Hi there, I'm a mechanical engineering student and have been applying for mechanical engineering internships for the past few months. I've looked up a lot of companies and unfortunately not many of them interest me very much. I'll talk about my thoughts towards working in different industries that involve mechanical engineering below. I'll also provide some examples (companies I've actually researched a little about). Feel free to comment with your own thoughts and/or suggestions of companies that I can look into. I'd love to hear them!
I think I am mainly more interested in the aerospace industry, specifically space exploration. I just love the idea of there being such a massive universe out there for us to explore. I also think rockets, spacecraft and robotics are really awesome.
Aerospace companies: (Ex: SpaceX, NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman)
In the aerospace industry, SpaceX, NASA, Boeing and Lockheed seem kind of awesome. I think SpaceX and NASA would be a better fit for me though, since I'm looking for more of a learning oriented experience with state of the art technology. Boeing and Lockheed seems to provide a more corporate lifestyle.
Defense companies: (Ex: Raytheon, L-3 Communications, BAE Systems, Honeywell)
Some of these companies are also aerospace companies. I find these kind of interesting, but am not entirely sure what kind of work the engineers here do. If you have any experience working in defense companies, I'd love to hear all about it.
Automotive companies: (Ex: Tesla Motors, other large car companies that I haven't really looked into)
I did very little research into these companies. I have never been particularly interested in cars. I think they are awesome as engineering feats, but seems pretty mundane as an industry. I think the only automotive company that interests me is Tesla Motors, since they work on very cutting-edge technology. The model S, looks awesome and I'd love to be part of the engineering that goes behind awesome products like it. It is also my dream car. I never had one and didn't think I would have one. Maybe someone can change my mind about this.
Engineering Consulting companies: (Ex: ETA engineering, Quartus engineering, ATA engineering)
I would also really like to be part of some engineering consulting firms that does design and analysis for projects from other companies. I think learning about what these companies do can be very beneficial to engineering students. I also think working on a variety of different projects would keep me pretty intrigued, just to see what's being done in all different kinds of sectors. I haven't found a lot of these companies and would like to find more. Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.
Building, Material Processing/Producing, Oil (Ex: HDR, Arup, Alcoa, large oil companies that I have not looked into myself)
Personally, I don't have very much to talk about these companies. For building companies and/or material processing/producing companies, I don't really think I would be a good fit. I don't see myself getting excited about producing/processing metals. However, they are definitely essential. I think the pay in oil companies is great, but pay is not my highest priority. I just don't see myself getting excited about the engineering involved here.
Creative design companies (Ex: Applied Minds, Idealab, Synapse)
I think these companies can be beneficial as some of them do some pretty intense engineering on their products. The creative side also intrigues me,
Electronics companies: (Ex: Apple, Motorola, Microsoft)
Companies that produce electronics like mobile phones and computers are really big in today's world. However, as a mechanical engineering student, I don't think I can get very excited about designing the thermal management systems/cases for these electronics. Mechanical engineering just seems very secondary here.
Biotechnology companies: (Ex: Have not done much research here)
I used to be fascinated with biology in high school. I absolutely loved it. I am a mechanical engineering student now because it is a broadly applicable major. I haven't looked much into companies like these yet, but from what I know, it seems like mechanical engineering takes its place in designing mundane equipment such as refrigerators. The actual cutting-edge biology happens outside of the mechanical engineering realm.
Robotics companies: (Ex: Have not done much research here)
I actually completely forgot about this. I haven't looked into any robotics companies. I think they are awesome. I've been taking some mechatronics classes and while the end result (if I get there) is amazing, to sit in front of a computer coding all day is pretty challenging for me. I wouldn't mind improving my skills in this area though. Robots used for manufacturing are the robots I dread the most. I think they are just the most boring.
If I missed any sectors (I'm sure I did), please let me know. There may be a whole industry out there that I might be really interested in, but just didn't know existed.
Again, I would really appreciate any recommendations of companies (not limited to the sectors I talked about) that I could look into. I would also love to hear your thoughts on my opinion. If you have experience in any of these industries, do share! Let me know if you like or dislike them and why.
Submitted May 26, 2015 at 02:38PM by HamstersOfSociety http://ift.tt/1KjFsbm EngineeringStudents
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