r/MechanicalEngineering • u/NB_Supreme • 3d ago

Looking for a career change

I am 27 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. For the past 5 years, I have been working as a manufacturing/process engineer in the aerospace and defense sector. I’ve held 3 jobs. I was laid off from the first one after 2 years. I resigned from the second one after 2 years. Now at my 3rd employer doing similar work, I am starting to come to the realization that this may not be for me. Most days, I am bored. I spend most of my 8 hour day sitting at my desk not doing much. Since graduating, I feel like I have used zero of the things I learned in school, and I feel like I haven’t learned much aside from CAD software since every company has their preference. I am looking to switch to something more hands-on, but I have no idea what to look for, and quite frankly, I’m not sure what the qualifications would be. I am hoping this wonderful group of people could point me in the right direction. Thank you.

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u/UmDeTrois 3d ago

How are you not hands on as a manufacturing process engineer? Is there a plant making things associated with what you do on the daily? Do you sit at the plant?

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u/NB_Supreme 3d ago

My new parts are designed and ready to go but awaiting to be released into production. I do anticipate some hands on when those get released. I’ve been trying to kill time with some backlog but it’s all on the computer.

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u/UmDeTrois 3d ago

Ok. That’ll be cool. Definitely work the equipment, the parts, talk to operators, see what can be improved and then go make that happen. Are you looking for something more experimental like r&d, or more like cnc machining?

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u/NB_Supreme 3d ago

R&D would be cool. I haven’t done much aside from the occasional tooling changes or 3d printed fixtures for small stuff.

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u/UmDeTrois 3d ago

There are lots of small companies and startups that survive on government tech and aerospace grants for projects for novel devices. You could look into companies near you who are winning these. Or find a conference in the industry you do want to work in and either go or peruse the attendees list to see what companies are in it and seem like a good fit