[motorsport_cat]

Hey everyone,

I am 16 and I have had a passion for cars my whole life. For the past years, I have had a passion for BMWs, more specifically.

I have always thought of what I want to do for a living later, but no matter what I thought of, I knew that cars just get me going, so I really want to work at BMW as an engineer. My reason for this may be short and/or flawed, and you may think that I have time to change what I want to do for a living a 1000 times, but I find cars utterly interesting, and I have always been interested in how they work, as well as in the way they are made.

Thanks to Bimmerpost, my view on cars and more importantly BMW has changed a lot over the past few years. I am on Bimmerpost daily, and even in class.

Are there any engineers who work or have worked at BMW amongst us at Bimmerpost? If so, please write a brief summary of what you have done to obtain such a position. It would be greatly appreciated!

Remember that my passion is what drives me. Thank you so much!

[JesseS]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Hey everyone,

I am 16 and I have had a passion for cars my whole life. For the past years, I have had a passion for BMWs, more specifically.

I have always thought of what I want to do for a living later, but no matter what I thought of, I knew that cars just get me going, so I really want to work at BMW as an engineer. My reason for this may be short and/or flawed, and you may think that I have time to change what I want to do for a living a 1000 times, but I find cars utterly interesting, and I have always been interested in how they work, as well as in the way they are made.

Thanks to Bimmerpost, my view on cars and more importantly BMW has changed a lot over the past few years. I am on Bimmerpost daily, and even in class.

Are there any engineers who work or have worked at BMW amongst us at Bimmerpost? If so, please write a brief summary of what you have done to obtain such a position. It would be greatly appreciated!

Remember that my passion is what drives me. Thank you so much!

Engineering of this type is a heavily regimented field, you'll likely need an undergrad degree in a supporting discipline (translation: not so much on the liberal arts schools) like physics, chem, etc and then a degree in mechanical engineering or even automotive engineering. These "hard" engineering fields tend to be very highly regulated.

While you're going to university though, you'll absolutely want to get an Internship. If you can arrange to go to school in Europe it could be very helpful, and you might even get an Internship at BMW but they wouldn't be your only option -- after all, you might very well discover that in the future someone else is doing work more interesting to you than BMW.

More importantly than that, you need to really enjoy it; not just cars, but engineering itself. You might feel passionate now, and maybe you always will, but only you know that. If you can already take a car apart and put it back together and go on for hours about how everything works and how everything should work in a perfect world, that means you're truly passionate. It's not enough to just love cars, you have to be driven with an unquenchable knowledge for figuring things out mechanically. I'm not saying that you can't have a career without that sort of passion, I'm saying that if you do really have it then you'll do great things, it'll actually seem pretty easy and you'll love your career (which is what really matters).

If that describes you, then you are most fortunate. Most people don't have a roadmap set out for them in terms of what they really want (I am one of the few who always knew what his career would be which is why I am ranting about it -- although my passion is not this type of engineering. ).

[Nkc]

I was in the exact same position when I was your age and had the exact same goals. I didn't have the means nor the knowledge to know even where to start. I loved cars especially BMW's so I decided to become a lot attendant at my nearest BMW dealer after high school. I worked there for not more than 6 months and learned there was no possible way to build up from that position. I did get to at least drive every BMW that came in and by far the most memorable was the z8 that just came out. So I moved on and went to work in a body/mechanic shop as an apprentice mechanic to learn about fixing cars and how things work. As the days went on, my passion started to fade. I didn't have any post secondary education and I was busting my ass every day and leaving with dirty hands and an oily face every night. I lost my love for cars and the curiosity was long gone after about 1 year in the shop. I moved on and got a degree in business and the rest is history.

What I'm trying to say is that you're still 16 and you just started driving. Its a very long road ahead and for the majority of us, it's much better to have cars as a hobby than a profession. IMO, best way to know is to work on cars and see if the love/passion persist. Damn I wish I was 16 again. I do hope that someone with such background chime in and give you the low down. But who are we to judge, dream big.

[vahiker99]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

Hey everyone,

I am 16 and I have had a passion for cars my whole life. For the past years, I have had a passion for BMWs, more specifically.

I have always thought of what I want to do for a living later, but no matter what I thought of, I knew that cars just get me going, so I really want to work at BMW as an engineer. My reason for this may be short and/or flawed, and you may think that I have time to change what I want to do for a living a 1000 times, but I find cars utterly interesting, and I have always been interested in how they work, as well as in the way they are made.

Thanks to Bimmerpost, my view on cars and more importantly BMW has changed a lot over the past few years. I am on Bimmerpost daily, and even in class.

Are there any engineers who work or have worked at BMW amongst us at Bimmerpost? If so, please write a brief summary of what you have done to obtain such a position. It would be greatly appreciated!

Remember that my passion is what drives me. Thank you so much!

