Funny Article From Huffington Post

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>“As soon as we come out of this recession and things resume their normal paths, this will be a non-issue.”'</p>

<p>So all the engineers who were laid off are going to be re-hired? Well, I hate to sound like the Grim Reaper, but that is not going to happen. Jobs that have been outsourced are not coming back and that will hurt engienering in the long term. And this is not coming from me. This is coming staright from the mouths of engineering organizations such as the IEEE (see: [Offsource</a> Outsourcing and America’s High-Tech Workforce – IEEE-USA Priority Issue for the 108th Congress(2004)](<a href=“http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/Offshoring/index.html]Offsource”>http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/Offshoring/index.html) and <a href=“StackPath”>StackPath; )</p>

<p>Furthermore, in the future, companies are going to likely do more woth less. They are going to have less staff with larger workloads.</p>

<p>“the same companies who are finding it hard to fill positions will hire from outside of the domestic pool. Your logic works both ways.”</p>

<p>According to nearly every study that has bene done, MORE engineering graduates enter the market each year than the number of new jobs being created. I do not beleive that companies are having a hard time finding engineers.</p>

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<p>You are taking something that is applied to the computer industry, an industry known to be hit harder than most by outsourcing, and applying it to engineering as a whole. That is a logical fallacy if I’ve ever seen one. Simply put, the trend in one branch of engineering does not apply to the rest. Civil, mechanical, aerospace, chemical, and electrical engineers not related to computers have all been much less affected and will likely recover.</p>

<p>Companies have been doing more with less for eons. That doesn’t necessarily translate to fewer jobs in the long run. That said, those trends don’t usually affect the engineering staff like they do the skilled labor. An assembly line can be automated, a design staff cannot.</p>

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<p>“Civil, mechanical, aerospace, chemical, and electrical engineers not related to computers have all been much less affected and will likely recover.”</p>

<p>Not according to BLS: “Electrical engineers are expected to have employment growth of 2 percent over the projections decade. Although strong demand for electrical devices—including electric power generators, wireless phone transmitters, high-density batteries, and navigation systems—should spur job growth, international competition and the use of engineering services performed in other countries will limit employment growth.”</p>

<p>“Electronics engineers, except computer, are expected to experience little to no employment change over the projections decade. Although rising demand for electronic goods—including communications equipment, defense-related equipment, medical electronics, and consumer products—should continue to increase demand for electronics engineers, foreign competition in electronic products development and the use of engineering services performed in other countries will limit employment growth.”</p>

<p>And where did you read that chemical is projected to improve? BLS Is projecting a 2% DECLINE over the next 10 years. The chemical industry employs about 250,000 LESS employees today than it did in 1990.</p>

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<p>I said electrical engineers not related to computers. Power transmission, communications, etc are much safer.</p>

<p>The decline in chemical engineering is not related to outsourcing, which is what you keep harping on. You caught me there in the sense that it is not a growing field, but outsourcing has nothing to do with it. Saturation in the field does.</p>

<p>Still, these computer related careers represent a fraction of all engineering, and do not represent the overall health of engineering in general. Stop acting like they do. If you want to harp on it being a bad idea to get into computer hardware engineering, then you certainly may have a point, but arguing that getting into ANY engineering is a bad idea is just ignorant.</p>

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<p>“but arguing that getting into ANY engineering is a bad idea is just ignorant.”</p>

<p>That’s not my opinion. However, I think for the best job prospects, people should try to get into the less common areas of engineering, like petro, environmental, and biomedical. I believe that this will yield better job prospects than going into the 4 big areas that most engineering students tend to major in (electronics, civil, chemical, mechanical). In fact, one of the things I like about petro engineering is that because there are so few schools in the US that offer it (unlike other engineering majors) it is very difficult for the field to ever be saturated.</p>

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<p>Petrol is the one field people don’t want to go into.</p>

<p>Sure you will make money for a minute, but the US is trying to bail on oil as fast as possible.</p>

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<p>Well…First of all, petrol engineers know they travel a lot. They expect to be in different sites. </p>

<p>Secondly, there are new sites being discover in Iraq recently… and a few more new sites are under political resolution… such as the South China sea, and the north pole…
The WH is not trying to shut down the oil industry. You can’t. What WH is interested in is to bring in new alternatives to the consumer energy. A second thought is to push the economy by investing money into the alternative energy groups. Oil and steel brought the US to top 100s years ago.</p>

