<p>Marleys_Ghost does have some valid points. I have a master's in computer science, and have worked with engineers for twenty-two years. However, in any profession, you will find people for whom it is not working out that well, and others who are doing great. Engineering and computer science have the advantage that you can fairly easily find a job that will pay enough to support you. This is definitely valuable. The classes in engineering will be disappointing to many. A lot of them are mostly applied math. Others are more like physics. If you are a hands-on person, beware. Investigate your school carefully before you enroll. They may not even teach the areas of engineering interesting to you. I personally have found the work environment stifling. My career has not been satisfying. I do like the field, but am in the wrong environment within the field, and have not been successful at moving. I know many engineers who, even early on, are doing bureaucracy and paperwork related to engineering. Beware of this in the government! I am not in the government now (was for five years), but am in a non-profit. It would be more exciting at a small firm, or even in a large engineering firm. In job-junting, you are generally stymied if you do not have experience in the exact skills needed for the new position, and I mean exact! Recruitment experts have said that I am too honest- everybody fibs. Another thing in the field is that people who make a big deal about details seem to get ahead. I figure that things are all in a day's work. I don't do that, and then I don't get as much credit. Success is about personality as much as knowledge. Go into a field that suits your personality-this is very important. I shine when there are problems to solve or emergencies. I also work with people well, and they do give me credit for this. But I find most of the day to day stuff really boring. Yes, some engineers work long hours all of the time. However, most of the ones that I know do not. They can work regular hours. Many of the jobs require travel though, and on travel, you do not totally control your hours.</p>
<p>I find it funny how my family went against most of the points in your post ( I'm not saying this would apply to every engineer)
my mom and dad are both engineering graduates, they met at work. my mom was a manger to start with but my dad raised to managing positions in the firm he worked at a few years later. neither of them worked long hours as managers since the were able to give me rides to and from school every day. and rarely brings work home. both of them are well past their thirties, although there has been job changes ( they wanted the changes) neither of them are concerned with job placements.</p>
<p>now I know that my family may be a rare case in this field and i may be chasing the shadow of my parents, but I also believe that any field you choose will be what you make of it. this post may scare off some potential engineers that aren't really sure what they want yet, but those of us who are determined to take on engineering majors would not be easily swayed.</p>
<p>ps. the "mostly surrounded by men" argument is kind of attractin to girls isn't it? being surrounded by men and not having to worry about your partner meeting other people at work?</p>
<p>My free advice...don't major in Engineering (or anything else for that matter) with the idea that it will be a "sure thing for a lucrative job". Major in something in which you have an interest to acquire further knowledge, and that you like. If you really want to be an engineer and understand the rigors of the coursework....then go for it.</p>
<p>Papa Chicken,
Can you tell us a little about job opportunities in the area of environmental engineering and its prospects for the future? My son in a freshman engineering student and still undecided on the area he wants to pursue. Actually, he is currently thinking of law school at this point, but that could change at any time! </p>
<p>Marleys_ghost,
I do have to say that I know two engineers in their 50s who were laid off from their jobs and had a very difficult time finding another job. I don't think either had an advanced degree, though. As compared to middle age/older employees in other industries, I would have to say that the displaced engineers had a harder time finding employment.</p>
<p>Thumper1's free advice is definitely good. Also, Lynda, I think that people whose parents worked in the field have an advantage. I had overinflated and wrong expectations. A coworker whose father was an engineer had the same job as me, and was thrilled with it. As for schooling, if you are not very well-prepared, you might want to consider applying less competitive schools than you would normally. Many people start out in engineering or hard sciences, and switch majors because it is too hard. If you are well-prepared and high in ability, though, there should be no problem.</p>
<p>lkf725-- re: job opportunities for environmental engineering & prospects for the future......where do I start? First let me tell you my perspective....as environmental consultant, with multi-disciplined workforce of scientists, engineers, and construction professionals, working pretty exclusively for industry and government with environmental problems, mainly regulatory driven problems. Our work from a day-to-day standpoint differs from the regulators (e.g., EPA) and the environmental professionals at our clients' organizations. I've been doing this for ~25 years, and never regretted it.</p>
