Nobody warns you about mechanical engineering. They recommend it. A parent, a guidance counselor, a uncle who retired from Boeing in 2004. The pitch is always the same: broad, stable, always in demand. By the time you discover what the work actually looks like, the tuition is spent and the transcript does not refund.
This blog exists to interrupt that. It does not argue. It does not persuade. It just makes visible the information that gets systematically buried. You can help.
Why this matters
Universities have career fairs, glossy brochures, and enrollment targets. Employers have talent pipelines and cost pressures. The engineering establishment has outreach programs designed to keep the funnel full. DiscoverE runs Engineers Week. ASME publishes optimistic workforce reports. Nobody is paid to tell prospective students that mechanical engineering produces two graduates for every job opening (see Reason #1), that the four-year degree routinely takes five or six (see Reason #2), that pay plateaus early and falls behind other fields (see Reason #18), or that most MEs eventually leave ME work to advance (see Reason #28).
You are not competing with their budgets. You are correcting an information imbalance. A decision that costs five or six years of someone's life, shapes where they live, how much they earn, and what kind of workday they have should not be made on marketing copy alone.
When more people enter an already crowded field, wages flatten, leverage disappears, and opportunity quietly turns into competition. Sharing this site is one of the few ways feedback ever reaches the front end of the pipeline, before the sunk-cost reflex kicks in. The people who know mechanical engineering best do not recommend it to their own children (see Reason #53). That should tell you something.
What you can do
Drop a link when someone asks.
When someone posts "Should I major in ME?" or "Is mechanical engineering worth it?" in a forum, subreddit, or group chat, post the link. No speech required. Just: "Read this first: 100reasonstoavoidme.blogspot.com"
Print the flyer and leave it where it counts.
Download the 3-in-1 flyer (PDF). Print at 100%, cut along the dashed lines. Hang the three panels where mechanical engineers actually pass through: engineering building bulletin boards, lab doors, student lounges. Also plant break rooms, QA cages, test labs, and the hallway outside the design bullpen. One sheet can do more than a dozen comment threads.
Send it to someone deciding right now.
If you know a high school senior, a community college transfer student, or someone considering going back for a BSME, send them the link privately. You are not crushing their dream. You are giving them information their guidance counselor will not.
Why you should
If this blog ever made you feel less alone, less confused, or less convinced that the problem was you, make it easier for someone else to find. Not so you can say "I told you so," but so they cannot say no one ever told them at all.
Universities have incentives. Employers have incentives. Career advice sites have incentives.
This blog does not.
100reasonstoavoidme.blogspot.com
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