Mechanical Engineering

BY: Imani McClendon

Career Research Project

4th Period Glisson
 Engineering

• Engineering is a person that builds things such

as cars, buildings, machines, etc with scientific
and mathematical methods.

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 Mechanical
Engineering

• Mechanical engineer is a branch of engineering

where a person applies science and mathematics for
analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of
mechanical systems.

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 Education/Training
needed; I would go to school at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Stanford University,
the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign,
or the University of California in Berkeley.
A Bachelor’s Degree is required and the
training that is required is Principles of
mechanical engineering, Materials science,
Electricity and magnetism,
Thermodynamics, Electric circuits, Fluid
mechanics, and Computing.
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 Responsibilities
• Analyze problems to see how mechanical and
thermal devices might help solve the problem
• Design or redesign mechanical and thermal
devices using analysis and computer-aided
design
• Develop and test prototypes of devices they
design
• Analyze the test results and change the design as
needed
• Oversee the manufacturing process for the
device

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 Hardships

• Some hardships that may occur is the hours you have

work, countinuos education, and working conditions.

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 Demographics

• The average wage of a mechanical engineer is about $106, 939.

• There are 4.09 million people in the workforce for mechanical engineering.
• The locations with the highest concentration of Mechanical Engineering graduates are Los Angeles,
CA, Atlanta, GA and West Lafayette, IN.
• The locations with a relatively high number of Mechanical Engineering graduates are Needham,
MA, Socorro, NM and Houghton, MI.

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 Demographics Continued
• The mechanical engineering field is very male dominated.
• The average age for a mechanical engineer is about 43.5 years old.
• The most common ages for mechanical engineers are between the ages of 30 and 34.
• The most common degree in mechanical engineering are Bachelor’s degrees.
• The mechanical engineering field is about 86.1% male.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages Disadvantages
• Offers may benefits • Competitive environment
• Job security • Eductional requirements
• Opportunity for advancement • Workload and hours
• Higher pay • Challenging tasks
• Work environment

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 Interview Questions
1. What did you want to be when you were growing up as a child?
2. What college did you go to?
3. What did you major in?
4. How did you end up in the engineering career field?
5. How did you get hired at NASA?
6. How long had you been working at NASA?
7. What did you do while you were at NASA?
8. What parts of your job did you find most challenging?
9. How many hours did you work a week?
10. Why did you leave NASA?
11. Did you like your job?

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 Interview Answers By Carl Lashley
1. I wanted to be somebody who make things work.
2. I went to George Washington University.
3. I majored in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
4. I was fascinated by anything elecronic.
5. I got hired through networking.
6. I worked for NASA for 27 years.
7. I was responsible for space shuttle program.
8. The most challenging things about working for NASA was working on space shuttle flights for long
periods of time and making sure to keep to equipment operational.
9. The standard hours was 40, but I never worked for that long.
10. I worked so hard and decided to retire.
11. Oh, I loved it because I get to see things work.
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 Reflection
• What did you learn from your research?
~ I’ve learned the salary, requirements, ab information about the
job. I’ve learned about what the people in the career field does.
• How have your opinions/attitudes about this career path
changed?
~ Researching this career made me want to do it even more.
Looking at the demographics of mechanical engineering made
me realize not only that there is not a lot of women in this career
field, but there is not a lot of people that are my race in this career
field.
• What will you do next (action plan)?
~ My action plan is to enlist in the Air Force and have them pay
for my college and then go into the Air Force afterwards.

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 Sources
• www.google.com
• https://www.truity.com/career-profile/mechanical-engineer
• https://datausa.io/profile/cip/141901/#intro
• http://www.educationcenteronline.org/articles/Engineering-
Careers/How-to-Become-a-Mechanical-Engineer.html
• Carl Lashley