Thanks for the response everyone. I didn’t get feedback from the applications I was sending. It’s easy to fall into self-doubt when dealing with lots of rejection - readign this has been a nice little booster!
Yeah, I feel like a wasted so much time trying to get a job with it, now that I’m looking back. Pretty basic really, I should be showing that I can perform the tasks of a design engineer…
I’ve been alluding to that in most of my cover letters, but I’ll try to connecting the dots more clearly going forward.
I currently have a website at http://www.lbnc.ca. But it’s a pain to update. As I’ll be rebuilding my portfolio, I’ll have a look at Squarespace for something easier to keep up to date. I’ll keep the about me page in mind. I’ve also been thinking of having a development blog - it would force me to keep better documentation that could then be used in the portfolio. I’m not sure potential employers would take the time to go through it but it could give them an idea of how I actually work.
Hey Michael!
I’d consider both in-house and consultancy work. I just want to get my foot in the door somewhere that’s producing quality work, I could make a meaningful contribution and learn a lot.
Again yes, I need to redo my portfolio. The core needs to be mechanical engineering and design. I also agree with you that more images would be best.
I hadn’t really thought or looked for much in Vancouver, but I’d certainly consider it.
I think I was stuck trying to showcase my non existant ID skills to even think of including the soap bubble research - that was a cool piece of creative problem solving. I was digging through my archives and I think I’ve found enough material to put together a decent story. The Discovery Channel had even shot a piece about it in our lab from which I could pull some images - the watermark makes for some added credibility.
I think I’ll add at least one school project, while there’s more mechanical they do show some decent analysis and problem solving. All the work currently in my portfolio is personal work. None of the projects I’ve worked on with Prototype D have been released and they’re all NDA’ed at the moment.
I do have another freelance gig going on where’s I’m modelling in Solidworks some electronics for rendering purposes and that will be shipping quite soon. Further analysis of the product is a bit outside of the current scope but could be interesting to do and add as a portfolio piece as the device is subjected to impacts.
Again, thanks to you all for taking the time to go through my material and post your thoughts. I’ve already cut down my CV down to a single page. I’ll be redoing my portfolio, putting the focus on engineering and mechanical design and swapping out projects where I can’t make that shine. I’m trying to figure out what my next project will be. Something where I can have a combination of interesting 3D modelling, plastics design, FEA and possibly motion analysis.
