Mechanical Engineering Career Report: Industry Analysis and Skills

This report delves into the mechanical engineering field, specifically focusing on career prospects within the automotive industry. It begins with a personal reflection on the author's passion for automobiles and subsequent choice of mechanical engineering as a field of study. The report then transitions into an analysis of current trends, highlighting the shift towards electric vehicles and the influence of companies like Tesla. It emphasizes the importance of commercial awareness, creativity, analytic skills, and teamwork. The report evaluates the author's career choices and aspirations, including the decision to gain experience at Aston Martin before pursuing opportunities at Tesla. The conclusion stresses the significance of a professional approach to career planning, emphasizing the need to align skills and qualifications with industry demands. References to relevant literature and an appendix with a questionnaire are also included.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Analysis and Application.................................................................................................................1
General trends which will impact on your chosen profession/industry. ....................................1
The skills / knowledge and experience required ........................................................................2
Evaluation .................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Ever since the beginning of schooling, a student starts to gain new skills and develop
new interests. These skills and interests later become crucial for the carrier choice and
professionalism (Spanjaard, Hall, and Stegemann, 2018). I; in particular was always fascinated
by the machines and science behind the functioning of all the auto mobiles. Finding my passion
in auto mobiles I chose to be carrier oriented towards this industry and accordingly opted for
mechanical engineering as my graduation course. This report consist of a personal view and a
secondary research about the approach one should opt for while selecting a carrier. In this report
I have tried to include all the skill set and professional approaches a student can find useful while
selecting a field of interest, as I have selected auto mobile industry the report concision of the
current trends and analysis of the industry as well.
MAIN BODY
Analysis and Application
General trends which will impact on your chosen profession/industry.
Through the perspective of Vera Fishman the auto mobile industry has been changing
rapidly ever since it came into existence. Primary cause of these changes were the restlessness of
the market leader brands of the company to become better for two purposes that are, to provide
better to the customers and secondly, to beat the competition. Started in the late 19th century, the
industry has made many world known fortune empires like Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai
and the list goes on. But looking at the success of the industry can not be conduced with the
stability in order to be in the market the companies have to constantly thrive for success with
always an innovation and a next level in mind (Maree, 2019). Having stated so I feel that it is
not just the brand name that has to carry out the tasks involved but the people working for it.
There are million of people working at various job description around the world and their job
vary accordingly with the vision of the company they work for.
Started with the steam engines initially; progressed with coal engines and then came the
fossil fuels into the play like petrol and diesel, the automotive industry has seen many drastic
changes in its core functioning. Such an history of the industry gives a very clear sight of its
future (Gordon, and Schultz, 2020). Currently most of the industries are delivering the auto
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mobiles that run on fossil fuel but the future holds a completely different source of fuel for the
auto mobiles, i.e. electricity. With Brands like Tesla making the first and most significant move
towards changing the industry for good. Looking at the global concerns for the environment it
was not difficult to predict that future for the industry is electric(Gahlawat, , Phogat, and Kundu,
2019). Tesla is showing the world how artificial intelligence can come into the sector of auto
mobiles and what a brilliant combination this could turn out to be. With artificial intelligence and
preferred fuel being electricity the auto mobile industry has become even rapid in its evolution
and the a recent future may hold events and possibilities only seen in science fiction earlier.
The skills / knowledge and experience required
With the proper understanding of how the industry works comes the understanding of
how and individual should be in order to become perfect and thrive in the industry (Chin, and et.
al. 2019). In my research and through the experience of my role models and also with the help
of the secondary research I am able to point out to some skill set that a person in the automotive
industry should posses. Along with these skill set the individual is also advised to pursue some of
the profession related courses and languages that turn out to be extremely helpful in the ease and
success of career growth. Following are the skills and furtherance are the qualification that could
be very well give the person a competitive advantage.
Commercial awareness: For a person to be in an automotive industry being
commercially aware is an appreciated quality(Elley-Brown, Pringle, and Harris, 2018). As the
ultimate goal of the complete industry is to serve the market, the commercial approach can
always explain the reason and working of each and every small action of a respective company.
Creativity: Now that the rapidly evolution of the automotive industry is clear it, the
individuals with a sense of creativity are always looked out for (Sampson, and et. al. 2018). It is
because of the sense of creativity an individual find different ways of solving a problem or
finding new ways of doing a task with lesser cost and ultimately a profit to the company.
Analytic skills: In automotive industry the it is a skill to examine the working of the
department and particular task(Urbanaviciute, Udayar, and Rossier, 2019). And people worth
such skills are proved out to be helpful for the company and even for the personal growth of the
person as well.
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The ability to work as a team: Effective working of the team is always the high priority
for the automotive company as there are never tasks given to an individual(Baym, 2019.). For
better outcome the team is to perform a task, and for that team work becomes a desired skill for
any individual.(Vondracek, Lerner, and Schulenberg, 2019).
