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So you are in school and are getting the itch to get into the awesome field of automotive engineering. What should you do though, to make it easier to land that job when you graduate and make sure you get a great starting salary? If you have your heart set on learning to become an automotive engineer, make sure you focus on the five automotive engineering requirements that you need before seeking a job after college.

Whether you are in for mechanical, or specializing in automotive, make sure you have good grasp of the critical automotive courses. Everyone says you only use 5% of what you learned in college. While this may be somewhat true, that 5% usually falls into the following courses:

Statics – I use this about every day

Dynamics – I use this about every week

Mechanics of Materials – specialized topics… when they come up in your work this info will be a huge lifesaver

Statistics – I use this about every day which is way more often than I thought I would.

Calculus – Used just about every minute

If you want to become a more specialized automotive engineer like a mechatronics engineer or a chemical analyst, and then be sure to focus on that as well. However, the five courses above are the essential for starting out in an entry level position for any mechanical field.

It could be Baha Club or just tricking out and lowering your Honda Civic (Please don’t). However you do it, make sure to include some form of hands on building experience. If you don’t have this – go out and look for it. Most engineering universities have some form of automotive club you can join and look for likeminded people. The experience you gain in one of these groups will put you above 90% of the other graduates looking for automotive jobs. These clubs are great ways to learn the basics of part repair, engine function and general assembly – all of which are great skills to carry into your career. The best thing you will get out of the hands on experience will be your confident around a car. Many of the people you will work with in the future will be big motor heads. Getting that experience early on will help you to fit right in with your new coworkers and shine.  Be sure to include this on your resume and I can guarantee you will be asked about it in an automotive interview.

If you do only one thing on this list – make it be obtaining an automotive internship.

Your prowess around engines might be amazing and your mother might have given birth to you while in the back of a ‘72 small block Chevy.However, if you have no experience solving real world problems, how does your employer know you will be able to actually help them manufacture or improve anything? In college I was able to assist a professor in developing a wind sensor for the aeronautics industry. I made sure to include how we had to design, develop and test the probe in my resume. This was always brought up in a positive light during an interview and was a real help in landing me my first job. If you are following tip#1, be on the lookout for areas where a difficult problem needs to be solved. Combine this hands on automotive experience with real world problem solving, and your employer will be sure to take notice.

The other way to get real world experience is through an internship or Co-Op. If you do only one thing on this list – make it be obtaining an automotive internship. This is a must for getting a job after school in any engineering field. If you know you want automotive focus on getting an internship at an OEM or a supplier and you will have a perfect automotive resume when you graduate. This shows that you have worked in the automotive industry and are aware of the culture. 

Please learn about them. I cannot tell you how many entry-level automotive engineers have little or no experience with GD&T and tolerances, and how refreshing it is when they do. If you are an entry level automotive engineer in Design, Manufacturing or Quality – you will need to know how tolerances are applied to parts to make sure that they work and fit together. I cannot even count how many times I have run into issues where it seems like putting a square peg into a round hole because someone doesn’t understand that a rotating h7 shaft going into a M7 bearing is big tolerance cluster-F. (See if you can tell why**). This type of issue should be something you gain experience with either within in college or outside of your curriculum.

**note: if you can’t tell why this is a problem, maybe we can help in our upcoming section on tolerance stack-ups

This is something every college student should be doing. If you want to go into the field of automotive engineering, find out which type of job you might want to do. The best way to do this is to see which courses came easiest or which you enjoyed the most. Once you graduate, you are going to go into a job that will teach you a specific skill-set of knowledge on which to build your experience. Paying attention to what you like during school will help you to find a job that matches your interests and allow you to grow. For example, if you breeze through electrical courses, then focus on electrical engineering aspects of automotive. This way when you get a job, can demonstrate a high degree of interest in it right from the start. This often results in better work productivity and a faster move up the corporate ladder. It took me about five years to find my true niche in transmission design, and I know if I had focused on CAD and design earlier, I would have found the ideal position a lot faster. If you find your strengths early, you will have no problem landing a job that fits you personally – and leads you to success down the road.

Our education as engineers is an incredibly eye opening experience. Just choosing which school to go to can be a major obstacle.  It is a challenging world of knowledge that determines what initial path we decide to take in our career. For Automotive Engineers, the most common major is Mechanical Engineering. However, you could be in automotive, electrical, industrial, manufacturing or any other technical field depending on how you are starting out and what your college offers. So what types of engineering courses should you focus on while you are in college to make sure you get that sweet job when you leave?

Well, first do yourself a favor and remember this throughout your college education:

Instead of worrying about what subjects and topics you need to focus on to get a job that you like, figure out what subjects and courses you like, to find out the ideal job you should focus on.

