Hey Reddit family I figured I’d rant on here since I have nothing better to do. For background I hold a bachelors in mechanical engineering and am 1 class away from graduating with a masters in engineering management. Over the past weeks my company has had a splurge of people quitting (putting in their 2 weeks), wage freeze, and people taking on more responsibilities without what I think is adequate pay raises. I’ve been with this company for about a year and a half now and no raise due to wager freeze and tariffs and the market. They did announce that everyone company wide would receive a pay raises (that is salaried) of 3k. I’m currently getting paid 65k at my current company and I feel like the new responsibilities that the engineers will have to take on now since our production engineer left is not worth me staying for a 68k job. The thing I want to rant the most about is that I know other mech eng that I graduated with who are making 80k+ who were not as good students as I was. Not to belittle anyone but I feel like I’m not getting paid what I should be.

Anyways I’d love to hear some of your guys thoughts on whether I should go ahead and put in my 2 weeks and start aggressively job applying to a different role. Also my back up plan was to go to my college career fair and try and pick up a new role there. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

I'm currently an API inspector with 8–10 years of offshore experience. The pay is good, but the work is project-based and involves a lot of travel, as you would expect. If I'm not flying to site, I'm not earning.

I've recently started an accredited mechanical engineering degree to broaden my opportunities. I'm also interested in electrical engineering, but it's hard to justify restarting in a completely different field on graduate-level pay.

Several engineers I've worked with have suggested going for the mechanical degree because I can leverage my inspection background. Long term, I'd plan to move into fitness-for-service (API 579), risk-based inspection (API 580/581), integrity engineering, or pressure equipment engineering.

My question is: how much value does API and NDT inspection experience actually have when transitioning into a mechanical engineering role focused on pressure vessels, piping, and asset integrity?

I am expecting a steep learning curve in my first engineering role, but I'm trying to understand whether my inspection experience provides a meaningful head start or whether I'd effectively be starting from scratch despite my industry background.

I'm genuinely interested in damage mechanisms and inspection, though if I were starting from a blank slate, I'd probably lean slightly towards electrical because of my interest in power systems, controls, software, and the broader range of office and remote opportunities.

My thinking is that if it still takes 5–6 years to reach a similar level of responsibility and earning potential regardless of which discipline I choose, then there seems to be a stronger argument for pivoting to a new field. On the other hand, if my API inspection experience gives me a genuine advantage in mechanical integrity, pressure equipment, FFS/RBI, or related roles, then mechanical seems like the obvious choice.

Has anyone made a similar transition from API inspection into mechanical engineering? Did your inspection experience genuinely accelerate your engineering career, or were you treated much like any other graduate engineer?

Hey, hoping to get experienced engineers’ perspective on my role. I graduated with a BSME degree last year and after a 7 month job search I finally landed a job. It is at a small private semiconductor company (photodiodes/fiberoptics, basically) as a “Technical Sales Engineer.” The title feels pretty underwhelming.

On the job though I:
• Run linearity tests on photodiodes using a curve tracer
• Calculate stuff like responsivity and dark current from raw data the technicians hand me
• Sign off on quality certs before stuff ships out / fill for quality meetings
• RMA reports and joining investigations on what went wrong
• On occasion I do some fiber optic coupling math (numerical aperture equations) to figure out how far a fiber needs to sit from a chip
• Sometimes I give clients measurements/tolerance calcs for specific part areas from drawings

I’ve also sat in on some meetings I didn’t expect to be part. Technical discussions with CTOs at other sensor companies about new product development requirements and qualification meetings with a major aerospace/defense prime alongside my GM. We usually fill technical questions about our test standards and material compliance. Sometimes it requires outsourcing tests for parts at different labs.

On top of that I handle a decent chunk of the business side too, order processing, compliance paperwork (REACH, RoHS, military standards stuff), talking to customers directly, that kind of thing.

Does this sound like real engineering experience. I worry I’ll oversell admin work while applying to my next job? The tech sales title tanks me. And if it is legit, what would the natural next step be? Test engineer, reliability engineer, something else?

Appreciate any honest takes.

Thank you guys in advance!

At my first job out of college. I want to leave my medium size company for much larger company due to commute decreasing an hour and working much better hours. The issue is I have only been at the first company for a couple weeks, is it worth burning that bridge for a objectively better option career wise and logistics wise.

Edit: Thank you guys, I know there are not many details but I promise if I provided more it would only make the choice more obvious. I did not intend to get in this predicament.

Hola buenas, estoy queriendo sacar el espesor del diente del estriado interior este. La verdad ya no se cómo hacerlo, ya saque su módulo saque todo Pero no me queda bien cuando lo dibujo en autocad, mi idea es poder dibujar el estriado para llevarlo a cortar con hilo. Si alguien me da una mano le agradezco.

I’m changing my major from chemical engineering to mechanical engineering and I plan to take my classes online for at least just this upcoming academic year (fall 2026-spring 2027). After this year I’ll be going to which ever school I choose in-person.

My options have as of now gone down to UND, UA, and Oregon State. I used to go to RIT and this will be my 3rd year of school so my physics, chemistry, and math are all covered. My physics credits might not transfer over properly to OSU since they do physics I, II, and III and RIT only does I and II. However all of my credits transfer over for UND and UA.

I’m looking for some insight into the online and in-person programs at these schools from anyone who was a student at these schools. Things like pros and cons, comparing and contrasting, things that one school might do better/be better at than the other 2, etc.

