BS in Mechanical Engineering.
Currently a product engineer in an automotive company that makes alternators & starters.

 

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” ― Confucius

That's the important part, mate

 

Graduated as an Aerospace Engineer and I'm currently working as a Manufacturing Engineer for Boeing. Would prefer to transition into the Design Engineering side.

Big companies are different. You're just one small piece of the puzzle and it's hard to make an impact.


Cottoncandyek, everything has electronics these days. If you're enjoying the actual coursework then you shouldn't have issues getting out into the industry.

 

Well, why did you pick EE over Mech-E in the first place? Which subject do you like better (find more interesting and fun)? I'd go with whichever one you enjoy more, you;ll be better for it - happier and will probably make more money in the long run. Also, keep in mind that "hot" fields change - picking a major based on what's "hot" now might turn out to be a big mistake 10 years down the road. On the other hand, there will always be a need for both electrical and mechanical engineers so I wouldn't worry too much about staying employed, especially if you're willing to move around. So I'd go with whichever subject you enjoy more. That's how I picked physics over the alternatives like CS or premed

 

Reading everyone's engineering job is really encouraging considering I decided to go back to school 3 years ago. I plan to graduate with my degree in ME during the Fall of 2014 or by winter 2015 if I ease up on my class load. However, I'm a little anxious about what will happen after graduation. For you engineers out there, how important were extra curricular activities to land a job and what advice can you give someone like me who will be 29 who has to compete with the 22-23 year olds.

 

Use being an older individual as an advantage. You went back to school and decided to spend all this money because you know this is exactly what you want to do. Being confident (not too much though) and sure of yourself always bodes well in interviews. Having a bullet proof resume never hurts either. Depending on what school you go to they should have a career office that will provide free resume help to their students.

Also look for work experience in a ME related field while you are a student. This may be an internship or research position. I left school for a year to do a co-op and it has opened all the doors that I have knocked at.

Getting involved with clubs just to get something for the resume is never a good idea. I am a civil but was in many more clubs that had nothing to do with civil. (I was even president of an automotive association on campus.) They saw that I was quite involved with it and asked me a few questions about it. This is when I was able to use my passion for the club to back up myself up and prove that I have leadership skills that the job I was interested in required. It also shows that you can be an independent leader.

Granted I just graduated this past fall and am 24, so maybe my advice isn't what your looking for

 

We actually just hired a new grad who is also 29 years old. He was in a different career path and then later decided to go back to school for mechanical engineering. Fortunately for him he landed a job pretty much right after his graduation.

Being a non experienced entry level at 29 years old (we also hired a 21 year out of college at the same time) I can tell he feels the need to step it up big time just because he has to compete with much younger engineers. But he does have one of the best attitude I've seen around. He is willing to do anything to learn as much and as fast as possible. And he admits it that he's had a late start so he has a lot more to catch up especially because his colleague is only 21-22.

So only advice I can give you is to be open and be very willing to learn in humble attitude because chances are, you may be learning from someone who is younger than you. At my work, the 21 year old is sort of lazy and he lacks the willing attitude. And that's fine, he's young and he has lot of years to learn. But completely different attitude for the 29 year old. And he knows his age is against him. But he's gonna be just fine as long as he keeps up the good attitude, not much else you can do about the age.

 

Mechanical engineer here

 

B.S in Mechanical engineering, M.S. in Mechatronics and Robotic Systems. Currently working in product development at at a Bayer MaterialScience company.

 

A little offtopic, but Ive gone back to school majoring in Computer Science to get into technology.. Indeed, us older guys have to overcompensate a lot. I have a BS in Business, but wanted to get into technology because that's where I think I can thrive.. im 31 and by the time i graduate with a BS in CS, ill be around 33.. hoping to land a job in tech when im out..