I really wish someone told me that before I went to college, because then instead of worrying so much about getting that all mighty degree, I would have been more focused on finding what topics that interest me the most. I would have focused on my passion for automotive design much sooner. College is about exploring what you like and don’t like. Have fun with it.The risk associated with trying something new or different is very low and college is a great environment for learning your strengths. Looking back, I vaguely remember finding my mechanical classes very easy and fun, and always loved automotive topics. However I wish I got more involved in the many automotive groups that were around because I would not only have really enjoyed it, I would also had essential college experience to add to a resume.

That being said, these are the core fundamentals of mechanical engineering that you will need to know for any job you get, beyond just automotive. Every engineer in a mechanical field should absolutely focus on:

Calculus – The bedrock of engineering. Calc I, II, III and sometimes IV are very useful after school. You will probably only use about 10 – 20% of the complex calculus you learn in your future job. However, calculus is like Special Forces basic training for engineers. It gives you a foundation of knowledge that hones your default mathematical reflexes. This way, when you have to calculate the gap between two parts at an angle, or are studying a graph of data points, your mind instantly knows how to analyze the complex information without wasting too much time.

Physics – The science of how our world functions – pretty obvious why you need this one.

Statics and Dynamics – These were the first classes I took that made me realize that math actually serves a purpose in this world. If Calculus is the foundation of engineering, then statics and dynamics are the walls of the building holding everything else up. It’s a course that breaks down how everything mechanically interacts with everything else. Free body diagrams, torque/moment equations, forces and vectors. It is the science of our physical world. Know these subjects inside and out, because you will use them almost anywhere.

Mechanics of Materials – The ways that different material properties affect how a material operates. You should know why an aluminum shaft in a steel bushing is a bad idea, and how heat treating parts makes them stronger. There are a variety of materials used in automotive engineering. Knowing how to deal with their properties is crucial.

Design – You must take a few basic courses of fundamentals and design methods –regardless of what career path you take. There is a tried and true process for how to go about solving a problem that engineers must know. You should take one course on design theory and one or more where you can get your hands dirty in a real world project.

Now if you want to go into automotive engineering, it is very important that you take one or two of the following courses or at least learn about them. When I have sat in on interviews with potential engineers, students with the following automotive knowledge stood out as being the most competent and best fit to work in the automotive industry.

A Manufacturing Course: If you want to be in the automotive field you need to know how things are manufactured – plain and simple. This should be done even if you want to go into research and development. You should focus on different methods of machining and assembly. Also, be sure you understand why dimensions have tolerances and how they are controlled. This course really can pay off because it can teach you about the delicate balance between dimensional tolerances and cost. Speaking of tolerances:

GD&T and Tolerances – This may or may not be covered in your design courses, however, it will be knowledge you will have to use daily, regardless of whether you are in quality manufacturing or design. GD&T is a huge focus in the automotive industry, and if you cannot understand it you will get very lost.   Learn how combining multiple tolerances works (tolerance stacks) and learn the basics of Geometrical Dimensioning and Tolerances. I cannot stress enough how sweet it is when a new engineer knows this and how quickly they grow in their career.

Statistics: This is the one that I overlooked when I graduated. Never would I have though I would use statistics so much as an automotive engineer. However in a field where thousands of parts are meeting thousands of others and each has a specific tolerance, you cannot possibly calculate the worst case scenario. This is why you need to take into consideration statistics. Your job in automotive will most likely have a focus on Statistical Process Control, so avoid my mistake and learn it now, because you will be using it in automotive engineering.

So, all you automotive engineers: Did I leave any critical courses out that you use on a daily basis? Let me know below!

Could you imagine what a football game would be like if there was no one around to enforce the rules of the game? Or imagine a basketball game with no referees; that game would probably resemble a game of street ball complete with fights and elbowing with no penalties. There are referees in basketball and football to keep the players in line and make sure that they follow the rules for a fair and safe game. Quality engineers are the referees of the automotive engineering world and they work across all phases of product development to make sure that processes and procedures are followed, quality designs are sent to production, all products meet specifications, and incoming parts are built to specification. They also interface with the customer if a quality issues are discovered.

One of the most fascinating aspects of being an automotive engineer is being involved in cutting edge technology and helping to bring new technology and benefits to the automotive world. New product designs are introduced when new technology is available that has evolved enough to be incorporated into a product design. One area that is exceptionally important in today’s markets is fuel economy and reduced emissions to help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and our overall impact on the environment. There is a worldwide organization called the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) which is leading a consortium of engineers and designers worldwide to promote the design of innovative new vehicles that use less fuel. The GFEI allows engineers to collaborate worldwide on new ideas for reducing fuel consumption and sets the standards to assess what reduced emissions and fuel efficiency mean. This is where quality engineering steps in to collaborate with designers. Also, within the United States, the EPA has established requirements that all vehicles must meet. Quality engineers will test each vehicle design to ensure that these requirements are met.

