Where’s the future in engineering?
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URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10706
Printed Date: December-27-2024 at 3:05pm
Topic: Where’s the future in engineering?
Posted By: Riley
Subject: Where’s the future in engineering?
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 11:48am
| I know we have a few engineers on CCF. I was wondering 1) if you think it's still a great field to go into, 2) what areas are best, & 3) are there plenty of jobs when you graduate? |
Replies:
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 11:58am
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I always wanted to ride a big train lol ------------- "the things you own will start to own you" |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 12:29pm
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I understand that Chinese is now a required coarse with a degree!!
Bruce, It's still a good field to get into. Right now it seems that environmental engineering is a hot field. ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: 81nautique
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 12:50pm
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Interesting to see the opinions here, my son starts at URI in August for Ocean Engineering. That covers quite a broad range of areas like bridge building, levies, drilling rigs, dredging and environmental. ------------- You can’t change the wind but you can adjust your sails |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 1:35pm
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I graduated in '04 (EE). I had a bunch of close friends the same age with either EE or Comp Sys degrees, and none had problems getting jobs before or soon after graduating.
I do think its a great field to get into- it gives you a lot of career options. Where I am, for example, I can stay technical and continue doing design, or I can move up the management path. I have EE friends that are now doing everything from digital design, software, test equipment, technical sales, and consulting. Depending on the position, many companies will hire an engineer who has no direct experience with the task at hand- they know that if you can get through engineering school, you're smart enough to pick it up quickly. Eric, funny you say that- I knew a kid at school who loved trains. Im pretty sure he decided on engineering school thinking he would become a conductor. ------------- |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 1:46pm
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Tim, where'd you go to school? Is EE electrical or enviormental? David is interested in engineering. He got accepted into an engineering camp this summer at UMO. It is put on by the paper companies.
Pete, I don't think I will mention Chinese to him. ------------- |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 1:51pm
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Bruce, I went to RPI (Troy, NY). EE is electrical. ------------- |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 5:15pm
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If he decides that's what he wants to do, that'll be a school we look at. That's one of the biggies people from here look at, that and Worcester. UMO has a good reputation here, does it from your perspective? ------------- |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 5:53pm
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Nick is from Maine and I think he's mentioned UMO being a decent school- but Im not overly familiar with it. When I was looking at schools, I also considered BU and Lehigh. I looked at WPI and its a good school (I have 4 uncles who are alumni there), but didnt care for it when I visited and didnt apply. ------------- |
Posted By: M3Fan
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 6:11pm
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Because you mentioned the ease of getting a job as being a factor- In general, I wouldn't let the job market dictate what you study. You should study what you have a passion for. I went to college at the very beginning of the tech bubble and got into IT because that was the hot field, I'd get a good job, and I was pretty good with computers. Eleven years later, I wish I would have picked something different that I was more passionate about, like physics, chemistry, or biology. Going to work in the wrong field just to get a nice job or paycheck sounds like a good idea but in reality, it's not! ------------- 2000 SN GT40 w/99 Graphics/Gel 2016 SN 200 OB 5.3L DI https://forum.fifteenoff.com |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 6:26pm
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M3, good point, but as an investor and father, I want to see my kids study something that will help them land a decent job. My son is interested in engineering because he likes math and science. I could have guessed it's a good field, but I don't have any friends that are engineers. If Tim told me that he graduated from RPI and he's waiting tables because no one needs someone with his education, I'd be concerned about the future of engineering.
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Posted By: RainDog
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 8:49pm
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I just heard a report that engineers currently are the graduates that are in highest demand. So, (like M3 stressed) if he is naturally inclined to do so, I believe engineering is a pretty solid field to go into. Also, it is hard to conceive that offshore pressures will decimate the field since most engineering benefits from a good amount of first person exposure.
The one down side is the male to female ratio stinks, and the women that are in the discipline are usually too smart for the usual strategies. Do what you love and you never work a day in your life. I'm still working hard to achieve that... ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1868&sort=&pagenum=1 - 62 Classic http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=5242&sort=&pagenum=1 - 2002 Super Air |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: June-03-2008 at 9:08pm
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Agree with Steve 100%.
