00:00:00
now I know my audience you guys are
00:00:02
aspiring mechanical engineers or current
00:00:05
mechanical engineers and you've probably
00:00:07
discovered that YouTube is literally
00:00:09
flooded with videos titled A Day in the
00:00:12
Life of a software engineer and there's
00:00:15
virtually none for mechanical engineers
00:00:17
I made a video in the past as a parody
00:00:20
of what it's like to work from home as a
00:00:22
mechanical engineer and a video of an
00:00:25
actual day in the life of a mechanical
00:00:27
engineer that I had to take down from my
00:00:29
channel due to to confidentiality
00:00:31
related reasons watching all of these a
00:00:33
day in a life of a software engineer
00:00:36
videos is honestly pretty sad all I see
00:00:39
is just Engineers eating typing eating
00:00:42
joining a meeting and eating but the
00:00:44
more I think about it a day in a life of
00:00:46
a mechanical engineer isn't far from
00:00:49
that of a software engineer and the one
00:00:52
biggest thing that they have in common
00:00:54
is this they're all taking place inside
00:00:57
whether it's at a computer in a labor
00:01:00
shop floor or test facility that's the
00:01:02
first realization that I want you to
00:01:04
make as a mechanical engineer you're
00:01:06
going to be sitting inside in front of a
00:01:09
computer the majority of the time and I
00:01:11
want to emphasize the word majority now
00:01:14
personally I don't see that being the
00:01:16
most suitable for humans I just don't
00:01:18
think that we were made to be sitting at
00:01:20
a desk for 8 hours a day it's actually
00:01:24
quite detrimental to our health if I
00:01:26
were to be brutally honest so just right
00:01:28
out of the gate if that that doesn't
00:01:30
seem like something that's too
00:01:32
attractive to you then you might want to
00:01:34
take a deeper look into the potential
00:01:36
career path that you're currently
00:01:37
looking at as a mechanical engineer and
00:01:40
that's what this video is about
00:01:42
revealing the hard truths and challenges
00:01:44
of being a mechanical engineer and what
00:01:46
it takes and not just the high life I
00:01:49
also be sharing a life-changing tool
00:01:51
with you guys jiga doio that has
00:01:54
transformed the way I design and make
00:01:56
parts and that you absolutely need to
00:01:58
know as a mechanic mechical engineer so
00:02:00
let's get started all the day in the
00:02:02
life of an engineer videos that you see
00:02:05
on YouTube whether it's mechanical
00:02:07
electrical or software they're sharing
00:02:09
their experiences but that is a biased
00:02:12
point of view they're entertainers they
00:02:14
want you to watch the entire video just
00:02:16
think about it it's much easier to watch
00:02:19
a 2hour long movie that's been directed
00:02:21
filmed edited and has a good plot rather
00:02:24
than sitting down and watching a 2hour
00:02:26
long lecture can we agree on that the
00:02:29
main goal of these videos whether
00:02:30
they're helping you out or educating you
00:02:33
is to keep you entertained so you forget
00:02:35
about the outside world and watch as
00:02:38
much of the video as humanly possible so
00:02:41
don't watch these videos and think
00:02:43
that's exactly how it is because you
00:02:46
can't see into the minds of these
00:02:48
Engineers they aren't just aimlessly
00:02:50
moving their Mouse around they're deep
00:02:52
in thought trying to figure out
00:02:54
solutions to a design problem and
00:02:56
running simulations and implementing
00:02:58
that solution in their design designs
00:03:00
and then in their meetings they're not
00:03:01
just chatting or fooling around with
00:03:03
co-workers they're being told that their
00:03:05
entire week or possibly month of work
00:03:08
that they did is worthless because the
00:03:10
executive team decided to go another
00:03:13
route and they don't want the product
00:03:15
feature implemented anymore or you're
00:03:17
being told by the customer that your
00:03:19
design proposal is trash and now you
00:03:22
have to redo it and those meetings are
00:03:24
never fun but hey you know it's not all
00:03:27
bad sometimes you're just shooting the
00:03:29
breed with co-workers and discussing
00:03:32
what to do next now plenty of the things
00:03:34
that I mentioned in this video may be
00:03:36
seen as negative or whatever it may
00:03:39
appear that I'm trying to discourage
00:03:41
some of you from becoming a mechanical
