Are you wondering will you like mechanical engineering? In this post we will talk about the top 10 personal attributes that are critical for mechanical engineering success.

Particularly at the beginning, but sometimes in the middle and latter portions as well, many students question if mechanical engineering is right for them or if they will be a good mechanical engineer.

So this post has been written to discuss the top 10 personal attributes, likes and characteristics, so you can decide if you are on the right path to a mechanical engineering career.

1. Curiosity and an Analytical Mind

Mechanical engineers should always be questioning the world, wondering why things are the way they are, how things work, wondering how buildings are still standing, how software code works or even how biomedical inventions actually operate.

If you are not curious then you are not actually striving to figure out how things work and wanting to dig deeper into problems. You have to be able to fundamentally understand lots of little intricacies about a problem in order to problem solve and design a solution.

2. Math and Science

There is an incredible amount of math and science in mechanical engineering, so you have to be good at it. Not only that but you have to like it, you have to deploy your curiosity and student habits to learn all of the relative math.

There is no way around it you just have to have a strong liking for it. A commonly asked question is: “Can I still be a mechanical engineer if I’m not good at math or if I don’t like math?”

The answer is no.

3. Are You a Serious Student?

This is going to apply not only in your university days but into your professional career. You really have to be serious about your job, classes, projects, relationships with professors and laboratories. 

Mechanical engineering requires a lot more work than other fields. Unless you’re really into the material and coursework while also being into your job/internships later on in your career, then you are not going to be successful in this field.

You really have to be all-in in mechanical engineering so being a serious student is definitely required.

4. Being a Good Problem Solver

Problem solving is in the essence of mechanical engineering, this is how you try to figure out how things went wrong so we can improve them for the future. 

This will allow us to constantly evolve our infrastructure, inventions, software applications, energy or whatever it is that is the problem at hand. You are always going to be problem-solving.

This starts at the beginning of your university road, when you’re talking about homework problems and exam problems and all the way throughout your career. You’re trying to figure something out, you’re trying to make it better, you’re trying to figure out why something failed in order to improve it.

That is the essence of mechanical engineering, to be a good problem solver.

5. Attention to Detail

Many times mechanical engineering problems, solutions and critical thinking involves lots of minute little details that comprise a total picture. You have to be able to have very strong attention to little details because if one thing is out of place, one conversion is missed, a single step in the long process of equations or design or software code is missed, if a single thing is omitted the entire project could fail.

So you have to have a very very strong attention to detail, you can’t be lazy, you can’t just say “Oh well I looked it over once, it’s going to be fine”

No!

You have to double and triple check your work, you have to be willing and able to be involved in fine-tuning the details. Strong attention to detail is mandatory to becoming a successful mechanical engineer.

6. Creativity

This one is subject to a little bit of debate, because mechanical engineers are notorious for having and often stereotyped as being very far left brain (logical/analytical). The reality is that lots of times in the problem-solving approach, you have to be creative and you have to think outside of the box. You have to be willing to do something that may not have ever been done before in order to solve a unique problem.

In order to think of the best solutions within a cost-effective fashion, or maybe a time restricted fashion, you have to be creative to have the ability to go “against the grain” in engineering, so creativity is a massively strong attribute.

7. Spatial Awareness

On occasion mechanical engineers can work with a three-dimensional CAD problem or they may just be working with code or they may just be working out of a petri dish. They could also be doing some research or something in the research and development field.

However the greater scheme of mechanical engineer’s work or the more common type of problem they’ll be working on is something along the lines of a massive building or maybe a realistic problem where they could be writing a software application for an occurrence that actually happens in a grocery store or actually happens on a factory line.

You have to be able to envision this problem and envision the application for which you are working on in the real world. Sometimes mechanical engineers have a good three-dimensional brain where they can see something on a two-dimensional page or they can just look at some code and envision what this product/solution will look like in the real world.

This is where spatial awareness can be key for a mechanical engineer.

8. Team Player

You have to be a good team player, there are very few situations in this world that a mechanical engineer can accomplish something on their own. Mechanical engineers are usually working in teams, they can be working with people in transportation, buildings, civil engineers, architects or construction workers so they have to be a good team player.

You have to be able to do your task and communicate that task well with people and also be a good team member, be supportive of others who are struggling and be empathetic to these situations. You have to be able to work as one cog in a big overall machine.

And attribute like this is essential in a mechanical engineering team work environment.

9. Technical Knowledge

Mechanical engineering is rife with software applications, conversions, a long list of mathematical science, statistics, overall materials and whatever niche/practical knowledge is required for the certain field or problem.

Mechanical engineers generally know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff.

It’s not subjective and it’s not a philosophical world. It’s not an entirely creative world where, for example: an artist doesn’t necessarily need to know a lot of technical knowledge as long as they have a certain talent they can succeed.

But, as a mechanical engineer you need to know a lot of information about software, science, about math and all of these technical areas.

You have to be a tactician in technical skills.

10. Communication

Last but not least, this is an often omitted skill yet it is the most powerful attribute on this list. If you can be a good communicator you are going to win in mechanical engineering.

Just like talking about team players, often the leaders, managers and CEO’s of companies are not only good engineers and team players, but they can communicate well as well.

If you can take the mic, if you can present and if you can speak in front of your group even in an internal fashion, you’re going to win and you’re going to shine in the mechanical engineering field.

I cannot stress this enough, the best engineers in the world have strong oral and written communication, they know how to deal with technical writing, how to deal with management and they know how to work well in groups.

Using that communication whether it be speaking, whether it be written or casual water-cooler chats developing good relationships with your colleagues and developing good relationships with your clients.

We live in a world where communication and your ability to communicate with people is a highly valuable attribute with those with strong communication do not only win in mechanical engineering, they win in life!

So those are the top 10 personal attributes for mechanical engineering success.

You can now decide if you will like mechanical engineering. Coming forward with any combination of these 10 attributes will allow you to get ahead in your career and be as successful as possible as a mechanical engineer.