Desk Jobs for Mechanical Engineers: Roles, Skills, and Industry Trends

Mechanical engineers can find a variety of desk-based jobs across different industries. These roles typically involve a mix of technical analysis, project management, and collaboration with other professionals, providing a range of opportunities for engineers to apply their skills in a desk-based environment.

Common Desk Jobs for Mechanical Engineers

Design Engineer: Focuses on creating and developing new products or systems using CAD software. They may work on everything from consumer products to complex machinery.

Project Engineer/Manager: Oversees engineering projects, coordinating between teams, managing budgets, and ensuring timelines are met.

Manufacturing Engineer: Works on optimizing production processes, improving efficiency, and implementing new manufacturing technologies.

Quality Assurance Engineer: Ensures products meet required specifications and standards through testing and quality control processes.

Research and Development (RD) Engineer: Engages in the innovation of new technologies or products, conducting experiments, and analyzing results. This often involves hands-on experimentation and simulation.

Sales Engineer: Combines technical knowledge with sales skills to sell complex engineering products or services to clients. This role often involves client meetings and presentations, as well as technical support.

Product Manager: Responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition of a product, working closely with engineering, marketing, and sales teams.

Consultant: Provides expert advice to organizations on mechanical engineering projects, processes, or technology implementations. Consultants often work remotely and have diverse client bases.

Technical Support Engineer: Assists customers or internal teams with technical issues related to products or systems, often requiring a strong understanding of mechanical systems.

Simulation Engineer: Uses software to simulate mechanical systems and analyze their performance under various conditions, often employed in industries like aerospace and automotive.

Phases of Engineering Development

Engineering development typically involves several phases, including concept development, detail design, analysis, production, testing, and field support. The engineers focused on the early phases, concept development through analysis, primarily work at their desks. The engineers focused on the later phases, production through field support, primarily work away from their desks and out in the field.

If you want to have a desk job as a mechanical engineer, you should focus on design or analysis. If you are focused on design, you will need to be proficient in a CAD software package such as SolidWorks, Unigraphics (UGNX), or CATIA. If you are focused on analysis, you will need to be proficient in analysis software packages for finite element analysis (FEA) or computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Some engineers may also need to write their own software, particularly in MATLAB, but Python is also a strong choice. It is important to note that you will have more luck having solely a desk job at a medium to large-sized company. At larger companies, engineers typically specialize and focus on specific development phases, such as design, analysis, testing, etc.

However, at smaller companies, engineers are expected to fill all of the roles and will take a design from 'cradle to grave,' i.e., designing it, analyzing it, testing it, and deploying it.

Importance of Field Experience

I highly recommend spending at least some of your time in the field. Even if you primarily focus on analysis, I spent a lot of time in the field early on in my career, and that experience made me a much better engineer. It is one thing to know how something should work in an abstract sense; it is another thing entirely to hold it in your hand, put it together, and see it work. Once you test and deploy a few of your own designs, you will see all the mistakes you made and will correct them in the future.

Engineering is a hands-on field, and practical experience can provide invaluable insights that theoretical knowledge alone cannot offer. Whether you are focusing on design, analysis, or both, field experience can solidify your understanding and enhance your problem-solving skills.

Best of luck on your career journey!

Arthur Kirkby

MechaniCalc