Job security HVAC Design Engineer

hvacid

Hi, everybody!
This September I am going to start studying Mechanical Engineering in Canada and I want to choose an HVAC option. But someone told me that mechanical engineers do not have high job security, especially when they become old like 45-60 years of age. He is also an engineer and he told me that companies try to get rid of aged engineers and take younger specialists. This scared me very much and I am thinking, may be I should have chosen different career, like nursing. But I like HVAC engineering, please, somebody who works in the consulting engineering companies, can you tell me about real job security situation in this profession. I think about my future in bright tones, but this information poisons my life. Please, can you help me and tell that what was said by that engineer was not true.

MikeB34

its not

what you do, its who you work for. I started working for a manufacturer, and I overlap engineering now. we have a mix of old and new people. Experience is not wasted here, and the new people can bring a fresh perspective. 1 engineer has been here for 27 years. There is no way they want him gone...he knows too much.

Do like I did. Look at the company. Talk to people when you visit. Look at the product. would you buy it? use it? recommend it? if not. don't go there or if you need the job take it, but keep open. you can network once you're in.

Remember.. it's hte company. not the field.

Mike

jackchips_2

A qualified,

dedicated, ambitious, talented engineer in any element will never have to worry about being replaced.

Get as much education as possible, take and pass the EIT and PE exams and join and get involved with some national organizations and your future will be fine.

One added thing to keep in mind is you can always end up in business for yourself and be on easy street (LOL).

Jack CPD

Good luck and keep on learning.

Matt Clina

HVAC Engineering

First, I commend you on being this thoughtful about your future at an early stage. I just sort of stumbled into the field of HVAC engineering by accident. My advice to you would be that if this field truly interests you, then you will succeed.

Here are a few other observations that I have made during the past 15 years:

First, this is a very broad field. People tend to specialize in certain industries, such as institutional (schools, govt., etc.), high tech, pharmaceutical, power plants, office buildings, retail, etc. The reason that they tend to stick with one of these, is that companies need to streamline their design processes to stay competetive. For a design firm who specializes in shopping malls, it is easy to crank out a design for a new mall (cookie cutter approach), where they might have to spend a lot more time designing a virus lab, as they need to learn different codes, etc..

Within these "industry types", there are different types of HVAC engineers at work. There are guys who work for design firms, who make the plans and specs for construction. There are engineers who work for the construction companies, who provide support on the job sites, put together detailed shop drawings and submittals, etc., there are guys who work for the owners, who review their designs, set up maintenance programs, etc., there are guys who work for equipment vendors and sales reps, who confirm equipment selections with the applications, provide technical support regarding the equipment, etc., and there are guys who actuall design the equipment (boilers, chillers, air handlers, etc.) You could end up working in many of these disciplines during your career.

There are also many different tasks that HVAC engineers perform. Design is the obvious one, where you would develop plans for a building, do load calculations, select equipment, and put together drawing packages. I think that most folks start in this kind of a role, and some remain there throughout their career. Many move up into supervisory or management roles, where they oversee the designs of others. Others move into sales positions, or quality control.

There are guys who work for insurance companies, investigating claims after accidents or disasters. There are guys who work for the US patent office, reviewing patent applications for HVAC equipment (I almost did this), and tons of other areas.

There are other people who become experts, and write articles and books, teach seminars, etc..

To summarize, if you are really interested in this field, there is virtually no limit to the kinds of work or the kinds of companies you could work for. My advice would be to talk to people in the field, make a lot of friends in the business, look at what people do and see if it interests you, join AHSRAE, ASME, or other organizations, and attend their meetings, subscribe to industry magazines, and visit The Wall every day.

Good Luck

JimGPE_8

Good advice.

> First, I commend you on being this thoughtful

> about your future at an early stage. I just sort

> of stumbled into the field of HVAC engineering by

> accident. My advice to you would be that if this

> field truly interests you, then you will succeed.

> Here are a few other observations that I have

> made during the past 15 years:

>

> First, this is

> a very broad field. People tend to specialize in

> certain industries, such as institutional

> (schools, govt., etc.), high tech,

> pharmaceutical, power plants, office buildings,

> retail, etc. The reason that they tend to stick

> with one of these, is that companies need to

> streamline their design processes to stay

> competetive. For a design firm who specializes in

> shopping malls, it is easy to crank out a design

> for a new mall (cookie cutter approach), where

> they might have to spend a lot more time

> designing a virus lab, as they need to learn

> different codes, etc..

>

> Within these "industry

> types", there are different types of HVAC

> engineers at work. There are guys who work for

> design firms, who make the plans and specs for

> construction. There are engineers who work for

> the construction companies, who provide support

> on the job sites, put together detailed shop

> drawings and submittals, etc., there are guys who

> work for the owners, who review their designs,

> set up maintenance programs, etc., there are guys

> who work for equipment vendors and sales reps,

> who confirm equipment selections with the

> applications, provide technical support regarding

> the equipment, etc., and there are guys who

> actuall design the equipment (boilers, chillers,

> air handlers, etc.) You could end up working in

> many of these disciplines during your

> career.

>

> There are also many different tasks

> that HVAC engineers perform. Design is the

> obvious one, where you would develop plans for a

> building, do load calculations, select equipment,

> and put together drawing packages. I think that

> most folks start in this kind of a role, and some

> remain there throughout their career. Many move

> up into supervisory or management roles, where

> they oversee the designs of others. Others move

> into sales positions, or quality

> control.

>

> There are guys who work for insurance

> companies, investigating claims after accidents

> or disasters. There are guys who work for the US

> patent office, reviewing patent applications for

> HVAC equipment (I almost did this), and tons of

> other areas.