At the beginning of the design process the design team will outline a list of product specifications that a vehicle is designed to meet. These specifications will include a large range of information including performance, horsepower, vehicle durability, acceleration, emissions, materials, environmental, etc. and will cover all areas of the vehicle from the tires to the processors in the control modules. Everything within the vehicle must meet the process specification and it’s the responsibility of the quality engineer to test the vehicle and all sub-components to ensure that they do. When a vehicle is ready to start production, the quality engineer will team up with technicians and measurement labs and systematically go through all the product specifications.  They will test that the vehicle meets all specifications and will compile a detailed report of all the test results for the vehicle proving that it met all the product specifications.

Another quality engineering role within the automotive industry is to work with the day-to-day assembly process and address quality issues as they come up in production. The quality engineer will establish quality systems for the production process and control charts that will allow them to monitor the production process and identify when the process is moving outside acceptable specifications before poor quality parts are manufactured. Control charts are statistical tools that monitor the key parameters of the process to ensure that these parameters stay within the upper and lower control limits. When an issue is identified, the quality engineer is notified.  He/she will begin to root-cause what is going on to cause the process to produce parts that are out of spec. The quality engineer will put controls in place that will stop out of spec parts from being produced, conduct root-cause analysis for the problem, and then work to implement a fix so that the problem does not occur again. Quality engineering is not just important when a process goes out of spec; quality engineers are very proactive and will constantly be monitoring the production process and looking for continuous improvement ideas to make the process more robust and less prone to quality issues.

One very important aspect of the quality engineering role within the automotive industry is dealing with customer quality issues as the customer quality engineer. Despite all the production controls that are put in place and validation testing that is completed, there are times when a quality issue gets to the customer. When a quality issue is identified then the customer quality engineer takes charge and puts a corrective action plan in place. Sometimes the issue may be minor like a cap may have a tendency to fall off after the vehicle has been used for a period of time. However, other times it could be a severe issue such as an air bag failing to deploy or an ignition switch that shuts down the vehicle during operation. When a severe issue is identified then a recall is issued and a fix is applied to each vehicle in the field.

One of the biggest fears in the automotive industry is that a quality issue sneaks through all the quality control systems that the automotive industry has in place and reaches the end customer. If you are lucky these issues will be minor, but sometimes there are major issues that have caused people to be injured or even killed due to a vehicle failure. When a major issue is identified, then a recall is issued which requires the automotive manufacturer to correct the issue at their cost. Managing recalls is a major part of the customer quality engineering role within the automotive engineering field.

Besides managing quality issues the customer quality engineer must work with sales and the customer to clearly communicate what the issue is and how the fix will prevent this issue from ever happening in the future. Most of all, the customer quality engineer must re-instill the customer’s confidence in their vehicle and assure them that the engineering team has fixed the problem. Communication skills are important in this role so that the problem can be explained to concerned customers to ensure that their vehicle is safe and that the manufacturer stands behind the vehicle.

One aspect to the quality engineering role that is often overlooked is the role of the supplier quality engineer. This person is responsible for the incoming materials and components from suppliers. He/she must put quality guidelines and controls in place to ensure that only the highest quality parts meeting all specifications are allowed into the production process. The supplier quality engineer works directly with the suppliers and willreview and approve the quality processes that the supplier uses to ensure their part is built correctly. If a quality issues arises during production, the supplier quality engineer will work with the supplier to complete a root- cause analysis and help to put controls in place so that the issue does not occur again. The supplier quality engineer will interface with the purchasing department and articulate the quality requirements and specifications that incoming parts must meet. These requirements will be included in the supplier contract and incoming inspection requirements. The supplier quality engineer role is the first step in manufacturing high quality vehicles since without quality in, you cannot get good quality products to the customer.

Finally, one of the major roles of a quality engineer is documentation that ensures the companies have met all the requirements required by the certification bodies within the automotive world such as, Six Sigma, ISO 9000, TS16949, and other certifications required to do business in the automotive industry worldwide. Additionally, quality engineers coordinate internal certifications such as calibrations for labs, production and engineering tools used day to day for testing, production and design work. Quality engineers will maintain both internal and external documentation.  They must have it available when audits are conducted and facilitate both internal audits to check status and external audits with governing bodies to maintain certifications. The quality engineering role in maintaining this documentation and keeping all certifications is critical, since without them the company cannot conduct business. For example, without CE mark certification companies cannot conduct business within the European Union.

