anybody an automotive engineer???
 

we just got toyota to build a plant about 10 miles outta my town. theyll be building all of the highlander SUV's there starting 2009-2010. i was wondering if there were anybody in a career as an auto engineer or have a some other high paying job at a major auto plant.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

there is a few on here, I do OK in the auto field. I'm no enginer though.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

cool. what do you do. im just very interested in finding out what sort of jobs will be available. right now im finishing up some junior college work then ill be headed to U of Miss. heres a bit of craziness. nissan opened up a plant about 5 years ago a few hours south of here same state. Mississippi state has always been the engineer/aggie school and nissan works directly with them. because of that toyota is giving a ---- ton of money to Umiss(business, law, medical school) to start up a competing auto engineer school and will work directly with them. kinda fuels the hatred/rivalry between the schools even more.

but yea. i just want to know what sort of jobs i could look forward to and the college majors that are going to be available

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

I'm waiting to hear back from Toyota. I'm on the 3rd stage of hiring and they made me do a test 3 weeks ago. I hope I get in.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

nice. good luck with it, where are you located?

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

buy property. toyota building a plant in your hometown = a ton of jobs = a ton of new people comming to your area = property value goes up. :y

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

yea. i already talked about that with a buddy of mine. but im in college with NO cash. the estimated 2000 jobs at the plant, another 2000 supporting jobs, est. 6-7k jobs total. but from what im understanding there mainly high paying tech jobs. not many grunt work jobs. this area is also the furniture capitol of USA, near the top in the world. Ashley, Lane, Lazy-boy....pretty much all of them are made here. we have plenty of nogs and methed-out rednecks to staple furniture together, not many skilled workers

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

There will more likely be alot of manufacturing engineering which is part of industrial engineering. Automotive engineers would be be more likely to work at a design facility, ie behind a desk, not in the factory. don't get me wrong, there will be some at the factory, but more of the engineers there will be IEs. I am a mechanical engineer by the way, just started working in aero space, whoch is not too different than automotive. want some advice, if you go to school you need to bust your ass and be at the top of your class or you will have a job that sucks for at least 2 years. Do well and you can get a decent job right away and get on the path you want.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

thats the best advice ive heard in a long time. like i said, theres mainly lazy drugged out nobodies in this area, they pretty much expect people to graduate HS then work in the furniture factories or the restraunts here. kinda reminds me of the movie "october sky"

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

I'm a mechanical engineer(student) hoping to work in the automotive industry. Someone's gunna have to save Ford's ass.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

We have a toyota plant here in Huntsville that manufactures v6 and v8 engines for their trucks. I started to go through the hiring process. I don't know if it's the same there, but here:

1. Apply over the phone or online
2. Get chosen to go take a computer test
3. If you pass, go to training for 2 weeks, unpaid
4. Take a test after training
5. If you pass, you get an interview.
6. If you pass, you get a final interview.
7. If you pass, you're hired.

Step 3 is what fucked me. I was in college and living on my own and couldn't afford to go for two weeks without work, then not be guaranteed a job afterwards. Here, they pay $17 and some change an hour for assembly line type crap. They also get tons of benefits, paid holidays, overtime, etc. They got a week or two off for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and were paid for it. I did security there (smoke reefer, watch dvds, play games, sleep, talk on the phone, slide the security tundra around the iced over parking lot, etc).

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

London. Part of the HMT Ontario Crew.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

Thats odd. I was told around here that if you pass step 3 you're hired as a temp and then they review your performance. You still get paid as a temp though. Who knows.

But that sucks man, too bad it didn't work out for you. Honest to God, Line work is not that hard anymore. its 2007 everything is done by lift assist. Phisically you'll be ok its the mental part that screws you over doing the same thing over and over and over again for the rest of your life. Makes work boring. This is why I'm also trying to get in to the RCMP and we'll see how that goes.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

Yeah, must be different. This was almost 2 years ago though, and I don't think they used temps then. I did hear someone recently mention temps though, so maybe it's all temp now? Dunno.

