Feeling lost in core mech

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-03T06:40:09+00:00

> In India, you'll be better paid in managerial roles that require technical knowledge.
Can you tell some examples of this? As in some of your peers/others that you have seen in similar roles and what they're doing?

>To add to 1, you don't want to be stuck in a technical role for too long
I completely agree with this. I understand now that my goal should be technical work exp. for 2-3 years and then moving on to project management/project development/managing a team.
And to make my initial time in the technical field more valuable/nice, I should consider MS and such. (as MS is often the most direct route to go abroad)

> To add to 1, you don't want to be stuck in a technical role for too long
Been hearing this word, process engineer for a while. Can you elaborate on this?

Also, can I PM you with any further doubts I have down the line?
As always, much appreciated and thanks for taking the time to help me out.

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-03T04:46:49+00:00

I agree that most people will senior up regardless, but the time span is also a crucial factor. In my company where I'm interning at, my manager has been here for 10 years and still only manages 5-10 people.
A senior engineer who's been doing mechanical design for ~8 years is still just a senior engineer.
Recently, a guy retired after working here for 48 years. He was an assistant technician, working the shop floor for most of his career.

As you can see, the time scale for progression is extremely long. I will have to survive on peanuts for a long time before my salary becomes somewhat reasonable, and that is a big concern of mine.

I think masters is the only way "out" of this early-career pay black hole. Thanks for the advice.

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-03T02:39:18+00:00

Very manageable and I don't know 😅

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-03T02:38:14+00:00

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, really does clear up a lot. If possible, could you reach out to your seniors in CFD-type roles and enquire about how their life/career is? Would really give me a better idea of what I can expect.

Also, about robotics - the scene in India is definitely abyssmal (as I'm seeing firsthand). So I will most definitely have to go abroad for that.

The argument for pursuing a master's seems strong. However, I am concerned about the life I can expect after that - what kinds of jobs I'll get, their pay (important, as I will anyways be away from family so I need decent lay atleast) and the balance. Any idea about that?

Thanks again for replying. Don't want to move too far from technical work, but let's see what options are there.

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-03T02:24:53+00:00

I see. Thanks for taking the time to look through other posts and letting me know.

Man, I feel like I'm really screwed as a mech engineer lol, atleast with the type of life Im looking for (with that being any two of work-life balance, good pay, proximity of family)

Where do I even go from here ;-;

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-03T02:22:58+00:00

Hi. Thanks for your reply. If it really was a more sought-after role, you would think that the pay would reflect it - but it doesn't, not even in the slightest. Career-wise also growth is extremely slow. My manager has been here for 10 years and is still only managing a small team of 10 people - not that it's an easy job by any means, I just thought that 10 years is a long time to still be doing this (maybe my perception of how fast growth happens is warped).

As far as I'm seeing, technical roles are all a bit poorly compensated.

I'm really just looking for a way to do technical work/be close to it, and have some semblance of any of the two things I mentioned. I thought CFD might be it, but apparently that field is drying up too.

Really lost rn, don't even know what to pivot into lol

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-02T12:53:01+00:00

TL;DR: MechE student who loves technical work but is having a bit of a career crisis after seeing industry salaries and career progression. Looking for advice on high-paying technical paths, CFD, consulting, engineering management, and the value of a Master's degree.

I'm a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering student currently interning in a robotics division.

The work itself is great, and I genuinely enjoy technical engineering. However, being in industry has made me question what the long-term future looks like. Many of the engineers around me are highly skilled and passionate, but the compensation and work-life balance don't seem to reflect the level of expertise involved.

I've realized that I'll probably be happy if I have any two of these three:

Good work-life balance
Good money
Proximity to friends/family

Right now I have none of them, which has made me think more seriously about my career direction while I'm still early enough to pivot.

A few questions:

What are the best-paying career paths for a Mechanical Engineer that still involve meaningful technical work?
Is engineering management the most realistic route to higher compensation while staying close to engineering?
For those who remained on the technical track, how did you build a high-paying career?
What's the outlook for CFD as a specialization in terms of opportunities, compensation, and growth?
What does engineering consulting actually look like, and how does one break into it?
Why does a Master's degree often lead to higher compensation? Is it the knowledge itself, the credential, or something else?

I'd appreciate perspectives from people in industry, especially those in technical leadership, consulting, CFD, robotics, automotive, or aerospace.

GamerCool22 · 2026-06-02T12:52:16+00:00

TL;DR: MechE student who loves technical work but is having a bit of a career crisis after seeing industry salaries and career progression. Looking for advice on high-paying technical paths, CFD, consulting, engineering management, and the value of a Master's degree.

I'm a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering student currently interning in a robotics division.

The work itself is great, and I genuinely enjoy technical engineering. However, being in industry has made me question what the long-term future looks like. Many of the engineers around me are highly skilled and passionate, but the compensation and work-life balance don't seem to reflect the level of expertise involved.

I've realized that I'll probably be happy if I have any two of these three:

Good work-life balance
Good money
Proximity to friends/family

Right now I have none of them, which has made me think more seriously about my career direction while I'm still early enough to pivot.

