Mechanical Engineers of TSR

I'm coming to end of my degree in mechanical engineering now I guess (eek) and this is the advice I'd give myself four years ago.

Definitely do a sandwich year. You'll learn more relevant content that year than any of the 3 or 4 you spend at Uni (providing you get a good placement you enjoy).
In your spare time, learn a CAD/CAE package inside out. Don't wait for courseworks requiring you to learn CAD, do it in the first place and you will fly through those modules! My choice was Autodesk Inventor (2010-2013), but others prefer CATIA or ProE (now Creo Elements). I think it comes down to preference really more than anything while you are at Uni.
For group courseworks, if you can pick your group, choose people with the best ability, rather than just your mates. I know it might be difficult but that's a mistake I've made every single year . It will mean you end up with more work to do, because you are carrying others.
Don't skip too many lectures. It will come back to bite you.
Get involved with Formula student as a fun way to learn/apply what you've learned. I regret not doing this now. My friend did and it's plain to see the knowledge he has gained.
Don't neglect your social life. Monday to Friday work as hard as you can to get that 1:1 or 2:1 you deserve, but give yourself some time off at weekends else you will tire out eventually.
The two main subjects I've found I had to read around most are thermodynamics & fluid mechanics, and solid mechanics & stress analysis. Give theses a bit of extra time.

Does TSR have an actual engineering society (I mean group)? If it does, perhaps we could add all the threads like this to the group. And if there is a group, who's maintaining it?

well isn't there one (Engineering Society 2012?) hmm either way its not active at all lool this is probably the most active one to date! It's like the mods don't even care about the engineering forum nothing hardly gets changed on here

I found this group: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/group.php?groupid=150

But neither of the users listed use TSR any more. I'd ask to be putin (lol) charge of the group but I don't think the modburo would let me maybe you should do it!

Haha how do I go about asking? I'm still a noob compared to you tho

Post in AAM. I've already nominated you

Thanks I have just posted there now!

Ohh btw how long are the breaks between semester? Summer is the longest one right? How many weeks do u get off?

4 weeks for Christmas and Easter holidays... something like 14 weeks for summer (DENCH)

And which time would you say is most stressful (in terms of exams)? I'm trying to decide which way is best to apply for internships its either I pick an optional placement year and get a year long one or do it in the summer holidays for 10-12 weeks.

I don't normally find the exam period, or the bit before it (where there are no lectures and everyone is just revising), stressful. I get a little frantic the night before an exam, if I haven't revised properly for it, which has happened a couple of times.

So yes, I would say that exam season is my favourite time of the year, because there aren't any lectures for me to miss, every day is straight chillin', just reading through my problem sheets, making notes, doing a couple of past papers etc. but I don't think this is a popular sentiment.

Someone from Airbus mentioned that they only do year-long placements because with summer ones (apparently) there's not much you can do as you don't get very well acquainted with the project you're working on. I didn't want to take a year out because the way my course is structured doesn't seem to encourage (unlike a degree with an intercalated year) and I didn't want to come back to a whole new set of people, which is what happened anyway

Hmm I see, the course I have applied to doesn't include a year in industry however they said to me you get the option of doing so after 2nd year. Doing a year long would be good in the sense that you may have done well with that company and may be offered a graduate job for when you finish but on the downside u don't get to experience different industries like you would if you just did summer internships every year. Haha how come you ended up with a new set of people?

I shall be attending an open day this week so ill ask questions on this, if it turns out the summer period is exam revision for exams that are shortly after/or during summer then I may not risk it and i'll just think about taking the optional placement year

You could probably still do a summer placement each year... But I'm going to spend a full year on a placement if I can. Until that time, I will still try to do the summer placements - It's worth a big chunk of cash and it will still help me to gain extra skills.

My university year finishes at the start of June and doesn't start up again until late September (16 weeks or so)... Thus, I have a long time to do a summer placement if I want one. The exam period finishes in the back end of May though, so I could feasibly work for a further month if they'll have me (I made a thread asking exactly what happens after the exams as I do have quite a large gap between the end of exams and end of year). 10-12 weeks of work is common, but if I can score the full 20 weeks, I could land myself with around £5k from work!


I'm hoping to go on a placement these next two summers, then start my placement year in September 2014. Some placements will offer you a job, or final year project support, and may encourage you to come back for summer placements in any further years of education. They'll hang on to you if you're good.

Yeah that's a good point actually ill have to remember to ask that on the open day( what you do after the exam period). Nearly always the companies that take you will be likely to offer you a job afterwards unless you screw up during your time there in which case they may offer something else or not employ you lool.

If you're able to get the job, I'm sure they'll see that you'll probably be quite well suited to doing it. At the same time, I've had jobs (non-engineering) which I left after either a day or a month because I hated them too. So you'll get to know the industry and you'll get a feel for the company. You might love it and they might love you, and that will help job prospects as well!

Last year, I made it to the top 4 for a summer placement - I was doing my A-levels at that point and they seemed quite keen. The interview or other circumstances must've blown it for me, but I'll apply again this year... I'm in a better position than where I was last time and I'm doing well for myself.

It's just about constantly trying new things. Just be aware that some summer placement applications can close before Christmas, so start researching when possible and keep a note in your calendar. The one I'm going for doesn't open applications until March, but plenty of others close much earlier. I have a Word document of around 60 different companies which I will keep looking at and will apply to for my third year placement. Every time you hear something interesting on the news about a tech company, just jot down the name and have a look at them. Many will be taking engineers as graduates, or for placements.

A semi mech-eng checking in here

What is the preferred CAD package in industry?

It's just about constantly trying new things. Just be aware that some summer placement applications can close before Christmas, so start researching when possible and keep a note in your calendar. The one I'm going for doesn't open applications until March, but plenty of others close much earlier. I have a Word document of around 60 different companies which I will keep looking at and will apply to for my third year placement. Every time you hear something interesting on the news about a tech company, just jot down the name and have a look at them. Many will be taking engineers as graduates, or for placements.

I think that depends with the industry itself as to which they use. A lot of engineers have personal preferences so the company may have this in mind and will probably have all 3 types (well I think there's 3 main ones anyway)

Is Creo (pro/engineer) up there?

Thank you what placement did you do if I may ask?