What is Mechanical Engineering?

Mechanical engineering is the discipline that applies engineering physics, engineering mathematics and material science to design, analyze, manufacture and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and most important of the engineering discipline. It is one of the oldest and most important disciplines of engineering. It deals with any things that have relative motion in between them from machine to the human body. Mechanical Engineers examine methodically and in detail, their work using the principles of motion, energy and natural forces- ensuring that the designs and product function safely, efficiently and reliably, all at a affordable cost.

Mechanical Engineering combines creativity, knowledge, power of imagination and analytical tools to complete the difficult task of shaping an idea into reality.

It does make a difference in real life conditions as it focuses on creating technologies to meet human needs. Virtually every product or service in modern life has probably been touched in some way by a mechanical engineer to help mankind. 

Solving present problems and creating things to ensure future in transportation, space exploration, health care, energy, world hunger, climate change, agriculture, and many more is all mechanical engineer primary objective.

Mechanical Engineering is broadest disciplines and have enormous range of opportunity and education mirrors the dimension of subjects. Some of the major but not all mechanical disciplines are listed below:

• ·         Automobile
• ·         Aerospace
• ·         Aeronautical
• ·         Agro-Mechanical
• ·         Automation
• ·         Automotive
• ·         Acoustics
• ·         Biotechnology
• ·         Control Systems
• ·         Composites
• ·         Computer Aided Designs (CAD)
• ·         Designing
• ·         Energy
• ·         Human health
• ·         Hydro Mechanics
• ·         Manufacturing and Advance manufacturing
• ·         Mechatronics
• ·         Nanotechnology
• ·         Production
• ·         Robotics
• ·         Structural analysis

Mechanical Engineer: job description

Mechanical engineer produce specifications for design, develop, manufacture and install new or modified components or system by ensuring greater life span and efficiency.

Job responsibilities vary greatly according to the size and type of company they are working for. However, duties typically includes:

• ·         Assessing project requirements
• ·         Measuring the performance of mechanical components, devices and engines
• ·         Agreeing budgets, timescales and specifications with clients and managers
• ·         Maintaining and modifying equipment to ensure that it is safe, reliable and efficient
• ·         Using computer aided design/modeling softwares
• ·         Liasing with suppliers
• ·         Undertaking relevant research
• ·         Producing and implementing designs and test procedures
• ·         Presenting designs and model to managers and clients
• ·         Testing, evaluating, modifying and re-testing products
• ·         Writing reports and documentation
• ·         Providing technical advice
• ·         Analyzing and interoperating data. 

 

Key skills for Mechanical Engineers:

• ·         Effective technical skills
• ·         The ability to work under pressure
• ·         Problem solving skills
• ·         Creativity
• ·         Interpersonal skills
• ·         Verbal and written communication skills
• ·         Commercial awareness
• ·         Teamworking skills

A Mechanical engineer to be placed in a core company should have the basic ideas in the following subjects with some practical exposure:

• ·         Engineering drawing
• ·         Engineering mechanics
• ·         Strength of materials
• ·         Engineering materials
• ·         Material science
• ·         Finite elements method
• ·         Fluid mechanics
• ·         Solid mechanics
• ·         Project management
• ·         Computational Fluid Dynamics
• ·         Solid waste management
• ·         Fracture mechanics
• ·         Machine drawing
• ·         Manufacturing methods
• ·         Design of machine components
• ·         Kinematics of machines
• ·         Applied thermodynamics
• ·         Heat and mass transfer
• ·         Control engineering
• ·         Industrial engineering
• ·         CAD/CAM
• ·         Automation
• ·         Nanotechnology
• ·         Mechatronics
• ·         Theory of machines and more…

Softwares that Mechanical engineer should know to use:

• ·         Solid Modeling Software:

Ø  Solidworks, 

Ø  AutoCAD,

Ø   CATIA, 

Ø  Inventor

Ø  ProE, etc

• ·         Analysis and Simulation:

Ø  ANSYS, 

Ø  COMSOL, 

Ø  HyperMesh, etc

• ·         Programming language:

Ø  C++,

Ø   JAVA,

Ø   PYTHON, etc

• ·         MATLAB

Duties of Mechanical Engineer:

Careers in Mechanical Engineering can be tough and call for a variety of tasks.

