Engineering Career Paper
By: Aidan Rager
Pre-Engineering
25 March 2014
Aidan Rager
Mr. Sieg
Pre-Engineering
25 March 2014
Engineering Career Paper
Mechanical Engineering is a field of vast diversity and intellect. I first
became interested in Mechanical Engineering from my uncle who is a
Mechanical Engineer himself. I also enjoy tinkering with machines and figuring
out how all the pieces work together so the machine works, and I enjoy the
problem solving aspect of Mechanical Engineering. The combination of these
topics make Mechanical Engineering a very persuasive candidate for a future
career for myself. The challenge of becoming a Mechanical Engineer is very
high. It is a highly competitive field, so if i succeed in becoming one, the
accomplishment will feel that much more rewarding. The technology industry is a
vast and growing industry where Mechanical Engineers strive. I hope to become
a successful engineer both skill wise and financially.
The description of a Mechanical Engineer is “ Mechanical engineers
provide efficient solutions to the development of processes and products, ranging
from small component designs to extremely large plant, machinery or
vehicles.” ("Mechanical Engineer: Job Description." | Prospects.ac.uk. N.p., n.d.
Web. 25 Apr. 2014.) This job description shows that mechanical engineers have
to think outside the box to develop new ideas to make a process more efficient
for the company, thus saving time and money. The job outlook for mechanical
engineers is only 5% which is slower than average. This shows that this field is
highly competitive and difficult to get a job in. You have to be the best of the best
to even be considered by large corporations for a job. Mechanical engineers
typically work on a project from the design brief up until the developmental stage,
where another group of people will come in a build the prototype and test it.
Some of the typical work activities include designing and implementing costeffective equipment modifications to help improve safety, reliability and
throughput, developing a project specification with colleagues, often including
those from other engineering disciplines, and developing, testing and evaluating
theoretical designs. These are only just a select few of the typical work activities
that a mechanical engineer will work on. The median pay for a mechanical
engineer is $80,580 per year which is about $38.74 per hour as of 2012
statistics. ("Mechanical Engineers." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.) This pay is about the
middle of the road for engineers pay across all the fields. This field of engineering
had 258,100 jobs in 2012 alone, which is a very large number, which means that
the number of opportunities out there in the real world are astonishing.
Mechanical engineering has so many great job opportunities that pay well and
that lets the employee collaborate with many people from across the world.
To become a mechanical engineer there is a lot of education required.
Mechanical engineering requires at least a bachelor's degree to be even
considered for a job. Many colleges have different research and opportunities
attached to their engineering wing. On opportunity that stuck out at me was the
co-op program the The University of Pittsburgh offers. This program allows the
student to alternate semesters and summers with classes and a paid internship
at a great company. Some of the examples of these companies where Pittsburgh
students are at are Google and Amazon. This program allows the student to
graduate on time and get real life work experience while still at school. Many of
the companies where the students go to intern offer jobs to them after the co-op
program is over. This take the stress out of finding a job and it allows for a
paycheck right away.
Virginia Polytechnic
Pennsylvania
University of Institute and State Rutgers
State University Pittsburgh
University
University
Credits
Required for
Major
Rochester
Institute of
Technology
131
128
130
124
120
Required
GPA
3
3.25
2
3
2.8
Tuition Costs
for a Full Year
$16992
$17324
$23200
$24742
$35256
Cost Per
Credit
$518
$541
$713
$798
$1,175
SAT Score
(Minimum)
1630
1730
1650
1620
1630
This table compares and contrasts five different colleges. It shows the
relationship of five different topics which are credits required for the major,
required GPA, tuition costs for a full year, cost per credit, and the minimum SAT
score that the college is looking for. This table has a nice mix of in state and out
of state colleges. This shows how much more expensive it is to go to college out
of state compared to in state. At the University of Pittsburgh 128 credits are
required to graduate and the tuition is $17324 per year. This means that it is
$541 per credit at Pittsburgh. At the university of Pittsburgh many classes are
required to graduate. Some examples of these classes are...
ENGR 0022: MATERIALS STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES
ENGR 0135: STATICS AND MECHANICS OF MATERIALS 1
ENGR 0145: STATICS AND MECHANICS OF MATERIALS 2
ENGR 1700: INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
ENGR 1701: FUNDAMENTALS OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
ENGR 1702: NUCLEAR PLANT TECHNOLOGY
MEMS 0024: INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN
MEMS 0031: ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS
MEMS 0040: MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING
MEMS 0051: INTRODUCTION TO THERMODYNAMICS
MEMS 0071: INTRODUCTION TO FLUID MECHANICS
MEMS 1010: EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING
MEMS 1011: STRUCTURES AND PROPERTIES LABORATORY
MEMS 1014: DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
MEMS 1015: RIGID-BODY DYNAMICS
MEMS 1020: MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
MEMS 1028: MECHANICAL DESIGN 1
MEMS 1029: MECHANICAL DESIGN 2
These classes are just a snippet of the courses offered and required at the
University of Pittsburgh. There are many opportunities for more classes at this
university that I did not include in this career paper for the sake of space,
because they offer so many classes for mechanical engineers to take.
The job opportunities in this field are limitless. All companies can improve
the efficiency of their product manufacturing and that is where the mechanical
engineer will come in and help out.
Overall Mechanical Engineering is a very good field for anyone interested
in problem solving and working with other people. Through the co-op program
and the need for improved efficiency in all companies, mechanical engineers
have an astonishing amount of job opportunities and options. After all the
schooling required, mechanical engineers will make a hefty paycheck throughout
the years, thus making it worth the challenge of getting this degree.
Works Cited
"Academics." Penn State. Penn State, 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.psu.edu/academics>.
"Engineering Curriculum." Rutgers University School of Engineering. Rutgers
University, 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.soe.rutgers.edu/oaa/engineering_curriculum>.
"Find Accredited Programs." Accredited Program Search. N.p., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 18
Mar. 2014. <http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx>.
"Grading & Grade Requirements." Department of Mechanical Engineering. Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.me.vt.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate-program/currentstudents/grading-grade-requirements/>.
"Home." Home. University of Pittsburgh, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.pitt.edu/>.
"Mechanical Engineer: Job Description." | Prospects.ac.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
"Mechanical Engineers." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
8 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-andengineering/mechanical-engineers.htm>.
"Rochester Institute of Technology." Rochester Institute of Technology. Rochester
Institute of Technology, 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. <http://www.rit.edu/>.