Junior mechanical designer experience requirements

[revit_thug]

Good morning all,

I took an HVAC course as one of my electives and became quite intersted in this topic. Thanks to my good professor and also the projects he assigned us to do. It was one of the FEW courses that I actually did well in because everything made sense.

Anyways, now I wish to persue a career in mechanical consulting. I browsed relevant job postings and they require Revit MEP experience. Unfortunately, school only taught me theory - we did the heating and cooling loads of a building ON EXCEL! It was exciting and all, but wasn't very efficient. 

So I decided to learn Revit MEP on my own, and I am not sure how much MEP experience employers expect out of a fresh grad. I'm talking about MEP experience here only, provided I have all other qualities they seek as well.

I want to set myself some goals to achieve with MEP before I start applying for jobs, so how much should I know before I can proceed?

Also, what do employers expect from a B.A.Sc., as opposed to a engineering technologist? How should I present myself as a B.A.Sc., EIT?

Thank you, and have a good day!

[william.nitsche]

I was hired fresh out of college after earning my B.S. in Construction Management, having only a few CAD and REVIT courses under my belt. I know this does not really answer your question, but I bought a book called The Aubin Academy Revit MEP 2014, and it has helped me tremendously as far as MEP knowledge and running the Revit program in general. This book helps you step by step set up project templates, according to your specific company needs.This book has been the best investment I have made since graduating. Hope this helps.  

[revit_thug]

Yes it does help. I've come across that book before as well, but have yet to make the investment.

[bbrown]

If you can pass the Revit Professional certification exam, that should convince any future employer of your expertise level. As a fresh grad it would be helpful to have a small porfolio of prints you have created in Revit to show your knowledge. As far as schooling, if you're an engineer in training and expect to sit for the proffesional engineering exam you definitely want to advertise that.

[revit_thug]

Yes sir. I intend to write the exam and transition from EIT to P.Eng. I will look at how the certification works now.

[abulla]

There's still no certification exam for Revit MEP unfortunately. I talked to some Autodesk certification people at AU last year though, here's hoping someone listened.

[dtiemeyer · Accepted solution]

We're a large MEP firm, and the vast majority of our new hires are students (or co-op) pursuing some type of M or E degree. We do also have a CAD/BIM team that that we hire from places like ITT Tech that teach more CAD/BIM skills that design skills. If you put all of those things you said in your first post onto your resume, and that resume came across my desk, I would probably call to talk or set up an interview for our CAD/BIM team with the intention of transitioning you into a design role after 1-2 years. If you're in the Detroit area, send me a PM.