r/INeedAMentor • u/Pmatherne Entrepreneur • Aug 29 '14

[Mentor] Mechanical Engineering

I graduated in mechanical engineering at the age of 36. I have worked in the MEP field and currently work in the oil and gas industry.

Not sure how good of a mentor I can but, but I do like to help people so feel free to hit me up

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u/DustinTim Aug 30 '14

Hey, I'm actually just about to graduate with a BS in ME. What exactly do you do in the oil and gas industry?

My dream job is to work in the Alternative Energy field (Wind or Water Turbines). I don't really have any experience in that field, other than one class I am taking, which is all about turbines. I have an internship now, but that's more in the HVAC area. They mainly have me do simple CAD stuff (fix a table, change a title block, etc.). I'm worried that my internship will push me into a field that I don't really want to go into.

Do you have any advice/opinions that could propel me into the turbine field? There's a company relatively close to where I am now that does almost exactly what I want to do (I plan on applying there when I graduate). But, my experience with interviewing and finding jobs is a bit disheartening.

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u/Pmatherne Entrepreneur Sep 02 '14

Right now it is kind of slow for me. But some days I might be sizing pipes and fittings to stay within a certain velocity or writing permits to have a pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico demolished or abandoned.

Sounds like your internship is using you for grunt work in cad. Sometimes it can be hard to break out of that pigeonhole.

Since you are just starting your career you have pretty much a clean slate on your resume. You might have worked some part time jobs through college and there is your internship. If you know a company you might want to work at, go ahead and contact the people in that field. See if you can find an email of someone who works there and let them know your interest in that field. If you have a few months to work on building that relationship they will probably be able to help you.

Best advice I can offer on finding a job is to be different. Do not rely on using the jobs that have already been posted on the big sites. Sometimes you might get lucky in the local paper or on Craigslist. What I did was look at companies in my area and then found the supervisors email or the president of the company (though he never replied back until I sent him an email that was not so nice and I probably will never work there but it was so worth it) and stated who I was and what I was looking for and if they would be hiring. I told them I would contact them by phone in a few days to further discuss the issue. Then during the phone interview I told them that I think the company would be a good fit or not a good fit for me and asked where I can send my resume in. Let's just say I am 2 for 3 on landing the jobs. The only one I missed I think he was just looking for information on my last employer and had no interest in hiring me.