<p>I am a junior in high school and interested in engineering. One of my passions is language and culture so my dream job is to be travelling a lot. I have read online about engineering jobs where you get to travel for a few weeks or a weekend and it's not very pleasant since you're working very hard. I don't want that, I want to live in different places around the world for long periods of time. I don't mind working hard but I want to be able to immerse myself in the culture when I'm abroad. I looked at chemical engineering since I like chemistry but I haven't heard about many long travel opportunities. I then did some research on petroleum engineering and saw that it's a great job if you want to travel since you can work in the field. The downside is that I'm not sure the profession will still be in demand down the road. Is there is a chance that some form of alternate energy will be invented that will make petroleum obsolete? What engineering majors would be best if I like to travel for long periods of time? Thanks.</p>
<p>One usually has to work for a company for a few years then go for an expat assignment. Those are given out to experienced people usually and only for a couple years, and rarely back to back or completely live overseas for years on end. This is from our company that has tons of facilities worldwide.</p>
<p>Oil and health care are exceptions, One could expat for good in the Middle East etc. Maybe Civil or Structural Engineering. Your average EE or ME or IE, not quite as likely. </p>
<p>Also don’t think that overseas is an easy gig. Money generally is good but the environment may not always be conducive to career growth (out of sight out of mind)… Save your money and travel overseas every year on your own may be more desirable. Also learning the language… Doable if you marry a native. Several of my friends have done it. </p>
<p>Engineering for the intelligence agencies will give you the opportunity to travel to countries for extensive periods of time. Typically these jobs are in the electrical engineering branch.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law is a biochemical engineer working for a large pharmaceutical company. So far he has lived in Switzerland, France, and Germany, and has spent stretches of time in the US. I was in his US hotel room during one of his conference calls, and all 3 languages (the Swiss factory uses German for business) were used with NO translations - everyone is expected to speak each fluently. </p>
<p>I work in oil and gas and the travel opportunities are endless: Qatar, Iraq, Nigeria, China, Ukraine, Canada, etc…
and plenty of people go on 2-4 year assignments when they work abroad. Obviously getting into this industry is no joke though as the supply of competitive students is already very high. They pay better than most other industries so it attracts a lot of top tier talent. </p>