REQUIRED SKILLS FOR MECHANICAL DESIGN ENGINEERS

Audio: Required skills for mechanical design engineers – part 1

In my previous article, What does a mechanical design engineer do? I wrote about who mechanical design engineers are, our responsibilities, required skills, and career prospects. The skills needed for mechanical design engineers are split into a two-part article.

In this part, we will dive deeper into mechanical engineering knowledge, industry knowledge, technical skills, and communication skills, and I will give you some advice on how to sharpen them.

Introduction

Most of the time, during my master’s studies, I worked in the industry. I spent most of my living hours either working or studying. Immediately after I finished my studies, I opened my company. I moved to a different city, and everything went well for a while. But very soon, everything started to decline, and it escalated to the point that just six months after I opened my company, I had to close it. Ashamed and defeated, I had to look for a job in some other company because, like all of us, I had running life costs, i.e. I had to eat something. The amount of the “I told you so” I got was overwhelmingly high. For some reason, others found my failure a perfect inspiration for constantly reminding me what happened.

I was not able to figure out what went wrong. I was always a hard-working person, and I still failed. So, I did what every normal human being would do: I blamed everyone and everything. I could not stop pointing fingers around me, trying to prove that this was not my fault. At the early beginning of my new job, I said to myself that I would get to the bottom of this; I would find out who was responsible for my failure.

I was 24 years old when I first heard about “self-improvement.” I stumbled upon one video from Valuetainment, “The life of an Entrepreneur,” and I found out about this guy name Patrick Bet David. I started consuming his content and found the list of the books he would recommend, and the first book I read on this topic was Napoleon Hill – The law of success. So, after many books read, videos watched, and courses attended, I finally found someone to blame. Finally, I pointed my finger at the mirror. I started figuring out what I did wrong and what went wrong from my side. I spent countless hours thinking about what went well and what went wrong, and why.

I learned about my strengths and weaknesses, self-motivation, grit, compound effect, visualization, planning, strategy, human emotions, and human nature in general. I read about neurolinguistic programming and whatnot. I became obsessed with getting better. And, of course, I kept learning about mechanical engineering. I moved from Croatia to Germany without knowing the language and landed the job in two months. I started to work for Fortune 500 company before I turned 27 years old.

I am not saying this to brag about it, but I want you to see that it is possible. If I could do it, you can do it too!

From what in my professional life, after hours and hours of thinking about it, here is the list of the skills that would be the most important ones for you to succeed as a mechanical design engineer:

Mechanical engineering knowledge.
Industry knowledge.
Technical skills.
Communication skills.
Analytical and problem-solving skills.
Decision-making skills.
Organization skills.
Creativity.

In part 1, we will discuss the first four, and in part 2, we will discuss the rest.

Please keep in mind that if you are not ready to work extremely hard, go through an excruciating process and sacrifice a lot to get to a new level, there are no books or blog posts, videos, or courses in this world that will give you overnight success. Also, it will take you years to improve all of these skills. Therefore, depending on your current phase in life, make a plan based on your priorities and focus on improving them.

The skills listed in these two articles are based on my opinion and experience. I am not saying I am right; I am just saying that you should think about it.

1. Mechanical engineering knowledge

The first one, of course, is knowledge of mechanical engineering. I am pretty sure you are now thinking something like, “No s***, Sherlock”.

While this one may seem that it is implied, there is a reason why I put this one as the first one. Your entrance to this position is probably a bachelor’s or master’s degree. I met many people who want to work on some “high-level” stuff without really understanding the basics of mechanical engineering. And I do not mean sit-down-and-learn-for-exam understanding.

I am talking about really understanding the governing principles behind mechanical engineering concepts. I am not implying that you should know all the concepts from the top of your head. You will, during your career, use some concepts more than the others. And those that you will use, you should learn and understand as much as possible. That will demand some work in your free time, but in the long run, the return on investment will be worth it.

For example, you may or may not be familiar with the Finite Element Method (FEM). The first lesson when I took this course was “garbage in – garbage out.” In order to properly obtain and understand the results of the FEA (Finite Element Analysis), you should have a great understanding of mechanical engineering principles. You might not be a person that will conduct FEA in your company, but if you want to interpret the results, you still have to know the principles behind it.