Evaluation
I have always had a keen interest in the working of the machines and automotive with
this interest I took my career seriously as everything else seemed a little boring to me. In order to
always know more about the functioning of these auto mobiles I kept gaining data about them
through the internet and through extra books that I could have understood back in school. When I
got the chance to choose my field I was quite clear about it. I chose my graduation field
accordingly which was Mechanical Engineering. I did my engineering from a school that keeps
its approach practical and its courses updated according to the market evolution. Hence I can say
that my knowledge in the field of auto mobiles was quite good as kept my approach firm towards
the field.
By the time I got to know the proper functioning of the automotive industry, arose a new
high tech company which was quite futuristic in its approach. I kept learning about its evolution
and growth as I was still studying my graduation. The company was names TESLA. On the
name of a world known but not so famous scientist. TESLA is company owned by a genius of
his own kind Elon Musk. The core idea of the company was to manufacture and commercialise
the use of electric cars. Although there were some electronic prototypes already existing in the
market, made by some of the world leaders of automotive industry, the use of these electric
vehicles was never successfully commercialised by other brands. Not as successfully as TESLA
had planned.
In the early stages of my school life there were already some growing concerns for the
environment and what the automotive industry is resulting into for the environment. But I could
have never imagined a world without auto mobiles. Hence I wanted to contribute my part
towards the effective use of technology. My interest in the automotive was only hindered by the
negative feedbacks that environmentalist gave due to the personal interests of the industry. As
soon as I got to know about the TESLA and vision I was certain of working for it, with it. There
was never a doubt in my mind because working for the TESLA fits the best in my pursuit of a
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career in automotive. Working around the high tech company and a futuristic approach in the
field of auto motive is all I ever wanted. As soon as I completed my grads in Mechanical
Engineering I wanted to apply for the job as the company was in its early success already where
its vision and approach has made the moved the world of automotive industry. Although I didn't
not have the ideal bachelors as the subject I opted for in my college were not perfectly fit for an
electrically fuelled vehicle which is moreover supported by an excellent hight tech intelligence.
So I decided to work at Aston Martin for 2 years before I could completely understand
the working and futuristic approach. These two years at the British luxury brand made me very
well compatible for job in TESLA as my slight difference in studies was compensated by my
work experience.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that a professional approach is necessary ever
since the working of career. This means that a clear approach should be kept at the need and
requirements of the company or the industry a person is willing to work for. The secondary
research helps in clearing the vision for the approach of the students as it includes years of
knowledge and experience along with a glimpse at future. This report emphasises on the fact that
skills and qualification are precise to the profession and should be taken that way in order to
continue growth in respective profession.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baym, N., 2019. The shape of Hawthorne's career. Cornell University Press.
Chin, T. and et. al., 2019. Career sustainability during manufacturing innovation. Career
Development International.
Elley-Brown, M.J., Pringle, J.K. and Harris, C., 2018. Women opting in?: New perspectives on
the Kaleidoscope Career Model. Australian Journal of Career Development. 27(3) .
pp.172-180.
Gahlawat, N., Phogat, R.S. and Kundu, S.C., 2019. Evidence for life satisfaction among dual-
career couples: The interplay of job, career, and family Satisfaction in relation to
workplace support. Journal of Family Issues, 40(18), pp.2893-2921.
Gordon, H.R. and Schultz, D., 2020. The history and growth of career and technical education in
America. Waveland press.
Maree, J.G., 2019. Contextualisation as a determining factor for career counselling throughout
the world. In International handbook of career guidance (pp. 555-578). Springer, Cham.
Sampson, and et. al. 2018. The validity of social media–based career information. The Career
Development Quarterly, 66(2), pp.121-134.
Spanjaard, D., Hall, T. and Stegemann, N., 2018. Experiential learning: Helping students to
become ‘career-ready’. Australasian Marketing Journal
Urbanaviciute, I., Udayar, S. and Rossier, J., 2019. Career adaptability and employee well-being
over a two-year period: Investigating cross-lagged effects and their boundary
conditions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 111, pp.74-90.
Vondracek, F.W., Lerner, R.M. and Schulenberg, J.E., 2019. Career development: A life-span
developmental approach. Routledge.
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Appendix
Questionnaire
Is planning the career in early stages a necessary?
Planning a career in the early stages is not necessary. What is necessary for youngster is to keep
looking for the things one is passionate about. Once sure about the passions a student can easily
be motivated towards the career and planning it becomes complimentary.
When was the first time I thought of having a career in defined industry?
I was sure about my interests in the middle teen age. As I had enough time to plan and find out
more about the machines and science, mechanics behind it. It was in my late teen age I became
sure about the industry I want to have a career in.
How important are skills set in the Automotive sector?
Working years of a person involves most of the life years which makes the skills possessed by
the person very helpful and beneficiary in career growth. It is important to build a relation
between opted and career and skills one possess.
How necessary is it to look at future of chosen industry?
It is a rapidly changing world we are living in and therefore for the surety in the career it is
important to look at the future of the industry one is trying to start a career in. Such a planning
is very important for the continuity of a prosperous career.
How strong is the future of Automotive Industry?
Auto motive industry like every other industry has seem some major changes and some more
changes will be taking place in near future. With environmental concerns playing a major role
in shaping the industry; the future of Automotive industry is expected to be good.
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