Mechanical Engineering Photographer?

Oxleyroad · Feb 2, 2015

I'm a bit slow on the bandwagon, but welcome from another mechanical engineer, currently in Hawthorn Victoria Australia but from mid March MI USA.

I've worked in the auto industry here in Oz since 1991, and will continue working in the industry from mid March but based in USA instead of Oz.

I'm a fan of many things old.

Sirius Glass · Feb 2, 2015

sleepOhh said:
It seems as the lower you go, people seem to be more reasonable. I've heard stories of engineers being very ignorant towards an opposing view.

Not if they want to stay employed.

Sirius Glass · Feb 2, 2015

Sirius Glass said:
An engineering degree is not job training, rather it is a sign that the holder knows how to access and use technical libraries to solve problems beyond the range of his or her education. Now learn how to write clearly and concisely. The two are a ticket to success.

Your boss does not have time to visit each employee personally to collect the weekly work status. Therefore write up your accomplishments for the week to send to your boss. Save the weekly reports so that you will not forget the items to put in your input for the annual review. I can guarantee that if you do not have your weekly reports you will miss important annual review inputs.

Learn to write requirements. A requirement can be demonstrated, tested, shown by heritage, or proven by analysis. Most important is that a requirement incrementally builds the case to show the customer that the customer will be getting what they want. Hence a requirement that just shows that the project does something is not a requirement, maybe a brag, but not a requirement. A requirement proves the product.

Learn to write trade studies.

Most important learn to write winning proposals. If you are not winning a proposal every day, you are going out of business!

GRHazelton · Feb 2, 2015

sleepOhh said:
Touché

It seems as the lower you go, people seem to be more reasonable. I've heard stories of engineers being very ignorant towards an opposing view.

So you both ended up making your own photo chemistry?! No way, that is pretty awesome!
I've taken a chem class so I just have the basics... but what exactly is in that stuff? I'm curious

Thank you!

Truth be told we relied on existing formulas. Beutler's soup was our go-to for film, I don't recall what we did for paper developer. We did dilute glacial acetic acid for stop, no big deal. As I remember we used standard Kodak fix. We had an adequate balance, courtesy of my Father's earlier darkroom work while he was at U of Michigan, and he knew where to buy chemicals at good prices, reagent grade if we wished. Hardly necessary for amateur photo work. Back then chemicals were easier to buy many things than today.

lxdude · Feb 2, 2015

Oxleyroad said:
I'm a bit slow on the bandwagon, but welcome from another mechanical engineer, currently in Hawthorn Victoria Australia but from mid March MI USA.

I've worked in the auto industry here in Oz since 1991, and will continue working in the industry from mid March but based in USA instead of Oz.

Good thing they're not bringing you in while it's still winter- the thermal shock might have caused you to fracture!

Sewin · Feb 6, 2015

benjiboy said:
Many engineering employers in the U.K prefer to employ people who are members of professional bodies like The Institute of Mechanical Engineers or H.N.D (Higher National Diploma ) holders rather than engineering graduates who's knowledge is mainly theoretical because they have had hands on experience and were apprentice trained for five years and at night schools , we used to have engineering degree students who were on sandwich courses who working as part of their course at the engineering company where I worked and they were generally regarded as a joke, because people didn't believe how much they didn't know about how practical engineering was done with the oily bits.

Very True,

I run a small structural & building consultancy, with one employee, me! I know exactly where you are coming from.

I was at college in the 70's and did day release and three years sandwich course, but always working in the industry and was chucked in at the deep end, designing buildings by the time I was 20.

I'm a member of Institutes who recognise you by experience and knowledge not just by having a degree.

Since the 80's I've watched how some graduates have struggled and floundered, a result of being taught the theoretical by lecturers who have never been in the real world, where as the practical technicians just get on with it.

Sewin

benjiboy · Feb 6, 2015

Sewin said:
Very True,

I run a small structural & building consultancy, with one employee, me! I know exactly where you are coming from.

I was at college in the 70's and did day release and three years sandwich course, but always working in the industry and was chucked in at the deep end, designing buildings by the time I was 20.

I'm a member of Institutes who recognise you by experience and knowledge not just by having a degree.

Since the 80's I've watched how some graduates have struggled and floundered, a result of being taught the theoretical by lecturers who have never been in the real world, where as the practical technicians just get on with it.

Sewin

It's many years since I was a mechanical engineer I left the industry to do other things, I have still kept up my institute membership but I bet things in the industry haven't changed much and this is still the case.

ME Super · Feb 6, 2015

An Engineering joke: What's the difference between mechanical and civil engineers? Mechanical engineers build weapons; civil engineers build targets.

Horrible, I know, but that's what you get for having a geek (me) around!

Nodda Duma · Feb 6, 2015

Here's another one:

What kind of sandals does an electrical engineer wear?