You do not want to be one of those people that open Autodesk Fusion 360 and take a CAD model, define some loads, and constraints, generate a mesh and get the results. And then you tap yourself on the back, so proud that you managed to get the picture colored with as little red as possible.

So basically, your knowledge of the topic comes from three places: your head, learning materials, and your network. You know something as long as you have one of these three things available.

My first advice for expanding your mechanical engineering knowledge is to invest time in finding the books, websites, and courses that could give you the necessary answers and knowledge. If it requires money, spend as much as you can possibly afford. There is no greater investment than investing in yourself. I spent a great amount of money on the proper learning materials, and it all paid off.

The second piece of advice is to network with people whose strengths are your weaknesses. Find out if there are any experts on the topics in question inside your company or your immediate circle of acquaintances. Furthermore, find out if there are any external consultants with whom your company is cooperating that are available to you. If any of these persons that you thought could help you cannot, there is a high probability that they could point you out in the direction of the person that could. So always ask a simple question: “do you know someone that might be able to help me?”.

Use a technique called “Product decomposition” – basically, take any product laying around your house and disassemble them. Create free-hand sketches of different components and assemblies. Think about the materials that could have been used to manufacture it, feel the surface finish below your fingers, and investigate interesting features on the components. Disassembling and assembling different products are also beneficial for your hand coordination, and you will get used to using different tools. Ask yourself if there is an easier way to assemble this product? Would you make any design changes to make it easier? How many standardized parts were used, and how many were not probably used? I believe that product decomposition is a great exercise that will improve your skills significantly.

If you are working in a company that has in-house production capabilities, spend a lot of time in production talking with the assembly workers. Gather their experiences about the different products they assemble. In the end, you will design products that they will have to later on assemble.

Look into the legacy products in your company, preferably get them physically in front of you. Analyze them and look into the engineering drawings. Then, whatever you do not know, or you just find it interesting, go into the production (if possible) and try to assemble it yourself.

I could create a list of what you should focus on to learn, but I will say only this: learn how to make a proper engineering drawing!

2. Industry knowledge

When you start working on your new job, you will know little to nothing about the industry that you are working in. However, you will build this knowledge throughout the years you will work in this industry.

What types of standards are required from your products to be compliant with? What kind of testing your products must undergo? What is the profile of the customers in this industry? What is the status of the industry and its future? In what direction company’s competitors are headed, and what is your company’s position regarding them? What technologies impact the industry, and could they significantly shift your industry trends? How is the geopolitical situation influencing your industry and your suppliers?

Some of these questions will be more important than the others, depending on the company you are working in. However, getting a deep understanding of the industry will position you on the path to mastery in your job. Knowing all these things for you as a mechanical design engineer will give you an idea of what your customer wants and may want in the future, giving you an early start on predicting and implementing new solutions before your competitors do.

Furthermore, by understanding the challenges in your industry, you will be able to predict the problems that could occur which will give you a head start in addressing them.

The first step in acquiring industry knowledge is to “pick” the brain of the people that already spent many years working in that industry. Ask them about the industry, trends, and where they get their information if they have some interesting newsletters, websites, etc., that they follow. You do not have to conduct the interrogation and pour all the questions immediately.

Talk with the people in your company and build rapport through genuine interest in what they have to say. In addition to straightforward questions regarding the industry, you can also try to get their opinions. This will give you insight into how they are processing information about specific events in your industry. For example, the question could be: “In our last meeting, you talked about the x,y,z trend. What do you think could it influence a,b,c?”.

3. Technical skills

On your job, you will use different software and tools that will make you faster and more efficient. At least, that is their purpose. But there is a downside to it; if you do not take the time to learn how to properly use software and tools, they could make you slower and more prone to error. Therefore, technical skills are fundamental skills you need to learn.

For example, writing on your keyboard with your ten fingers without looking at it. If you do not know how to write without looking at the keyboard, your fingers cannot follow your brain; you are inefficient and slow. To learn to type with ten fingers, you can use this free website that will help you elevate your typing skills to a new level.

This goes for all the software you use: e-mail, CAD, simulations, ERP, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, cloud, search engines, etc. Investing time in developing your technical skills will give back great dividends.

There are many different ways to get proficient in using different software. The first thing that I would recommend is, of course, Youtube and Google. You can find everything from the whole software course to solutions to specific problems. Write in the search bar the issue that you are trying to resolve. For example: “How to knit surface in software ABC.”

