Business side of Engineering

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm still really torn between whether I want to pursue a career in medicine or engineering. I'm attracted to both fields because of the amount of science involved in each. For medicine, I'm concerned however about the competition. A lot of the jobs that I like (orthopedic surgery, opthalmology) are all uber competitive, and I know I wouldn't like working as a GP since the hours are killer, so that could be a risk if I'm not competitive for those niche specialities. In engineering, I'm afraid of outsourcing and job-stability, but I really like the business aspect of it since managing has always been an interest of mine. Also, money is a fairly big concern for me, and I would really like to have a job that can afford me an above average living. I'm not asking for Shaq's House or even a 60k car. All I want is to be able to afford a good 2-3 story house with a nice TV, sound system, etc, and maybe 2 35-40k cars. I know thats really superficial and materialistic of me, but that is my goal (as well as being the best I possibly can be as a person and at my profession and all). </p>

<p>My question to you all is, is this goal of mine fairly attainable? Or if any of you are planning on doing something or know anything about engineers going into management, do you have any information about them (ie job stability, working conditions, hours, etc)? It seems to interest me, but I'll admit I know very little about the field.</p>

<p>(Btw, if speciality matters, then I'll probably want to go into either Electrical, Software, or Hardware.)</p>

2

<p>There are programs that combine engineering with business on a number of different levels; for example my school (USC) has quite a few engineering students minoring in business. Plus, they're getting more specialized with programs like this (<a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2006/schools/engineering/stevens.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2006/schools/engineering/stevens.html&lt;/a&gt;) which focus specifically on engineering commercialization.</p>

<p>Since there's an increasing need for management and business people who understand engineering it's not uncommon for engineering undergrads to go get work experience then return for an MBA later.</p>

<p>You could even major in, say, biomedical engineering or bioengineering, and decide between pre-med or a business/technical entrepreneurship minor (maybe even both if you're dedicated) and get yourself qualified in a mix of all your interests.</p>