Engineers- break action shotguns

[berettafan]

I know we have several engineering folks here- my question is would a small gun manufacturer (possibly over/under and bolt rifle focused) be doing much in house engineering and if so would the work be relevant for a mechanical engineering career? My son is looking for a summer internship in ME and I thought why not check with a gunmaker we toured in Brescia a few years back. Goal is to have relevant hands on experience for when he graduates next year.

[Alan A]

Consider this - how often do new designs for an ou or a bolt gun come out?
I’m not saying new engraving - genuinely new.

Unless you are talking gunsmithing I’m not sure there’s much R&D going on.

[Por_sha911]

I like the thinking but, what you suggest would be the engineering equivalent to a BA or MA in Basket Weaving or Art History. Sounds like fun to someone but of nearly no marketable value in the job market.

[berettafan]

Excellent feedback guys, thank you!!!

[fanaudical]

ME here.

Couple of questions: What does he want to do when he does graduate? What specific industries / technologies / subjects does he want to work in? What does he anticipate as a career path - is he looking to practice engineering for a long time or just enough to get into management?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

is he looking to practice engineering for a long time or just enough to get into management?

Ho boy… What is the logic behind “Promoting” engineers into management? The practice ended my engineering career. I loved putting my hands and brain to work in the lab. I only lasted a year after they promoted me to a desk in an office rubber stamping requisitions.
All that education and enthusiasm wasted….

[berettafan]

Fan I don’t hear management talk, he wants to do the actual work of engineering. He’s math minded if that makes sense. And for fields his first interest was aerospace but it was advised to go mechanical for broader appeal to employers. He’d be thrilled working on anything from military equipment (has a natural interest in navy ships) to a suspension (he’s a big F1 fan) to alternative fueling systems for cars. Just finished a no nonsense 21 credit junior semester better than a 3.0 and can probably adapt to anything.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Careful getting into defence industry, this could be your son later on life



Agree mechanical would give a broader appeal to employers but electrical/HV mechanical skills/experience would give a more broader appeal while also future proofing him until retirement

My son is currently doing his internship, working at a small motorsports damper company, he is absolutely loving it, has already worked on GMA T50 hyper car, Dakar T1, Formula E, Singer DLS, USA Subaru rally cars. He chose it over an offer of working on restoring, building classic Group B rally cars

No internships were advertised, he just contacted companies, knocked on doors and created his own opportunities

Best bit of advice I can give your son, is to target the field of engineering that interests him the most, and just go for it!

Do the research into which companies, do what, mine LinkedIn for names/message people, email resumes out, phone, knock on doors, ask friends/family for contacts

Keep repeating, ignore any no thank you's, no replies, their loss, not his!

Good luck to your son and please keep us updated

[hcoles]

Retired ME. I would suggest getting into a company and develop solid CAD skills where products are designed out of multiple types of parts and materials. Being able to design is a learned skill. There is no substitute for experience. Another path is working in the area of heating and cooling systems. Both require learning to use the appropriate CAD tools which do change over time but learning the types of constraints and inputs will stay with you.

[911 Rod]

I think they would stick him in quality control so he'll measuring bolts all day. Pretty boring.

[berettafan]

Hcoles he actually has an interview for an internship with a commercial HVAC company today! I honestly have no idea what the ME application is there but he said they perked up when he mentioned he'd been working in CAD software since early high school.

Captain i appreciate the encouragement. I think the general concept pushed in college is 'here's a list of internships advertised, have at it'. I'm from a time where you see what you want and go knock on the door so this is something i can help encourage him on!

Great stuff as usual from the forum. Hope others kids can somehow benefit as well from this discussion. As a small aside if anyone has kids looking at getting into public accounting tax work i'm happy to answer any questions and give an honest review of what the job is like from a small firm perspective.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Beretta, it's the same here, a list of internships are posted up, university wasn't that supportive, my son was getting quite discouraged

He had some success, interview with a F1 team, on his own merit, no nepo baby favours,

Even got down to the last 6 for a days evaluation for a Porsche UK internship

Took a bit of persuading but once he got his head around the concept, he had to find, make up, create his own internships, put in the effort, the opportunities started to happen

Agree, CAD is very important, both 3D modelling and detail drawing

Super exciting times for your son!!!

PPOT should start an internship advice thread, reckon with everyone on here we should have insider knowledge of most professions and industries

[berettafan]

Capt your son learned a HUGE lesson with that! And it's a lesson that will help for the rest of his life. Perhaps a tougher lesson to grasp for kids with math/science type minds. Nuance isn't always a strong characteristic!

[hcoles]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Hcoles he actually has an interview for an internship with a commercial HVAC company today! I honestly have no idea what the ME application is there but he said they perked up when he mentioned he'd been working in CAD software since early high school.

If he can get solid piece and assembly CAD experience with the HVAC company, that is a win win.
HVAC - for the foreseeable future there will be buildings new needing new design and existing needing upgrades. Any work with thermal/heat exchange modeling will be a big plus. This opens working in electronics design (computers) and data center design. Data center cooling design is a hot topic right now for obvious reasons.

[Jeff Higgins]

Another retired ME here, and a shooter. I'm here to tell you that there are essentially NO gun manufacturers working on "new" designs for any sort of break action shotgun. Or any sort of a firearm for that matter, save for the odd new pistol or military small arms. Any "new" guns use proven, established designs that are older than any of us, endlessly copying expired patents. And there really are no more than a handful of different designs to boot. Very, very bad place for any sort of an engineer to look for real engineering work.

As an aside, I got promoted into management as well. Companies like to do that to "reward" good employees, seeing it as a step up the ladder. I lasted less than a year before I asked my manager for a meeting, wherein I slid my management credentials across his desk to him and said "I quit". I simply could not stand working with employees' problems, of which there were an endless variety. So I went "back to the drawing board", literally. This was before CAD had taken over. I was much, much happier solving engineering problems than other peoples' life problems. Much better at it as well.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Fan I don’t hear management talk, he wants to do the actual work of engineering. He’s math minded if that makes sense. And for fields his first interest was aerospace but it was advised to go mechanical for broader appeal to employers. He’d be thrilled working on anything from military equipment (has a natural interest in navy ships) to a suspension (he’s a big F1 fan) to alternative fueling systems for cars. Just finished a no nonsense 21 credit junior semester better than a 3.0 and can probably adapt to anything.

where's he going to uni? don't feel like you have to reply - #1 is starting either aero or chem eng in september is what's driving the question.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Jeff, your experience mirrors mine, I was promoted to head of the largest design team, new position took away everything I enjoyed doing and replaced it with everything I didn't enjoy

Lasted a 1.5yrs, resigned, to emigrate with my family so could go back doing a hands on design job

Best career and family decision I ever made

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Jeff, your experience mirrors mine, I was promoted to head of the largest design team, new position took away everything I enjoyed doing and replaced it with everything I didn't enjoy

Lasted a 1.5yrs, resigned, to emigrate with my family so could go back doing a hands on design job

Best career and family decision I ever made

[BK911]

The HVAC industry is among the easiest ME fields, and generally the least paying.
Worked ~14 years in it culminating with commissioning, which is among the highest paying HVAC ME jobs.
Lots of jobs out there and not too hard to rise to the top; he'd be competing with the 2.0 GPAs.

[berettafan]

Alan he's a Virginia Tech. Big school with great reputation but I think there is a trade off with internship assistance being as there are so many.

BK would you feel like an internship doing that might be limiting for when applies for actual employment next year? I don't think this would be a career choice for him.