Engineering Job in ski industry.

I

iwalkins

Member
I am looking for an engineering job in the industry. I will be graduating in May with a degree in mechanical engineering. The chance to put my engineering degree to work within the

ski industry is very exciting. I want to use what I have learned to work with the

sport I love.

I have been trying without a whole lot of luck. If anybody has any leads or experience that may help I would super appreciate it.

 
I have the same interest, send me any advice you have. Im a junior in high school, and with a love of engineering and skiing i wanna combine them
 
Absolutely man! Keep that interest. If you have any questions about school of the academic aspect of it, let me know I would be glad to help!
 
Honestly I think a BSME is very overqualified to work in the ski industry unless you are designing presses or something. Maybe ski design, but good luck finding that.
 
Maybe go for MET or go to trade school during high school.

To both, you will likely have to start as an unpaid intern before getting a paid job.
 
What make you say that? I am curious.

I am mostly interested in working with boots, less so skis, although I do think its very interesting.
 
There isn't too much true "engineering" that goes into that stuff. I mean it is engineering, but most of it is knowledge from practice.

Your knowledge of materials and forces greatly help, but very very few companies can pay an engineer to work for them. If you're not worried about salary and have been trying out many different types of boots, liners etc then you may be able to find a lower paying job.

Most ski companies are tight knit and it is hard to work your way in.

I wish you the best of luck because it would be sick and you certainly have the qualifications to work in the industry. But, sometimes being overqualified hurts you. It's like a high school teacher with a phd. A school can pay someone with a masters to do a similar job and pay them less.

Try finding internships in the now hiring forum here and work your way up.

Or, start your own company. Team up with someone who knows a lot about functionality in a practical sense plus your ME degree, you should be able to make a nice product.

Good luck in your search and hook me up when you make it in the industry.
 
Thanks for the advice and well wishing man! I didn't really think of it from the pay aspect but I suppose that's true.
 
I'm toughing it out through a engineering program in hopes of entering the industry. Is there a better way if engineering will leave me over qualified? I'm more interested working for a resort in the civil sector than that of the gear industry.
 
12891226:iwalkins said:
What make you say that? I am curious.

I am mostly interested in working with boots, less so skis, although I do think its very interesting.
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materials engineering would be really helpful there. I remember onenerdykid talking about it a while ago.
 
12952092:TOAST. said:
materials engineering would be really helpful there. I remember onenerdykid talking about it a while ago.
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Materials engineering is not as common as an undergrad major from my experience (that may just be regional though). But materials engineering would be useful along with mechanical.
 
12952902:kingsskier said:
Materials engineering is not as common as an undergrad major from my experience (that may just be regional though). But materials engineering would be useful along with mechanical.
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I would say major in mechanical and minor in materials. I'm not sure how common material minors are, but my school isnt the biggest and they offer it.
 
12953108:TOAST. said:
I would say major in mechanical and minor in materials. I'm not sure how common material minors are, but my school isnt the biggest and they offer it.
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Yeah, my school didn't have a minor in it. I'm starting my masters in mat. science and engineering at CU in the fall. While a job in the ski industry would be really cool, I'm advancing my knowledge so I can get a better paying, more flexible, research oriented position with a company, which will allow me to ski more (in theory).
 
There's got to be some engineering jobs in the industry.

but I see your guys' point- engineering definitely over-qualifies a person for a lot of shit. This makes me sad I'm a little over a year from finishing my degree.

But I'm chemical engineering, and I think there's even less opportunity for that than mech/materials in the industry. Guess I can still look for jobs out west. That's all I really want as somebody who grew up in Ohio.
 
So just looked real quick and saw that K2 Sports and Black Diamond both have technical openings.

From what I have heard the jobs are competitive and you will have to stand out.

Also pay is sometimes lower because of yhis and they can consider it a dream job.
 
So just looked real quick and saw that K2 Sports and Black Diamond both have technical openings.

From what I have heard the jobs are competitive and you will have to stand out.

Also pay is sometimes lower because of yhis and they can consider it a dream job.
 
13037183:General_Ripper said:
So just looked real quick and saw that K2 Sports and Black Diamond both have technical openings.

From what I have heard the jobs are competitive and you will have to stand out.

Also pay is sometimes lower because of yhis and they can consider it a dream job.
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I recently went through the application and interview process with K2. I can attest to industry jobs being extremely competitive. I can't speak to the pay though because I didn't get an offer :(
 
It is hard to try an infiltrate companies especially smaller ones since they don't have the budget and are so tight knit. But with a Mechanical Degree the best option would be to try and get work with bindings since they are the most technical and actually require work from a mechanical engineer.

Another option would be to get a non-industry job as an engineer and get money from that and start making your own presses and molds using your knowledge and start making your own skis in your spare time. This will help you stand out in an interview since you have knowledge and experience in the entire production process. Or you can just get some close friends and create your own small knit company and start off selling to local shops and steadily grow from there.

I'm a double major in Mechanical and Materials Science about 2.5 years away from getting my degree and that's probably what I'm going to do since I have been trying to get internships for awhile and no one has been responding.
 
13037194:matt.rad said:
I recently went through the application and interview process with K2. I can attest to industry jobs being extremely competitive. I can't speak to the pay though because I didn't get an offer :(
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I interviewed for that backcountry products engineer position too with no luck, every opening is going to be so hard to crack.

I spoke with some people about one of the larger european manufacturers and I guess they have a few fist fulls of completely unpaid engineering graduates each year just trying to break in and very rarely do. The stars have to align and you truly have to know the right people.
 
13057886:loganimlach said:
I interviewed for that backcountry products engineer position too with no luck, every opening is going to be so hard to crack.

I spoke with some people about one of the larger european manufacturers and I guess they have a few fist fulls of completely unpaid engineering graduates each year just trying to break in and very rarely do. The stars have to align and you truly have to know the right people.
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I interviewed for the ski boot design engineer position. Everything went really well so I'm hoping maybe it'll be a foot in the door for any future openings. Seeing the headquarters and meeting the guys I could've been working with made everything even tougher. It's such an awesome place. Maybe one day.
 
13058003:matt.rad said:
I interviewed for the ski boot design engineer position. Everything went really well so I'm hoping maybe it'll be a foot in the door for any future openings. Seeing the headquarters and meeting the guys I could've been working with made everything even tougher. It's such an awesome place. Maybe one day.
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haha, touring the headquarters is what sold me as well. that place is so fucking awesome.
 
You guys are thinking inside the box too much. Many resorts hire engineers for their lifts/snowmaking systems. Check out Pistenbully, or Prinoth to work with snowcats. Dopplemeyer CTEC for lifts....SMI for snowguns.

The ski industry is so much more then just skis, jackets, and goggles.
 
13115923:MLB said:
You guys are thinking inside the box too much. Many resorts hire engineers for their lifts/snowmaking systems. Check out Pistenbully, or Prinoth to work with snowcats. Dopplemeyer CTEC for lifts....SMI for snowguns.

The ski industry is so much more then just skis, jackets, and goggles.
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This. There's also environmental aspects that can be turned into work.
 
13115923:MLB said:
You guys are thinking inside the box too much. Many resorts hire engineers for their lifts/snowmaking systems. Check out Pistenbully, or Prinoth to work with snowcats. Dopplemeyer CTEC for lifts....SMI for snowguns.

The ski industry is so much more then just skis, jackets, and goggles.
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Many of these types of jobs will be subcontracted to a company that may not exclusively deal with just snow sports. You may go in knowing they did work with a lift previously, but, may never do one again.

In general though, this idea does broaden the options. But, it is still a small field regardless.
 
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