Auto Industry Jobs - HOW TO GET IN

Hey br/o/s, looking for some help on how to get a job in the automotive industry.
I'm pretty sure everyone here loves cars so I thought this was a good place to ask.

The question is:
> What degrees should people get in order to get into the auto industry?
Me personally, I like mainly the IT part of it, also how engines work and things like that also interest me (if I could mix the two that would be great), so what would be the degree that would make the most sense for me?

Feel free to share a bit of your background if you'd like too (for the people that are IN the industry)

Any tips from Engineers and stuff alike are greatly apreciated.

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Cars are complicated things, valuable degrees include Mechanical Eng, Mechatronics Eng, and Software Eng. There are a lot more jobs in automotive manufacturing than there is in design. Also, a lot of manufacturing is done by third-party suppliers, rather than major auto companies themselves.

comp sci/comp eng
electrical engineering

some schools have auto industry specific degrees (and i dont mean UTI). also a school with a formula SAE program would be a big plus.

i'm not in the auto industry but have friends who are, and i used to work at an IT staffing firm.

I'm not sure exactly what you'd call it, but isn't there something like aeronautical engineering but for cars?

If you're referring to aerodynamics, that's mainly done by mechanical engineers. Aerospace engineers are just overspecialized mechanical engineers.

What would a Mech/Software Eng. do in the car company? Is this industry only locked to engineering or do you think it's possible to get in without a degree in eng. or no degree at all?
Also, are you in the industry? If yes, what do you do?

I study mechanical engineering, and know a few people in the industry and have talked to professors on the topic.

You can get into the industry with a technologist degree as well, or with no degree in hands on manufacturing. Basic mechanic training is definitely an asset though.

A mechanical engineer will often be in charge of manufacturing efficiency and maintenance. A software engineer will also be involved in the same. Again, you can also work in design, but design jobs are generally reserved for the countries where the company is headquartered (germany, US, japan)

Exactly the reason i'm studying as a Mechanical Engineer. I had a choice between Mechanical, Mechatronic and Vehicle engineering, but I choose the first, mainly because mechatro engineering isn't my thing, and i find interest in every machinery, not just cars and other vehicles, so i choose Mechanical Engineering. Also, there are a lot more jobs aviable as a mechanical engineer, not just in car indutry.
I can only speak as a 1st year Mechanical engineer studying at University. As for the car industry:
BsC can get you to the assembly plant
MsC can get you to the design and research centre
PhD can get you basically anywhere

Pic related is the Uni where I study, Budapesti Műszaki Egyetem

Also, hands on manufacturing is increasingly being automated or outsourced, so keep that in mind.

>if you're referring to aerodynamics

Yes, this lol I'm too high

I have a friend who studied Mechanical Engineering and ended up working at BMW Designworks.

What about development? Would a more physical degree (mech eng.) be better if someone wants to go do R&D and creating projects for new cars or would a Software Eng. degree do just as well (although working in different things than the mech eng.)?

Also, where I live the closest thing to a Software Eng. degree is Computer Engineering, would that be the same?

Cool! Are you thinking of doing projects and thinking about new things or more of getting your hands dirty and working with the machines first hand?

For development, Software Eng would be more focused on stuff like self driving technology or driving assists rather than the mechanics of the vehicle itself.

If everything goes right, i want to do at least an MsC, maybe even a PhD. Considering this, i want to gat a job in the Audi plant here in Hungary (we have Audi, Mercedes, Opel and Suzuki here) I want to get a job as a research engineer. I'm not sure if that ob is aviable here in hungary, because as said: >design jobs are generally reserved for the countries where the company is headquartered (germany, US, japan)

So basically yes, i would like to get my hands on projects and developement, and only get my hands dirty tuning my own car

That's pretty cool too. Anything that has you and the car sounds good to me. Now, if the work would consist of being in an office the hole day coding, without ever being with the car, that's not too much of my thing. Do you think Soft. Engies ever see the car or are they simply code monkeys?

It really depends, the auto industry is so huge

That's great dude, auto jobs in my country (Portugal) aren't many so emmigration is my best chance. That's also one of my dreams, becoming a research engineer. Just imagine, getting payed to make cool cars... Amazing if you ask me. I also really like F1, I heard jobs for that were CRAZY hard to find or get into, any info on that?

Myself personally, I'm looking to do a Ms in Electrionics and Computer Engineering, knowing about circuits and hardware while learning to code at the same time is basically what the course is. How do you think this would work for someone looking to get into this area?

bump

I'm not gonna make my own thread since I have almost the same question as OP.

Simply put, I want to become a car designer. How do I do it?
I'm a mechanical engineering student, but they don't have many design related courses where I'm at.

I might be able to move to the US if necessary.

Bump

I want to make cars great again.

its actually pretty easy to get an engineering job with GM because nobody wants to live in detroit.

>also really like F1, I heard jobs for that were CRAZY hard to find or get into, any info on that?

