[motorsport_cat]

Hi guys, some of you may have read before that I want to be an engineer for BMW in the future...

I have a question regarding this: Do you have to work in Germany? Or is it possible to work as an engineer but outside Germany? I know this may sound stupid, but if I ever go to work in Germany it'll be a huge life changer.

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Hi guys, some of you may have read before that I want to be an engineer for BMW in the future...

I have a question regarding this: Do you have to work in Germany? Or is it possible to work as an engineer but outside Germany? I know this may sound stupid, but if I ever go to work in Germany it'll be a huge life changer.

If you want to go into R&D, yes you pretty much have to go to Germany. You also have to speak German.

If you don't mind working in the production side of the company, you can get a job as an engineer at BMW's Spartanburg plant.


I had lunch the other day with the former VP of Mercedes R&D and he said it was the same thing for them as well. I don't know about VW group though.

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

If you want to go into R&D, yes you pretty much have to go to Germany. You also have to speak German.

If you don't mind working in the production side of the company, you can get a job as an engineer at BMW's Spartanburg plant.


I had lunch the other day with the former VP of Mercedes R&D and he said it was the same thing for them as well. I don't know about VW group though.

Haha just a casual day at work? What do you do for a living?

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Haha just a casual day at work? What do you do for a living?

I am a Freshman in college, and he is a professor at my school. Since I have pretty much the same goal you do, I made sure to get in contact with him as soon as possible.

It was actually really great talking to him because he was a non-German (he is from India). From what he said, it seems like learning German is one of the most significant reasons that there are not many foreign Engineers in German Auto companies. It goes without saying that you have to be a good engineer as well.

That being said, German is not that hard of a language to learn. I took a few years of it in high school and I thought that the vocabulary is very similar to English. I personally had a little bit of trouble with the grammar, but I think that was just me being a freshman and sophomore in high school more than it actually being hard :P

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

I am a Freshman in college, and he is a professor at my school. Since I have pretty much the same goal you do, I made sure to get in contact with him as soon as possible.

It was actually really great talking to him because he was a non-German (he is from India). From what he said, it seems like learning German is one of the most significant reasons that there are not many foreign Engineers in German Auto companies. It goes without saying that you have to be a good engineer as well.

That being said, German is not that hard of a language to learn. I took a few years of it in high school and I thought that the vocabulary is very similar to English. I personally had a little bit of trouble with the grammar, but I think that was just me being a freshman and sophomore in high school more than it actually being hard :P

Oh wow! That's actually great! Where do you go to school?

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Oh wow! That's actually great! Where do you go to school?

The University of Alabama. I know its not traditionally a well known engineering school, but they have just invested a lot of money into their science and engineering program. They have built four new large buildings in the past 10 years (and they are the no expense spared type of buildings). So hopefully the image of Alabama's engineering program will be changing soon.

Are you in college yet? If so where are you going? If not where are you looking at?

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

The University of Alabama. I know its not traditionally a well known engineering school, but they have just invested a lot of money into their science and engineering program. They have built four new large buildings in the past 10 years (and they are the no expense spared type of buildings). So hopefully the image of Alabama's engineering program will be changing soon.

Are you in college yet? If so where are you going? If not where are you looking at?

Currently I'm finishing my last year of high school... but where I live there are only 5 years of high school, then you go to something called "cegep" and only after you go to college/university. I want to go to McGill university (I live in Montreal) as it is one of the best English universities. And also, I know this dude who went to a worse university than McGill and Audi accepted him as an intern in a College in Germany! So even if school for engineering may be hard, it is probably easy to get taken as an intern as long as you have good grades

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Currently I'm finishing my last year of high school... but where I live there are only 5 years of high school, then you go to something called "cegep" and only after you go to college/university. I want to go to McGill university (I live in Montreal) as it is one of the best English universities. And also, I know this dude who went to a worse university than McGill and Audi accepted him as an intern in a College in Germany! So even if school for engineering may be hard, it is probably easy to get taken as an intern as long as you have good grades

Jeez. 5 years of high school, I don't think I could have done that.

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

Jeez. 5 years of high school, I don't think I could have done that.

