<p>Hi there. I'm currently a senior about to graduate with an Engineering degree from a liberal arts college. I have had a passion to pursue comedy writing but am trying to determine if the engineering degree will be of no use to me if I pursue another career. I decided to major in engineering because I knew it was a stable career with good pay, and I thought that I would always be able to fall back on it. Now that I approach graduation I've heard that the degree might become obsolete and of no use if I don't pursue it right away. Is this true? Is there a way I could pursue my dream job first, and if it doesn't work out than I could go back to get an engineering job or go to graduate school for engineering? Any insight would be great.</p>
<p>Well from everything that I have heard, jobs in the engineering field do require continuing education throughout your life. </p>
<p>For example, my grandfather recieved an eletrical engineering degree where he did a thesis project over vacuum tubes. In the next 2-5 years vacuum tubes became an obsolete field, and he had to learn about recent innovations.</p>
<p>So yes, your degree can become obsolete if you never touch engineering.</p>
<p>But continuing your education either self-motivated or job-motivated will help.</p>
<p>I hire engineers. I would look askance at a resume that had a big engineering gap in it after a degree. If I was choosing between person A with a BS in engineering and 3 years of work experience, person B with a BS in engineering 3 years ago and no engineering work experience, and person C with a new BS in engineering, person B would clearly be on the bottom of my list.</p>
<p>It would probably be less of a hindrance for engineering graduate school admission. If you did decide to work in an unrelated field following your BS, I would recommend getting an MS in engineering before job hunting.</p>