How to become a Mechanical Engineer 2024

Mechanical Engineer Perform engineering duties in planning and designing tools, engines, machines, and other mechanically functioning equipment. Oversee installation, operation, maintenance, and repair of equipment such as centralized heat, gas, water, and steam systems.

Mechanical Engineer is Also Know as

In different settings, Mechanical Engineer is titled as

Application Engineer
Design Engineer
Design Maintenance Engineer
Equipment Engineer
Mechanical Design Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
Process Engineer
Product Engineer
Project Engineer
Test Engineer

Education and Training of Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Mechanical Engineer

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Mechanical Engineer

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Mechanical Engineer

Training Required for Mechanical Engineer

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Mechanical Engineer in different industries are

What Do Mechanical Engineer do?

Read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports.
Confer with engineers or other personnel to implement operating procedures, resolve system malfunctions, or provide technical information.
Research and analyze customer design proposals, specifications, manuals, or other data to evaluate the feasibility, cost, or maintenance requirements of designs or applications.
Provide feedback to design engineers on customer problems or needs.
Oversee installation, operation, maintenance, or repair to ensure that machines or equipment are installed and functioning according to specifications.
Conduct research that tests or analyzes the feasibility, design, operation, or performance of equipment, components, or systems.
Recommend design modifications to eliminate machine or system malfunctions.
Develop, coordinate, or monitor all aspects of production, including selection of manufacturing methods, fabrication, or operation of product designs.
Establish or coordinate the maintenance or safety procedures, service schedule, or supply of materials required to maintain machines or equipment in the prescribed condition.
Write performance requirements for product development or engineering projects.
Apply engineering principles or practices to emerging fields, such as robotics, waste management, or biomedical engineering.
Design test control apparatus or equipment or develop procedures for testing products.
Calculate energy losses for buildings, using equipment such as computers, combustion analyzers, or pressure gauges.
Design integrated mechanical or alternative systems, such as mechanical cooling systems with natural ventilation systems, to improve energy efficiency.
Direct the installation, operation, maintenance, or repair of renewable energy equipment, such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) or water systems.
Evaluate mechanical designs or prototypes for energy performance or environmental impact.
Recommend the use of utility or energy services that minimize carbon footprints.
Select or install combined heat units, power units, cogeneration equipment, or trigeneration equipment that reduces energy use or pollution.
Research, design, evaluate, install, operate, or maintain mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements.
Investigate equipment failures or difficulties to diagnose faulty operation and recommend remedial actions.
Develop or test models of alternate designs or processing methods to assess feasibility, sustainability, operating condition effects, potential new applications, or necessity of modification.
Specify system components or direct modification of products to ensure conformance with engineering design, performance specifications, or environmental regulations.
Assist drafters in developing the structural design of products, using drafting tools or computer-assisted drafting equipment or software.
Estimate costs or submit bids for engineering, construction, or extraction projects.
Perform personnel functions, such as supervision of production workers, technicians, technologists, or other engineers.
Solicit new business.
Provide technical customer service.
Study industrial processes to maximize the efficiency of equipment applications, including equipment placement.

Qualities of Good Mechanical Engineer

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.

Tools Used by Mechanical Engineer

Accelerometers
Acoustic emission AE sensors
Air compressors
Aligners
Analog to digital converters
Anodic wafer bonding systems
Chemical-mechanical polishing equipment
Computed tomography CT systems
Contact lithography equipment
Contact testers
Coordinate measuring machines CMM
Cryogenic apparatus
Deep reactive ion etchers DRIE
Digital particle image velocimeters
Digital to analog converters
Dynamic strain indicators
Dynamometers
Ellipsometers
Environmental testing chambers
Evaporation systems
Flip-chip wafer bonding systems
Fluorescence spectrometers
Force transducers
Function generators
Fused deposition modeling FDM machines
Heat exchangers
Infrared thermography cameras
Interferometers
Interferometric microscopes
Laser digitizers
Laser Doppler anemometers
Laser Doppler velocimeters LDV
Multi-pen plotters
Multimeters
Nano indentation systems
Optical laser scanners
Optical sensors
Oscilloscopes
Pattern generators
Personal computers
Photoelastic testing machines
Pitot tubes
Plasma etchers
Position transducers
Precision positioning tables
Programmable logic controllers PLC
Projection lithography equipment
Radio frequency sensors
Rapid thermal processing systems
Scanning electron microscopes SEM
Scanning probe microscopes SPM
Scanning tunneling microscopes STM
Servohydraulic material testing machines
Spectrum analyzers
Spin-coaters
Sputtering systems
Steppers
Strain gauges
Stylus profilometers
Subsonic wind tunnels
Supersonic wind tunnels
Surface profilometers
Torque transducers
Torsional converters
Vapor deposition tube furnaces
Velocity transducers
Vibration control systems
Vibration isolators
Vibration testers
Video editing equipment
Wafer bonding systems
Wafer dicing saws
Wire bonders
Wire electrical discharge machines
X ray radiographic systems
X ray tubes

Technology Skills required for Mechanical Engineer

1CadCam Unigraphics
Accelerated life testing software
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe Illustrator
ANSYS simulation software
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
Autodesk Revit
Bentley MicroStation
Bill of materials software
Blink
Blue Ridge Numerics CFDesign
C
C++
Chef
Computational fluid dynamics CFD software
Computer aided design and drafting software CADD
Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
Computer numerical control CNC software
Cost estimating software
Dassault Systemes CATIA
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
Data acquisition software
Design of experiments DOE software
ESRI ArcGIS software
Failure assessment software
Failure mode and effects analysis FMEA software
Finite element method FEM software
G-code
Geographic information system GIS software
Grid generation software
Hewlett-Packard HP Graphics Language HPGL
Human machine interface HMI software
IBM Notes
InnovMetric PolyWorks
Intergraph Plant Design System PDS
Ladder Logic
Lambda Research OSLO
Life cycle cost software
Mathsoft Mathcad
MAYA Nastran
Mesh generation software
Metrix Imageware Surfacer
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Project
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visual Basic
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications VBA
Microsoft Word
Minitab
Modal analysis software
Motion analysis software
MUMPS M
National Instruments LabVIEW
Optical analysis software
Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
Perforce Helix software
Perl
PTC Creo Parametric
Puppet
Python
R
Rapid prototyping software
Reliability analysis software
ReliaSoft Alta 6 Pro
ReliaSoft BlockSim
ReliaSoft Weibull++ 6
Reverse engineering software
Rockwell Automation software
SAP software
Shell script
Sigmetrix CETOL 6 Sigma
SmugMug Flickr
SolidWorks COSMOSWorks
Statistical energy analysis SEA software
Statistical software
Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
Teradata Database
The MathWorks MATLAB
Trimble SketchUp Pro
UGS I-DEAS
Verilog
Video analysis software
Zemax

US Universities

How to become Mechanical Engineer in 2024