You need to visit the plant in Spartanburg, SC ( I know, long trip). Great experience. Below are links to a couple interesting articles for someone who would like to work with BMW. The Clemson University facility in Greenville, South Carolina, partnered with BMW to offer a graduate program in Automobile Engineering.

http://www.greenvilleeconomicdevelop...automotive.php

http://www.clemson.edu/centers-insti...s/news/BMW.pdf

[cookie munsta]

Isn't there a factory in NJ?

[JesseS]

Originally Posted by Nkc

I was in the exact same position when I was your age and had the exact same goals. I didn't have the means nor the knowledge to know even where to start. I loved cars especially BMW's so I decided to become a lot attendant at my nearest BMW dealer after high school. I worked there for not more than 6 months and learned there was no possible way to build up from that position. I did get to at least drive every BMW that came in and by far the most memorable was the z8 that just came out. So I moved on and went to work in a body/mechanic shop as an apprentice mechanic to learn about fixing cars and how things work. As the days went on, my passion started to fade. I didn't have any post secondary education and I was busting my ass every day and leaving with dirty hands and an oily face every night. I lost my love for cars and the curiosity was long gone after about 1 year in the shop. I moved on and got a degree in business and the rest is history.

What I'm trying to say is that you're still 16 and you just started driving. Its a very long road ahead and for the majority of us, it's much better to have cars as a hobby than a profession. IMO, best way to know is to work on cars and see if the love/passion persist. Damn I wish I was 16 again. I do hope that someone with such background chime in and give you the low down. But who are we to judge, dream big.

Don't listen to naysayers. (j/k Nkc, )

I knew what I wanted to do professionally when I was 10 years old. If you know that you're born to do something, then do it and don't ever let anyone convince you that you can't.

It's a cliche, but you really can do anything you set your mind to, you just need determination and hard work -- and if you love doing it, it doesn't actually feel like work at all.

(You need talent too, but I've never heard about someone being really dedicatedly passionate about something that they had no talent for.)

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by JesseS

Don't listen to naysayers. (j/k Nkc, )

I knew what I wanted to do professionally when I was 10 years old. If you know that you're born to do something, then do it and don't ever let anyone convince you that you can't.

It's a cliche, but you really can do anything you set your mind to, you just need determination and hard work -- and if you love doing it, it doesn't actually feel like work at all.

(You need talent too, but I've never heard about someone being really dedicatedly passionate about something that they had no talent for.)

Thank you

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by vahiker99

You need to visit the plant in Spartanburg, SC ( I know, long trip). Great experience. Below are links to a couple interesting articles for someone who would like to work with BMW. The Clemson University facility in Greenville, South Carolina, partnered with BMW to offer a graduate program in Automobile Engineering.

http://www.greenvilleeconomicdevelop...automotive.php

http://www.clemson.edu/centers-insti...s/news/BMW.pdf

Wow, great links! Very much appreciated!

[motorsport_cat]

I do, however, have one thing that may bother me... The sport that I love. I've been the national champion twice in Judo, in Canada. I have chances of doing very well in the future on an international level.

[cookie munsta]

Originally Posted by motorsport_cat

I do, however, have one thing that may bother me... The sport that I love. I've been the national champion twice in Judo, in Canada. I have chances of doing very well in the future on an international level.

Good for you man!
I started doing mma last year and I fell in love with it! I dedicated so much time to it that I only took one class last semester. Unfortunately I injured myself playing soccer and im out for half a year but I don't mind it because I gotta go back to staying focus in school (engineering major). But hey, do what you love!

[motorsport_cat]

Originally Posted by cookie munsta

Good for you man!
I started doing mma last year and I fell in love with it! I dedicated so much time to it that I only took one class last semester. Unfortunately I injured myself playing soccer and im out for half a year but I don't mind it because I gotta go back to staying focus in school (engineering major). But hey, do what you love!

What type of engineering are you going towards?

[cookie munsta]

Mechanical engineering
It all depends on the teachers imo. Some teachers make the class interesting and other teachers give you nothing but shit and can be hard to comprehend/learn from them not only because they are foreigners but because they just don't know how to teach the course. I was never into cars untill I got bimmer about two years ago. Now, Im more into mechanics. Im the kind of person that will look at an object and see how it works and such.

[Meeni]

You need to go to college and take hard science (material science comes to mind). Then get a master in physics (material science, chemistry, fluid dynamic, computer science is more remote but could work if you specialize in fluid dynamic simulations). From there, you'll be able to take a position in automotive engineering (at BMW or otherwise).

My advice though would be to separate your fun from your work. Get a work that's not too boring and get good money, buy your BMWs and have fun with them.

[bimmerjph]

I am in the same boat you are.

I am 18 and this fall I am attending the University of Alabama for Mechanical Engineering. While this is not been historically a well known engineering school, they have put a ton of money into beefing up their program. This past year they even hired on Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian, who was the former VP of Daimler's R&D department, as a full time professor. So this has me very excited about my opportunities to get into the automotive industry. I still have a long road ahead of me, but at least I now have a connection with someone in the industry. I hope everything works out for you too!

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by cookie munsta

Isn't there a factory in NJ?

That's BMWNA headquarters. Their only US factory is in Spartanburg, South Carolina.