Mechanical Engineering Resume Technical Words

If you’re trying to get a job in mechanical engineering, it’s critical that you include technical words on your resume. No technical words? No job for you. Your resume will be skipped over by the recruiter or hiring manager. The resume you use to apply for mechanical engineering jobs needs to stand out to the recruiter so that you can get selected from the giant pool of hundreds of job applicants.

March 2, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

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Experience

We’re going to break up experience for the following mechanical engineering roles.

• Design Engineer
• Manufacturing Engineer
• Quality Engineer
• Test Engineer
• Structural Engineer

Mechanical Engineers will typically go into one of these five types of roles. Make sure you include the specific technical words on your resume as a mechanical engineer. The samples below consist of broad phrases that each discipline does as an engineer.

When you use the technical words and phrases below, make sure to add quantitative results and accomplishments regarding your experiences.

The following presents guidelines and frameworks that you need to be using.

Design Engineer

The Mechanical Engineering resume technical words and phrases that you want to include in a design engineering resume include

• Designed vertical turbine pumps in the Oil & Gas Industry using CAD software such as Creo
• Creating Bills of Materials (BOMs) to support production units for engineering applications
• Specific CAD software that you’ve used in your career
• Production
• Day to day tasks that you did as a mechanical engineer

Manufacturing Engineer

The Mechanical Engineering resume technical words and phrases that you want to include in a manufacturing engineering resume include

• Created and determined manufacturing processes to support high scale production volume of 3000+ units
• Review product development packages for assembly, producibility, and manufacturability
• Created Manufacturing Bills of Materials (MBOM) for large scale complex assemblies

Quality Engineer

• Responsible for quality assurance for engineering products such as fighter jets and weapons system components
• Disposition non-conformances to hardware based on part fit, form, or function
• Lead material review board and coordinate with stakeholders such as design and manufacturing engineering
• Create inspection processes which have resulted in 95% first pass yield for customer acceptance

Test Engineer

The Mechanical Engineering resume technical words and phrases that you want to include in a test engineering resume include

• Run high performance tests consisting of equipment such as load cells, actuators, hydraulics to output 200,000+ lbs of force
• Create Test Bills of Materials (BOMs) to test equipment for agricultural applications responsible for $300M of goods
• Perform data acquisition and data analysis on test results using software such as LabView
• Create test procedures consisting of 100+ sequences to assemble, test, review data, and disassemble hardware

Structural Engineer

The Mechanical Engineering resume technical words and phrases that you want to include in a structural engineering resume include

• Perform FEA and FE Mapping on structural components such as airframes, buildings, and pressure vessel casings to determine parts meet engineering operating conditions
• Analyze components using software such as Ansys to ensure part factor of safety is acceptable
• Validated $1M+ of structural equipment in use for Test Engineering activities
• Review material certifications to determine material properties such as yield and tensile strength are acceptable

Technical Skills To Include In Your Mechanical Engineering Resume

Mechanical Engineering resumes should include the following skills as they make up the bulk of the skills required. Some of these keywords will be interchangeable and as a mechanical engineer, you will have come across these words in your career or education. Make sure your resume has these mechanical engineering key words from the following sections.

• CAD
• FEA
• Programming
• Analysis
• Mechanical Engineering Fundamentals

CAD

CAD is a very fundamental skillset in mechanical engineering and there are many keywords associated.

Specific technical keywords pertaining to CAD include:

• Design
• Create
• 3D CAD
• Modeling
• Fabricate
• Machining
• Manufacturing
• Software such as AutoCAD, PTC Creo, NX, ProEngineer, SolidWorks, Catia

FEA

Employers love to see FEA as a skillset for mechanical and structural engineering positions.

Specific technical keywords pertaining to FEA include

• Analyze
• Boundary Constrain
• Constrain
• Stress
• Strain
• Tensile Strength
• Yield Strength
• Compressive Loads
• Tensile Loads
• FEA Software – Ansys, SolidWorks Simulator, NX FEMAPing

Programming

Certain mechanical engineering positions will require programming for applications such as data acquisition, test engineering, and product configuration.

Some technical keywords and phrases pertaining to programming to add on your mechanical engineering resume are:

• Data Analysis
• Data Engineering
• Engineered Data
• Arrays, Numerical Lists, Data Structures, Statistics
• Repeatability and Reproducibility
• Logic
• Programming Software – Excel VBA, MATLAB, Python, Java, HTML, C/C++, React,

Macroeconomic Technical Words To Include On Your Mechanical Engineering Resume

As a mechanical engineer, you’re likely going to work in one of the following sectors, so you’ll need to make sure you have the associated keywords:

• Aerospace & Defense
• Agricultural
• Automotive
• Biomedical
• Construction
• Oil & Gas
• Power
• Mining

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense make up a big majority of jobs for mechanical engineering. Companies in the Aerospace & Defense sector include Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. To get into companies like these, make sure you have relevant aerospace & defense keywords such as:

Only include the following keywords if you’ve worked on the specific Aerospace & Defense systems:

• Aeronautical & Military Components – Weapons Systems, Aircraft, Spacecraft, Submarines, and associated equipment
• Manufacturing Technology – Forging, Machining, Additive Manufacturing, Composites Manufacturing
• Day to day deliverables – Bills of Materials, Drawings, Presentations, Calculations
• RCI – Request for Change/Information
• PDP – Product Definition Package
• Common Product Lifecycle Management (CPLM) software
• Software used in Aerospace & Defense applications – Siemens NX / Catia
• PDR/CDR – Preliminary or Critical Design Review

Agricultural

Agricultural products that require mechanical engineers to design and fabricate include tractors, combines, planters, sprayers, robots, etc. The technology that produced agricultural products came as an output of the Industrial Revolution, steam power, and internal combustion engines, which utilize important mechanical frameworks.

Include specific Agricultural Keywords such as:

• Agricultural Engineering products such as tractors, combustion engines, lawn mowers, leaf blowers
• Technology utilizing steam & Internal combustion engines (ICE) for agricultural applications
• Manufacturing Methods for Agricultural products – Forgings, Castings, Injection Molding, CNC Machining
• Agricultural Applications – Farming, Harvesting, Trimming and quantitative results associated with those applications
• CAD, Analysis, Programming pertaining to agricultural products and applications

Automotive

Automotive applications also make a huge chunk of mechanical engineering products. Notable companies being those such as Ford, GM, Tesla, Toyota, and many other automotive vehicle companies.

Specific Automotive Engineering technical keywords to include are:

• Lean 6S – Implementation of Lean 6S principles and quantitative results from them
• Automotive components – Chassis, Steering, Braking, Drivetrain, Suspension Systems and parts
• Manufacturing methods used in the Automotive Industry
• Production volumes and associated revenue for a fast paced automotive environment
• Software used in Automotive applications – SolidWorks, Siemens NX, etc.

Biomedical

Biomedical Engineering is not an engineering field largely talked about, but they provide many products and is an industry full of rapid innovation and advancing technology. Much of the advancement we see in the medical industry today is because of mechanical and biomedical engineers’ constant efforts in improving and producing new technology.

Biomedical Engineering technical keywords to include are:

• Manufacturing techniques associated with biomedical engineering – rapid prototyping, injection molding, composites manufacturing, plastic molding
• Medical devices created in biomedical engineering – medical equipment, scanners, surgical tools, etc.
• Amount of revenue generated through the release of medical device products
• Skills associated – GD&T, CAD, FEA, Analysis

Construction

Construction equipment designed by mechanical engineers make up a huge portion of what allows for infrastructure development that we see on a global scale. Specific construction equipment are cranes, scaffolding, manlifts, and everything in between to support ongoing commercial and private infrastructure development.

If you’ve done work at all for construction equipment as a mechanical engineer, include keywords such as:

• Construction equipment designed – cranes, scaffolding, vehicles, tooling, fixtures, etc.
• Downstream effects of those associated construction projects such as infrastructure development
• Impacts to infrastructure such as housing for X number of people, water and gas for families in X city or region
• Skills associated to carry out those duties – CAD, FEA, Analysis, Structural Engineering, etc.

Oil & Gas

Oil & Gas is a very critical market that defines the health of the world economically and geopolitically. There are many mechanical engineering jobs that are required to produce products that allow for the upstream and downstream refining of crude oil to be used in industrial applications globally.

Technical keywords to include in your resume for jobs in the Oil & Gas industry as a mechanical engineer include:

• Oil & Gas equipment and components – pumps, compressors, turbines, impellers, pressure vessels
• Specific Oil & Gas standards such as API (American Petroleum Institute)
• Day to day tasks – Designing, Creating Bills of Materials, Contacting customers, coordinating material and machining movement
• Hydrostatic testing of pressure vessel components
• Natural Frequency analysis of rotor dynamic systems such as vertical turbine pumps

Power

Extending beyond Oil & Gas, mechanical engineers do work that impact power and energy industries and applications. Notable companies that mechanical engineers want to work for in the power industry include Edison, General Electric, Southern California Gas, and many others. They provide stable career paths and great pay/benefits for engineers.

Technical keywords to include in your resume for jobs in the Power industry include:

• Power cycles – Rankine Cycle, Diesel Cycle, Otto Cycle, etc.
• Thermodynamic principles and keywords – Thermodynamics, heat transfer, conservation of mass, laws of thermodynamics, entropy, enthalpy, adiabatic, endothermic, exothermic
• Products associated with power plants – pumps, compressors, turbines, boilers
• Efficiency calculations – specify your specific changes and work which led to improvements in efficiency
• Specific software that you’ve used for calculations to verify systems

Mining & Metals

Mining is a critical application in which we need to harvest and excavate precious metals and minerals for various applications. Equipment that utilize metals consist of washing machines, computers, laptops, vehicles, airplanes, and more. Mining and metals are crucial to feed the material demand for these items.