Quality engineering is one of the best ways to oversee the entire automotive design, development and manufacturing process. If you are considering a career in automotive engineeringthis is one of the best areas in which to start your career and develop an understanding of the entire automotive engineering process, while you work to make the highest quality vehicles for your customer.

Both the Automotive Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Degrees will provide you with a strong foundation in mechanics and the basic concepts needed to be successful in the automotive field but there are some differences. The Mechanical Engineering path provides a solid foundation in mechanical design theory and statics, thermodynamics and dynamics that can be applied to a variety of engineering fields. The advantage of this degree is that if you are unable to find a job in the automotive industry the skills you have gained with a Mechanical Engineering Degree can be applied to other specialties so you will be more likely to find work. The Automotive Engineering degree does have some advantages as well. When you use your time in college to focus on Automotive Mechanical Engineering related topics you will complete your degree with the specialized knowledge you need to begin your career immediately and the on the job learning curve will be quicker. Additionally, there are specialized jobs available where your skills will be the only ones qualified for the job which will give you an edge over the competition. However, if you are looking for the path to take to ensure you have the best opportunities after school, there is one best option.

I can tell you, without a doubt, that those with a mechanical engineering degree and a masters in automotive engineering are golden and will never have a problem finding a job.

Stuck in your decision? Consider this: There are two accredited automotive engineering bachelors programs in the US as of today. There are roughly 500 accredited Mechanical engineering programs. Why? well a mechanical engineering degree covers most of the same elements that an automotive engineering degree does, except it lays a much better foundation in the fundamentals of engineering. Mechanical engineering will lay out all the basics that you need to understand before you can ever comprehend the specialized automotive subjects. The mechanical engineering degree will be your best option for learning a full foundation in engineering principals while allowing you flexibility to focus on automotive elements in electives and outside of school.

However for the best effect do not just stop there. Once you get your mechanical engineering degree you should start looking for an automotive masters degree to make you an automotive expert. There are many universities that offer automotive engineering as a masters program and this is where you will be above 90% of all other automotive engineers. The masters program will allow you to activity apply your mechanical foundation you learned in your bachelors degree. I can tell you without a doubt that those with a mechanical engineering degree and a masters in automotive engineering are golden and will never have a problem finding a job. More OEM’s and top suppliers will be begging you to come work for them than if you had only one degree or the other. This may take longer in time and will of course cost more money, but the financial and career rewards of this choice will occur immediately upon graduation. If your dream is to be an automotive engineer  and be successful right out of school this is your best bet.

No matter which degree you choose to begin your automotive engineering career, you will gain the skills you need to be successful in the automotive field. Be sure to choose the best fit for your career path which works best for you and what you want to do.

You’ve grown up working on your own vehicle and wouldn’t think of taking it to a mechanic for repairs. Your neighbors come to you first when there’s something wrong with their car. When people come to visit you they don’t go to the front door but instead head straight to the garage to save time. If any of these situations sound familiar then a career in automotive engineering just might be in your future. When you’re choosing how to get started in the field how do you choose where to start? What degree will prepare you best for your future? When you have grown up under the hood of a vehicle there are two degrees that will be obvious choices to match with your interests: Automotive Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. These two degrees have many similarities but provide many different options that must be considered when selecting the degree path that is right for you.

A Mechanical Engineering Degree is the engineering discipline that focuses on the physical interactions and relationships of materials and their material properties.   The core mechanical engineering classes including: statics, solids, thermodynamics, kinematics, materials science, physics and structural analysis. Even though, it is not specialized to automotive, some of the most important classes for automotive engineers are included in this major.   This path provides a very detailed theoretical knowledge of these subjects and the basics to apply them in a variety of engineering fields. The Mechanical Engineering Degree is one of the most popular engineering degrees and is offered by almost every school that has an engineering program.

An automotive engineering degree, or sometimes called a automotive mechanical engineering degree, is a highly specialized degree that teaches many of the same concepts as mechanical engineering but focuses specifically on automotive applications. When you earn an Automotive Engineering Degree you will study topics such as powertrain and chassis design, electronic components, aerodynamics and safety components. This highly specialized degree is intended to prepare students for the specific needs of the automotive industry and help them be better prepared to begin work in their specialized field. The Automotive Engineering major is a highly specialized degree that is only offered by select schools so it may be difficult to find a university that offers this degree. Most automotive engineering degrees are actually offered as masters programs.

