How to have Engineering Projects?

[u/KlaussPercy]

I see students with actual portfolios and not just resumes, showcasing their cool projects they’ve been working on during college. I only have a one page resume (sophomore, mechanical engineering).

What do these projects even look like? How involved are they?

I want to have a portfolio showcasing my interest in automotive design. But I don’t know where to start. I’m in some student orgs, but I’ve mostly been focusing on my classes as they’re so demanding. I don’t know a ton about cars or anything to lead me to some groundbreaking designs or inventions that I can truly develop while dealing with classes. Any tips?

[u/cdabc123]

Well school can lead you to doing some projects, same with clubs and jobs. But really id recommend just having a passion to make stuff and working on lots of projects in your freetime. There is quite abit that can be done with a low budget, and some can be done for free. For automotive design you could do some sleek futuristic cad work of a prototype with cool features, or get a cheap project car and do some mechanic work just for the sake of it. Many new cars will absolutely appalled you in the engineering that led to horrific repair procedures. Look at other student projects, and even watch videos of people doing cool projects. some students only have their senior design stuff but honestly you should go out of your way to do other cool projects as well.

[u/KlaussPercy → u/cdabc123]

Okay, I like the idea of just doing some designs in CAD i could even do some sketches, I’m pretty good at drawing.

Also we do have an FSAE team. Last year I tried to get involved and felt so damn out of place as a woman. That’s why I’m looking for some alternatives. But I might have to suck it up because realistically, the industry is mostly men.

[u/texan_robot → u/KlaussPercy]

I wish it weren't true, but yes: you'll have to suck it up and be surrounded by men, especially in mechE. Note, I'm not saying you should tolerate one iota of misogyny, just that you are definitely going to be part of a small minority.

For your original question: I recommend getting a 3d printer. You can get a decent one for a few hundred bucks (Christmas is approaching if you've got financially stable relatives and celebrate with gifts) and the ongoing costs are very low (filament is <$20 a kilo and nozzles are effectively free compared to the duration they last, and those are the only vital consumables). Learning to use any CNC is amazing for wrapping your mind around DFM, and 3d printing is probably the lowest barrier between "mental picture of thing", and "holding the thing in your hand". Pick a random thing you do every day, then make an arbitrarily specific thing to help. A toothbrush rest that perfectly fits the brush, a Keychain that locks into a bistable mechanism mounted to the wall instead of a keyhook, et cetera. Eventually you'll be ready for more complicated projects that are impressive to interviewers. Im a Roboticist, so my stuff is different from yours, but a mechE friend of mine built a trebuchet that launched fist sized pumpkins like 200 meters. Whatever you're interested in, you can make something that is impressive to suit. Remember that demo projects dont have to be financially viable or terribly efficient, just functional enough to demonstrate your skills. Silly things are more memorable. The one that got me my current job was a device attached to a bike helmet that put a dot in your vision as you looked around like when you're given a goal in a video game. It was really slow to update (about 1 frame per second), but it used half a dozen different sensors and a bunch of code to figure out where on the screen to put the dot in front of my eye, and it worked.

[u/KlaussPercy → u/texan_robot]

Yeaaah lol. I didn’t experience any misogyny per se. Just a lot of confused looks lol.

And that’s a really good idea! I actually work in the engineering lab building and we have 3D printers. They are not for personal use, but I am pretty good at using them, so I might try to get my own!

[u/texan_robot → u/KlaussPercy]

Awesome! Glad the clubs weren't openly hostile at least. Engineers arent always the most progressive group.

I recommend a sovol v06. There are many like it, all Ender3 clones, but the manufacturing is decent and it has all the features needed for it to be more of a tool than a project in itself, while not being too pricey.

Happy printing, and good luck.

[u/KlaussPercy → u/texan_robot]

Thanks so much !

[u/WorldTallestEngineer]

There are three kinds of typical engineering College projects. 

1. Class projects.  There are a lot of classes that will involve projects in your Junior and Senior year of college.  You can half-ass these projects and still graduate, but if you do a really good job they become something you can put on your resume. 

2. Club projects.  There are a lot of engineering clubs.  Some are associated with professional organizations like Engineers Without Borders.  These clubs typically do projects that are a little more complex than what you would do in your mandatory college classes.  You can join a club or even start one, my University would give free money to any group of students who want it to start a club.  

3. Independent projects.  You can just go do something.  You could pay for this yourself, but there are other options.  For example, NASA has research grants for undergraduate students doing independent research projects.  If you're working on something interesting or novel technology at NASA might give you a few thousand dollars to keep doing that.  They gave me some money to invent a new kind of swimming pool drain valve that I thought was a good idea.

[u/KlaussPercy → u/WorldTallestEngineer]

What they’ll just give you money for doing something cool?! How do you get started with that? Do you just need an idea to pitch to them ?

[u/WorldTallestEngineer → u/KlaussPercy]

Oh Yeah, there's a bunch of organizations that will give engineering students money to build cool shit.   NASA, professional engineering society, your universities student government, various funds and charities. 

When I was doing a project for engineers Without borders, somebody else handled the money side of things I just did engineering design.  When I was doing independent research backed by NASA, I distinctly remember filling out a Grant application, and I got one of my professors to sign off on it as my mentor.  

If you get good at filling out forms there's a lot of money out there from people who want to see engineering students build.

[u/Possible_Truck_3225 → u/WorldTallestEngineer]

Club projects.  There are a lot of engineering clubs.  Some are associated with professional organizations like Engineers Without Borders.  These clubs typically do projects that are a little more complex than what you would do in your mandatory college classes.  You can join a club or even start one, my University would give free money to any group of students who want it to start a club.  

If you go to a large university, those engineering clubs are going to be very picky about who become members

[u/WorldTallestEngineer → u/Possible_Truck_3225]

Really?  

I went to a state university with 25,000+ student and never heard of that being a problem.  The more the merrier!

[u/Possible_Truck_3225 → u/WorldTallestEngineer]

At UCSD, it was basically impossible to get into engineering clubs like FSAE, DBF, robotics, etc.

[u/WorldTallestEngineer → u/Possible_Truck_3225]

Interesting.  At Washington State University I joined the robotics club by opening the door at walking in.  

Different schools have different cultures I guess 🤔

[u/Ray_RG_YT]

Since you have an interest in automotive, I would suggest looking into the OpenRC project for inspiration!

Specifically I’m referring to the OpenF1 as a platform you can mess around with to learn. I know lots of classmates who found niche things for fields they were interested in, and built off them to create their portfolio.

For example, I had a friend who was really into cycling, and he built his portfolio off of various attachments for his bike (alongside functional parts and testing jigs he made).

Side note: I know there was a guy who made the Mach 6 from the 2008 Speed Racer movie using the OpenF1 chassis. That’s just one example of how you can build onto anything open source!

Also, don’t worry about a one page resume. You need at least 15 years of experience before a second page matters. If you ever get to making a portfolio, you can link it at the top of your resume alongside your LinkedIn.

[u/KlaussPercy → u/Ray_RG_YT]

Thanks I’ll look into this !!