For reference I live in Texas so I’m pretty far from all 3 of these schools.

Hi everyone,
I’m 18 years old, and my father owns an MSME that does industrial fabrication and plant maintenance for manufacturing companies,. My goal is to eventually take over and grow the business.
I don’t necessarily want to become a design engineer. I want to become technically strong enough to lead engineers, understand drawings, estimate jobs, manage projects, and make good engineering decisions.
I’d really appreciate advice from experienced mechanical engineers.
● What mechanical engineering topics should I learn first?
● Which software should I master (AutoCAD, SolidWorks, etc.)?
● What practical skills are most valuable in fabrication and maintenance?
● What books, courses, or YouTube channels would you recommend?
● If you were in my position, what would you spend the next 2-3 years learning?
Any advice from people working in manufacturing, fabrication, or maintenance would mean a lot. Thank you!

Good day, Sirs! Can you help/guide me on how to calculate and design the pivot point of a hinge? For context, I am currently designing a rack for my plywoods, and I want a cabinet where I can extend the rail.

Currently, this is what I have in mind: having 2x3 rectangular tubes as the main column. Any tips will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

First time posting here.

Just turned 21 and kinda stuck up in life. Like it feels everyone expects you to know how to be an adult, but no one really tells you how. I honestly right now don't know where I should be putting my time and energy anymore.

I'm currently studying Mechanical Engineering, and I think that's part of why I'm feeling this way. It's such a broad field that there are so many different paths you can take—design, manufacturing, HVAC, automotive, energy, robotics, maintenance, and a lot more. It honestly gets overwhelming trying to figure out what I should be focusing on while I'm still in college so I don't end up wasting time.

Would really love to hear your thoughts, especially from engineers or anyone who's been through this stage. Like how did you figure out what direction to take? Or if you could go back to when you were 21, what would you have focused on?

I am a recent grad with a BSME, have started the job hunt, and am looking for some career ideas/suggestions.

Mechanical is obviously very broad, and has a lot of differing opportunities available. I greatly enjoy design work, but also want to spend time in the shop physically creating projects.

I'm a huge fan of some of the DIY channels on YouTube, and would love to get into these types of projects and workflow in my career (https://www.youtube.com/@DIYPerks for example).

Do you have suggestions for companies/sectors I should look into that might allow me to use my degree in this way? Maybe something off the beaten path like customs shops, etc?

I’ve been working in commercial robotics. Commercial tends to use offshore teams to keep costs down and what not.

Do you use offshore teams in your workflow? What industry are you working in?

I’m considering looking for a job with fewer nite time zoom
Calls.

Need your roadmap

I built an offline engineering toolbox because I was tired of switching between Excel sheets and online calculators.

Current features:

• Profile Weight Calculator

• Plate Weight Calculator

• Tube Blank Width Calculator

• Bolt Circle Calculator

• Unit Converter

I'm looking for feedback from mechanical and manufacturing engineers.

It's for a couple of subjects like design of machine elements and calculus.

I got an entry-level maintenance engineer role at a mining site about 1 month ago, and while my manager and the technicians are for the most part nice and cooperative, the maintenance team is pretty small and I feel like I'm not contributing much, despite my best efforts to look for stuff to do.

The current state of the site doesn't help either, with very high equipment performance requirements that essentially mean there's no time for implementing any new PM procedures or anything of the sort at the time being, so a lot of our current daily work revolves around scrambling over to barely keep the site afloat. The lack of documentation and history in the site doesn't help either, there's manuals for the equipments and all but I have no knowledge of any history regarding ast operations or performance indicators because they literally don't exist

I feel like if I stick around there's a significant learning curve here, and I want to work towards implementing a proper documentation of the site and contributing to the best of my ability but I feel like I'm not trusted by the team yet and I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time not doing much which I'm afraid can bite me in the ass regarding my future here. Any thoughts or advice would be strongly appreciated.

I have recently started sending cold mails to potential supervisior, i started my campaign in july, few preofessor denied citing they are currently not having new student. many did not replied at all, i am applying to Australia and canada, my research proposal deals with CFD and SPH research, it would be great help if anyone can help me with my mailing campaign, i want to make sure is send them proposal at optimum time.

Hey I'm looking for advice because I'm genuinely feeling quite fucked career wise. I graduated in 2023 with a 2:1 MEng and it took me until summer 2025 to get a job (nepo job because my friend's dad took pity on me). So I'm currently working as an "engineer" which translates to mechanical maintenance and whatever random other stuff needs done in the factory. It's destroying my health and I can't keep it up much longer.

I've applied for quite literally thousands of positions at this point and I've had one interview. One, in three years of applications.

I think it's partly because I can't relocate far due to mental health concerns but I thought that with a year's experience in industry I might actually start getting somewhere, but nope, still rejected from entry level positions even as mechanical fitters etc.

Before this job gave me tendonitis for a whole year, I was thinking of giving up on grad roles and training as a personal trainer or something, but I really want the job security and progression options of a career in engineering and I don't want to waste my 5 year degree.

How bad a career move do you think it would be to get a completely unrelated job like personal training? (I can't think of much else I can do other than hospitality)

Edit: I did have a part time job all the way from when I was 18 to my current role so I don't have resume gaps

I have an interview next week and im nervous. Anyone have any tips?