Once you have qualified for an automotive engineering curriculum with the school of your choice there will be a series of basic entry level courses you will be required to complete. These classes include Calculus, Differential Equations, Matrix Algebra, Chemistry, Physics and other basic general studies courses such as English and social sciences that all college degrees much take. Once you have completed the basic courses then your degree moves into the more specialized courses specific to your automotive degree program. These courses focus on mechanical engineering courses such as Statics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Manufacturing Technology, Quality Control and Materials Science and they are geared towards automotive specific topics. The goal of this degree is to give you a leg up in the automotive engineering field and give the next generation of graduates a head start in the automotive engineering field with automotive specific experiences and case studies so that the new hire engineer is already familiar with the field.

Keep in mind there many reasons against getting an automotive engineering degree, as opposed to a mechanical engineering degree as your bachelors. Not many automotive bachelor degrees are accredited as of today, and if you want to land a job after school you better make sure that your degree is legit! The other reason to go for mechanical over automotive early on is that mechanical engineering offers a much broader range of engineering principals for you to build on. An automotive engineering degree is very focused on specific elements of design and engineering that are difficult to learn without a strong overall foundation. My recommendation would be to get your bachelors in mechanical engineering and then move on to an automotive engineering masters.

If you choose to continue your education in with a Master’s Degree in Automotive Engineering then there are educational choices available at universities such as Clemson which offers a Master’s Degree curriculum in Automotive Engineering. The master’s program requires 15 credit hours in courses such as Automotive Design, Project Management, Automotive Systems, Systems Integration, Electronics and Manufacturing Systems. Additionally, students in the program are required to earn 15 elective hours in one specialty area and the courses must complement each other and be approved by a faculty advisor.

For those ambitious students who want to complete the max level of education available in the automotive engineering field then there is also a Ph.D curriculum available through Clemson that allows students to complete course work over a three or four year timeframe and offers a variety of different engineering tracks all within the automotive field. The course requirements vary depending on whether you have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree but in each case core classes in automotive systems, business, design and system integration must be completed along with multiple technical electives in an automotive specialty area such as manufacturing and materials, vehicle performance, powertrain and drivelines or electronics systems. Finally, Ph.D students must complete a doctoral dissertation and have a six-month internship requirement working in the automotive field. All of these requirements are designed to give the graduate from the program a strong technical working knowledge and experience in the field so they are prepared to be successful when they enter their chosen field.

There are multiple schools that have an automotive engineering degree program and each has benefits in location, technical offerings and additional experiences that will help you to earn the degree and experiences that you need to be successful in the automotive engineering field.

Many engineering schools offer a variety of activities that will enhance the educational experience for automotive engineering students. These activities include programs such as internships where the student spends a portion of their time working for a company in the automotive industry or there are competitive programs that pit schools against each other in automotive engineering competitions to design the most efficient, fastest or creative vehicle.

CLEMSON DEEP ORANGE PROJECT

Another example of a specialty program that enhances the educational opportunities for the automotive engineering student is the Clemson program called “Deep Orange”. The program is designed for graduate engineering students from the automotive engineering program and works with industry partners including both suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to design and integrate a breakthrough product that utilizes new designs, materials, processes and methods and gives the student hands on experience in automotive design. One of the keys of this program is to encourage the student to think of the overall automobile and consider the ecosystem and sustainability needs when bringing a new design to market.

When you decide to follow a career path in the automotive engineering field you will receive the education and experiences you need to begin your career immediately after graduation. You will have a step up on other job applicants since you will already have a strong basis in the automotive engineering field and will take less time to come up to speed to be productive in the work environment. No matter what field of automotive engineering you choose to specialize in you will have numerous job opportunities to choose from and the educational experiences needed to be successful in your field. The automotive industry continues to grow and be challenged to become more efficient, sustainable and perform better and automotive engineers will be on the design teams that bring the vehicles to market designed to meet these challenges.

It has been said that we should work in order to live and not the other way around but if you are an automobile fanatic then why not consider combining your love for automobiles with a job in the automotive engineering field? When you decide that you want to combine a passion with a career and make a living in the automotive industry then  a degree in Automotive Engineering is one of the best first steps to take.

The first step towards a career in the automotive engineering world is to complete the basic requirements in your secondary education so that you are prepared to handle the classes in the program. These basic requirements will give you the skills in math, science and other topics that will be used as you enter the engineering programs. The basic recommendations to enter the bachelor’s degree program include 4 units of English and math, 3 units in natural sciences such as chemistry and physics, as well as units in social sciences and foreign languages. This diverse group of topics will give the beginning college student the necessary background to be successful in the program. Don’t worry if your secondary institution did not have all of these classes available, there is the option to take these courses in your first year of college education and then enter the degree program.