<p>Like every industry, the environmental industry has had its ups & downs over the years, but for the most part, its been a steady up trend since it began economic conditions in the early & mid 90s created some problems, but no more than any other industry really. If anything, the environmental industry has a more muted connection to the rest of the economy, and cycles seem to be not as variable nor career-upsetting. I always have marveled at the relative stability of this business.</p>
<p>I believe there was a recent article or ranking in Fortune that ranked environmental engineering as a strong growth area. From my own experience, I totally concur. We are always looking for entry level env engineers, but mid-level ones are more dear. Although we are very picky about who we hire (more on this below), I dont recall ever having satisfied our entry level hiring needs. As far as the future goes, I dont see any let-up ..even varying degrees of environmental enforcement by Republican or Democratic administrations dont seem to affect demand for our services that much. The biggest dampening factor for our demand has been federal dollars siphoned to Iraq, and occasional lethargy in getting a federal budget completed, the latter which can delay some of our federal projects. These influences, although negative, only seemed to slightly temper the steady, low-level growth of the biz. Ok, so you get the picture I hope that thereve been some ups & downs, but overall this industry has been fairly steady-eddy.</p>
<p>Job prospects ..youll still need to shop to match your interests with those of your prospective employers. Entry level salaries are in the mid-high 30s, some low 40s for masters level, for degreed engineers from ABET certified programs and EIT (FE) in hand. (Perhaps higher in high cost-of-living locales like San Fran & NYC). We NEED every engineer to be able to get their PE for our companys credentials, so take your EIT/FE in your senior year. As consultants, we value not only technical knowledge, but also the ability to think creatively, handle diverse situations (hence diverse, perhaps non-engineering, service-oriented work experiences are good), and communicate. The ability to COMMUNICATE is our biggest screen for entry level employees ..that is, the ability to talk & write. Many engineers are ill prepared for a career thats heavy on communicating ..frankly, the importance of these skills may trump other technical prowess later in the career path. So please do yourself a favor, and take some technical writing courses and other courses where you are required to write and speak. The more, the better. We ALWAYS ask for writing examples, and often pass interviewees by several people, sometimes simultaneously, to see how they handle the verbal side.</p>
<p>Theres about a 2.5 to 3.0X multiplier on salaries at any given time from entry level to senior technical level. So, senior engineers who remain in the technical track end up after 15+ or so years of making (now) 90 to 110k. At that point in their careers, they are leading design projects with teams of other engineers. This absolute amount and escalation are probably well below some other sexy fields, but I believe there is a trade-off for relative stability and the close proximity of this career to to-good (we are not environmentalists, and in fact work mostly for the guilty, but nevertheless, there still is an underlying theme of doing good with most in the industry). For those engineers that are adept with people & finances, a management career track may be the best, most usually with significantly higher remuneration potential, but all engineers need to "pay their dues" for several years of on-the-job consulting training before pushing into management.</p>
<p>OK, so as I said earlier, this field has been great for me, and I wouldnt hesitate to recommend that my kids pursue it if they were so inclined. Although Im not bringing down the big $$ like my financial industry friends, the career is tremendously rewarding, full of variety, and full of interesting situations & people (including lots of lawyers!)</p>
<p>I have replied very generally.....let me know if you'd like to hear about anything more specific.......PC</p>
<p>Thanks for your detailed reply, Papa Chicken! Pitt has a major in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with possible concentrations in Environmental as well as others. He is thinking of Mechanical Engineering at this point, but needs to explore other areas, too. I don't know that he is really aware of all of his choices.</p>
<p>thts ********! the top 10 paid jobs include 8 different engineering jobs! history n film n music n art r the lowest paid!</p>
<p>Some people really don’t know how to use forums, huh? This thread is 7 years old. But since it was bumped anyway, here are my two cents.</p>
<p>This really sounds like the ramblings of a disgruntled engineer who didn’t get what he expected out of his degree. And vaguely (actually, not that vaguely) xenophobic, too, like an American auto worker complaining about his jobs being stolen by the Japanese.</p>
<p>Reading through the OP’s concerns, his post seems reasonable enough, but it’s really a case of 10 things that, individually, make sense, but then the OP makes a huge leap and draws a questionable conclusion. For example:</p>
<p>
That makes sense and is a great cautionary tale for being complacent. However, a few minutes later, you realize: what a huge false equivalence the OP is drawing there.</p>
<p>After skimming this thread, it doesn’t seem like many people are buying the OP’s argument anyway, but to finish: as the world becomes more tech-oriented, engineers and comp. scientists are going to be more valuable than ever. Engineering is not a dying field.</p>