Automotive engineers are not directly involved in designing or manufacturing, but they will work with designers and production engineers to make sure that the whole process is done right and possible. Typical work activities of an automotive engineer consist of working on the development of land-based vehicles and their activities are either, design new products or revising existing ones, research and development, finding solutions to engineering problems, or production of new cars.
Most engineers start with a school training that lasts about 12-24 months, which is a series of placements in different departments in the company. During this time the engineer gains learns general knowledge in other areas of the company and can build up a bunch of contacts. These contacts can be used later in their career to find a job in the field. These jobs are usually based off of a car company; engineers will work directly with the car manufacture to modify the prototypes that the designers make. Designers