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04/15/16
Business 1010
Michigan for hired engineers with bachelors to achieve a masters degree. The employer
is making investments in its employees and wants to improve that asset.
Average Salary
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics the average salary for a
mechanical engineer in 2014 was $83,060 per year or an hourly rate of $39.93 per hour.
This salary can average around $20,000 in either direction, even within the same
company based on skills and work experience. While I could not find any specific
information on the automotive division of engineering I did see noted on the U.S.B.L.S.
webpage for mechanical engineers that Many mechanical engineers work in industries
that manufacture machinery or automotive parts. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015)
A working salary of $83,000 a year is a good wage to earn, and I know I can live
comfortably with that. One last item to consider on the topic of salary is
compensation/perks outside of the base pay. Overall, most automotive engineers are
awarded medical benefits while some receive dental as well. These perks add more value
to the already decent salary.
Career Outlook
The future is very bright for the automotive field, especially that of engineers.
The demands for how a car performs has never been higher, competition between car
makers is fierce and thriving, and the government already has laws in place that are
forcing the industry to push the boundaries of what we can make a car do. (Handley, M,
2012) Automotive Engineers have a lot of work to do, but thats a good thing!
While there have been some recent setbacks, like the economy tanking in 2008
that caused several big car makers to seek government bailout, we will always have a
need of cars/trucks. We depend on them just as much as we do oil for our economy to
survive.
Exciting new things are happening, never before have we seen so many
alternative fuel technologies, battery, solar, hydrogen, and CNG are becoming more
mainstream. All of these fuels demand a complex drivetrain and engine management
systems that need to be engineered. New convenience and safety technologies are also
booming, with self-driving cars, auto-pilot modes, lane departure assistance, automatic
emergency braking and other ideas we havent even heard of yet being developed and
produced.
Offshoring engineering jobs may be a concern, especially as all the new standards
put increasing financial burdens on the automaker. There are lots of qualified engineers
in other countries and this is already happening with major component manufacturing.
For the time being however, it is more beneficial to have American engineers design
American automobiles because of a great understanding of what Americans want in an
automobile. Manufacturing processes can occur separate from the engineers
geographically but it makes overseeing, testing and quality control a little more difficult
and time consuming.
Bio of Someone in The Profession
I learned about Peter Whitlock, a 26 year old automotive engineer who lives in
Australia and works for the automaker Holden. Holden is a branch of GM and therefore
Peter indirectly works for General Motor Company. His responsibilities are to develop
automatic transmissions, most recently for the Holden Commodore and the Chevy
Camaro. He spends a large amount of time getting to drive the cars and disassemble
transmissions to figure out issues they have and to recreate problems. One of his major
responsibilities is getting the transmission to work the same in both extremely hot and
extremely cold conditions. He noted that there is also a large amount of desk time to
evaluate the data learned in the field and process it.
really fun hands on time with the cars but from my understanding, its the exception, not
the norm. That doesnt appeal to me.
The other major issue I have with the job is you need to live near a manufacturing
plant. The majority of automotive engineers work in Michigan, California, and Texas in
major cities. I dont like living in a major urban area, I enjoy more rural places. Living
there would be less comfortable for me and I couldnt enjoy many of my outdoor hobbies
and activities.
Those two issues being set aside, there are many great things that would suit me
well. I LOVE cars, and being able to work around making them would be so exciting for
me. I also heavily enjoy learning new things because I am always curious to find out
how things work and what makes them tick. Figuring out new ways to make things tick
would be exciting!
That leaves me with two big points for it, and two big points against it. Im
undecided if I should pursue a career in this field but I guess thats ok, because I still have
time to figure it out. My current career choice of a mechanic shares the same path at this
point in my education and will continue to do so for another two semesters. In the mean
time until I reach said crossroads where I need to make that choice, I will have some
things to ponder about.
Sources
-Atiyeh, C. (2016, April 14). Massive Takata Airbag Recall: Everything You Need to
Know, Including Full List of Affected Vehicles. Retrieved April 15, 2016, from
http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-knowincluding-full-list-of-affected-vehicles.
-Educating Engineers. (n.d.). Automotive Engineer Careers. Retrieved April 17, 2016,
from http://educatingengineers.com/careers/automotive-engineer
-Handley, M. (2012, August 29). 54.5 MPG For All Cars by 2025 With New CAFE
Standards? Not Exactly. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/29/545-miles-per-gallon-for-all-cars-by-
2025-not-exactly
-Payscale. (2016, January 12). Automotive Engineer Salary, Retrieved April 13, 2016,
from http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Automotive_Engineer/Salary
-US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015, December 17). Occupational Outlook Handbook
- Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved April 15, 2016, from
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/mechanical-engineers.htm