Yup, if you manage to get into the F1 business as an engineer, you basically cashed in, i don't think that anything could pay better for a mechanical eng.

I don't really have any info on it though, but i think (it's really my own logic, i don't know if it's true or anything), for example, you're working for, let's say, mercedes, and you're damn good at your job, you might get thrown over to the F1 research centre.

Here we have an MsC, called "Machine design&research engineer", basically what you're talking about. I'll obviously take that after i finish the Mechanical eng. BsC.
Also, on BsC you can specialize both as a mechanical designer engineer, and as mechanical research engineer, both of them sound amazing, but so far i don't know which on to choose for sure.

kek

read pic related and

abebooks.com/9781560911999/Fundamentals-Vehicle-Dynamics-R114-Premiere-1560911999/plp

if you are a mechanical engineer, you should be taking a machine design class. that should be all you need as a basis to understand the engineering side of cars. at least at an appropriate undergraduate level.

do you have a beater car you can wrench on? if so, utilize your universities machine shop.

I should have been more specific, I want to do litteral design, like sketches and the like. The "artistic" side of things if you want. I didn't want to include a sketch pic because they all suck so hard, but here you go.

Thanks for the advice though. I will look into these.

And I'm retarded. Forgot pic.

>The "artistic" side of things if you want
thats why there aren't many courses where you are at.

doing concept sketches or sculpting mock ups is a complete 180 from what you are doing now with the mechanical engineering thing. thats liberal arts college territory.

>a complete 180
It's kinda true, but I may find a path in industrial design. It seems to be a mix between engineering and art, with transportation design being the top job you can hope to get.

Same user here as When i was talking about designing, i was thinking about CAD, like pic related, that's the reason why you have to be an engineer (mechanical, mechatronical, or otherwise similar), so you can calculate everything, how different parts, shapes and materials bear different kinds of stresses and loads.
What you ment about design is also needed for said companies, but i'm not sure if you need to be an engineer to get a job like that, but i really don't know.(being an engineer would be a good selling point, though)
As for the sketches, keep going and practiceing, there's nothing to lose that way.

>keep going and practicing
I will senpai.

Indeed you might not need all the MEng knowledge to draw cars, but as you said it's a good selling point, and I'll need it if I want to get there. Car design is the top of the ladder for designers, so it would've been tricky with a simple art degree.

>Cars are complicated things
a fucking excavator is more (mechanically) complicated than a car

OP here. What do you guys think of a Masters in Electrionics and Computer Engineering?
It's a mix of Electrical Engineering and Computer Eng. With all the tech going into cars these days, wouldn't it be a good degree to get into the automotive industry?

You can get in as a software engineer relatively easily.

from developing infotainment systems to safety systems alongside a team of engineers.

It's mostly generic codemonkey stuff, but personally i believe it's more entertaining than a full on real codemonkey job at other industries.

It wouldn't be bad, but volume is going to be lower and you might end up with a supplier rather than an OEM.

This.

I believe manufacturers rather setup teams of mechanical engineers and electronics engineers. Not people that can "kinda" do both. Specialization is key.

I'm gna start auto engineering next semester, math is not my strong point. How fucked am I?

On a scale of fucked to fucked, git gud, faggot.

I really like cars and it has always been my dream to work on them. If I study enough can I still get past the math? Or do I have to be natural...

>work at autozone
>buy a haynes for your car
>maintain your car
>start maintaining your friends cars
>get job as lube tech for dealership
>learn from line tech and start picking up brake jobs radiators and shit like that at dealership
>promoted to tech
>dealership sends you to in house brand specific course
>pass
>dealer pays for you to attend non brand specific not in house tech courses
>pass all
>work on hellcats and shit like that every day while having spent 0 dollars on education and make a good enough living to support a family

My buddy did it that way in like 3 years

Any retard can do maths, it's just a matter of practice. Maybe you'll need to work 2x more than other students, but you'll get there eventually.

Same user as Well, I discribed this in a non correct way. The course consists more on Hardware and Electrical Engineering (like 90%) and has a few classes on programing. What would a hardware/elec engie work on in the auto industry?

bump

All electrical systems including the ECU, infotainment and wiring harnesses. Though you have to be able to handle thinking in circuit diagrams which is not for everyone.

Sounds pretty cool, do you think people that work in that area would work in an OEM or a supplier?

anyone ever heard of Reynolds and Reynolds? they have a bunch of positions for internship in my city (houston), but it's far and low paying.

They do some kind of dealership software, but I feel like they are just using interns for cheap work then don't really have great jobs.

if its far and low paying, no thanks

It depends on the part and the company. Ideally people want to work for the automotive manufacturer (Toyota/GM) which would require design engineers at their engineering headquarters and manufacturing/quality engineers at their manufacturing plants. Then you have tier oem suppliers who get outsourced to make parts or provide their products that go on to final assembly.