To M.E. or not to M.E. for me...

[archiver]

Posted by Andy Baker.

Engineer on team #45, TechnoKats, from Kokomo High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 10/23/2000 11:10 AM MST


In Reply to: To M.E. or not to M.E. for me... posted by Ken on 10/21/2000 1:23 AM MST:



: But if I work in the field of, for example, automobile, then I will be limited by the market, conventional automobile design, as well as the narrow-minded image people have on automobiles. Or say I went into a computer related major, then the most I can do are still making computer better or faster, just because the people before foresee an object call “computer” and decided how it will act as a calculation tool or what kind of growth it will have to make life better for people.
:
: These might not be entirely true, but I am only trying to show my point. What I really want is the challenge of exploring the unknown, attacking a brand-new problem with different ways of innovative thinking, and come up with revolutionary design that will change the way of thinking forever.

Ken,

I think that you are on the right path. You will fit right in to many mechanical engineering jobs. Where you want to be is 'development'. There are many mechanical inventions just waiting for guys like you to create them... even in the automotive field.

Let me talk about the automotive industry a bit... since that's the one I work in.

Think about how long you will be working as an engineer: probably 30 years, if you retire early. Now, think about what has happened just in the automotive field in the past 30 years. In 1970, sub-compact cars were rare, trucks were just for farmers, and people used gasoline like it would never run out. Imagine what will happen during the next 30. In 30 years, we'll be driving hybrid energy cars that won't need to be serviced for 10 years, also many of these cars will be solar powered. There will be sooo many new mechanical and electrical gadgets on cars 30 years from now that pre-2000 models will be considered dinosaurs. I bet that 30 years from now, cars will be driving themselves down the highway.

I'm tellin' ya, there's going to be alot of development and progress... that's for sure.

Also, if you think that there is little innovation in the automotive industry, think about this: of the engineers who post to this website, I would bet that there are at least 5 mechanical engineers (who work in the automotive industry) who have patents. (I only have one... the 'Baker-Combs-Davidson-Rezonya Vertical Wafer Flip Chip Feeder' #5,671,530)

Like I said, I think that you would be happy in development... but you also gotta pay your dues. In order to develop the next 'Ken-o-matic', you gotta work on the production floor, and follow in other people's footsteps... for a while. In order for you to realize what works and what doesn't you gotta see what others have done and how they get them done. You can learn from other people's mistakes and sucesses. The quicker and faster you get this experience, the sooner you will make that 'Ken-o-matic' that we all will not be able to live without in 30 years.

Good luck.

Andy Baker