Engineers...(and engineer students)

[Sudeep]

I really don't understand why anyone does engineering, to be honest. I mean, I know why people go into liberal arts and other fake majors, but most engineers are somewhat intelligent, and could do real science.

I've always wondered why smart people choose science and not engineering. They could do so much good for the world.

 

[cricketboy29]

Hear Hear Sudeep.

 

[masterblaster]

I've always wondered why smart people choose science and not engineering. They could do so much good for the world.

Damn right. Scientists come up with impractical theories and hypotheses, Engineers convert those theories into something revolutionary the benefits the world.

 

[masterblaster]

Yeah, I am currently doing my one year internship, it pays really well too, which is always a good thing. And the experience is amazing.

What's the job market in Australia like for Mechanical Engineers interested in the petroleum/oil/off-shore/energy fields? Is more of the hiring done by the multinationals or are there a lot of smallish/medium sized local companies offering good salaries?

At the moment, very, very good. As a Mechanical Engineer in Australia you have enormous opportunity to get a great job with a great salary working in the Petroleum/Oil and Gas/Energy industry.

Australia is very poor for Automotive Mechanical Engineers and Manufacturing in general due to the high cost of labour and materials. All Manufacturing in Australia is generally outsourced to countries in Asia and Africa where labour is cheap.

But Australia is one of the richest Oil and Gas and Resources countries in the world. There are many Onshore Gas Plants across both Western Australia and throughout the East Coast and many, many exciting new and existing Oil Platforms currently in Western Australia and in Bass Strait.

As a Mechanical Engineer wanting to break into Oil and Gas the companies you would want to look for (and ones who pay best) include Woodside Petroleum, WorleyParsons, Chevron, BP, Santos, ExxonMobil, BHP Billiton, Fluor and Aker Kvaerner. Their are some smaller to medium sized firms including firms such as Clough, Production Services Network (PSN) and other specific consulting companies.

Ofcourse these companies are extremely difficult to get into and it is often very competitive. They also work you very, very hard with long weeks and hours. But the work is very rewarding and it pays very well.

Some fields Mechanical Engineers get into in the Oil and Gas/Energy industry include Piping Engineering, Design, Maintenance and Reliability Engineering, Project Management, Safety and Risk Engineering, Pressure Vessel Engineering, Subsea Engineering, Materials and Corrosion Engineering, Quality Engineering just to name a few.

Hope that helps mate.

 

[silentstriker]

I've always wondered why smart people choose science and not engineering. They could do so much good for the world.

Altruism is overrated. Human beings are nothing without dreams. Scientists build dreams, engineers tear them down.

Damn right. Scientists come up with impractical theories and hypotheses, Engineers convert those theories into something revolutionary the benefits the world.

Engineers are restrained by the minutia of reality. Scientists expand horizons, engineers ruin it all by trying to adapt perfect scientific principles to their imperfect techniques.

 

[silentstriker]

Actually, one my dreams in science is to pick a topic that has absolutely zero practical relevance whatsoever. Just do science for the sake of it, and not have to deal with all the knuckledraggers .

 

[Goughy]

For my Masters I shared a number of classes with people doing an engineering Masters (cant remember which).

Lord, were they the strangest people. Ive never met people so clueless and lacking in common sense.

In one team group exercise we had to CAD a jigsaw and manufacture it and attempt to sell it.

My teammates (all engineers) suggested a business plan where we produced 1 and sold it for 5000 pounds

Safe to say I took over the business aspect and theory and they dealt with the technical side.

By the end we had a sound model based on production for the manipulative development of handicapped children.

 

[Sudeep]

Altruism is overrated. Human beings are nothing without dreams. Scientists build dreams, engineers tear them down.

I'd rather think engineers build dreams, and bring them to reality. All scientists do is lose sanity. :P

 

[Top_Cat]

Actually, one my dreams in science is to pick a topic that has absolutely zero practical relevance whatsoever. Just do science for the sake of it, and not have to deal with all the knuckledraggers .

Quantum mechanics. "The dreams stuff is made of." haha

Producing meso-benzene qualifies too. Honestly have no idea why you'd ever want the hydrogen atoms pointing inwards.

 

[Top_Cat]

For my Masters I shared a number of classes with people doing an engineering Masters (cant remember which).

Lord, were they the strangest people. Ive never met people so clueless and lacking in common sense.

In one team group exercise we had to CAD a jigsaw and manufacture it and attempt to sell it.

My teammates (all engineers) suggested a business plan where we produced 1 and sold it for 5000 pounds

Safe to say I took over the business aspect and theory and they dealt with the technical side.

By the end we had a sound model based on production for the manipulative development of handicapped children.

