[jocoyn]

Nope did not even realize it as separate field. My dad was a mechanical engineer who worked alongside electrical engineers designing spacecraft. He went from draftsman doing engineering drawings for airplane parts (he worked on the steering for the Martin 4-0-4) to engineering school (GA Tech) to design work and then to quality control and management. Design was his love-he hateded QC and management. He primarly designed docking sytsems for spacecraft. But had a number of patents for Glenn L Martin Company before he brached of into aerospace. But that was a long time ago.

He hated the kids who went straight through from High school to BS to MS because many of them had no hands on feel for things like torque wrenches etc. The ones all book, no hands on.... He loved the technicians who aspired to become engineers because of the experience. Fortunatly many engineering schools now take longer and have co-op programs where you actually break up your education with honest to goodness work in the field. That kind of program also opens job doors. My dad had a job out of college because he was a draftsman for the comany who encouraged him to go to engineering school in the first place.