Currently in ME. Obviously don't know if it's worth it yet, but I am really liking all of the ME responses saying that they have great jobs. Just wondering if any ME would like to respond: I'd like to know how much are you involved in design of products. I know someone said they are a test engineer, does that also mean you will personally get to go back and attempt to improve it? I know other MEs go into a systems engineering career, and I am pretty sure I don't want to do that, but I don't know a ton about it either.
I don't want to be too intrusive, so you can choose to answer specific parts, but I'd like to know more of what you do, what you like about it, and what you would do differently if you could.
As a test engineer, I
am involved in the design phase, but I do not actually do the designing in general. It's my job to work with the new product design group and/or R&D group to validate performance. I'm currently supporting about 8 different projects for four different design groups within the company. Each project typically requires a dozen or more individual tests, so I stay plenty busy just testing. Our company seperates the design and test activities, which is not how many other companies work. I've seen many design engineer job descriptions that include product testing as part of the duties.
The designer's goal at my company is to improve a current product via modification or replacement, and I have to determine how to prove that the new design is better. When I see a design that is lacking, I work with the design group to get it figured out. Because I'm in the process control industry, our customers' applications are wide ranging - oil, nuclear power, beer, you name it. That means I have to develop test systems that can replicate all of the conditions that each particular end user might operate at and prove they will operate reliably - up to 6000 psi, and -200F to 1200F depending on the specific application. Coastal and off-shore applications may require salt-spray tests for corrosion resistant materials or coatings. Applications in the middle East have to essentially withstand constant sandblasting due to desert winds. We have a "Texas thunderstorm" test procedure for water ingress in our digital instrument products.
So instead of calculating stresses, I spend most of my days figuring out where to put sensors, sizing piping/instrumentation/etc based on the pressure, temperature and flow rates expected, and the necessary duration and harshness of the test. I personally have specialized in high cycle reliability so I do a lot of test automation which means DAQ and programming as well. I've had a few tests where products run 24/7 for 3+ years. Other guys in the department specialize more in vibration, or flow testing, or control algorithms, or loop tuning, etc.
When I graduated, I thought product design was what I wanted. Now, after being in the lab for a while, there is nowhere else in the company I'd want to be. I get to be a Jack-of-all-trades with mechanical, fluids, electrical, programming and statistics skills. I get to be out in the lab, turning wrenches when I want to. If you want to talk more offline, you can PM me.