00:03:43
engineer no I'm just trying to show you
00:03:46
the reality of what it's like to be a
00:03:49
mechanical engineer not sugarcoat
00:03:51
anything and not just show you the good
00:03:54
side of the job absolutely none of you
00:03:57
deserve to spend 4 years of your life on
00:04:00
a degree Dro tons of money on it and
00:04:02
then end up having regrets as a
00:04:04
mechanical engineer simply because no
00:04:06
one told you about the quote unquote bad
00:04:09
things about the job you need to
00:04:11
understand that in any job especially
00:04:14
this job there is a give and a take good
00:04:17
and bad now this brings us to one of the
00:04:20
biggest points of this video and that is
00:04:23
working as a professional mechanical
00:04:25
engineer means working for someone
00:04:27
else's company which means working on
00:04:30
someone else's idea and product you may
00:04:33
love the idea you may love working on
00:04:35
that smartphone or car but you never
00:04:38
have the final say on what features will
00:04:40
be implemented or what the product will
00:04:42
look like or where the product will be
00:04:45
in 5 years for lack of a better term
00:04:48
you're very much like a machine being
00:04:50
told what to do and how to do it with
00:04:53
very little creative freedom some
00:04:56
creative freedom but very little now I'm
00:04:59
not saying this is a bad thing for most
00:05:02
people it's actually a luxury you need
00:05:04
that direction but you don't have all of
00:05:07
that responsibility of worrying about
00:05:09
designing the overall product from
00:05:11
scratch or the growth of the company but
00:05:13
simply solving the tasks that are given
00:05:16
to you but if you're someone who's
00:05:18
getting into mechanical engineering
00:05:20
because you wanted to create your own
00:05:22
products and make your ideas of reality
00:05:25
without anyone telling you what to do
00:05:27
then it gets a little bit there just
00:05:30
know that if you work for a company as a
00:05:32
mechanical engineer you won't have a say
00:05:35
in most things that you do and every
00:05:37
single bit of work that you do belongs
00:05:39
to the company so what does an actual
00:05:42
day in the life of a mechanical engineer
00:05:44
look like well this will vary from
00:05:46
company to company team to team and
00:05:49
person to person but the overall
00:05:51
structure is typically the same on the
00:05:53
job unlike software Engineers who
00:05:56
primarily code mechanical engineers do a
00:05:59
multitude of tasks including designing
00:06:01
Parts analyzing and optimizing designs
00:06:03
and testing parts and products this is
00:06:06
what I call the technical work of a
00:06:08
mechanical engineer the amount of
00:06:09
technical work that is expected of you
00:06:12
is around 4 to 6 hours in a typical 8h
00:06:15
hour day you will almost always never do
00:06:17
technical work for 8 hours straight
00:06:20
because you have standup meetings
00:06:22
one-on-one meetings design reviews you
00:06:24
have breaks you have that one random
00:06:26
coworker who comes over to your desk to
00:06:29
talk to you you have a 3D printer that
00:06:31
breaks down during a middle of an
00:06:33
important print and you have to spend
00:06:34
the next 2 days troubleshooting and
00:06:37
fixing it all of this ties into your 8
00:06:39
hour day so don't go in expecting that
00:06:42
you'll be designing and CAD for 8 hours
00:06:45
a day you'll be spending time doing
00:06:47
non-technical work whether it's
00:06:49
attending a scheduled meeting that you
00:06:51
know about in advance or hopping onto a
00:06:54
unplanned last minute meeting often
00:06:56
times you'll find that the technical
00:06:58
work will come with with a handful of
00:07:01
non-technical work and it's unavoidable
00:07:03
for example in the early stages of the
00:07:06
product development process you will be
00:07:08
designing a bunch of parts to build
00:07:10
prototypes and proof of Concepts so that
00:07:12
you can test different designs and
00:07:14
determine an optimal one these parts
00:07:16
will likely be fabricated using CNC
00:07:18
Machining 3D printing sheet metal
00:07:20
forming and even injection molding so
00:07:23
the million dooll question is who are
00:07:25
you going to ask to make these parts for
00:07:28
you speaking from personal experience I
00:07:30
can attest that finding the right
00:07:33
manufacturer or machine shop especially
00:07:35
when you need quality affordable Parts
