In the next ten to twenty years, mechanical engineering is expected to go above and beyond in its abilities and expectations. Global challenges will be met and exceeded. In addition, many mechanical engineers are projected to work on a broader spectrum of projects with both engineering and non-engineering professionals. In addition, they’ll be expected to have interdisciplinary training. Below, you’ll find a few trends that are expected to gain popularity in the mechanical engineering field.
Progressive Skill-Set Trends
- Global team management
- Multilingual capability
Innovative Tools and Techniques Trends
- Animation/virtual prototype
- Motion simulation
- Nanotechnology
- Renewable energy
- Solar/wind
Future Fields Trends
- Alternative energy
- Bioengineering/biomedical
- Computers
- Electronics
- Energy
- Nanotechnology
- Water
As you can see, there are several innovative, up and coming trends for this field. In addition to future popularity in this industry, the pay scale for mechanical engineers is also surging. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, mechanical engineers earned a median salary of $82,100 in 2013. The best-paid earned about $123,340, while the lowest-paid earned less than $52,550. Industries that continue to pay well include oil and gas extraction as well as information services. Also according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment in the field is expected to grow by 4.5 percent between 2012 and 2022, translating to 11,600 new positions.
Over 222,000 jobs are now held in ME and it’s expected that close to 10,000 more jobs will be held by 2016. Many of the following manufacturing industries offer these jobs:
- Computer products
- Electronic products
- Fabricated metal products
- Machinery
- Transportation equipment
Some of the most popular careers continuing to trend in the mechanical engineering field include:
- Microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS (sensors, actuators, micropower generation)
- Manufacturing (machining, machine tools, prototyping, microfabrication)
- Environmental control (HVAC, air-conditioning, refrigeration, compressors)
- Energy conversion (gas turbines, wind turbines, solar energy, fuel cells)
- Computers and electronics (disk drives, printers, cooling systems, semiconductor tools)
- Biotechnology (implants, prosthetic devices, fluidic systems for pharmaceutical industries)
- Automotive (from the car chassis to its every subsystem—engine, transmission, sensors)
- Automation (robots, data and image acquisition, recognition, control)
- Aerospace (airplanes, aircraft engines, control systems for airplanes and spacecraft)
Mechanical Engineering is a great field to enter that is continuing to offer fresh, innovative ideas that won’t disappoint any who decide on a career in the field. In addition, ME outsourcing is also a growing trend. Those that aren’t able to hire engineers in-house are now able to find expert mechanical engineer services through outsourcing!
Affordable Mechanical Design Services from Indovance
If you’ve thought about outsourcing your business’s needs, it’s time to consider working with a company that can offer you quality, cost efficient work in a time efficient manner. Contact us today, to talk more about working with Indovance and our expert mechanical engineers. In addition to mechanical design services, we also offer BIM services, architecture and engineering outsourcing and more. Indovance is here to help your business with costly project planning, designing and constructing.
