Any Ford Employees Here? Career Advice Wanted

Not really grassroots or motorsports, but figured this was the best place to get some eyes on the thread.

I recently started talking with companies about full-time positions for when I finish my degree (nominally next summer). Ford got back to me yesterday after an interview a few weeks ago and said they have several groups that are very interested in bringing me on board. I don't know much about the organizational structure and/or reputation that the different groups have within Ford, and was wondering if anyone here knew more about this.

Specifically, I'm looking at the R&A Engine group (Research and Advanced Engineering) and the alternative fuels and hybrid engine programs within the EPE group (Electrified Powertrain Engineering).

I'll be talking with some folks from Ford on the phone to get some more info about this, but would love to hear anything you guys can add.

For reference, I'm finishing my graduate work in Mechanical Engineering, so my focus is mostly on prototype research/development and simulation.

Paging Alfadriver

DO IT!!! Anywhere you go to work will have it's pluses and minuses. I think Ford is pushing close the edge of applied powertrain engineering and the skills gained there in actually doing the powertrains will be great for you to take elsewhere.

Don't listen to horror stories of Detroit area there are bad and good spots just like any city. There is stuff to do and you get to drive in the snow instead of having the city close due to ice.

The Employee pricing for family and eventual, (after promotions) employee company car programs would be great perks as well.

I worked in the auto industry in Detroit and found that each of the companies, Toyota, Ford, GM, and Chrysler all had their qwerks that can be frustrating. Having a few close friends at Tesla let me know that they aren't really any different, maybe more frustrating given the lack of automotive knowledge most of the leaders had there. The got an Awesome French guy to put togther their manufacturing and some key folks in spots that helped them avoid or get out of major pitfalls.

I am also a Mech degree holder and Prof Engineer. Since leaving the auto industry I have yet to see such advanced engineering/manufacturing/prototype development/project management in any other industry including the tech and consumer goods fields. I didn't work in the Medical Devices field but got some site visits during interviews and maybe they would be closest in advanced engineering.

You may want to consider applying to other companies as well to give them the opportunity to offer you a job and then compare the offers.

Some say that electric cars are much more promising. Some say that alternative fuels (especially hydrogen) have been a big money pit for the big 3 with few actual products to show.

See if you can find a good articles from the early to mid-nineties on "hydrogen reformers", it's worth a good laugh.

When it comes to Detroit, there is no reason to be in the sketchy sections, it's abandoned, nothing there. If you go about you're day to day life you'll be just fine. Now if you go and drive around Detroit for some "sightseeing" then you may end in some sketchy 'hoods. Might wanna' carry a shotgun in the trunk in case you ever break down or get stuck in the snow, no permit required for longuns in Michigan.

In reply to Advan046:

Yeah, not too worried about Detroit coming from Atlanta. Like you said there are good and bad parts of all big cities. Convincing the girlfriend is a little tougher though...

I'd love to be living in someplace with winter weather again. I grew up in upstate NY and loved driving in the snow.

Interesting to hear your perspective on Tesla. I'll be talking with them in a month or so as well.

In reply to Mmadness:

I've been making the rounds with applications. Talked with around twenty companies at the career fair here at GA Tech recently and have submitted about that many applications. That was 2-3 weeks ago and the interviews are starting to pile up now. I'll definitely be comparing offers like you said.

I agree that the electric vehicle area is going to be one of big growth. Both GM and Ford said that when I talked with them. One of the engineers I talked with said he wouldn't be surprised if pretty much all cars used some type of electrification (start-stop or short-range electric system) within the next decade.

Funny you mention hydrogen. I worked as an intern at GM in the Fuel Cell Activities group a number of years ago and saw the struggle to get the technology to market first-hand.

Thanks for the advice guys.

JohnyHachi6 wrote: In reply to Advan046: Convincing the girlfriend is a little tougher though...

IMO, detroit is definitely a BYOP town, so i'd recommend working on your convincingness.

Haha "BYOP," that's a useful acronym I learned today

JohnyHachi6 wrote: Funny you mention hydrogen. I worked as an intern at GM in the Fuel Cell Activities group a number of years ago and saw the struggle to get the technology to market first-hand.

Shows what I know. I would have thought hydrogen was THE answer

"BYOP" = Bring Your Own Police?

Bring your own piece?

The polite version is Bring Your Own...Partner

You guys crack me up.

Sounds like OPP isn't an option there.... or is it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGuGSDsDrM

If you have specific Detroit-area questions, I'm here to help.

There's a lot out here, you by no means have to live in Detroit proper (or some other sketchy area).

Can you wait a day or two? I'm on vacation at the moment.

But I'm in R&A. Have been for about 20 years.

In reply to alfadriver:

Yeah, no real hurry. Would love to hear your thoughts when you have the time.

spitfirebill wrote:

JohnyHachi6 wrote: Funny you mention hydrogen. I worked as an intern at GM in the Fuel Cell Activities group a number of years ago and saw the struggle to get the technology to market first-hand.

Shows what I know. I would have thought hydrogen was THE answer

No, not really. Hydrogen is plentiful but expensive to produce. It is dangerous. And the "fuel cells" aren't nearly efficient enough.

How about natural gas powered vehicles? I missed a flight once when I was too busy on THAT conversation instead of paying attention to my turn off...

So just got back from vacation...

For your kind of background, things are really good right now. We just got a new VP of Research, and he's expressed a lot of interest in what Mark Fields and Bill Ford want to work on- which is electrification and how cars are going to end up being.

On top of that, until some rather important hurdles are figured out, the internal combusiton engine will be around- and I would guess for most, if not all, of your career.

So you can choose what problem you want to work on. Or some kind of combination of all of it put together.

The big difference in organizations is the time frame that is being worked on- in R&A, we generally are 4-10 years out into the future, whereas the EPE group is like all other "forward model" groups- who take a technology all the way to production and beyond. We don't travel a whole lot in R&A, and based on the general nature of research, we change projects quite a bit. Forward model guys are basically taking the technology that we develop and to all the requirements that make it appropriate for consumers- can involve a ton of travel, but always is hard work. Their progress is pretty well laid out in plans, and timing is always in the back of minds.

Either way, we need a lot more people like you who can make a career out of working at Ford. The real question is what are you really interested in working on? This isn't a summer job, it's your life. Please don't look at it as some kind of learning that you can take someplace else- there are real problems that have to be solved in the next 100 years. Many of those is how to supply China- and how that relates to the ever changing nature of the environment. This is really important to society.

Don't think of Ford as being Detroit, it's Southeast Michigan. There are guys out father west than Dexter (which is 15 miles west of me in Ann Arbor), some who come from almost Toledo, some who do a lot of work north of Pontiac at the proving grounds, some in Canada, some in Detroit, and some in Dearborn. Small lake front living to Great Lake front living, small and large metro cities, rural, urban, suburban- the choices of places to live is all available.

Weather is subjective, but it's more nice than not here, as far as I think. I'd rather have cold summers than super hot and miserable summers.

In reply to alfadriver:

Thanks for all the info - really appreciate it. I'll probably have more questions in a few days after hearing more from Ford.

Gotta say I've been pretty impressed so far.