Graduated with a masters in mechanical engineering in 2013 and became chartered in 2019. Always been a design engineer mostly sat at a desk. I enjoy hands on work to an extent though. Just started a new job with a heavy maintenance element. The product is wood burning stoves that generate energy in the form of heat and electricity. Since i’m a reasonably well qualified engineer with a reasonable about of technical experience - I expected the maintenance to mainly technical in nature. However, the reality i’ve found is that it’s mostly dismantling units, cleaning them out and reassembling them. Its a small company where safety isn’t so high on the priority list. I was cleaning out a unit for a full day yesterday and came home covered in soot with a cough (as my mask sucked) and itchy eyes. Of course, that improvements can be made there by essentially looking after myself but I cannot understand why the company wanted to hire a professional engineer into this position instead of somebody straight from school that they could easily pay half of my salary for. The whole situation makes no sense to me. Has anybody had a similar experience?