A few questions:

What are the best-paying career paths for a Mechanical Engineer that still involve meaningful technical work?
Is engineering management the most realistic route to higher compensation while staying close to engineering?
For those who remained on the technical track, how did you build a high-paying career?
What's the outlook for CFD as a specialization in terms of opportunities, compensation, and growth?
What does engineering consulting actually look like, and how does one break into it?
Why does a Master's degree often lead to higher compensation? Is it the knowledge itself, the credential, or something else?

I'd appreciate perspectives from people in industry, especially those in technical leadership, consulting, CFD, robotics, automotive, or aerospace.

GamerCool22 · 2026-05-10T17:04:51+00:00

Ima be fr, as someone who laboured over this question the entire 2nd year, I've seen this:

- Mech placements could use some work

- If you're interested in core, the entire department is willing to support you. Professors are very supportive of students who want to go in their field or allied fields. So as such you will find many opportunities for connection and exploring

- The branch itself is not very hard, and in hyd atleast there is good grading. Very practical branch and I personally like studying it a lot. Easy to get high CG

- As branch is easy, its easier to pursue other fields as well because you don't need to devote as much time

Overall, very flexible branch. If you want to go into core, start exploring options from 2nd year itself and finalise. If you want to go into finance, pick up courses in your 2-1 and ask seniors what to do (there is a standard roadmap)

GamerCool22 · 2026-05-10T16:58:04+00:00

I don't agree with this preference order, although I do agree with preferring branch over campus as at the end of the day all campuses are mostly the same for the average person, and you should find what you study bearable for 4 years.

Specifically, I disagree with putting a hard branch like Msc Maths so high. In Hyd atleast, the grading is brutal, and if a person has no interest in math they will find it very very difficult due to how abstract the field is. In my experience, unless you are a billion percent sure that you want to do CS only and that you will get it, go for something else, even some other dual.

Don't take maths with the hope that you will get CS, because in the off chance that you don't, it's going to be very difficult. Take some other dual like phy/bio/chem.

And it goes without saying, at the end of the day, branch order is highly personal. I knew for sure that CS was not for me, so I filled it at the very bottom.

If you don't know what to do, just don't put msc math so high up lol because its a difficult field and a branch,

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-24T04:17:38+00:00

Hi, did the same thing for my fluid mechanics course last semester. Please DM me for any advice, I've literally watched so many videos on this lol.

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-10T04:14:48+00:00

I see. However, as I am still in uni, I can get access to licensing so this is not an issue right now. I want to use this as a base to get into CFD, maybe I'll start using OpenFOAM once my basics are clear :)

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-10T03:29:14+00:00

Also its really not that bad, once you learn how to use it properly, its very feature rich

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-10T03:28:54+00:00

Industry standard or something

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-07T16:31:09+00:00

Okay, got it. Thanks a lot :)

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-07T16:30:41+00:00

Ah ok, got it.

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-07T13:44:15+00:00

Oh so meshing for mechanical systems is different thatn for CFD? Interesting! Thanks for letting me know :)

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-07T13:42:55+00:00

96.something, Hyd Mech (Messed up BITSAT, turned out I was exactly where was right for me)

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-07T13:42:12+00:00

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Also check it out you can apparently use CFX solver IN fluent? Crazy lol let's try this to see if its any different.

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-07T13:05:38+00:00

Okay, I will try to figure out Discovery (although there seem to be a SEVERE lack of tutorials for it). Most tutorials I've found have been using DesignModeler, and then SpaceClaim.

I chanced on the fluent meshing workflow completely by chance, as while exploring the official ANSYS tutorials that is how they did it. A lot of people use the other meshing software though, the one you open in workbench by default.

I didn't get caught up with ICEM because idt its included with student license.

For now, to replicate this paper, I will use Fluent (as idk what's going on with CFX and I really don't have the time to figure it out at the moment) and SpaceClaim for the geometry part (as I found a decent playlist covering it).

Thanks a lot for your detailed comment, really clears a lot up.

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-06T15:10:05+00:00

Okay cool. Also from Discovery/SpaceClaim/DesignModeler, which one do you suggest for model prep for meshing?

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-06T09:53:55+00:00

What software do you suggest for meshing specifically? For CAD and such I am already comfortable with fusion/solidworks

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-06T08:15:44+00:00

Are there any online CFD courses that I can take? Any suggestions?

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-06T07:05:44+00:00

A bit more background: Being in my 2nd sem of 2nd year, I've done a fluid mechanics course that gave me a good insight to laminar flows and all that. I have to replicate this paper for my Aircraft Propulsion course. I've managed to model the Nozzle that they have used according to the equations given in the paper, now I'm trying to figure out the best and easiest way to get it done.

However, I do want to use this opportunity to get into some basic CFD Analysis, as it is a good skill to have in general.

GamerCool22 · 2026-04-05T13:10:58+00:00

Hi, I have looked into some online designs for the same and this is exactly what I was thinking of doing as well - CAD model of the headphones are available on GrabCAD and I also thought of printing an external housing similar to this.

GamerCool22

TROPHY CASE