I’m stuck between these two careers and would like advice on which one is more rewarding with a better return on investment with less stress and work/ life balance. I live in New York City and noticed there are not many engineering job postings but a lot of programming jobs which I’m not too interest in majoring in computer science. I was looking at particular electrical engineering. I appreciate any insightful answers that will help me decide before I commit and later on regret my decision. Advice from current accountants and engineers preferred.
Random comments (I am a CPA).
-Many or the engineering jobs are outside of the NYC area.
-To become a CPA now you need 150 credits (a typical BS degree is 120) so many people entering the field go on for a one year master’s degree. You also need to pass the rigorous CPA exam.
-Engineers often start off at higher salaries but peak earlier than CPAs.
-NOBODY should answer this question but you. Think about where your interests lie and decide which career is a better fit for your particular skill set and interests.
I assume you’re a high school student deciding what to study. Your intelligence and stats might make the decision for you. Engineering is the most difficult major of all, much harder than accounting. Have you taken calculus and physics, and were you successful and passionate about them? Those are the cornerstones of engineering, particularly electrical, and as you know are some of the most difficult courses. If you are not passionate and successful in those classes, you will hate or drop out of engineering. Common misconception, accounting does not involve any higher level math beyond algebra and basic calculus.
I am a CPA without any technical engineering degree. I had a full year of the engineering calculus in my college freshman year and never had to use any of it in my accounting career. The calculus was useful in business school to prove out some economic model theory. The highest level math I needed on my job was some simple algebra or geometry.
I agreed that the engineering curriculum (the math beyond calculus, physics and other hard sciences) is difficult compared to the curriculum for accounting/business schools. Some of the prestigious and competitive elite undergraduate business schools, such as UCB Haas, makes it more difficult for admission to the school by requiring a full year of calculus, rather than the 1/2 year or one quarter many of the other business schools require. Prestigious engineering schools, such as UCB, are difficult to gain admissions to (GPA requirements just as high as a competitive business school) and, in addition, the course work is difficult. In a nutshell, engineering is a tougher field to get into than accounting/business and you should be the one to decide which career path you want to embark on. Also, for engineers, there is a PE (Professional Engineering License) license, which requires a difficult test to pass. The PE license is a recognized designation like the CPA.
If you do decide on an engineering career, consider that many do not stay in that field for a long career (10, 20 or 30 years) maybe because technology changes and a misconception that older engineers might not be up to date on the latest technology or older engineers salaries are high relative to younger engineers, a few years removed from college. Many engineers do change careers or get into management during their lifetime.
A great career path for starting out as an engineer would be to work a few years and then get an MBA from a top 20 to 25 MBA program. You can still become a CPA. A technical engineering degree with some engineering experience, combined with a Masters in Business/or Accounting and a CPA, can be a very rewarding career.