Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Engineer Roll Call

Bachelor's of Mechanical Engineering June '00 from Auburn University.

Going on 6 years doing hi-rel aerospace electronics packaging for a 13k+ employee communications company based in Melbourne. Much of the work is TS, but a mechanical engineer working the electronics packaging area can generally expect to oversee the life cycle of an electronics box from concept design to qualification testing & delivery. To that end, he will grapple with areas such as galvanic compatibility & related coatings & finishes; radiation and EMI/RFI susceptibility and shielding; material outgassing; ESD protection and mitigation techniques, selection of exotic materials for weight, strength, or both; metal and polymer fabrication practices; organic and ceramic circuit card design and fabrication; component solder joint low-cycle and high-cycle fatigue failure mitigation (based on thermal and vibration environmental factors); ruggedization of circuit cards and enclosures for extreme environments; precision tolerancing of electronics assemblies (particularly in RF design); structural adhesive bonding techniques and associated materials and finishes; thermal management techniques in extreme environments; thermal and structural testing/evaluation techniques, the 'lead-free initiative' and its impact on hi-rel electronics; circuit card assembly materials, techniques, and processes, and a number of other topics I've overlooked. He will need to be familiar with MIL and industry specifications and standards for everthing from how to size a current-carrying conductor for space to specifying the correct nickel plating on a machined part for a specific application. In addition to the manpower and scheduling (managerial) tools required for his position, he will need a familiarity with 3D solid modeling tools such as Pro/E, database configuration management such as Pro/Intralink, product structure management packages such as Agile PDM or PTC Windchill, and analysis tools such as NASTRAN, PATRAN, FLOTHERM, FEMAP, and others. He is required to work closely with internal, government, and commercial customers and counterpart(s), technical partners, and subcontracted vendors to arrive at a mutually acceptable design compliant to often quite rigid specifications, all in a team environment. He is required to communicate and defend his design in front of internal customers, the government customer, and the government's consultant community.

It's a neat job, not quite so glamourous that you can drive it home and everybody can see it...can't even talk about it to anybody...but there's some satisfaction in being on the knife-edge of technology, 10 to 15 years ahead of the commercial world in many areas.

AS in Avionics
AS in Electronics
AS in CDD

going to finish my BS in ME starting in august!

Bachelors in Computer Science makes me a....

Software Engineer.

BS Mechanical Engineer - University of Rochester
Computer Science - Rochester Institue of Technolgy

Worked at Xerox as a mech e, was really f-in bored so went back for Computer Science at Rochester Institue of Technolgy. Never bothered to get a degree as I started working as a software engineer before I finished the program. Been designing / writing code ever since. Like Rara pointed out, a good Mech E can easily switch to any disicpline where a good Comp Sci/Eng major would have to bust there behind to ever switch to "real" engineering. Mech E's rule, even though I make a butt load more money as a software engineer

For me I'm just lucky I'm pretty smart, as I was damn lazy in school - some of my friends seemed to work pretty hard but I never had that problem. As long as I spent as much time drinking as I did studying all was good - I sometimes wonder what I could've accomplished if I went to college just to learn

BSE Electrical Engineering/University of Michigan

Currently working for Lucent Technologies as Test Engineer, System Administrator, .NET Developer, offshore production overseer, collaberation tool clerk, and coffee drinker. Be prepared to do different things than what you studied for. Trust me.

Lots of good examples and advice in this thread. Two things stuck out in my mind that are worth repeating: bachelors might not teach you too much practical knowledge (better if you can get some co-op experience as part of the deal) but you will learn how to think and problem solve, and you'd better like math, especially the one I don't think was mentioned: calculus. You will never escape calculus, even in upper years they just rename the courses, but you're still doing it. Only text book I kept all the way through was first year calc (mostly because I'd forget how to integrate after returning from each co-op term).

I did a bachelors in System Design engineering at Waterloo, 5 years with the mandatory co-op. Have worked in networking, software and semiconductors, but purely in the technical marketing or product management side. It was a good experience, and a year in Silicon Valley was an eye-opener...I knew half way through that I engineering wasn't for me, but I guess inertia got the best of me and I stuck it out.

Best thing about engineering is, even if you change your mind about careers, the degree won't limit you from anything as long as you keep your grades decent; although if you realize you want to do something other than engineering there are definitely much easier / more direct paths to pursue to that goal. Personally, I graduated in '04 and never made it into the corporate 'real world'. Started a business during my last year and transitioned it off last year. I just finished first year medical school, and FWIW there are close to a dozen engineers in my class (mech, chem, comp, etc) including a couple older fellas who worked for many years before switching, so there are endless possibilities coming from an eng background.

If I could go back, would I do it again? Maybe, maybe not. I know a lot of engineers who aren't happy with their careers and look back on their education choice with regret, but I really think the problem solving skills you learn can extend to many other facets of your life and even different careers if you choose.

Manufacturing Engineering -



stop making the equations about it and make it - thats what we do!

Definetely a good thread, thanks guys...

Holy crap.. what a bunch of gearheads...

Sparkies Rule

and yeah.. I have a EE from Western Michigan university and I work as a controls engineer.

Basically I make industrial machinery do more than just sit and rust.