If you are using new software, ask your manager to provide the resources for the training/course that will help you become proficient in using that software. These training/courses could come directly from different companies or websites like Udemy.

Learn how to standardize your work in the software you use most. A well-predefined template is your good friend.

4. Communication skills

I am not sure what is your first thoughts when someone mentions that someone is an engineer, but for a long time, I would imagine someone who is socially awkward. I am unsure if the reason is movies or TV shows, but that is just what I thought. Now, however, I definitely think differently. I met many engineers who are quite communicative and charismatic personas who actually know how to behave in front of other people.

One of the things that you will be doing as a mechanical design engineer daily is communicating. You will communicate with your teammates, suppliers, customers, management, assembly workers, specialist, trainees, etc.

There are usually three types of the communication that you will use:

Verbal and nonverbal communication skills

Talking with people face to face in meetings, hallways, lunch, etc. Face-to-face verbal communication also transmits the nonverbal cues to other people you are talking to. Nonverbal communication is your body language, facial expression, tone of voice, eye contact, etc.
Furthermore, you can communicate with others online. If your camera is not working, in addition to your verbal communication, the most important nonverbal communication will be your tone of voice, loudness, pitch, etc. If you are presenting something, in addition to verbal and nonverbal communication, you will also communicate in writing and pictures.

In addition to going to a pub and talking with people, here are some additional resources that helped me increase my verbal and nonverbal communications skills:

Course:

The Complete Communication Skills Master Class for Life by TJ Walker on Udemy.

Books like:

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Body Language: How to Read Others, Detect Deceit, and Convey the Right Message by James Borg

Written communication skills

As a mechanical design engineer, you will communicate extensively with e-mail (outlook). Based on the company, you could communicate internally through collaboration software like Microsoft Teams or any other software your company prefers. Therefore, you want to ensure that your writing is as clear and concise as possible.
Furthermore, you should practice writing. Writing is an extremely powerful way of structuring your mind. Through writing, you can see how some of the topics in your head are unorganized and scattered all around. Regarding the writing, I cannot give you any special tips on how to improve your writing except sit down and write as much as possible.

I can, however, give you a hint on your English grammar. If you are like me, and you are not a native English speaker, there is a tool called Grammarly. Grammarly is a writing assistant that will help you with grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I use Grammarly all the time. It is integrated with my MS Word, Outlook, and Google Chrome. I am using it for this article, for e-mails, reports, presentations, etc. The price I pay a month and the value I get as a non-native English speaker is immeasurable for me. Whenever I am not sure about my writing, I go to Grammarly.

Engineering communication skills

You will have to prepare many different presentations like design reviews, reports, graphics, technical e-mails, etc. The special thing about engineering communication is that you will use pictorial communication in addition to verbal, nonverbal, and written communication (different exploded views, cross-sections, graphs, concept sketches, load diagrams, etc.).
What is even more challenging is that after you remove the verbal and nonverbal parts of the communication, the communicated message should stay the same in years to come. That basically means that in a few years after you leave the company and someone needs your report, everything should be clear and understandable from it. This may sound hard, and you are right.
The approach for preparing presentations, reports, etc., depends on the type of audience on the receiving end. It is not the same when you are preparing the presentation for the managers or other team members. For example, if the audience is more involved in the design process, they may be interested in the details while the managers may not. The same thing goes for the meetings. What and when to discuss to have an efficient meeting and to convey a proper message is never easy to decide.

The tool I am using the most that is making my engineering communication easier is a tool called Snagit. Snagit is a screen capture and recording software that allows me to take a screenshot of my desktop or region of a desktop and immediately edit it. I used this tool for most of the technical pictures created for this website. I can add lines, arrows, shapes, different effects, automatically numbered bubbles in different colors, and much more. One of the exciting features is screen and audio recording possibilities. I can quickly create a video instruction and share it. Snagit will definitely make your life easier.

Closing words

Here is the end of part 1. I would encourage you to finish the complete list of skills by reading the Required skills for Mechanical design engineer – part 2.

This was my opinion on the required skills for the mechanical design engineer. What do you think? Did I overlook any of the skills that you find equally important? Share your experience and thoughts in the comments below!

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