Career options for Mechanical Engineers

Some fundamental questions, which comes to the minds of final year (or pre-final year) mechanical engineering students or fresh graduate engineers are;

  • Which field is the best?
  • Which industry/Sector can give good growth?
  • How to search for a job if not placed in any company through campus interview?
  • Moreover, where (Which city) to go for a job search?

These are some of the basic questions, which always encircle the mind of a final year student or a fresh graduate engineer. Before giving answers to these questions, let’s have a look at the industries/sectors which prominently recruit mechanical engineers.

 

List of Industries/Sectors where mechanical Engineers always remains in demand

The industries or sectors where Mechanical Engineers always remain in demand are;

  1. Cement Industries
  2. Paper Industries
  3. Oil and Gas sector
  4. Petrochemical sector
  5. Power plants/energy sector
  6. Aviation sectors
  7. Textile industries
  8. Fabrication/Workshops
  9. Automobile industry
  10. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
  11. Manufacturing Industries
  12. Mining Industries

The above-mentioned industries/sectors hire lots of mechanical engineers, now I will give you a list of roles, responsibilities, or departments, which are mainly assigned to the mechanical engineers in the above industries/sectors.

  1. Production
  2. Maintenance
  3. Quality
  4. Designing
  5. Research & Development (R & D)
  6. Planning & Billing
  7. Projects department
  8. Sales
  9. Procurement

Production is always target based job, A production Engineer coordinates with other departments and their own workforce to produce the required product within the specified time.

The role of a maintenance engineer is to ensure all the machinery, equipment, tools, and tackles work well.

The quality engineer ensures the quality of the product. They check the quality of the finished product as well as suggest the necessary changes in the production line to get a defect-free product.

A design engineer designs a product like equipment, structure, and machine, etc. as per the demand of their customer or company.

career options for mechanical engneers

A Research and Development (R&D) Engineer focuses on the development of a new product or optimizing an existing product to meet the demands.

Planning and Billing Engineers focus on the financial aspects of engineering items and the various costs.

The project department works on newer projects. For example erection and commissioning of a new plant/Unit.

A Sales Engineer focus on the sale of their product in the market, this is more or less a target-based job.

A procurement Engineer works on the procurement of products, machinery, and equipment, etc. for the company.

So, friends, these are the departments, which are generally occupied by Mechanical Engineers in a Company. Now, that you have understood about the industries and departments, you can choose your specific/preferable role.

But a million-dollar question is: Does a fresh graduate Engineer have a choice to choose from the above-mentioned fields?

My answer is “NO”. Being a fresh graduate Engineer, you do not have many choices. The biggest aim should be to grab a job first.

 

How to search for a job?

Here I will share my story: How I searched for a job.

(I think this story will help many especially the average students and freshers)

I did my Engineering from Belgaum (Karnataka, India). My batch mates had the option to move to the following cities for the job search;

  1. Bangalore (Karnataka)
  2. Pune (Maharashtra)
  3. Mumbai (Maharashtra)

The above three cities were near to our college and most of the students were from the nearby states only.

Most of the IT, EE, ETC engineers planned to move to Bangalore, and mechanical engineers planned to move to Pune/Mumbai for job search. However, I came to Delhi Since my family members were staying in Delhi.

For the job search, I did three things;

  1. Registered my resume and searched for jobs on online job portals
  2. Registered with the placement agents, mostly found in Nehru place and Connaught place in Delhi (Most of them were cheaters)
  3. Searched the newspaper for jobs especially times Ascent

The online job websites used to show many jobs and I started applying for those jobs but never received any interview call.

The second option (Placement Agents) is a big SCAM and I would never suggest anyone to waste their money and time there. They used to charge Rs 100 to 650 and arranged fake interviews too. Please do not fall prey to those placement agents. From my experience, a genuine Placement never charges any amount even for the registration also.

Now, friends, the first two options were not working for me so I focused on the third option i.e. Newspaper (Especially times ascent) and I started reading every classified ad and used to apply to those jobs. Friends, believe me, I got 3 to 4 interview calls and finally, I found the much-required job offer too.

Therefore, for me, the newspaper ads worked and I found the much-needed job. Friends I did not have a single reference in Delhi, but those newspaper classified ads worked for me and I found those ads much efficient for job search (especially for a fresh Engineer). Later on, after gaining experience, online job portals were very helpful for me.

Hence, I would like to conclude two things;

1. If you are a fresher, then focus on newspaper classified ads for job search but also give attention to online job portals too. Never pay a single penny to placement agents.
2. If you have some experience, then regularly update your resume on online job portals, you can pay attention to the newspaper ads too.

Many genuine placement agents are also available for experienced professionals, but always be cautious with them and never pay a single penny to them.

 

Which industry/Sector can give good growth?

This is a very common question but there is no any fixed answer to this question. The growth depends on many factors such as the financial condition of the company, demand of the manufactured product, Management or the company owner’s discretion, economic scenario, your own skills, interests, and performance, etc. but to be conclusive, I would say that the Oil & Gas, Cement and Mining industries are some of the best sectors where a mechanical engineer can get remarkable growth.

Finally, I would suggest you to keep yourself energetic, stress-free, and motivated. To keep yourself motivated and energetic, please listen to music, occasionally watch inspirational movies like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, and read quotes by famous personalities. Click here to read some most inspirational quotes.

 

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About Me:

My name is Sandeep Anand. I am a Mechanical Engineer with more than Thirteen years of work experience.

I started my career with a small company but after getting significant experience, I switched to several MNC’S.

So far, I have rendered my services to many industries/sectors such as power plants, pipelines, cement plants, refineries, and petrochemicals.

Later on, I decided to impart my practical/Industrial knowledge to the needy Engineers and Professionals. For that, I started a website and a YouTube Channel. The link is given below;

YouTube: youtube.com/weldingandndt

Website: weldingandndt.com

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I hope this article will help you, please give your feedback and suggestions. Thank you