<p>I'm studying to be a mechanical engineering, with either an emphasis on fluids or aerospace, haven't yet decided. As I was trying to plan for the future I was wondering where are the best cities to work as an engineer? The reason could be opportunities, money, job satisfaction, etc. I'd greatly appreciate if someone could get a list of good engineering cities, why, and what companies are there . Also, I currently live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area but my family could be moving to Houston so any suggestions for good places to work in these two cities or which would be the better city to live in for mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>Texas has a lot of opportunities especially around the Houston area. Cities in midwest will also have a lot of jobs and then there is always California.</p>
<p>It really depends on what kind of industry you want to work in. ME is a tremendously broad subject. </p>
<p>Also, you should not feel boxed in by the specific engineering discipline you are doing. I know plenty of ME's who ended up in software or circuits. The fact is, after you've been working, nobody will care what kind of degree you have. The only thing that will matter is what jobs you've held and how you performed in them. For example, nobody is going to say "Oh, I see you have good experience as a software designer, but I see that you don't have a degree in CS, so we're not going to hire you". </p>
<p>Having said that, obviously if you want to work in automotive, you can go to Detroit or to nearby cities that have large auto plants (mostly located around the Midwest). Industrial machinery is also to a large extent made in the Midwest, especially around the Great Lakes region. If you like aerospace, you can go to Seattle. If you want to do biomedical devices, you can go to San Jose or Boston. And if you want to go high-tech, you go to San Jose or Boston. If you want energy/petrochemicals, you'll probably stay in Houston.</p>
<p>Houston has a lot of petroleum engineers, as sakky said.
By majoring in mechanical engineering, you have doors open to petroleum engineering, which is one of the reasons I am going to major in ME.</p>
<p>Cool, NASA is located in Houston so that's always an option. I read on a few other threads about private government firms. Does anyone know where and who these firms are?</p>
<p>Also, which energy companies are located in Houston?</p>
<p>NASA does alot of contracting work...not sure about Houston, but at Goddard [Maryland], contractors outnumber federal employees. Because of that, there are likely large numbers of engineering firms with offices around (or on, like at GSFC) NASA centers.</p>
<p>My dad works for a company called Swift Energy in Houston, and they're opening a new office up in Santa Barbara where he will be moving to at the end of summer. Last year I talked to a new petroleum engineer who had just started working for Chevron-Texaco at 64,000 a year in Houston. There are A LOT of energy companies in Texas let alone Houston.</p>
<p>In the northeast, is Boston the only city worth looking at for a ME?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Shell, chevron-texaco, schlumberger, and enron are all located in Houston and there are plenty more. Many people in Houston are employed in energy fields; I live in a suburb of Houston and it seems like about 1/2 of my friends' dads work for some energy company and engineers.</p>
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I read on a few other threads about private government firms. Does anyone know where and who these firms are?
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<p>Private government firms? That seems like quite the oxymoron. I too would like to know what exactly a private government firm is.</p>
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Also, which energy companies are located in Houston?
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<p>Basically, Houston is the unofficial technology capital of the world energy market. While many major oil companies may hold their official business headquarters elsewhere (i.e. in London or in New York), the great bulk of the engineering and technical work is sourced out of Houston. Most oilfield services firms (the companies that do much of the actual engineering work in exploration and production), such as Schlumberger, BakerHughes, Halliburton (yeah yeah, make all the political jokes you want, Halliburton is still a widely respected oilfield services company), Smith International, WesternGeco, etc. all are either headquartered or have major operations in Houston. Additionally, many true oil companies (companies that actually take ownership of the oil) like Citgo, ConocoPhillips, and Marathon are actually headquartered in Houston, and other major oil companies have substantial presences in Houston. For example, Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP all maintain large operations in or around Houston. Even the largest oil company in the world, Saudi Aramco, maintains a major office in Houston. Nor are the Houston energy operations related only to upstream exploration and production. There must be dozens of oil refineries and chemical plants in and around the Houston area. The largest oil refinery in the US is located in Baytown, which is about a halfhour out of town. </p>
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In the northeast, is Boston the only city worth looking at for a ME?
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<p>There's plenty of stuff going on in Hartford (United Technologies), and in upstate New York. And of course you can always find something to do in New York City.</p>
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Private government firms? That seems like quite the oxymoron. I too would like to know what exactly a private government firm is.
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<p>I think it sounds like a private firm that is funded solely by government money, ie Draper Labs.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess I worded that poorly. I'm talking about the "federally-funded research and development companies." A few people talk about them on the "Best Employers" thread. </p>
<p>"Shell, chevron-texaco, schlumberger, and enron are all located in Houston and there are plenty more. "</p>
<p>I don't think working for Enron would be such a good idea....</p>
<p>It's one of the first things that came to mind, and several of my freinds' had parents that worked there.</p>
<p>What exactly do engineers do that work for energy related companies? Is it all petroleum engineering and stuff like that because I'm not really interested in that sort of stuff? What I'd really be interested in persueing is new energy (ie hydrogen fuel cells and the like).</p>
<p>It's by no means all petroleum engineers. I know that some are mech e's that are working on design of drilling equipment and stuff. I'm not sure about working on new enery sources.</p>
<p>Does anyone know where companies are located that are working on new energy sources? This is what I'm really interested in.</p>
<p>All the major automakers have been working on developing new energy sources. GM, for example, has embarked on a major initiative to develop fuel-cell engines. </p>
<p>However, the American car companies are pretty sickly right now. You'll probably have more success getting hired at a Japanese or a Korean car company.</p>