And yeah, it's easy. They have to stand in one place, but that's about it. The stuff is on a conveyor, and everything is mechanically assisted. The most they have to do is put the tiny parts in place and use a tool to attach them. I'm only getting $12.50 an hour where I work, but this state is cheap to live in, I'm in a higher position in the company (putting a foot in the door for even better positions later), and I'm constantly doing things and every day is different...so time flies. A couple weeks ago I was making $8 as a temp, got hired at 2pm for $9 an hour, took drug test, came back by 3pm for another interview, and got that position for $12.50 hour.

Things will be better when computer or electrical engineering degree is finished (still undecided :l).

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

If you really want to work in a plant environment like at a Toyota factory you should look into a degree like I am currently working on. Im in mechanical engineering technology and taking classes to graduate with a minor in manufacturing engineering. I work full time right now as a lab technician at a company called Xomox in cincinnati, oh and its nice cause this type of degree with keep you from just sitting behind a computer all day if thats what your looking for. All the engineers here are always down here working on testing with me and solving problems out on the shop floor. With a MET degree everything is much more hands on.

Also there is a Toyota plant that I toured here when I was looking for jobs. And if you can get a job there, more power to you it is amazing inside one of there plants. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

Is this the plant in Tupelo Mississippi I saw them talking about on our local news last night? They said Alabama is glad because it'll give our citizens more jobs :l

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

thanks guys. toyota is giving 50 mill $ to the university to start up a program. so im definatly interested. im not wanting to sit behind a desk the rest of my life but i dont want to be bent over backwards killing myself either

yep. thats my hometown. great thing is that theres going to be a MAJOR steel plant of some sort just south around columbus,MS. its gonna help everything out.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

toyota kicks ass hands down.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

US car makers should take notes. ALOT of notes.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

What Exactly do you do in aerospace?

I work in an aerospace job shop as a quality and applications engineer.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

I'm a project engineer in the brushless DC motors group in my company. I just started so right now I am really just trying to learn all the crazy logistics that go along with the company being AS9100 & ISO9001:2000 cerified

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

I'm a Mechanical Engineer with a company that remanufactures ink jet and laser toner cartridges and is into coating and ribbon manufacture. We do things like this site, pretty much ghetto, just gotta get the work done as quickly as possible. I would love to work for Delphi (local to here in Rochester) but they're not doing so well right now. It doesn't help that they do alot of work for GM, either. :(

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

Automotive engineers are freaking rare, the only one I've ever spoken to is liveforphysics Luke. Most of the guys who design the cars are ME/EE, Jesse Kershaw had a masters in ME working on his PhD last I talked to him and he designs stuff for Ford. It's a pretty crazy environment, you meet one of the engineers who worked on car X, and you tell them how much you liked it and they say, "Thanks, I designed the front seats for it." There is a LOT of R&D taking place in the modern auto.

Most any flavor of engineer can work in an automotive plant, though, and more of them are likely to be hired there as fork stated.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

so your saying there rare because of there not being enough of them or that theres not enough demand for them. thats what im wondering, is if thats one of those fields that they beg people to work in. like any sort of medical field in this area.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

There are a ---- ton of people going to school in hopes of designing cars for a big automotive company. Only a very small number get hired every year. If you really want to do it, you should look into attending a school that has a strong tie to an large automotive company. Just realize the chance of you actually getting hired by an automotive company to design a component on the car is very limited.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

If anyone thinks they are going to deisgn cars like the exterior body work, mechanical engineers don't do that. That is art students, industrial design or something.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

How many people deal daily in bsfc numbers, cylinder pressure curves, knock limit, harmonics, etcetera, of combustion? It's a very specific application of ME with a smattering of ChemE. Frankly, enough experience in the ME world with the right work history gets you there, too, you just have to have a good mind.

Most of the innovators in combustion engineering have been degreeless, anyway, or held degrees in something other than engineering. It's not like a job title means you know anything about cars, you can't substitute punching a clock for passion.

Re: anybody an automotive engineer???
 

^^^^^^
this toyota plant will be dealing specifically with this university. just like i had mentioned that the nissan plant a little south of here deals directly with our instate rivals so all the degree-ed employes will be coming from the same university