<p>So my teachers and parents have always told me that they think I'd be good at engineering. I really like math, and science is alright. I'm also very interested in computers. Can somebody give me descriptions for the different types of engineering (electrical, computer, mechanical, etc.) as well as the different types of job opportunities for each? What about computer science?</p>
<p>Please just let me know what engineering is all about... I don't really know.</p>
<p>I’ll talk about the major fields that I know a bit about.
Mechanical engineering is a field that deals with basically two things: structural mechanics and heat transfer. It’s a field that is based almost entirely off of the physics of mechanics and thermodynamics. MechE’s work in HVAC(air conditioning) and the mechanical side of a lot of projects. It’s a fairly broad field in the sense that you work in a lot of areas, although the work itself is pretty similar all around.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering is the field that uses chemistry to solve engineering problems on an industrial scale. This deals with a lot of physics as well, as large-scale processes must, but it also incorporates a fair bit of chemistry and biology into the curriculum. It’s probably the broadest field in the sense that you do many different types of work(you have to learn a bit about most other engineering fields), but there are not as many companies that use ChemE’s (also there’s a lot fewer ChemEs than any other major field). A lot of ChemE’s work in fields without having a ChemE title. Nothing wrong with this though; many are quire successful in this regard.</p>
<p>Electrical engineering deals with electronics, circuitry, and computers. You have to learn a bit of structural mechanics and a lot of E&M physics (circuits, electromagnetism, signals etc). You also learn some high-performance programming (C++ and Assembly). Lot of fields where they are needed, some variation in the type of work they do but probably less than ChemE.</p>
<p>Civil engineering is quite similar to mechanical except you mostly deal with construction projects. Not much else to say here.</p>
<p>Materials science deals with the various properties of materials. They work in quite a few areas and analyze how to improve the properties of a material used to better serve its purpose. Analyzes mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties in some depth, but far less than the respective engineering fields.</p>
<p>Petroleum engineering deals with the process of extracting and refining petroleum. This draws from the main engineering fields. </p>
<p>Nuclear engineering deals with nuclear reactions, and is closest to probably electrical. </p>
<p>Aerospace engineering uses physics in the production of aircraft and spacecraft. Another specialist field that draws from the big 3 (Chem, Mech, Elec).</p>
<p>Computer science deals with programming, some theory, a lot of language, and a lot about design and good practice. You end up making computer programs of many different varieties.</p>
<p>Computer engineering is somewhere between computer science and electrical engineering.</p>
<p>As for job prospects:
Good: Computer science (really popular in the tech industries of Silicon Valley and the tri-state, but personally I doubt it will last)
Decent: ChemE, MechE, EE, most of the others (economy is in a recession and they aren’t recession-proof. You’ll find a job, but make sure you stay on top of things throughout your career. Some of these fields tend to saturate a little, but the best can still make a pretty penny.)
Doubleplus ungood: CivE (hit pretty bad by recession but it will recover), CompE(recession), Petroleum (oversaturated and pretty mediocre conditions for the kind of pay you get).</p>
<p>See [Sloan</a> Career Cornerstone Center: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine](<a href=“http://www.careercornerstone.org/engineering/engdisc.htm]Sloan”>Career Cornerstone Center: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine)</p>