Who works in the car industry?

Who works in the car industry?

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Discussion

strudel

Original Poster:

5,888 posts

226 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
What do you do? How did you get into? Is it enjoyable? biggrin I guess there must be a few of you out there involved, and not all as shiny suited, pointy shod salespeople wink

I was made redundant last week (I prefer the term liberated) and so I'm looking for a job and perhaps working with something I actually find interesting. In reality, how much of it is looking after people's white goods before you get onto the interesting stuff? I've barely got an engineering/science degree if that helps.

Any story, big or small smile

GroundEffect

13,819 posts

155 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Senior Powertrain Design Engineer for one of the big OEMs.

I like it.


triggerh4ppy

397 posts

125 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Chassis Design engineer for a OEM. Was always interested in automotive engineering and just went on to do it at uni. I enjoy it although its not as paid highly as it should be its still enough to keep me happy. Plenty of demand currently also.

Plenty of interesting components/situations to work on/think about. Can also be times there is boring simple stuff which you may find boring but theres always something that comes along to keep you engaged.

markmullen

15,877 posts

233 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
I play with sports cars. Shiny suit and pointy shoe shod though. Still, I spent Friday driving and photographing a Porsche 959 Sport so that probably makes up for the pointy shoes.

J8 SVG

1,468 posts

129 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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Project management (chassis based) at a major OEM over here! Something different every day and sometimes they even let me drive the cars driving

Not sure it's what I want to do forever but it's a pretty decent way to save up for a house while I work out what I'm doing with my life!

simo1863

1,866 posts

127 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
My path was thus after finishing uni, failing a medical with the Army and then travelling for a bit;

Tax Accounts manager
Account manager for a tax consultancy firm (specialising in company car and fuel BIK)
Fleet Consultant (self employed)
Fleet Manager
Personal transport security consultant

There were times when I could have chosen a different path and earned more this way I drive a different car every week and earn enough to pay the bills.

unpc

2,831 posts

212 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Been in this game a long time but I started as an apprentice in a similar industry. Back then qualifications weren't so important but I will be hard breaking in without a relevant degree now. I'm now in charge of an interior project on a new vehicle and it's a pretty good job but some days less so.

It really makes no difference whether you work on white goods or aspirational vehicle except that white goods type vehicles are harder to engineer.

JordanTurbo

937 posts

140 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
This thread interests me greatly.

I'm currently in the army as an aircraft technician (currently on Apache) and specialise in composite (GRP, carbon fibre, kevlar etc...) repair.

I'm planning to leave the forces next year and I'd love to go into somthing in the automotive industry that I can enjoy.

pedrotunes

166 posts

184 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
I have worked in contract hire and leasing side of the car industry for several years. Really enjoy it, lots of interaction with the products, OEMs and industry people as its a key focus for most of them.

There are lots of areas you could work in, for an OEM, leasing company, data provider (vehicle, pricing, maintenance)etc. Check out the fleet press for vacancies or there are lots of automotive recruiters out there.

Good luck




Woodrow123

46 posts

125 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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Senior Manager for a global tier 1. Been in the industry since graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and have worked in the UK, Asia and now the US in powertrain, powertrain electronics, interior electronics and climate. Currently, as in this week, working on projects for 5 global OEM including all of the big 3.

It's an exciting industry to work in and as much as I try to plan my time, someone else always has designs on my schedule.

Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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Vehicle dynamics engineer for a vehicle manufacturer, damper & bush & spring & anti-roll bar & tyre tuning for ride/steering/handling. Driver training.

Loving it. I dreamed of doing my job when I was a kid. Great colleagues, pay is good, my job keeps me fit, environment amazing.

Engineer1

10,486 posts

208 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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I suspect I'm up for redundancy - I've got an MSc is Automotive Engineering from Coventry but not done any technical engineering in a while (ended up a cad jockey / monkey) how hard should it be to get into am Automotive role tier 1 or OEM?

zeppelin101

724 posts

191 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Combustion system development engineer for an OEM.

Came straight out of university into it 2 1/2 years ago. I think the only other part of an OEM I'd like to experience is the vehicle testing side, preferably still within the Powertrain area though.

My degree was in Mechanical Engineering (Bachelors only), although I'd say I learnt more relevant things to my job through my interest in cars than I did on my degree until I did my dissertation which was on inlet port development for an optical single cylinder.

A lot of people I was at uni with who were interested in cars told me they were going to avoid mixing their hobby with work but for me, I'm not sure I'd have it any other way. Much more motivating going to work every day knowing you'll be doing something that actively interests you.

Benrad

650 posts

148 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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Don't forget that it's not only cars that use IC engines. I work for an engine supplier to HGV OEMs in Combustion, performance and emissions testing. The engines are much more complicated and high tech. There's also off road stuff like JCB/perkins etc. As far as I can gather people with relevant skills/experience/qualifications are always in demand in our sector. I know we're struggling to fill a graduate type role at the moment

4a4

213 posts

134 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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I work for a sports car company. Started out on the manufacturing line, worked my way up through there. Then did my time in the development workshops - building prototypes, getting some road and track time in ride & handling projects, now work in the office - shirt and tie smile developing as a design engineer using CAD.
If you find a job you enjoy, you never work a day again in your life....apparently haha

Cyder

7,045 posts

219 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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Exterior design for an OEM. Pays the bills and I get to do some travelling. For all my grumbling I do secretly like what I do!

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Did some work with a vehicle at Millbrook Proving Ground recently. I found the guy we were dealing with's job pretty interesting. Lots of external companies go there to test stuff, so they have project managers to look after each job, and some of them are also engineers who work on other stuff there. So this guy was arranging heat, water, sand and other environmental tests for us, and also working on a crash test rig to test seat belts and airbags. Meant he got a lot of variation in his work, and got to play with some interesting toys. I could see it being an interesting place to work.

Benrad said:
Combustion, performance and emissions testing.
I used to do the same but on gas turbines.

ajcj

798 posts

204 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Define car industry? If you mean building them, then no. I work in one of the major UK distributors of aftermarket parts. Lots of dealing with suppliers and customers, juggling the changing requirements of the car parc with the need to run an efficient business. It's an industry that is going through huge change, but it is dynamic and it's certainly not going to disappear for a few years yet!


Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Monday 24th March 2014
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I test and develop infotainment systems for a global Tier 1, it was my first job out of uni and I'm still enjoying it.

Engineer1 said:
I suspect I'm up for redundancy - I've got an MSc is Automotive Engineering from Coventry but not done any technical engineering in a while (ended up a cad jockey / monkey) how hard should it be to get into am Automotive role tier 1 or OEM?
Probably not too difficult.

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

264 months

Monday 24th March 2014
quotequote all
Powertrain design. I like it a lot, but then I was quite happy designing pipes for oil rigs.

Loving the end product is worth a few percent of job satisfaction, but as most of the jobs are designing something tedious to fit in something tedious it really helps to love the actual job rather than the end product.

I do get a rediculous hit of pride when something I've worked on drives past, and I have to resist buying unsuitable sheds just because I designed the cylinder head or something.