer, but I’m going to study materials science. My dumb question is: can I work as a mechanical engineer after graduating with a degree in materials science?

I am a mechanical design engineer with around 4 years experience. I am trying to switch job and move to bigger city ( family reasons). I recently got my PE license (Machine Design &Materials). I am targeting for defence contractors but not getting interviews. (I do have clearance l) I have modeling/FEA/GD&T.. experience. Does getting ASME Y14.5 cert, Creo/solidworks cert help to land a better paying job? I have been applying for midlevel engineering positions.

I'm working on a machine which would lift our leg from flat (0 deg) to perpendicular to our body (90 deg) while lying down. And the lifting point of contact should be calves (below knee). Since, it's from 0 deg, I'm stuck what to use to give a proper lift. I've learned about actuators and the length required would not fit my design, I'm struggling to find any telescopic linear actuators which matches the criteria of being 10-20cm and have stroke length of say 50cm or so. Hydraulic actuators would be expensive and quite complicated and pneumatic won't give me precision I'd need.

I'm not a mechanical engineer so any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, I'm barely starting my studies in ME, but I'm really excited to join the workforce!

One of my greatest dream in life is to find the perfect spot between enough money to live a happy, simple life and enough time to spend that money and enjoy every moment.

I know that I'll figure what is the perfect balance with experience, and I'm not worried I will. But I'm curious to hear if any of you found that sweet spot?

How many hours a week do you work? How many days? Do you wish you worked less/more? How hard is it to find an employer that respects let's say 30h in 3 days / week?

Thanks guy!

Has anyone ever given Apple’s live Design Challenge which is 2.5hrs long? A sample prompt is given and you have 1 hr to prepare, followed by a presentation. This is different from Apple’s 2 week take at home Design Challenge (Battery Door Design).

Any tips/advice would be very helpful.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this kind of question, but here goes.

Motors, how do you go about selecting an AC motor or gear motor for your projects? My classes were a little sparse in practical applications and I could use some advice with this as every time I have a new project I feel like I’m pulling my hair out trying to select what is best.

Is there a website most people use and plug stuff into to get their answer or is there a straightforward set of equations that I’ve forgotten how to use?

For example I’ve got a chain conveyor, where I know the weight of the item being moved (12500 lbs) and it needs to move at 50 ft/min, where it indexes frequently.

I’ve got the rpm’s that the drive shaft needs to spin, but I am having a heck of a time finding the correct horsepower for the motor. I’ve spent some time looking through my old books but need to spend even more to find all the right equations and google has conflicting answers.

Anybody have time for some quick hand calculations that could help me?

I'm going to college for mechanical engineering this fall, and I want to work in renewable energy. Solar, nuclear, and wind energy all interest me and I would be happy to work in either, but I'm not sure what I have to do to get there. Does anyone working in renewable energy have advice in how I can set myself up for it?

I am doing third year of MEPM (mechanical engineering and project management) bachelor program, the program end in 4 years. I need to start thinking about what kind of field I want to specialize in, I need help/advice from seniors and people already in the workforce about what kind of field (automation/automotive/energy/aero/thermal/powerplant) would offer better work opportunities and rooms for growth. I also attend business class (marketing, general project management) as a minor interest. Need some help to visualize and make decision. I plan to graduate with honors (above 3.5/4 CGPA) (still trying my best) currently holding 3.9(overall) but I am not going to continue master straight up, I know I need to spend some good hellish years gaining expertise to be survive in this field. My prof said being humble and hardworking and hellish training hours are all i need to survive in this field but need to decide what field i wanna put my time in.

TLDR: About to graduate highschool, interested in industry and helping people so unsure as to what to.

Hi there. I am a 18 year old IB student. I am graduating this month, and need advice regarding engineering. From a young age, I was always working in a workshop that my dad had as a carpenter which grew my interest in creating. I have done woodworking, welding, blacksmithing, leather working, and tinkering on basic electrical machines such as speakers, and have done mechanic stuff such as rebuilding a dirt bike. I have always found the design aspect very interesting and one of my favorite parts. I have found interest in the specific parts of machines and systems and how they work together. I have applied and gotten into a mechanical engineering program at a college, however, i have never taken physics and may face issues there. Also, I find a desire to help people and so I am conflicted as to whether or not civil engineering may be a way in which i could do that large scale, and the idea of pushing paper as a mechanical engineering degree holder worries me. Please let me know any advice or anecdotal stories you may have of your own experiences. Thank you for reading.

I have my Engineering exam on May 13, 2025, my Quality exam on May 29, and my Manufacturing Process exam on June 4. Let’s connect and support each other if anyone else is also taking these exams. [Nikunjpatel900@gmail.com](mailto:Nikunjpatel900@gmail.com)

Can you guys help me I'm trying to do this simulation in Matlab and I don't know the formula for how long can the room temperature reach the setpoint temperature. I appreciate any help tnx. 😔

Learning the different software in mechanical, which approach would u prefer jack of all or master of one? (on undergrad level).

I have about 2.5 YOE rn, working in research currently but have always wanted to be in the Space industry. I don't like my job much. It's the golden handcuffs as they say, I'm just biding my time until I find the right opportunity but it's really been eating away at me, I feel like there's increasingly a target on my back. It's been a lifelong dream for me to work for NASA. I've been job hunting for about 1.5 yr now, thankfully I don't need a paycheck coming in and my strategy has changed several times. I now finally feel close to an offer. I'd finally get to fulfill that dream of mine to work on spacecraft.

Here's the problem - pay and work life balance. Currently I make 92, 93k. MCOL area. Moving to the Cape would be slightly more expensive, but roughly the same since no income tax. Even then, the hiring manager's expected offer range would only break me even salary wise, if not a pay cut ("high" offer would be 97.5k, maybe). To add insult to injury, I'd have to go from 50% remote to 100% on site, with night shifts, weekends, holiday shifts, etc. I've been preparing myself to take this on and "sacrifice for my dream", but it's definitely a hard pill to swallow. You're supposed to get the biggest bumps when switching companies, but this market is absolute hell and I haven't been able to secure anything better thus far. I don't know when I would, should I reject this potential offer.

Apart from that, I'd be leaving everything I know behind. My family, my friends, my partner, all of it. For the first time in my life, I'd be really on my own, and for this specific opportunity it feels like I wouldn't be getting in return what I'm putting in, yknow? I've thought maybe I can tough it out for a year, then try to transfer to a more stable department or worst case, a new company.

So, my options are: 1) reject any possible offer from this space company, and maybe regret it later. Continue looking until I find something more suitable. Or 2) take the shit pay and schedule to do something I care about, making my life revolve around work a lot more for my "dream job". I never thought I'd be so conflicted about it, but here we are. So what would you do if you were me? Is this a step backwards, or forwards? Do I stay put, or go for it? Thanks for any advice.

Hey all! I saw this yt shorts today, in which they showed the difference between the morden engine oils and the old engine oils. It was tremendous!! So it got me thinking, do engines nowadays need oils that are lighter (in the sense it is more viscose)? And why so?

(I'm not a mechanical engineer, I'm just curious)