Excellent post. I agree 100%. I am also a staff engineer (at a design firm). When I was in school (for my BSME) I turned away a $23/hr internship from a defense contractor for an $18/hr internship at a local design firm. Had I not done that, my skillset would have likely been too narrow to get a job at a design firm right out of school (which I did get), so I would’ve worked a less dynamic employer, which likely would have just reinforced my narrow skillset, making me no more appealing to design firms than I already was. It is truly difficult to break out of that cycle. So get in however you can, even if it means being a CAD/Mcmaster-Carr jockey.
I would agree with spoony’s 95/5 number, but I disagree with the breakdown of the 5%. In the experience I’ve had I would say that while it is not uncommon to spend all day running CAD, it is also not uncommon to get in the shop, sketch out concepts, brainstorm, etc. It might be different elsewhere, but that’s how I’ve seen it go down.
y career path started at an engineering consultancy which taught me how to develop products from concept up, how to mock up, build, machine, program, systems design, mechatronics, plastic parts design, mold design, prototyping techniques, and that’s just scratching the surface.
This is excellent advice. The beauty of being a design engineer is there is almost nothing that you learn that is completely irrelevant… so learn everything.