Automotive Engineers?
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Its all about contacts. Go to conferences and shows and don't be afraid to get your name out there. Know your $hit as much as possible too before talking to them. Remember no guy is too small. While its great to know pres., vp's, directors, etc it often only takes a reference from a tech to get your foot in the door.
Last thing is get an advanced degree. These are almost mandatory these days with the engineer pool becoming so large with layoffs, etc. Mechanical or electrical is the obvious choice but also look at Engineering Management and Motorsports masters.
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That is true to a point. But keep in mind we are all a rare breed in that we work on the cars ourselves. This is NOT what the automotive engineers are there to design around. They are there to do packaging in a given chassis, build for a certain performance or ride quality, etc. A lot of limitations to work around. Not to mention their focus is on the initial manufacturing feasibility. If they can shave two mins off the build time to assemble the car but add an hour of work after the sale if there is an issue later in its life, which route do you think they will go??? Can't say I blame 'em either. If they dont make a profit they will be no more...as we are seeing lately...
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I did 9 years at GM. Had it's ups and downs. Did quite a few different positions while there, from production stuff on the software side to Performance Division to some race support back to production on the calibration side.
To be honest I got really tired of the monotony, and jumped ship about 18 months ago before the **** really hit the fan.
Did the FSAE gig, no internship, direct hire to powertrain out of college with BSEE/MSEE. Never used a thing I learned in college either![Rolleyes](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/rolleyes.gif)
To be honest I got really tired of the monotony, and jumped ship about 18 months ago before the **** really hit the fan.
Did the FSAE gig, no internship, direct hire to powertrain out of college with BSEE/MSEE. Never used a thing I learned in college either
![Rolleyes](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/rolleyes.gif)
I got spoiled in college jumping around from bioengineering to alternative fuels research as an M.E.
Started off as a design engineer where I am now and I have somehow got myself put into a management position.
I had a hard time getting through grad school while I was working because I knew I wasn't going to use any of it
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#25
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My first year as an engineer I started in automotive manufacturing, same problem. I got tired of the monotony, as well.
I got spoiled in college jumping around from bioengineering to alternative fuels research as an M.E.
Started off as a design engineer where I am now and I have somehow got myself put into a management position.
I had a hard time getting through grad school while I was working because I knew I wasn't going to use any of it
![Icon Lol](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies2/icon_lol.gif)
I got spoiled in college jumping around from bioengineering to alternative fuels research as an M.E.
Started off as a design engineer where I am now and I have somehow got myself put into a management position.
I had a hard time getting through grad school while I was working because I knew I wasn't going to use any of it
![Icon Lol](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies2/icon_lol.gif)
![Icon Lol](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies2/icon_lol.gif)
Do you like it better now? Did you get an internship through school as well?
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I didn't get an internship through school, but I would highly encourage you to do so. In fact, if I could go back through it again I would do an internship/Co-Op every summer with a different company to get a taste of what you might like without a serious commitment. Not only that, it's a good time to take a break from school and get paid for it
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