As far as outsourcing goes, one of the biggest industries hiring engineers is defense, and theres no way thats ever going overseas. ------------- |
Posted By: Jazzpad
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 3:46am
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Hi all,
New to CC Fan, been lurking for awhile, but his post peaked my interest. I'm a computer engineer, I design microchips, aka semiconductors, aka microprocessors. I've been doing this for about 14 years. My quick response to this post is think twice about becoming an engineer. I strongly second the suggestion to do what you love and love what you do. I don't love my job, but I don't hate it either. My not so quick response is think twice about what you want and what is most important to you. If you want a stimulating, constantly changing and challenging job, then it might work for you. If you want a job that you can settle into and become comfortable, this career is not for you. My experience is that many engineering jobs are going overseas. There are no more secure jobs, none. I am working on some of the latest bleeding edge designs and part of that chip is designed overseas. As an engineer you will have to compete and work with a global work force. With regards to salary, the money is good, it can be very good, but it most likely will never make you rich. However most engineers will reach their peak earnings by the middle of their career and although their salaries will continue to go up it might not even keep up with inflation. Don't worry about the ratio of men to women. If you are interested in engineering, math and science, then go for it. All of my engineer friends have had success in romance. OK, one guy did find a bride online in another country, but he has two kids now and is still happily married. That is better than many. Finally, I went to WPI. It is a good school, esp. for undergrad. For the most part I did not enjoy it. If I had been at a larger school I probably would not be an engineer. Feel free to contact me personally if you'd like to talk or chat. Tony |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 10:26am
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welcome to America, it seems to be the American way...we were tops in engineering from world war II on out, we did all the work and the nips reverse engineered it without patent laws and re-introduced it to our country at the cut rate work for rice prices. all of us buy into there *************** and all it does is make life rough for us, they are living the American dream and equal in technology and now they too have a demand for oil now along with India and China, remember China is 1.3 billion strong compared to our 300 million. you guy's might laugh reading this but its happening whether we like it or not ------------- "the things you own will start to own you" |
Posted By: azeus17
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 11:33am
Don't underestimate the power of knowing an Asian language. One of my room mates at school got a awesome job before he graduated for the sole reason that he is fluent in Chinese. He is a great guy, so don't take this wrong, but he was the biggest jag off in school. I would agree that engineering is still a great field to study and I would probably do a ME/EE double major if I could go back, but having that edge of, any foreign language really, but especially Asian, is priceless. ------------- Boats: Current: 02 SANTE Sold: 89 Sport Nautique |
Riley wrote:Posted By: JoeinNY
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 11:57am
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I graduated from RIT in 1999 as a Mechanical Engineer, it was a 5 year program including 6 quarters of required (paid) co-ops. The co-op experiences were very helpful to me, gave me a lot of options for my first job and even though I went with a company that I had never worked for I still ended up with a job that was considered a 3-5 year experience position. It has been pretty good to me in that time, I have held 5 different jobs at 3 different companies and have doubled my pay rate since that first job. I agree with what has been said about many career tracks although sometimes they choose you, at this point I am firmly in management with 20+ direct reports between engineers, designers and lab techs.
In my experience a good engineer never has a hard time finding a job and it’s a very good platform for a lot of other careers, outsourcing and globalization has not effected this long term, although currency manipulation, us steel tariffs, and the high cost of health insurance have not helped. My current place of business was bought by a Japanese company and all it has meant to date is huge investment basically doubling our north American salaried staff in a little under a years time, new products new production lines and new testing facilities and apparently some new engineering managers. Biology is also very hot, biotech will continue to come on strong, electrical engineering as Tim said gives you lots of choices, my brother in law is having as hard a time finding Chemical Engineers as I have had with Mechanical/Electrical Engineers. In my experience a good engineer never has a hard time finding a job and it’s a very good platform for a lot of other careers. When I graduated it was fully half of degreed engineers never actually took a job in typical engineering and instead when into sales, marketing, consulting, etc. or on to further education. Eventually this country will get off its ass and get off oil (not before either pushed by shortages or regulation though) and when that push comes engineers will be the ones designing, installing, upgrading. Oh and the country's infrastructure is falling apart and it will take civil engineers to fix that… The male female ratio issue is real though, not one female in our engineering group, no techs, no designers no engineers at least 50 total, can't remember when I even saw an application from a female. If any of your daughters want to be engineers they will never hurt for a job. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1477 - 1983 Ski Nautique 2001 1967 Mustang 302 "Decoy" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO5MkcBXBBs - Holeshot Video |
Posted By: gigem75
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 12:23pm
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We have a lot of female ChemE's here. I tell my daughter do something you enjoy getting up in the morning for. Like my old man said "there's always room for a good man at the top" and you have to enjoy what you do to be good at it.
There are going to be so many positions in so many fields open in the next 10-15 years or less with all us old baby boomers retiring finding something you are passsionate about and building a career on that will be able to go pretty much hand in hand. |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 1:15pm
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This is all great info. azeus17, I agree with what you say about learning Chinese, I just don't want to complicate his choice by throwing that in there at this point.
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Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 3:08pm
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Riley, the way its going were all going to have to learn Chinese ------------- "the things you own will start to own you" |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 3:22pm
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No doubt, give them 15 years and they will be the world's economic and military super power. ------------- |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: June-04-2008 at 3:57pm
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what happens when you borrow a ton of money and you cant pay it back? usually you lose your collateral ------------- "the things you own will start to own you" |