• ·         Conceptual design
• ·         Analysis
• ·         Developmental design
• ·         Measurements
• ·         Data interpretation
• ·         Presentations and documentation
• ·         Multidisciplinary teamwork
• ·         Research
• ·         Concurrent engineering
• ·         Analysis (FEA and CFD)
• ·         Benchmarking the competition
• ·         Working with suppliers
• ·         Project management
• ·         Prototyping
• ·         Testing
• ·         Consulting and sales
• ·         Customer satisfaction

Earning of Mechanical Engineers:

A good Mechanical engineer like careers in many other engineering fields, are well paid. Comparing with other fields, mechanical engineers earn well above average throughout each stage of their careers. According to the Unites States Department of Labor, the mean salary for a mechanical engineer is USD 89,800 with the top ten percent earning close to USD 131,350.

My side hustle

What is a side-hustle?

It’s really anything that you can do on the side to make money while pursuing higher education or employment. It may be a hobby you are trying to monetize for a little bit of extra cash, it may be a serious venture you are working to pursue but unable to generate an income from just yet, or it may be something you’ve already started that is producing some extra income for you.
Some qualified engineers take it a step further. Many understand that the traditional trajectory of getting qualified, finding a big company to fit into and staying there for 40 years is a thing of the past.
Some engineers are becoming part of the gig economy. The gig economy is a ‘labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.’ And some people have side-gigs to supplement their income while they continue to search for a more permanent position elsewhere. Prospective engineers are learning to become resilient.
Engineers are noticing that they can also create several side-hustles that generate money they can use to achieve even bigger things later on in life.
In the engineering world, the side-hustle usually culminates in a startup idea that requires the input of some like-minded team members. Nonetheless, when you pursue a side-hustle, it’s important to make sure you still have the backup plan.
Previously, the backup plan might include a ginormous time investment of going to a brick-and-mortar tertiary institution and putting the side-hustle on pause. Starting a side-hustle while sticking to a strict schedule of classes and examinations is a tall order.
Early on, some engineers fail to realize that their engineering course may be teaching them the business principles they need to become an entrepreneur. Albert van Wykc is a South African industrial engineer. At the age of 22, he was already investing in property and building side-businesses that began generating an income. He became one of South Africa’s youngest millionaires.
Albert went on to write a book titled: ‘How to become a Millionaire at 22.’
But it was the skills he was learning in his engineering degree that improved the business-side of his side-hustles. He has started a podcast named ‘Millionaire Insights with Albert van Wyk,’ where he inspires like-minded engineers and entrepreneurs in South Africa, to become better business people whilst upskilling and acquiring formal qualifications.
In the latest episode of his podcast, he said:
“I studied Industrial Engineering. I actually completed my degree in four years and became an industrial engineer. And then, I worked for one year in the industry as an engineer before I quit my job to become a full-time entrepreneur. One of the key terms that we learned in industrial engineering is called a value chain analysis. You take each process, each activity, in your chain of events that creates value for your business, and you analyze each of them.”
Industrial automation engineering can teach that, even in business, a person can produce an efficient chain of procedures that leads to the creation of a valuable outcome. But even mechanical engineers are obtaining their qualifications, then swimming against the tide.
Inaam Khan is a mechanical engineer from Manchester, Connecticut in the United States of America. His motto, and advice to prospective entrepreneurial engineers is: ‘Aim high, don’t be shy.’ He founded his own sock company after graduating. Hex aptly named the company I-Khanic. In an interview, he said:
“My parents have been very supportive, first of all. They never cared that their son had an engineering degree and was out there selling socks.”
Turning the side-hustle into the main-hustle takes grit and determination. It is recommended that students and graduates continue to upskill themselves — so they are job-ready and educated — while trying to be as entrepreneurialt as possible.

Works Cited
manchester-mechanical-engineer