Hahahaha... Dont u have 6?

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Hahahaha... Dont u have 6?

God no. We have four years of high school and then we go to college.

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

God no. We have four years of high school and then we go to college.

So basically compared to you, I waste 3 years of my life... :_(

[NemesisX]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

So basically compared to you, I waste 3 years of my life... :_(

Learning more is never a waste of time, even if what you're learning isn't directly applicable to your future job. I think this is especially true for math and science subjects. There's a certain kind of logic/pattern recognition/rigor that math, physics, chemistry, biology will teach you that may prove invaluable to a wide variety of careers out there.

Hell, I think learning for the sake of learning is one of noblest endeavors one can pursue in this life.

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

Learning more is never a waste of time, even if what you're learning isn't directly applicable to your future job. I think this is especially true for math and science subjects. There's a certain kind of logic/pattern recognition/rigor that math, physics, chemistry, biology will teach you that may prove invaluable to a wide variety of careers out there.

Hell, I think learning for the sake of learning is one of noblest endeavors one can pursue in this life.

I completely agree! What I meant was that instead of having 4 years of high school and college right away, I have 5 years, and two more years afterwards for pre-university studies. I think that an additional 3 years of learning will for sure come in handy. Plus, the more you know, the better

[W///]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

If you want to go into R&D, yes you pretty much have to go to Germany. You also have to speak German.

If you don't mind working in the production side of the company, you can get a job as an engineer at BMW's Spartanburg plant.


I had lunch the other day with the former VP of Mercedes R&D and he said it was the same thing for them as well. I don't know about VW group though.

That's not necessarily true.

There IS plenty of R&D work outside of Germany. If you want to go into engineer design, then yes, that's done in Germany.

And yes, learning Germany is a huge plus.

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by W///

That's not necessarily true.

There IS plenty of R&D work outside of Germany. If you want to go into engineer design, then yes, that's done in Germany.

And yes, learning Germany is a huge plus.

Just curious, what type of R&D work is outside of Germany?

[W///]

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

Just curious, what type of R&D work is outside of Germany?

Cold/hot weather testing, driving dynamics, quality control ect...

BMW also has a testing facility out in Oxnard, CA

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by W///

Cold/hot weather testing, driving dynamics, quality control ect...

BMW also has a testing facility out in Oxnard, CA

I did not know that. Thanks for the clarification.

[hyper1]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Currently I'm finishing my last year of high school... but where I live there are only 5 years of high school, then you go to something called "cegep" and only after you go to college/university. I want to go to McGill university (I live in Montreal) as it is one of the best English universities. And also, I know this dude who went to a worse university than McGill and Audi accepted him as an intern in a College in Germany! So even if school for engineering may be hard, it is probably easy to get taken as an intern as long as you have good grades

Maybe you should try Polytechnique in Montreal.
Bonne chance

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by hyper1

Maybe you should try Polytechnique in Montreal.
Bonne chance

Lol dont really want to go to a french school, mais merci!

[pootytang]

Pretty sure what Canadians call "high school" is some fusion of US middle school and HS. This type of stuff varies widely across the world, but most are ready for university study between the ages of 17 and 19.

Mcgill is a fantastic research university, very good engineering department too, arguably the best in Canada. Best ticket to get into a certain industry is through internships early in your college career. For German OEM's, there are many calibration engineers stateside, but I'm pretty sure most R&D happens in the motherland. This differs slightly from the Japanese OEM's, which for whatever reason all have pretty sizable R&D efforts in the Detroit metro area.

German OEM's tend to be very supplier oriented, so many of the technologies are developed or licensed from suppliers such as Bosch, Continental, ZF etc. These companies tend to have a much bigger global R&D presence since their customers are all over the world. All of these companies have operations in the Detroit metro area.

[lmaleke]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

... I think this is especially true for math and science subjects. There's a certain kind of logic/pattern recognition/rigor that math, physics, chemistry, biology will teach you that may prove invaluable to a wide variety of careers out there.

Hell, I think learning for the sake of learning is one of noblest endeavors one can pursue in this life.

True! And those skills are invaluable later on in life no matter what path OP is going to go