>

> There are other people who become

> experts, and write articles and books, teach

> seminars, etc..

>

> To summarize, if you are

> really interested in this field, there is

> virtually no limit to the kinds of work or the

> kinds of companies you could work for. My advice

> would be to talk to people in the field, make a

> lot of friends in the business, look at what

> people do and see if it interests you, join

> AHSRAE, ASME, or other organizations, and attend

> their meetings, subscribe to industry magazines,

> and visit The Wall every day.

>

> Good Luck



I'm on the backside of 40 and still going strong. I've found it to be very useful to get a very broad background. In my 26 years in this industry I've done design and build HVAC design, consulting engineering, mechanical project management, overall project management, project administration, marketing, product sales, and HVAC controls. I've also owned my own consulting firm. There's LOTS of opportunities for someone who can think a problem through, communicate with collegues and clients and get the job done.

Good luck!!

JimGPE_8

Good advice.

I'm on the backside of 40 and still going strong. I've found it to be very useful to get a very broad background. In my 26 years in this industry I've done design and build HVAC design, consulting engineering, mechanical project management, overall project management, project administration, marketing, product sales, and HVAC controls. I've also owned my own consulting firm. There's LOTS of opportunities for someone who can think a problem through, communicate with collegues and clients and get the job done.

Good luck!!

jerry scharf

earn your job every day

Job security has become a myth. It's gone even in Japan. I don't think it's that different between mechanical engineering and much of the rest of the jobs out there. Like Mike said,there are better companies and worse companies, but just about any of them will lay you off when work gets slow.

First, some hard realities. As you grow older and acquire more experience, your cost to the company goes up. It's always attractive for someone to look at cutting costs by cutting experience. Also, many engineers get in a rut, and that convinces management that to get new ideas, they need to bring in young people. In general, young people will put up with more BS than older people, so they are often easier employees.

My bottom line is that a kid coming out of school knows the has to earn his job every day. He/she wants to get a raise, wants to move up, so they are pushing. This doesn't change as we get older, you still need to earn your job every day. Develop your technical skills, search out innovative solutions and customers who want that, develop your customer skills, become a leader and teacher, become a major revenue source for the company. And always keep learning!!! Do this and you'll never want for a job.

If you have interest and enthusiam for HVAC, then that's what you should do. The people on this list love their work, and I think just about all of us feel sorry for the people who spend 30-40 years working at jobs they hate to feed their families.

best of luck,
jerry

Tony Conner

It Doesn't Even...

...have to be "...if it gets slow." You might very well find a great outfit to work for, but then after 10 years, old "Al" wants to retire, so he sells. Maybe the new owner turns out to be somebody you can't stand. Maybe new owner is a huge corporation, and is rolling 2 or 3 smaller shops or offices together for "efficiency". One or more these will be closing...yours? Big change in technology and your company missed the boat? Or a big change in UNPROVEN technology, and your outfit jumped on board too fast...

Basically, if you're an employee, downsizing/rightsizing/smartsizing or just plain getting laid off can happen to anyone, in any line of work.

RB_2

Some statistics

The National Science Foundation reports that between 1996 and 1999, the number of Ph.D.s in science and engineering awarded to foreign students declined by 15 percent. Only 5 percent of U.S. students now earn bachelors degrees in natural science or engineering. Since 1986, the total number of bachelors degrees in engineering is down 15 percent. Between 1994 and 2000, the number of Ph.D.s awarded in physics in the United States declined by 22 percent. http://thomas.loc.gov/ Search for Committee Report 108-105 Energy and Water Development Appropriation
Bill, then Government Funding of Physical Sciences

I'm thinking the demand for engineers will rise and the supply will go down and your value has nowhere to go but up....and you'd like to be an engineer because deep down inside you can't wait to get up every morning to solve problems...dude get thee to the grad party!

GMcD

Better advice

That engineer you talked to must be one grizzled, burnt out shell of a guy. A good engineer will ALWAYS have a job, no matter what field of endeavour. Here in the Vancouver, BC region we are crying for the 5-10 year experienced guy as we have a "lost generation" due to the last 20 years of recession/depression/typical BC provincial gov'ts. I'm an "old guy" at 46 and the way things are in this region I have all the job security a guy could want, because it's finally getting busy again, and we can't find enough good talent to come into the Building Engineering field. Most of the local companies have a lot of my age and older guys, and a lot of newbies, and very few "in-betweeners". We need some good newbies to hit the ground running to back up us old guys. The economy is always regional and cyclical, but a guy with talent and drive will always be able to find a job. Always keep learning and find the niche you like, and work it.

hvacid

O my GOD! I could not have better answers on my question! Thank you all you very much! You are so inspiring and so supportive that I feel great relief after reading your answers. Thank you very much for your advices, I also think that our field will grow and develop. Tahnk you!

Josh M.

Become an engineer and work for a manufacturer Rep.
There are tons of jobs I don't think that you have to worry.

hvacid

Can you tell me what a manufacturer Rep. is? What kind of job is it? Also, my problem is that i will be 46 when I finish university. Am I too old to start from ground zero at this age? Will it be difficult to enter the field at this age or age is also not mportant?

tim smith_2

mechanical engineer

A little note that I think shows there still is a need for engineers later in life. My old buddy who is a hydronic/air mechanical engineer, him and an old buddy of his are mid 80s and still messing around with pipes and duct design. ****, my old friend had a company here in Seattle with appx 10 engineers at one time, then in his early 70s sold the company to a couple employees. Then one of his old time employees started a little engineering company and **** went to work with him. There are plenty of options if you are thorough and honest in this job. I know it's treated him well. Tim