What mistakes should you avoid as a mechanical engineer?

As per my rich experience in Manufacturing sector, I feel the following are certain things: 1) Knowing where you want to work/ Where your passion lies: Be it Assembly of frame or Engine 2) Knowledge of machine floor: Due to the failure in completing documents, people don't give learning much priority as their main focus is just to get the documentation done which is not ethically right 3) Documentation with 100% actions: Documentation done over paper does not change to the line, one has to make sure changes are also done on real time. 4) Career path: With your passion in line with your interest, choose the correct career path for yourself to get the best out of your Mechanical Engineering degree.

Engineering work usually needs to serve a purpose - make sure to understand what is expected from the project and that the solution provided answers it (preferably without too many asterisks and/or creating new demand)

In my mind, the biggest mistakes to avoid are; 1. Letting someone else dictate your ethics; most people want to be ethical; this behavior should be encouraged. 2. Going against what your mind tells you; You should be sure with any decision you make, that you understand what you are doing and potentially what you are signing 3. Be constantly learning new things; Don't make the mistake of thinking that once you complete your degree you are done. Really the degree awarded is just the start of your learning. You should be constantly engaged in learning new things while working in whatever industry you are in.

Specifications outline the project's scope, standards, and constraints, guiding the engineering process. Ignoring them can result in errors, delays, or legal issues. Always read, understand, and adhere to these guidelines, and communicate any questions or changes with stakeholders to ensure the project's success.

Don’t folow or apply the recomendations of standards and codes must be all time avoided. The recomendations and specifications of codes e standards, has a lot of research, study and tests, so must used as much as possible.

Either you are preparing for exams or started working in a job, documentation plays a important role. While preparing for exam it helps to keep track of things that are learnt already. Also, it is very essential to keep on updating your learnings there to have a strengthened revision document. It should be clearly written to have atmost readibility. Mostly it is understood that there othing more to document when we start working in practical world. But one must always be thinking of learning new skill and document it so that it should be easy to gather back when required

Some ways to minimize mistakes in engineering projects are as below: - Using leason learned that take in previous failure experience. - Preparing check lists.

Remember: you will not remember - at least not everything and not forever. Provide descriptions to make sure anyone can understand the project and that the understanding is unambiguous.

A documenta??o é uma das partes mais importantes de um projeto. Nela você consegue mostrar o projeto, etapas do projeto, checklist diário de inspe??es de seguran?a, qualidade, custos, materiais, etc. Com essa documenta??o atualizada e em m?os, o engenheiro mecanico consegue ter rastreabilidade das atividades.

Neglecting documentation is a common mistake in mechanical engineering. Documentation records your progress, results, and decisions, ensuring quality, accountability, and transparency. It helps avoid confusion, inconsistency, and duplication, while also facilitating collaboration and feedback. Always document your work clearly, accurately, and comprehensively, using the right formats, tools, and standards to maintain project integrity.

When developing a project either by being from scratch or just a redesign proposal on what already exists, testing is crucial to guarantee good performance and reliability of it. One thing I find very helpful is to understand where is your project being applied, usage conditions, workload, etc. Then, prepare a validation plan that can cover all the conditions it will undergo during its operation. Prepare a durability set of tests where the operation of your system will be severe, and set a limit of wearing that your system can have by the end of it.

Testing is crucial for verifying, validating, and optimizing designs, prototypes, or products. It helps identify and correct flaws, enhance performance, and ensure reliability. Always test thoroughly and objectively using appropriate methods, criteria, and metrics to ensure the quality and effectiveness of your work.

Agree. You'll benefit greatly from becoming proficient with the software. Take some of that time saved to refresh and continue to build on your understanding, it will also increase your appreciation for what the software is doing.

As a mechanical engineer, I've emphasized the importance of not solely relying on software tools by regularly cross-verifying results with manual calculations and engineering principles, ensuring accuracy and preventing potential design flaws.

To stay relevant and competent, I've actively pursued continuous learning by attending specialized workshops, obtaining certifications, and engaging in professional networks, ensuring that my skills evolve with industry advancements.

Lie, cheat, steal, step on others, do whatever you have to, and do so ruthlessly, to get what you want and make money, everything else is everyone else’s problem

Thinking that you already know everything - there is always something new to learn or skills to hone. Own and learn from failure, don't try and bluff your way out.

One thing I have found is that ethics should not only affect nor apply to the individual engineer's mechanical work on the shop floor, but, the manager in the mechanical departments as well. Every engineer is, supposedly, bound by some ethics just by qualifying in that field, there are values and expectations when carrying out duties. Above that, there may be a body or society one can belong to that lays out principles that bind members, explaining the dos and don'ts, as reminder of the ethics, by setting out consequences. A manager who then ignores the skills sets and brings in unqualified people in the mix to same level as qualified personnel, brings about disrepute in the teams. This, I, definitely think is forgetting ethics and morals.

Use those you work alongside as a ladder to get to the top. Use them as stepping stones, taking the credit for good ideas when you can and passing the blame onto them when you need to. We work with tools everyday, why treat people differently? Don't be a tool! Lean on people when you have to and support those around you when they need it. Together, we are more!

Difícil ser t?o abrangente em uma resposta curta, mas creio que deve ser respeitado o que foi jurado perante toda a sociedade, e todo resultado disso será voltado novamente aos valores de cada um, mas de modo geral, o respeito a profiss?o, as pessoas, os projetos. Junto a tudo isso, n?o aceitar nada que venha ferir nossos valores morais, caráter, ética. Isso dinheiro nenhum pode pagar e n?o vale nossa assinatura.

The best engineers are also great communicators. They bring concepts to life through stories, anecdotes, metaphors an so on. In seeking to make decisions and influence others engineers often default to data/logic and their experience/credibility and think that should be enough - often it isn't. Engaging the emotions (Aristotle called it Pathos) as part of the persuasive process makes for an unbeatable combination.

Get real world experience! Book / Internet learning is great, but you need the real world experience to be able to apply what you've learned. Some of us call it common sense. Some have it & some don't. Those that do seem to have an easier time applying things, those that don't need to work to learn how to apply things properly. Anything I've ever worked on that has been difficult to repair we try and say it's just an inexperienced engineer. The best engineers either have that common sense, or work real hard to simulate it!

Try considering others experience, could save you time, effort and of course a lot of money. Don’t copy and paste from the last job without really double checking your work!

As an Engineer and Especially Mechanical Engineer, one should avoid these mistakes -Over Confidence on the years of experience rather than diverse experience as one person might have worked for 40+ years in Piping industry but Mechanical is not limited to piping only. Its a vast field; even in Building section it cover many services like HVAC, Fire Fighting, Plumbing and Public Health, Ventilation, Energy Management etc. - Over reliance on just software's and leaving the physical essence behind. Many times, software leave the feel of physical element especially in design. - Intellectual theft should be avoided and when copying someone's work it shall be regarded such.

In my experience the best thing for mechanical engineers to avoid is other mechanical engineers .. the construction industry is brilliant for a bit of back stabbing ??