My son is interested in working in the automotive industry. He had planned on majoring in Mechanical Engineering. We went to an event and many stated for him to do Electrical Engineering. He likes aspects of ME; however, he wants to be employable and have great options after college. We would love some advice.
If he wants to do ME, he should do ME. I work in automotive - on the sales side. The only engineers I know are mechanical - I believe.
My son is ME at Alabama He interned two summers in a row at an automotive OEM I used to work for.
His colleagues at his internships are also ME amongst other majors including supply chain and data science.
You can look at jobs for Ford, GM, Tesla, whomever - and they will be seeking MEs - but go ahead and look.
Both are fine degrees - but I have no idea who would have stated that related to automotive. Perhaps they are looking at tomorrow and not today - and with batteries, etc. the skillsets match better.
I donāt know - but ME is definitely a solid choice (as Iām sure EE is). As I said, Iām not an expert - but I would be of the belief that for the larger percentage of jobs ME is more applicable.
Do note though - today automotive OEMs donāt manufacture as much but rather assemble - so for example, a vehicle may have parts from 100 suppliers. I imagine thatās why even when my son worked in the plant, he said - it wasnāt really engineering. In fact, Iāve read 75% of engineers donāt āengineerā - but as he said this summer, they want people who think like engineers hence they seek out the engineering students.
Good luck.
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Iām not an expert in the auto industry (like I assume you are, Iām the parent of a senior), but weāve been hearing that hands-on design team and internship / co-op experience is really valuable, maybe more important than choice of major. Weāve been told that there are jobs for both ME and EE. Did someone at the event tell you that there was an oversupply of ME?
It looks like you posted a lot on the TAMU thread. Is this where your son wants to go? They seem to have really active and strong SAE design teams, and I like what I see about their process for training newcomers to the team (check out SAE Development Program). Hereās the TAMU SAE web site: https://www.tamusae.org
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My Dās friends who work in automotive are all mech es.
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Well, my friends daughter did her internship and first job with Tesla being an Electrical engineer that hated coding. What did she do at Tesla you ask??? She programed the electrical systems lol.
But actually enjoyed it.
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I too know of an EE who recently got a job at Tesla.
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Both ME and EE (as well as CS, individual engineering, and materials engineering) will be useful in the automotive industry (for any kind of car ā EE is not limited to electric vehicles). The industry also includes suppliers like Lear, Recaro, Johnson Controls, Bosch, LG, Panasonic, Magna, etcā¦ Some of the most obvious suppliers are tire companies like Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental, Hankook, etcā¦ Glass companies like Carlex / Carlite, Fuyao, Saint Gobain Sekurit, etc. are also noticeable suppliers.
Some colleges do have a first year engineering program where students declare the specific major later. However, some (e.g. Pittsburgh) have capacity in all majors, but others (e.g. Texas A&M) are capacity limited in at least some majors, so those majors may require a high college GPA or competitive admission based on first year grades and sometimes essays.
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Yes, but they need to provide the specifications to the suppliers and make sure that all of the parts actually work together as a vehicle.
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Yes - and there are huge opportunities at suppliers.
Iāll go back to my first comment - and not an expert - but I would look at engineering listings for name your company that manufactures here - GM, Ford, Stellantis, Hyundia, Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Honda.
Youāll get the answer quickly.
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Tesla, VW, BMW, Rivian, Lucid also. Subaru and Kia also, depending on how closely tied they are to Toyota and Hyundai for the purpose of job listings and the like.
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Yep - thereās a ton here - obviously some more established than others - but actually the South is a great place to go to school - whether Clemson and itās auto research center, all the kids being hired from UTK, Bama, MS State, LSU, etc. and the traditional powerhouses of Michigan and Purdue.
In addition to Ford building battery plants in TN, Benz is adding EV near Tuscaloosa, Rivian is building in Western GA, Subaru is up in Indiana, Mazda/Toyota have a joint venture going up in Huntsville. Volvo in between Columbia and Charleston SC.
One can also go for the EVs/startups too if thatās their thing - you mentioned a few but thereās Canoo, Waymo (Google), Fisker, etc.
I canāt say for sure but Iād have to think someone desiring auto is picking a good industry as itās in transition - whether or not customers agree with the choice.
As others have already said, MANY flavors of engineers work in the automotive industry. Ditto aerospace. Really, ditto most industries, biomedical, structural, you name it. They all employ many different types of engineers.
That said, if your son wants ME, but wants a taste of EE and CS, a mechatronics concentration will give him that. Depending on the school, thatās approached from the ME side, as it was at my sonās alma mater, or occasionally, from the EE side.
Much more importantly, he should choose the best SAE club at his school, be it Formula, FormulaE, Baja, or hypermile, and get involved as early as possible. Then, he should try for automotive internships. Lastly, if he can plan his senior project on something germane to his interested area of the industry, heāll be set.
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In addition to formula SAE, these 15 schools have ecoCAR which is a partnership with GM and the DOE.
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University/ Bethune-Cookman University;
- Georgia Institute of Technology;
- Illinois Institute of Technology;
- McMaster University (Canada);
- Mississippi State University;
- Ohio State University/Wilberforce University;
- University of Alabama;
- University of California, Riverside;
- University of California, Davis;
- University of Texas at Austin;
- University of Waterloo (Canada);
- Virginia Tech, and
- West Virginia University.
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The automotive industry is likely to undergo some fundamental transformation in the next decade or two, as the industry makes its transition to EV. EVs have far fewer mechanical parts than vehicles using internal combustion engines. The most affected are the traditional automotive suppliers. In fact, some of them are already in trouble (particularly in Asia and Europe). New suppliers obviously will rise to replace them, but newer vehicles tend to have more and more electrical components (even for non-EVs). @eyemghās suggestion of mechatronics is a good one. That field will see much more growth as more mechanical functions are replaced by electro-mechanical ones in automobiles, in robotics, etc.
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If heās interested in MechE then it makes more sense to go that route. He will have plenty of opportunities with that degree. Even electric vehicles have many mechanical needs.
There are some really cool opportunities for MechEs in the defense industry that are automotive based. Of course he could be working on a 60 ton tank, a cutting edge hybrid vehicle or an amphibious troop carrier as opposed to a family sedan. Good opportunities exist both within the government and with defense contractors.
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Thank you for the detailed response!
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Thank you so much! This is great information!
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