<p>How is the market for computer engineers (mixture of EE and CS)?</p>
<p>Sent from my GT-I9100 using CC</p>
<p>^^
Depends on the region. I can speak on behalf of the tri-state area, and it’s terrible to say the least.</p>
<p>CS however, is doing awesome. So try to take as many CS course as possible. Most CpE’s in NY end up as Bankers, and those who take a bunch of CS courses(if they were good at it) end up as Software Engineers.</p>
<p>Don’t believe me? Take a look at the career surveys. Finding a job related to CpE is nearly impossible, and when there is an opening – it’s packed with the oldies that have far more experience. I was a CpE major, and I had to change to CSE since I wanted to stay in NY, and I prefer software over hardware.</p>
<p>This could be different for the west coast, keep that in mind. Although even their career surveys show they end up as Software Engineers, for the most part.</p>
<p>My son graduated with a BS in electrical engineering from a state university in 2010. He had not done any internships and was unable to get even one job interview. He then went on to get masters at same university. In the months before he got his masters he had 6 job interviews and received 4 job offers in one week. We are extremely happy. It sure seems like the job market has improved to us ( in pacific northwest). Don’t give up.</p>
<p>A lot of these posts are downers man… </p>
<p>I’m still not that worried about finding a job after graduation… </p>
<p>But you guys are bummers</p>
<p>Son got a job this last year as engineer. His company just hired a bunch of new hires out of school.All his engineering friends got jobs, As a matter of fact all his college friends have jobs.</p>
<p>Spouse and many of our friends have worked for the same fotune 500 company for 30+ years some stayed engineers and some went into management.</p>
<p>My only suggestion to todays engineers is to keep up with your education and gaining new and up to date skills. Do not let your knowledge get stale.</p>
<p>I just got off a phone screen with an engineer of 45 years, looking for work. I was tentative at first because a lot of the older engineers do fall behind with technology. However, this guy was up to speed with current modeling programs and seemed very computer literate. I liked that he was industry focused for most of his career.</p>
<p>While I am still concerned about his I would be stupid not to consider him further. While the experience is invaluable to me I have certain reasons why age is a factor. Are they about to retire? Are they upto speed on the latest technology or are the caught in the past? Do they have the energy to work as hard as a younger counterpart? Do they need to?</p>
<p>Bottomline, I have worked with engineers of all ages, even with some who have come out of retirement to keep working, and age has never been a factor with me determining their value. The things that make a bad engineer keeps them a bad engineer, and the things that make them a good engineer keeps them a good engineer.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to go into management to have good career life, and you can even go into management and then back to technical stuff if you want. What you do need is to keep that exuberance for learning, discovering new things, helping others, and mentoring others. These things will keep your value up and yourself employed.</p>
<p>I’m going to agree with 84jalpa’s interpretation of the state of events in engineering, as it is quite an accurate description of the state of events right now from my own family’s experience in the field. You can easily get a first job if you follow the magic formula of high GPA, internships, good personality, etc. However, at over 35/40 or so, companies will start to treat you as quite expendable. There is no employer loyalty whatsoever; they will trade a good engineer for a young engineer if it nets them a few cheap pennies. </p>
<p>The “obsolete engineer” argument may be accurate in some situations, but it’s hardly a full explanation. This practice happens with the very best because companies tend to be cheap regarding benefits, senior engineer salaries, etc. Even the best and most productive get laid off because a new engineer fresh out of college is a little bit cheaper. Many senior engineers I know have went for MBAs not for a salary increase or out of an interest in business, but simply because it gives them a little more job security.</p>
<p>Engineering firms do anything for a few pennies these days. They’ll trade senior for new engineers, use foreigners on working visas, and outsource jobs. This won’t help them in the long term, but financial decisions seldom think about the long-term in any meaningful way. It’s all about the quarterly report.</p>
<p>Wow, I’m surprised at all of the negativity on this forum! Bunch of Debbie Downers! I signed up just so I could post a reply to all of the people saying how terrible the engineering job market is. If you are studying EE (not sure about other engineering fields) don’t listen to all of the negative nonsense. Study hard, do well at your internship (even if you don’t get a job out of it, experience and a good reference count for a lot!) and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I recently graduated with a BS in EE last year (with a 2.9 GPA) and didn’t have ANY trouble at all finding a job in the engineering field. The hardest part for me was deciding which job offer to take (I had 3). Right now I work for a company who designs industrial robots. I love my job and the pay is great!</p>
<p>Most of my friends (the competent ones haha) got jobs fairly easily in their field as well. I do however know of a few students who were unable to find work in their field but I think it all has to do with competency. Many students I knew were able to scrape by in classes and barely pass tests (or cheat) without actually learning anything. Those were the same students who couldn’t find work. </p>
<p>Some engineering jobs require you to have passed the EIT or even be a PE. MOST companies have their own competency exams which are part of the interview process NO PASS=NO JOB. If you are a current engineer student who studies hard and knows your stuff… relax, you’ll be fine. If you’re the type that thinks college is a joke and plan on cheating your way through just to get a degree with your name on it, good luck! At least with Obama in office, you shouldn’t have much trouble living off the system! Then you can come on here and talk about how much engineering sucks and play the blame game hehe.</p>
<p>Wow i can tell there are alot of miserable people in this thread lol </p>
<p>If engineering has a bad market to all the genius’s in here then im almost positive you have no chance at any other job that needs a 4 year degree.
