Career in Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering offers a wide variety of career opportunities to job aspirants. The average monthly salary of mechanical engineers who are new to this profession is approximately in the range between Rs.10,000 and Rs.25,000. Good campus placements can fetch even better packages for deserving students. Mechanical engineers who hold a post-graduate degree from a reputed academic institute tend to get better offers than diploma and degree holders.

From here on the annual pay packet depends on a number of factors such as the skill set possessed, experience, expertise, the employer, nature of roles and responsibilities, etc. Highly skilled mechanical engineers can easily command pay packets as high as Rs 40-45 lacs per annum.

Demand and Supply

There is great demand for skilled mechanical engineers in different segments of the industry. Their expertise is required in traditional manufacturing industries such as automobiles, aviation, shipping, aerospace, power plants and machinery manufacturing. In recent times, the services of expert mechanical engineers have even been sought in fields such as nanotechnology, biomedical engineering, energy conservation and environmental engineering.

There is also great requirement for mechanical engineer consultants who have management skills along with technical proficiency. The primary role of such professionals is to manage both technology and people and firms that provide engineering consultancy require them.

The job market for mechanical engineers is perennial. Even the vagaries of the global economic crisis could not knock out the demand for these professionals in the Indian job market. Although some branches of mechanical engineering went out of focus during the meltdown period, the overall situation was much better as compared with other careers. On the brighter side, things are getting back to normal and this evergreen career path is again gaining coin amongst career aspirants as it did during the pre-meltdown years.

In fact, this is a period of resurgence for mechanical engineers. They not only have countless options in the industrial sector but they can also make foray into new realms of technology and even get into management and technical consultancy.