<p>I don't know if I'm wording this question right, but which engineering major opens the most opportunities in terms of careers within the engineering industry? And it's not just limited to those four.</p>
<p>What do you mean by opportunities? Do you mean which major can do the most jobs, or which major has the best job outlook?</p>
<p>Aerospace is probably the most limited because it is very specific. Then again a lot of aerospace engineers did their undergrad in something else.</p>
<p>Electrical and mechanical engineers can probably do the greatest variety of jobs and have a lot of options for graduate education. </p>
<p>I would say all engineers share a good job outlook. There will always be jobs out there for engineers.</p>
<p>^^^Thanks JoeJoe05..That was pretty much my question.</p>
<p>Chipping in my perpetual opinion that if you have a masters degree in structural engineering, you're generally considered able to analyze forces through structures... be they car structures, rocket structures, submarine structures, building structures, bridge structures... whatever. It's pretty cool, and surprisingly versatile. I was pretty surprised, at the very least.</p>
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Chipping in my perpetual opinion that if you have a masters degree in structural engineering, you're generally considered able to analyze forces through structures... be they car structures, rocket structures, submarine structures, building structures, bridge structures... whatever. It's pretty cool, and surprisingly versatile. I was pretty surprised, at the very least.
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<p>Similar to systems analysis. An electrical engineer analyzes a circuit in much the same way a mechanical engineer analyzes a fluid system. There are so many analogies it's uncanny.</p>
<p>So in other words, an electrical engineer major can work for companies such as Boeing, Ford, GM, Lockeed Martin, etc.?</p>
<p>Oh definitely. Aerospace and automotive hire a lot of EE's. Just think of it this way, any product where there's electricity involved there's an EE involved. </p>
<p>I mean a company like Boeing, the electrical systems in a 747 or any other jet is so increadibly complex. EE's are a very important part of a company like that.</p>
<p>Yes. So can a systems engineer (eh, it's a specific type of elec...), so can a structural engineer, so can several other types of engineers. The more fundamental your background is (as an undergrad, I learned how to define prescriptive loads and apply them to steel and concrete structures, but as a grad student, I learned how to apply <em>forces</em> to <em>stuff</em>, which is a generally applicable skill), the more versatile it is. There are lots of fields that have a large amount of inherent versatility just because you learn a ton about something that's very, very basic, and electrical engineering can be one of those fields. Try establishing contact with someone with a similar academic background (IE, electrical engineering) at a company you want to work for (IE, Boeing or Lockheed or GM or Ford or whatever) and see what path they took.</p>
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So in other words, an electrical engineer major can work for companies such as Boeing, Ford, GM, Lockeed Martin, etc.?
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<p>Yes, even structural engineers.</p>
<p>Never heard of these structural engineer. Is that a name of a major?</p>
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Never heard of these structural engineer. Is that a name of a major?
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<p>Structural engineering is a subdivision of civil engineering. You may have heard that civil engineers design bridges and buildings, but really it's structural engineers who do the designing of the buildings and bridges. It typically requires an advanced degree, and masters degrees are generally granted within civil engineering departments, but with structural concentrations.</p>
<p>My degree is an M.S.C.E., a Masters of Science in Civil Engineering, but it's from the structural engineering program within the civil engineering department.</p>
<p>Because they're relatively disparate, I typically make the distinction between "structural engineering" rather than "civil engineering". A civil engineer might not be able to get a gig designing or analyzing rockets/subs/airplanes/cars, but a structural engineer likely would, because structural engineers take a more generalized view of how forces flow through everything and how everything reacts to it. It's a little bit more like mechanical engineering with an emphasis on steel and concrete.</p>
<p>^^Thanks aibarr...I remember you said you went to UIUC on another thread. Good choice for Civil Engineering as it is tops over there.</p>
<p>Is structural engineering in Civil Engineering similar to study of structures in AeroE?</p>
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Is structural engineering in Civil Engineering similar to study of structures in AeroE?
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<p>They converge, more or less. It's the same thing, but one is coming from the steel-and-concrete perspective of things, and the other is coming from the composite material perspective of things. The fundamental engineering is the same, though, it's all finite element analysis and structural mechanics and whatever.</p>
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So in other words, an electrical engineer major can work for companies such as Boeing, Ford, GM, Lockeed Martin, etc.?
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<p>Well, I don't know that you'd really want to work at Ford or GM right now (or Chrysler for that matter), as they have recently suffered the largest financial losses in their history. GM alone lost a ridiculous $39 billion in 2007 and Ford lost a ridiculous $8.7 bn in 2008 2Q.</p>
<p>Ford</a> reports huge loss, plans product shift - Jul. 24, 2008</p>
<p>But, speaking directly to your point, electronics are among the most complex and expensive components of the modern automobile, and will become ever more so. A typical car already has 60-70 microprocessors that are programmed to handle a wide variety of tasks: fuel injection, automatic transmission, ABS, shock absorbers, and so forth. Hybrid cars are basically just installing an electric motor and batteries to act as a second engine in the car, which will mean that the conventional mechanical and chemical-driven nature of the car will gradually become less and less important. (For example, if you can store and generate power electrically within the car, then why not also distribute the power electrically as well, which would eliminate the need for shafts, gears, belts, and transmissions, to be replaced by wires and control circuitry). Then the next obvious step after that is to eliminate the fuel combustion engine entirely and have a pure electric vehicle. This is all going to eventually happen in the auto industry, it's just a question of how quickly.</p>
<p>The only problem with structural engineering is that you can hit a point of infinite stress.</p>
<p>I'm hilarious.</p>
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The only problem with structural engineering is that you can hit a point of infinite stress.
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<p>Arrr har har har.</p>
<p>ME's are the most diverse and will give you the broadest education.</p>
<p>EE changes quite a bit</p>
<p>Civil is up and down.</p>
<p>Aerospace is specialize but some guys have to do it, its in their blood.</p>