If you’re a mechanical engineer looking to support the Mining & Metals application, look to include these keywords on your resume:

• Mining & Metals Equipment Designed – Drills Bolters, Roof Supports, Power Loaders, Platforms, Coal Processing and Handling Equipment
• Downstream impacts of the Mining & Metals Equipment you’ve designed such as products released, revenue supported, volume of metals and minerals mined, or specific downstream impacts to industries you’ve had
• Specific Mining & Metals keywords – metals, minerals, regions, supply chain, buyers, vendors, and all downstream impacts
• Software used in mining & metal applications
• Material properties – yield strength, tensile strength, hardness (Brinell / Rockwell C)

Memberships To Include In Your Mechanical Engineering Resume

Employers love to see involvement in the below Mechanical Engineering organizations. If you’re a mechanical engineer or a mechanical engineering student, it would be wise to join a membership in one of these societies. Along those societies will come with keywords that recruiters will love.

SAE

Society of Automotive Engineers. As an engineering student, you have to join SAE. This will open so many opportunities for you as an engineer. Along with making engineering friends, you have networking opportunities, study groups, and get to pad your resume with an industry recognized organization.

BAJA

BAJA refers to the off-roading vehicle that you build and compete with other universities. The organization falls underneath the Society of Automotive Engineers. Events consist of start/stop, acceleration, endurance, hill climb, durability, and others. It’s a very fun event as an engineer and highly recommended to put yourself in the environment.

If you have BAJA on your resume, include keywords such as:

• Components you’ve designed and fabricated – Chassis, Steering, Braking, Drivetrain, Suspension, etc.
• Fabrication methods you’ve used – Welding (TIG and MIG), CNC Milling and Lathe, Rapid Prototyping, Additive Manufacturing
• Software you’ve used – SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Excel, MATLAB, LabView
• Testing Activities and parameters – Dyno Testing, Fatigue, Static, etc.

Formula

Formula SAE is an organization in university that builds Formula race cars for a competitive environment. It’s another top tier engineering organization to join as an engineering student. Formula SAE events are also similar to BAJA and that they consist of acceleration, endurance, and all sorts of racing events.

If you have Formula SAE on your resume, include keywords such as:

• Components you’ve designed and fabricated – Chassis, Steering, Braking, Drivetrain, Composite Panels, Suspension, etc.
• Fabrication methods – welding, forgings, casting, CNC milling/lathe
• Software you’ve used – SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Excel, MATLAB, LabView
• Testing Activities and Parameters – Dyno, Fatigue, Static, Acceleration, etc.

Rover

Engineering universities also have organizations in which they build Mars Rover, which offers challenges that simulate the terrain of “Mars”. The competition consists of building a next generation Rover that will handle challenging environments in the desert.

If you have Mars Rover on your resume, include keywords such as:

• Robotics components and principles used to design the Mars Rover
• Engineering principles such as kinematics, dynamics, robotics, mechanisms, mechatronics
• Quantitative results and accomplishments on data sets, parameters, product improvement
• Software used – SolidWorks, Excel, MATLAB, LabView, Arduino

Rocket / Satellites

Engineering universities will also offer programs to build rockets and satellites and compete in collegiate competitions. The competitions for rockets or satellites consist of launching the rocket and having the rocket meet certain operating conditions.

If you’re part of a rocket or satellite organization, include keywords such as:

• Space and Rocket Principles – Low Earth Orbit, High Earth Orbit, Orbital Mechanics, Escape Velocity, etc.
• Fabrication methods – Mostly composites layering and paneling
• Tooling Fixture Design and Fabrication
• Software – SolidWorks, Excel, MATLAB, LabView
• Include the scope of budget in your resume for a good quantitative metric

ASME

ASME stands for American Society of Mechanical Engineers and defines many of the industry standards that engineers use today. Specific standards pertaining to bolting stress calculations, welds, allowable factors of safety, are all defined by standards such as ASME.

If you have the bandwitdh, you should join American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

If you’re in ASME or familiar with ASME standards, you should include the following on your resume:

• Specific ASME standards that you’ve used in your academic or engineering career
• Organization involvement – President, Secretary, Treasurer, Member, etc.
• Projects you’ve done in ASME and associated technical engineering words from engineering courses – statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, fluids, etc.

Closing Thoughts on Mechanical Engineering Resume Technical Words

Overall, many of the keywords that you’ve come across in your engineering career should be placed in your resume. From an engineering recruiter or hiring manager standpoint, including these keywords will make you standout as they are looking for very specific skillsets. If you’re an engineer, make sure you read this from start to finish and ensure that you have all of the technical words in your mechanical engineering resume.

Additionally, we do provide career services to build your resume utilizing these frameworks. We’ve helped hundreds of engineers land high paying jobs in prestigious engineering companies such as Boeing, Blue Origin, SpaceX, Tesla, Amazon, and more.

Check our career services out.