Originally Posted by
Waldo
For me, I worked in a few different bike shops as I was working towards my degree in mechanical engineering. One thing to keep in mind is that the plurality of US-based cycling companies are on the west coast, so finding a combination of the right job and the right place can be a bit difficult. As others have said, manufacturing jobs are scarce.
We have mostly mechanical engineers in our department, with one chemical engineer as well. I believe most of our sales guys have business degrees, and we recently hired a marketing major (albeit part-time). Many of our wheelbuilders spent time in shops or as mechanics for teams. Passion for cycling is key as you may find that the hours are long and the pay is not as much as one might expect in other industries. However, the perks and the people in the industry are great. Good luck!
Here's an interesting question. What does it take to get an internship or job at a cycling company? I have a couple of friends here (Rose-Hulman) that are interested in working in the cycling industry in the Mechanical Engineering field. Between the Career Services Office, myself, and a few friends we've tried well over a dozen cycling manufacturers and had little or no response with the respective HR contacts. I'm not including frame builders in this but, the last time I tried calling Zipp (not to poke fun at you Waldo, just an example since you may have some insight into this), I was told that Zipp had no interest in paid interns or co-ops. In addition there was no position for a voluneer intern, none of the engineers had side or back projects that they needed help on, and no I could not talk to them. Subsequently I got a summer job at Hed Cycling that year so I won't be able to work for Zipp any time soon.
When I call the usual large hiring companies here (NavSea, Eli Lilly, Caterpillar, Rolls Royce, Lutron, Microsoft...) as well as the smaller ones (all not in cycling), getting a job offer, an interview, or at least more than a "No, goodbye now" is pretty easy. Cycling companies on the other hand seem to either have a policy on their web page that you should never call them, only apply to a position online (fine, but I'm not looking to fill the position of Canadian Distributor), or just don't have contacts that call back more than once.
Granted I have had successful internships in the industry the past two years (Hed Cycling and Quarq Tech) but it seems to be a very hard field to get into. From my perspective it will be a plus as it has given me even more reason to get a MS degree (Composites) but, what about those people that are earlier on in college or fresh out with a BS?