00:07:37
fast is nearly impossible and extremely
00:07:41
timec consuming to make matters worse
00:07:43
engineering projects often face very
00:07:46
tight deadlines and you could very well
00:07:47
miss a deadline because you spent days
00:07:50
looking for a machine shop to make your
00:07:52
part either their lead times were way
00:07:54
too long the prices they quoted exceeded
00:07:57
your budget or they straight up don't
00:07:59
have the capabilities to make your parts
00:08:02
well luckily for you you won't ever have
00:08:04
to deal with any of these problems after
00:08:07
trying out my favorite service
00:08:09
doio who is very kindly sponsoring this
00:08:12
part of the video jiga is a unique
00:08:14
custom parts manufacturing platform that
00:08:16
connects you with a vast network of
00:08:18
vetted suppliers allowing you to
00:08:20
directly communicate your requirements
00:08:22
to them this means you get parts faster
00:08:24
cheaper and made exactly the way you
00:08:27
want with jiga you get to build
00:08:28
relationships with suppliers which not
00:08:31
only makes the process more reliable but
00:08:33
also simplifies even the most intricate
00:08:35
projects whether you need prototype or
00:08:38
production Parts jiga can do it all with
00:08:40
its CNC Machining sheet metal 3D
00:08:43
printing and plastic injection molding
00:08:45
capabilities their platform is insanely
00:08:48
userfriendly all you need to do is
00:08:50
upload your parts and jiga will provide
00:08:52
a quote within hours from multiple
00:08:54
suppliers allowing you to compare prices
00:08:57
and Lead times to get the best deal
00:08:59
possible what's even better is jiga
00:09:01
service is fully transparent you can
00:09:04
directly communicate with the supplier
00:09:05
for dfm feedback on jigga's website and
00:09:08
add notes to the 3D models to let them
00:09:10
know your requirements recently I needed
00:09:13
a last minute custom part made for a
00:09:15
personal project I simply uploaded my
00:09:17
cad files to jiga and literally within
00:09:19
minutes I got quotes from three
00:09:21
different suppliers and receed the parts
00:09:24
in under a week jiga is also trusted by
00:09:26
top tier companies like Google NASA and
00:09:29
flex so you can be sure the quality and
00:09:32
ontime delivery of your parts are
00:09:34
guaranteed so if you're looking to
00:09:35
simplify and streamline your
00:09:37
manufacturing sourcing and get parts
00:09:40
much faster definitely check out ja.io
00:09:43
through the link in the description
00:09:44
below now so far we've mentioned that
00:09:46
the typical work dat of a mechanical
00:09:49
engineer is 8 hours however you should
00:09:52
expect to work overtime some days
00:09:55
without any extra pay if you're a
00:09:57
salaried employee and not paid by an
00:09:59
hour for multiple reasons the first
00:10:01
reason could simply be that you aren't
00:10:03
feeling your best this week or you're
00:10:05
dealing with some personal issues and
00:10:07
your efficiency is just super low so you
00:10:10
fall behind on your work or the part
00:10:12
that you're trying to design includes
00:10:14
many complicated surfaces that require
00:10:16
you to learn how to model them on a spot
00:10:19
or your boss launches a surprise attack
00:10:22
on you and tells you that a new feature
00:10:24
that management requested 10 seconds ago
00:10:27
needs to be implemented into the to the
00:10:29
design by tomorrow you probably get the
00:10:32
point you'll need to be flexible and
00:10:34
adapt to sudden changes to stay
00:10:36
levelheaded when these things happen at
00:10:38
work some tasks are also more mentally
00:10:41
draining or tedious than others so it
00:10:44
will be hard to do 6 hours of technical
00:10:47
work straight so this is where gauging
00:10:49
the level of difficulty of your work and
00:10:52
prioritizing task beforehand will be
00:10:55
especially important when it comes to
00:10:57
making the most out of your day as a
00:10:59
mechanical engineer you will without
00:11:01
question attend all kinds of meetings
00:11:04
the first is a standup meeting which can
00:11:07
occur daily or weekly within your own
00:11:10
team that is the mechanical engineering
00:11:12
team or with members of a cross
00:11:15
functional team on a specific project
00:11:17
led by the project manager this meeting
00:11:20
usually runs between 30 minutes to an
00:11:22
hour long where you talk about what you
00:11:25
