Electrical Engineering Student Interested In Automotive Industry
Q: I will be finishing my engineering degree soon. The university I attend doesn't have any official specialization for an undergraduate degree. As such, there is no way for me to learn anything automotive unless I do it on my own. I have started to read about car basics like the engine, suspension and performance. What I would like to get into is the electrical/electronic systems in the cars. I don't have any practical embedded programming experience (nothing but school) but I have a decently strong interest in electronics and microprocessor systems. I suppose my question is this: I will have little, if any, autmotive experience by the time I graduate. I'm thinking of completing my degree by doing my thesis on something automotive. I don't feel that this is enough to get a job at an auto manufacturer/development company. As I've said, I have more knowldge about cars than the average shmo(?) but I'm looking for a way in to the industry. Does someone have some pointers?
A: -You want to live in Detroit? Keep in mind that EE degree will allow you to live anywhere. Detroit - crime, bad weather, yuk. Keep this in mind too - you won't be earning minimum wage. How about a nice little garage with some tools in a nice sunny little state out west to satisfy your urges? If you insist - here's the deal. You will need to get an internship in the industry - preferably where you want to work. That's pretty much that in today's marketplace. There are lots of experienced guys out there w/o jobs right now willing to work for cheap. If you get hired on to a full time job today right out of college - it's because you're signing on with a crappy, desperate company that just fired all their well paid and experienced guys - hoping to replace them with the likes of you. No offence. Keep in mind that you'll be competing with others who have also finished their degrees. Don't act too much like a whiny princess when you realize that you're doing crap work out of college and you're still an intern. If you bust some butt and they like you - you'll get set up. That thesis? You haven't worked yet in the industry? Spare these guys a laugh. Get signed on to some prof's research project and try to make an intelligent contribution - then call it good. The less your employer understands your thesis - the better - unless you really, really know your shit - because these guys know their stuff - which you don't - especially unsponsered. Get the drift? - I was offered a job with GM in 99 when I graduated from college with a BSEE. I had 2 summers of working in an auto repair shop as a mechanic as well as my own personal experience working on cars as a shadetree mechanic. I think it was mostly by luck that I got the job offer because I had submitted my resume through the GM website and it found it's way into a manager's hands in the Powertrain division in Lansing, MI. I would say that your chances are slim if you would like to jump right into the automotive industry but then again, what do I know? I'm sure there are a lot of engineers at any of the auto manufacturers that have never gotten their hands dirty... -John--by a Ford with a E40D transmission, you will need to be an expert in electronics to keep the damn thing running, understand how all the electronics works and repair it. If you can diagnose and fix one of em to last you should be hred by Ford.. -I may be in the minority here, but I actually landed a job at a major automotive supplier basically through an "inside track" - I had a friend that I met through a car club that kind of walked my resume through the process. The job itself only lasted maybe 6 months before I got laid off (along with a bunch of better qualified people, so I didn't take it personally - the industry was just tanking at that time.) It was a great experience but I have to say that as a person who loves cars, I am not so sure that I would go back given the option. I might consider a job with a racing or high performance oriented small company, but I didn't like the large company BS, and the stuff I was working on was very frustrating. To give an example, my major responsibility was trimming ABS software, and often my personal philosophy of how it should be done conflicted radically with the customer's desires - I would prefer to trim for maximum performance at all times, but the customer often wants "hands-off" stability at the expense of performance. Just one example but I really didn't get a whole lot of joy working on mass market stuff. The phrase "I wish I could... (something) because this system would be a whole lot better, but the customer doesn't like that" or a variation thereof was heard a lot. Also I spent a lot of time trying to learn how to do my job and not really succeeding because of the corporate climate of doing everything as quickly and cheaply as possible - the people who I could really learn from were often busy doing actual work and didn't have a whole lot of time for mentoring. (I'm also probably not as "pushy" as I could be.) So I spent a lot of time riding with other people and just trying to learn by watching. I'm having much more fun now just working on what I want to work on on weekends, and working at my "straight job" the rest of the week. Don't get me wrong, there were good points and I do miss the UP and flogging stuff on the ice pad though . I guess what I'm saying is make sure that that's what you really want to do, as there are probably jobs out there that you can take your degree and make more money at than you can in the auto industry, and you always have the option of buying a project car and indulging your automotive desires that way. (the downside in my case is, of course, I'm practically an expert on Studebakers, but am mostly lost when working on a modern car.) -Ability