Proof positive no project or theory is successful without wide consultation; the specialist fields are just too narrow to see other perspectives. Witness the chemist perspectives on global warming vs the geologists or atmospheric physicists, too focussed on individidual reaction energetics and not enough on the big picture. When i was in chemistry, I was told how much the sky is falling in and that we'll have no O3 left in 5 years. That was 8 years ago......

I'd rather think engineers build dreams, and bring them to reality. All scientists do is lose sanity. :P

Haha, yeah that's pretty accurate.

 

[silentstriker]

I'd rather think engineers build dreams, and bring them to reality. All scientists do is lose sanity. :P

I prefer to think of it as 'scientists are open minded about the definition of sanity.'

 

[Sudeep]

I prefer to think of it as 'scientists are open minded about the definition of sanity.'

That's the problem; scientists make stuff complicated. Sanity is simple. It means having not gone bonkers.

 

[silentstriker]

That's the problem; scientists make stuff complicated. Sanity is simple. It means having not gone bonkers.

Scientists have to deal with complicated things, because otherwise there'd be no one to make it simpler for the engineers.

 

[irfan]

Scientists have to deal with complicated things, because otherwise there'd be no one to make it simpler for the engineers.

Haha. Studying Eng/Sci myself I can relate to both sides of the argument. I can tell you right now, that the guys in my Science degree are much more smarter and have a greater analytical and empirical understanding of various topics than those in Engineering. The problem with scientists is that too often the areas that they research in, often have none/little practical relevance to real-world problems. If scientists actually researched in something with the aim of bettering the technology/method we have at present rather than some zany theory which raises more questions than answers, then I would rate scientists as a far more valuable resource than engineers. However, the fact of the matter is, most of the research work being done isn't particularly useful to the advancement of society, so engineers should be more of an asset to society.

Essentially
Scientists critique, analyse and research.
Engineers assume, simplify and design.

 

[Top_Cat]

Haha. Studying Eng/Sci myself I can relate to both sides of the argument. I can tell you right now, that the guys in my Science degree are much more smarter and have a greater analytical and empirical understanding of various topics than those in Engineering. The problem with scientists is that too often the areas that they research in, often have none/little practical relevance to real-world problems. If scientists actually researched in something with the aim of bettering the technology/method we have at present rather than some zany theory which raises more questions than answers, then I would rate scientists as a far more valuable resource than engineers. However, the fact of the matter is, most of the research work being done isn't particularly useful to the advancement of society, so engineers should be more of an asset to society.

Come on. Aside from GPS, name me a practical application of general or special relativity but would you tell Einstein he wasted his time? You going to go tell those dullards at CERN they're wasting their time looking for the Higgs Boson?

Goddamn, I'm back at uni arguing in Unibar with the Engie nerds again.

 

[silentstriker]

The problem with scientists is that too often the areas that they research in, often have none/little practical relevance to real-world problems.

So? Science for the sake of science is worth it. We should know something because it is there to be known. Period. Practical applications, if they exist, should be secondary consideration.

If scientists actually researched in something with the aim of bettering the technology/method we have at present rather than some zany theory which raises more questions than answers, then I would rate scientists as a far more valuable resource than engineers.

That "zany theory that raises more questions than answers" is how our civilization advances. I wouldn't want to live in a society that did not pursue science for the sake of knowing. Sir Hillary climbed Mt. Everest because it was there. We should want to know things because they exist. Human beings are nothing without that drive.

 

[silentstriker]

Plus, the vast majority of science has no practical relevance when the discovery are made. But most of it becomes absolutely essential years down the road when someone realizes what can be done with it. Look at statistics - when it was created, it was thought to be the least relevant mathematics of all. Hell, it took a while for NEWTON's laws to be put into action. You're going to tell me that wasn't worth it?

But that is the wrong way to look at it. Science is important because we are finding something no one has found before. Expanding knowledge is a worthy goal in and of itself, and as I said before, the practical considerations ought to be secondary and unimportant to that pursuit. But if you do science, they'll usually follow later.

 

[PY]

Working in the aerospace industry, find it fairly interesting on the whole but every industry has it's dull moments.

Don't regret at all, maybe do an MBA in the future paid for by the company but my eng masters already takes to the required level for what I need.

Where you looking at in UK Beleg?

 

[masterblaster]

Working in the aerospace industry, find it fairly interesting on the whole but every industry has it's dull moments.

Don't regret at all, maybe do an MBA in the future paid for by the company but my eng masters already takes to the required level for what I need.

Where you looking at in UK Beleg?

If one country other than America is great for Aerospace it's England. The Aerospace industry is practically nothing here in Australia. Most Aerospace Engineers end up joining Automotive companies working in areas such as Aerodynamics, Structural Materials or Computational Fluid Dynamics.