did since the last time you met with
00:11:27
team members the idea behind standups is
00:11:30
to create transparency identify
00:11:32
roadblocks make sure everyone is on the
00:11:35
same page and enforce accountability now
00:11:38
when you accomplish everything that you
00:11:40
set out to do the day before your
00:11:43
confidence is through the roof you feel
00:11:45
like a genius and you just want to tell
00:11:48
everyone what you accomplish in that
00:11:50
standup and you love it but there's a
00:11:52
flip side to this coin if you spent the
00:11:55
entire day or week working on the design
00:11:58
of let let's just say eight parts for a
00:12:00
sub assembly and figuring out how they
00:12:03
would be held together and maybe you
00:12:05
still haven't figured it out well then
00:12:07
you just feel bad bad no bad doesn't
00:12:11
even begin to describe it you begin
00:12:14
maybe to get a little bit anxious you're
00:12:17
very stressed out you feel incompetent
00:12:20
you're the mechanical engineer getting
00:12:22
paid 100 Grand or more to do a
00:12:24
particular job and you spent days trying
00:12:27
to do this particular task and you still
00:12:29
haven't completed it yet because it's
00:12:31
not like a school project or assignment
00:12:34
that you can just BS or put in the hours
00:12:36
and do well it's like you have to
00:12:38
present something in front of the entire
00:12:41
class that you know you didn't do and
00:12:43
the entire class knows you failed but at
00:12:46
work you're not only worried about what
00:12:48
your classmates think of you or what
00:12:50
your teacher thinks of you or your grade
00:12:53
but the stability of your job your
00:12:56
livelihood I mean you tried your best
00:12:58
but but you just couldn't get the job
00:13:01
done on top of all that your co-workers
00:13:04
will be people from all walks of life
00:13:06
backgrounds ethnicities age groups and
00:13:09
your relationships with them will
00:13:11
generally be more complicated than with
00:13:13
your classmates some can be nice and
00:13:15
some can be toxic you won't be liked by
00:13:18
everyone and that's okay again this is
00:13:21
just what I observed and experienced you
00:13:24
might experience something completely
00:13:26
different I can tell you about my
00:13:28
experience and mishaps all I want but at
00:13:31
the end of the day many things can't be
00:13:34
learned from other people's mistakes
00:13:36
often times you have to make the mistake
00:13:39
or in this instance you have to
00:13:41
experience everything yourself to
00:13:44
understand what it actually feels like
00:13:46
and maybe you thrive in those situations
00:13:49
maybe you hate those situations but
00:13:51
you'll never know until you're in it
00:13:54
you'll also have oneon-one meetings with
00:13:56
your boss who's very likely the
00:13:58
engineering manager or lead engineer
00:14:00
depending on your company's
00:14:02
organizational structure the main
00:14:04
objective of this more casual meeting is
00:14:06
to let him or her know what you
00:14:08
accomplished since the last meeting what
00:14:10
you will be up to for the upcoming week
00:14:13
provide any updates and issues you might
00:14:16
be facing and chitchat then there's
00:14:18
large scale department meetings and
00:14:20
quarterly project update meetings that
00:14:23
involve everyone from multiple
00:14:25
departments including engineers and
00:14:27
managers to VPS and and members of the
00:14:29
sea Suite you have to present design
00:14:31
updates prepare a slide deck in advance
00:14:34
and practice generally these high stake
00:14:37
meetings are more intense and what you
00:14:40
say exactly matters a lot to ensure your
00:14:43
presentation is effective and
00:14:46
well-received you should also anticipate
00:14:48
questions that senior Executives might
00:14:50
ask and have data and explanations ready
00:14:54
as a backup as a mechanical engineer you
00:14:56
will also attend and Lead design reviews
00:14:59
design reviews usually involve engineers
00:15:02
and Engineering Managers from various
00:15:04
disciplines whether mechanical
00:15:06
electrical software manufacturing
00:15:08
quality and or Optical these reviews
00:15:11
cover the entire product design focusing
00:15:13
on the integration of all components
00:15:16
ensuring that the design meets the
00:15:18
project requirements specifications and
00:15:20
timeline these discussions often include
00:15:23
detailed technical evaluations risk