J-K Flip Flops

Sirius Glass · Feb 6, 2015

A hydrogen ion wanders into a bar.
The bar tenders asks, "Are you alright?"
The hydrogen ion says, "I lost my electron."
Bar tender: "Are you sure?"
Hydrogen ion: "I'm positive!"

alanrockwood · Feb 7, 2015

Q. How do you tell an extroverted engineer?

A. He's staring at your shoes instead of his own.

alanrockwood · Feb 7, 2015

The three successive reactions to a new idea:

1. It will never work!

2. I knew it would work all along!

3. Actually, it was my idea first!

pbromaghin · Feb 7, 2015

A light particle and a light wave walk into a bar.
The wave turns to the particle and says, "Which one of us am I?"

benjiboy · Feb 7, 2015

One of my friends is a software engineer, I tell him he's not a proper one because real engineers wear boiler suits have dirty hands and faces and smell of machine oil

Dr Croubie · Feb 7, 2015

I'm sensing a trend of a lot of people confusing the word 'engineer' with the word 'mechanic'.
One sits in an office on a computer designing things, the other fixes it when it breaks...

benjiboy · Feb 7, 2015

Dr Croubie said:
I'm sensing a trend of a lot of people confusing the word 'engineer' with the word 'mechanic'.
One sits in an office on a computer designing things, the other fixes it when it breaks...

I don't think many qualified mechanical engineers who are members of this forum would agree with you.

Sirius Glass · Feb 7, 2015

Systems engineers are real engineers. Computer nerds that call themselves systems engineers are not systems engineers because they only know about computers and nothing about physics and first principles. They co-opted a title they neither earned not deserve.

Sirius Glass · Feb 7, 2015

A neutrino flies into the bar.
The bartender said, "We do not serve your kind."
The neutrino responds: "That is OK, I am just passing through."

Oxleyroad · Feb 7, 2015

benjiboy said:
Originally Posted by Dr Croubie (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
I'm sensing a trend of a lot of people confusing the word 'engineer' with the word 'mechanic'.
One sits in an office on a computer designing things, the other fixes it when it breaks...

I don't think many qualified mechanical engineers who are members of this forum would agree with you.

Dr, I am one of those who disagree.

It has been my job to try and break the things those people in front of the computers design, then when I do break it I advise how they might make the thing a little more robust against end customer usage. I am not a mechanic, if you ask the mechanics I know most would say I am a 'butcher', but then I only need things to work for finite periods of time and as such trademanship does not come into it.

As for sitting in an office, yes I do a lot of this as somebody has to analyse the data gathered. But I also have to get out and tear down vehicles ready for instrumentation, replace modules in vehicles when they fail or need updating and manage the logistics of test pieces and part movements about the globe. With all this I am either standing beside a vehicle in the elements outdoors, sitting in the vehicle logging data, or in/under a vehicle fixing something so the office is but a small part of a Mechanical Engineers life.

Nodda Duma · Feb 7, 2015

There are engineers, and then there are "desk engineers".

Way too many desk engineers these days.

Sirius Glass · Feb 7, 2015

Nodda Duma said:
There are engineers, and then there are "desk engineers".

Way too many desk engineers these days.

Career growth and pay rate take care of that problem. However there is nothing wrong sitting at a desk and conducting analyses for FMEA and FMCEA since that is often the key needed to do before testing.

Nodda Duma · Feb 7, 2015

Yes. Let me clarify that a desk engineer is one who has spent his career at his desk and never really had a hobby or interest that allows him to take gear outdoors and discover how the real world affects the equipment.

Former military, tinkerers, and rednecks make great engineers. They've had experience repairing equipment that's failed in the field.

That's the key. Field experience. Any ME can and should do finite element analysis. It's just easier to trust the results and designs of those with field experience.

Oxleyroad · Feb 7, 2015

Nodda Duma said:
Yes. Let me clarify that a desk engineer is one who has spent his career at his desk and never really had a hobby or interest that allows him to take gear outdoors and discover how the real world affects the equipment.

Former military, tinkerers, and rednecks make great engineers. They've had experience repairing equipment that's failed in the field.

That's the key. Field experience. Any ME can and should do finite element analysis. It's just easier to trust the results and designs of those with field experience.

Could not have said this better myself - now after finally clearing out my darkroom ready for the packers I am gunna sit down and enjoy a nice cold Coopers

Steve Smith · Feb 8, 2015

benjiboy said:
I don't think many qualified mechanical engineers who are members of this forum would agree with you.

This unqualified engineer doesn't agree either. Sometimes I'm at a computer designing things on CAD, then I could be making them on our CNC router and later I could be found with spanners in hand bolting things together and sorting out the pneumatic and electronic control for them.

Steve.

Steve Smith · Feb 8, 2015

Dr Croubie said:
I'm sensing a trend of a lot of people confusing the word 'engineer' with the word 'mechanic'.
One sits in an office on a computer designing things, the other fixes it when it breaks...

I also work part time as a Live Sound Engineer. How does that fit in with your theory?!!

Steve.

Mechanical Engineering Photographer?

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