What is this post?

One of the most common questions from people looking into engineering is "What do engineers actually do?" While simple at heart, this question is a gateway to a vast amount of information — much of which is too vague or abstract to be helpful.

To offer more practical information, AskEngineers created a series of posts where engineers talk about their daily job activities and responsibilities. In other words, it answers the question: What's an average day like for an engineer?

The series has been helpful for students, and for engineers to understand what their fellow engineers in other disciplines do. The goal is to have engineers familiar with the subjects giving their advice, stories, and collective knowledge to our community. The responses here will be integrated into the AskEngineers wiki for everyone to use.

Discussion and followup questions are encouraged, but please limit them to replies to top-level comments.

[Previously] (Thanks /u/nosjojo!)

Timeframe

(Skip this section if you don't care about how these posts are organized.)

Unlike the original posts which only lasted 1 week per discipline, these will be stickied until ~20 top-level responses have been collected, or after 2 weeks — whichever comes first. The next engineering discipline will then be posted & stickied, but the old threads will remain open to responses until archived by reddit (6 months after posting).

Once all the disciplines have been covered, a final thread will be posted with links to all of them to collect any more responses until archived. The current list of disciplines:

1. Mechanical Engineering

2. Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering

3. Civil, Structural, Fire Protection/Safety (FPE), and Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing (MEP) Engineering

4. Chemical Engineering

5. Materials, Metallurgical, and Ceramics Engineering

6. Electrical Engineering

7. Computer, Electronics, and Software Engineering

8. Nuclear Engineering

9. Petroleum (Oil & Gas) Engineering

10. Ocean / Marine Engineering

11. Environmental Engineering

12. Biomedical Engineering

13. Systems Engineering

If you have a suggestion for another discipline, please message the moderators.

Format

Copy the format in the gray box below and paste it at the top of your comment to make it easier to categorize and search. Industry is the industry you currently work in, while Specialization should indicate subject-matter expertise (if any).

**Industry:** Hydropower

**Specialization:** (optional)

**Experience:** 2 years

**Highest Degree:** MSME

**Country:** USA

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(responses to questions here)

Questions

To help inspire responses and start a discussion, I will pose a few common questions asked by students as writing prompts. You don't have to answer every question, and how detailed your answers are is up to you. Feel free to add any info you think is helpful!

• What inspired you to become a Mechanical Engineer?
• Why did you choose your field and/or specialization?
• What’s a normal day like at work for you? Can you describe your daily tasks?
• What school did you attend, and why should I go there?
• What’s your favorite project you worked on in college or during your career?
• If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?
• Do you have any advice for someone who's just getting started in engineering school/work?