00:15:25
assessment cost analysis
00:15:27
manufacturability and in compliance with
00:15:30
industry standards the atmosphere is
00:15:32
usually intense and contentious at times
00:15:35
but I guess it's all for a good cause
00:15:38
and that is to make the overall design
00:15:41
better finally the last type of quote
00:15:43
unquote meeting and my least favorite is
00:15:46
the performance review unfortunately if
00:15:49
you're working in a company your
00:15:50
performance will be evaluated and rated
00:15:53
once a year based on a rating system
00:15:55
established by your company's HR team
00:15:57
the overall rating will factor into the
00:16:00
raise and potentially the bonus that you
00:16:03
get for the next fiscal year in my
00:16:05
opinion the cons outweigh to Pros for
00:16:08
performance reviews because one they're
00:16:10
very timec consuming for both managers
00:16:13
and their direct reports so many times
00:16:15
both parties just want to get it off
00:16:17
their plate as soon as possible so they
00:16:19
can get back to working on their other
00:16:21
tasks the second reason is performance
00:16:24
reviews are easily influenced by
00:16:26
personal biases and let's be honest we
00:16:28
we all like to give ourselves a high
00:16:30
rating for our hard work however it
00:16:33
doesn't work like that and both you and
00:16:35
your manager need to come to a consensus
00:16:38
for your ratings based on your
00:16:40
performance for each individual project
00:16:42
you were on and all the different
00:16:44
categories before it gets submitted to
00:16:47
the VP and HR for final approval and
00:16:50
this brings us to the third reason why I
00:16:53
don't like performance-based reviews
00:16:55
each manager is different the
00:16:57
variability and how different man
00:16:58
managers conduct performance reviews can
00:17:01
lead to inconsistencies making it
00:17:03
difficult to ensure fairness across the
00:17:06
organization performance reviews can
00:17:08
also induce anxiety and stress in
00:17:11
employees because your every move is
00:17:13
quote unquote being graded and when a
00:17:16
project doesn't meet deadlines even
00:17:18
though it's not necessarily your fault
00:17:20
you will be punished which sucks a lot
00:17:22
but is understandable since you win as a
00:17:25
team and lose as a team but I get it
00:17:29
companies need to have a formal process
00:17:31
for employees to receive feedback on
00:17:34
their work helping them to understand
00:17:35
their strengths and areas of improvement
00:17:38
but maybe what I'm trying to get at is
00:17:40
performance reviews shouldn't be so
00:17:43
dependent on the employees past
00:17:45
performance but rather future potential
00:17:48
and Foster a positive Culture by not
00:17:50
only recognizing and rewarding results
00:17:53
but also effort teamwork and adherence
00:17:56
to company values and these are are all
00:17:59
the points I wanted to discuss in
00:18:01
today's video not to dissuade anyone
00:18:04
from becoming a mechanical engineer but
00:18:06
to show you some of the realities that
00:18:09
other videos fail to show on the outside
00:18:12
you see them working on the computer
00:18:14
with a smile you see the cool products
00:18:17
that they designed but you never see
00:18:19
what goes on in the meetings you never
00:18:22
see what goes on in their heads when
00:18:25
they're actually doing this work and the
00:18:28
difficulty of it I hope you can take
00:18:30
something away from this video but more
00:18:32
so I hope you can give it a little bit
00:18:34
more thought into the potential career
00:18:37
path you're looking at based on the
00:18:38
reality of it and not how it's portrayed
00:18:41
let me know about your experience as a
00:18:43
mechanical engineer which could be
00:18:45
similar or the complete opposite of what
00:18:47
I described in this video I can't really
00:18:50
speak from anybody else's point of view
00:18:52
so I would love to hear some of your
00:18:55
experiences as a mechanical engineer
00:18:57
what you agree with what you don't agree
00:18:59
with down in the comment section below
00:19:01
anyway guys that's it for today as
00:19:03
always thank you so much for watching
00:19:06
and if you found this video helpful be
00:19:07
sure to check out my video here where I
00:19:09
talk about what my first 6 months were
00:19:12
like as a mechanical engineer and I'll
00:19:14
see you you in the next one peace
00:19:18
[Music]
