Mech. Engineer - Grad School in Design vs Work Experience

Hi all,

I’ll keep it short and sweet.

Just looking on your thoughts of the value of attending grad school in design for a mechanical engineer, versus just going out and working in the field!
Where will I be limiting myself if I don’t get formal education in Industrial Design?

Thank you!

Hii buddy,
Being Mech Er. definitely tells that you know about machine design so u have that viewpoint and ability to go for Industrial or Product Design.
yeah working in core field will limit you to mech background but duh don’t mech branch is mother of all Engg so you can still explore within the field vividly within your job.
Going for Mechanical Product Design will make you work in R&D Dept. here too you can be innovative/creative but you will limit yourself to Mechanical and inter or intra related industry.
Industrial Design is vast field and open ended, its more of human interactive product designing, you can learn and design from A to Z. Architect, mech, electronic, interior, fine arts name whichever fields you want and you can be in them at your will.
If you are really into Machines go for PD but if your more of free will explorer go for ID. Both have same repo, scope, money, imagination, its all up to you,
hope my answer will help you,
regards,

Depends largely on what you want to do.

If you want to be working as an industrial designer, you need an industrial design portfolio and corresponding skills. An addition degree is the typical way to build this portfolio for someone in your position.

If you want to be a mechanical engineer working within product development or industrial design – it’s more about your engineering career path and current experiences. You can work heavily with designers, and may have some light design input. Grad school for this is less likely but not impossible (Stanford, CMU both come to mind as having strong PD programs that help situate engineers within design fields).