Engineering id like to believe is alot more qualified than any other 4 year degree out there.</p>
<p>^ That. About the only job with better long-term job prospects is a doctor job. Of course, there’s nothing stopping an engineer from applying to med school :)</p>
<p>I think some of the posters here are mischaracterizing the expressed valid concerns about engineering careers. The concerns are not about getting that initial job, but rather about retaining the job for decades and retiring with it, and, in the event of losing the job, finding a new one when you’re not as young and cheap.</p>
<p>For some reason, I never even expected and still don’t expect that I will find one job and keep it for decades until retirement. Oddly enough I just realized that.</p>
<p>The bigger problem is that it’s rather difficult to make a career out of it that lasts. 84jalpa’s post a few pages back describes those concerns relatively well.</p>
<p>I think as long as you’re in the right field companies are DYING for engineers. The oil industry is a big one and they are willing to pay big bucks for everyone from software to civil and of course chemical and petroleum engineers. The software industry as whole is also very strong and will continue to be growing for years to come. Biomedical is the engineering industry to watch as it expands at astounding rates. But it is still comparatively small. Other fields are not so hot but keep in mind this RELATIVE. they are actually growing at a solid 10 to 15% through 2017 (which is faster than law and most other professions excluding medical ones). Even aerospace which is highly dependent on government spending has a bright star in it’s future: the private space industry. Yes of course though it is not easy to find jobs in this field or in those such as civil engineering (outside of oil).</p>
<p>
A popular opinion, but it’s also absolute hogwash.
There are more than enough engineers (qualified ones at that) to go around in all of the major industries. The problem? Price. See, American engineers seldom want to work for the cheap pennies you can get H1-B workers for. Not to mention those pesky American engineers aren’t going to move to some random location in the middle of nowhere because they have “families” or some BS like that.
Biomedical has a large rate of growth only because it’s very small. It’s an oversaturated field with few prospects for those without a graduate or professional (med school) degree.
Private space industry? What a joke. Not only is it not going anywhere any time soon (what with EXTREMELY massive barriers to entry for any real projects), but it’s also small compared to the overall industry. Oil has plenty of engineers too. They just want cheaper ones.
Prospects for engineers may or may not be good, but no one is “DYING” for engineers.</p>
<p>I would like to see how many of those who cannot find engineering jobs, actually applied for jobs any and everywhere. I’m guessing some can’t find jobs anywhere, but I think there is probably a good amount of people who are unwilling to move for a job on here. That’s peoples own decision, but it also gives a false representation of how many jobs are out there.</p>
<p>Being unwilling to move is only a “problem” if you’re young. You actually have a legitimate reason to need to stay put if you’re older.
Also, if you HAVE to work desperately like that to find a job, perhaps it’s an indication of the state of the market?</p>
<p>Forgive me if I don’t buy into the hype. Considering the bigger picture tends to do that.</p>
<p>Regarding Petroleum Engineering, here is one of my favorite posts: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14214945-post2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14214945-post2.html</a>
Sure, you can look at PetE’s starting salary and conclude that it must be something really wonderful. But those starting salaries go down with the long line of new grads running after the prize. It may or may not be worth it, but it’s not a goldmine by any means.</p>
<p>
Ever heard of a cost-of-living index? It means that living off of a $60k salary in the SF Bay Area is like a $20k salary in any relatively modest urban city. So yes, location matters a lot. Why move for a meaningless increase in salary? After all, your costs rise with your income.</p>
<p>
There are indeed many jobs out there that pay six figures for high school diploma work. The problem? It’s the type of work most people would not do for any price. Hell, many of these jobs will accept dropouts with a criminal record and pay them $100k for jobs because there’s no other way to entice people to do such disgusting work. Case in point: oil trucking.</p>
<p>Just because there are engineering companies that are expanding and paying good money for people to work in some wasteland doesn’t mean the industry is doing well. I could point to some big winners in the Great Depression. Does that mean that the rest of the problems magically don’t exist anymore?</p>
<p>“However, at over 35/40 or so, companies will start to treat you as quite expendable. There is no employer loyalty whatsoever; they will trade a good engineer for a young engineer if it nets them a few cheap pennies.”</p>
<p>From a previous post…this is so very true. My husband has been employed for 26 years as an engineer with a top chemical company. We are on pins and needles as they have been told the company is getting rid of 3000 employees this week, 100 from my husbands group alone. </p>
<p>Not only are they replacing with younger, cheaper engineers, they won’t hire the new engineers outright. They are bringing them in as contractors so they don’t have to pay benefits.</p>
<p>Nobody said that the industry as a whole is thriving. We’re just opposing those that say there are no jobs for engineers anywhere, at all. [Nevada</a> jobs](<a href=“http://jobs.barrick.com/nevada-jobs]Nevada”>http://jobs.barrick.com/nevada-jobs) The truck driving jobs on that page are 50k jobs, and the engineering jobs are above average pay with excellent benefits. The cost of living here is slightly higher than the national average, but it’s good compared to most cities. Downfall is the desert, and the small town. Upside is good pay, and outdoor recreation like dirt biking, hiking, hunting, and fishing. There are trade offs, but every decision in life has them as well. The point is that engineering might be hurting enough from the economy that you can’t find a job in YOUR town that you used to be able to. There are still jobs out there though for those willing to sacrifice. I want to live in the mountain west, but if I am able to start school in the fall and get a BS in math, engineering, economics, or finance, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to live in Salt Lake, Boise, Denver, or Spokane. That’s life though.</p>