What is the toughest thing to work on in mechanical engineering?

Hi Gloria,
I noticed that you have recently asked three somewhat related question w/r to Mechanical Engineering and what it is like to be one, what do they do, what a typical day is like, what is the toughest thing they do. All great questions but, as you may have already discovered, very difficult to answer because Mechanical Engineering (ME) is such a broad field. If you have not already done so, do a web search on "What is a mechanical engineer". Simply put, there are really only three types of engineering: Civil (the oldest) designs and builds things that do NOT move, ME designs and builds things that move, and Electrical (the newest) designs and builds things that make and use electricity. Given that ME is so broad (things that move) it really comes down to what you find interesting which will help you decide what industry you are interested in (home appliances, robots, space ships, automobiles, motors, jet engines, ships, etc.) Once you decide roughly what interests you (and that will probably change as you go through school as there at companies hiring MEs to do things that you have probably never heard of), what would you like to do: design things ( spend time on the computer), test things (spend time in a lab) build things (spend time in a factory), install and maintain things (spend time "in the field") where things are used or sell things (spend time with potential customers). The possibilities are endless, as a search of Mechanical Engineering" on the computer will quickly show you.

To get to be an ME, you need a 4 year degree in Mechanical Engineering. The hardest part of getting a BSME is probably the various math classes that you have to take. You do not have to like math to be an engineer, but you do have to be able to do it. Once you get a job as an ME, depending on the career path you choose, you may be doing a lot of math - operate specialized computer programs (and some people really like that) or you may get an ME job in which you have to do little or no math (other people really like that). Many jobs require a variety of skills.

I have been a field engineer (installation and maintenance of steam turbines), a project manager (built a power plant), a sales engineer (sold power generation equipment) and a technical trainer (operation and maintenance of power generation equipment). Currently I am a consultant in the Power Generation Industry. To illustrate have varied ME can be: My brother is an ME (HVAC systems), my cousin is and ME (military drone design), my nephew is an ME (engine sensors design) and most of my friends are MEs (machine design, hydraulic systems and electrical controls).

I hope the above has been helpful to you. I have been an ME for over 40 years and can't imaging having done anything else - and I am still learning new things.

Sincerely,
Douglas Lemmo

The toughest things to account for in design engineering are the risks of failure in exceptional circumstances. Normal use, or even extreme conditions, are predictable and can be designed for with assurance. What you have to work hard to predict and avoid are failures when the product is used in a way that is outside the intended or expected range or is changed i some way without you knowing it. This is especially important when the user may be harmed or the environment nearby be affected under these abnormal circumstances.

An example from my own experience: Electronic products used in the home or office collect dust and lint over time so the designer must be sure that no failure or voltage overload will cause enough heat to ignite this and start a fire. The circumstances to produce this problem may take a long time to develop and the events to trigger this may be rare, but you have to anticipate this and design a fail-safe outcome. We had designed and tested a product that met these criteria and the first products had been manufactured overseas and were being shipped to the US by container. Early product were flown over to us for final product testing. To our surprise (shock?) we found that one component that was designed to fail a voltage surge as an open circuit had been changed by the supplier and now failed as a short circuit and overheated enough to cause a fire if the dust and lint conditions were present. What was the probability of this occurring? Almost impossible to predict but we knew that the outcome could be very dangerous to our customer. The only option was to impound the containers when they arrived and open and inspect all the products to find those with the "new and improved" component and change it out. It cost a lot of money and delayed shipment to the customer but it was the right thing to do.