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<p>More people major in the big 4 engineering fields, and there is a correspondingly larger number of jobs in those areas. You can do just about anything not called electrical engineering as a mechanical engineer, for example, including petroleum. Don’t believe me? I have worked in a position traditionally held by petroleum engineers as a mechanical engineer.</p>

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<p>@ Crash
I know plenty of people who want to get into the petroleum industry. Also, a petroleum engineering degree can give you the opportunity to get into alternative energy fields such as geothermal.</p>

<p>The government and media always talk about how much they are going to develop the alternative energy industry but they still have not taken any major steps towards that goal. The truth is we will be stuck on fossil fuels for along time. While we may slowly and gradually get more of our energy from alternative energy it will not replace fossil fuels as quickly and efficiently as originally anticipated.</p>

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<p>are there good job prospects for civil engineers in the petroleum/energy industry?</p>

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<p>^^</p>

<p>Yes there are many opportunities for civil engineers in the oil/gas industry. BP and Exxon are coming to our campus soon and one of the engineering disciplines they are specifically recruiting for is Civil. They are also looking for civil engineering interns. I am not sure what civ eng. would be doing for BP or Exxon though.</p>

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<p>Weep.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/global/26engineer.html?_r=1&ref=asia[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/global/26engineer.html?_r=1&ref=asia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Enginox raises an important point. With so many civil engineering graduates who can not find a job here in the US I recommend they go to India and Pakistan for some time to work as engineers their. At least until the US economy repairs itself. Both countries need engineers to fix the collapsing infrastructures. Unlike the US the Economy of those countries is at a much higher growth rate and jobs are plentiful.</p>

<p>A couple of my relatives have engineering firms in India and Pakistan so if anyone is interested I can get you contact info.</p>

<p>Contrary to what most people believe South Asia is an excellent place to live a stress free life and prosper. Americans in Pakistan and India are also treated INCREDIBLY well! To Indians and Pakistanis America is Heaven and Americans are Angels.</p>

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<p>LMAO
Now Homer will tell you read to go read The Odyssey ( a long journey of the hero!!!)</p>

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<p>That’s an odd statement, the best paid Civil Engineers in India make about $10,500 a year. I don’t know if cost of living can be that much lower there, can it?</p>

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<p>That’s in rupees ?
Here is a thread I found
[Cost</a> of living in India (Bangalore) - India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com](<a href=“India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com”>India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com)</p>

<p>Are you from India?</p>

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<p>Cost of living in South Asia is much lower than in the US:</p>

<p>Here is an example I found on a South Asia forum:</p>

<p>This is from a family who lives in Lahore…</p>

<p>1 dollar = 85 rupees</p>

<p>"We’re a family of three persons. Own our house which has four bedrooms. </p>

<p>Electricity bills average April-October '08 were Rs.12,000 per month; average Nov-March '08 were Rs.6,500 per month. </p>

<p>Total food expenses average Rs.8,000 per month; this includes meat+vegetables+cooking ingredients (52%) milk+bread+eggs+butter(34%), b’fast cereals+b’fast packaged foods like jam, marmalade, pickles (16%).</p>

<p>Medical & healthcare totalled up to Rs.84,000 in Jan-Dec’08, including doctors visits, dental care, medicines/drugs.</p>

<p>We have two telephone land-lines, average monthly bills both combined are Rs.3,600. Our three cell-phone expenses total Rs.2,300 per mth.</p>

<p>Recreation (eating out, cable TV, parks visits, guests entertainment) cost us an average of Rs.3,800 a month.
We have 3 cars. Maintenance costs average Rs.450 per car a month; petrol/CNG costs average Rs.2,200 per car a month.</p>

<p>We have four domestic servants who live on the premises & don’t pay rent. Their combined salaries are Rs.10,500 a month. We pay their electricity bills, included in the above-mentioned Electricity bills."</p>

<p>I added it up and it comes to about 6,500 dollars a year in expenses for the family to have a very good lifestyle. There is also not much tax in those countries. </p>

<p>So even if you do make 10,500 dollars annually you can still live very well in those countries.</p>

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<p>They make what is the equivalent to $10k USD at the 75th percentile.</p>

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<p>@ jwxie</p>

<p>Kinda. Although my dad is from Indian Punjab my mom is actually from Pakistani Kashmir.</p>

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<p>LOL No I was asking Crash actually, since he knew about the salary of a CE there.
So, Crash, $10K USD annually, or per month? LOL</p>

<p>And

In USD or Rupes? LOL</p>

<p>I am eager in the clarification because it’s interesting to know! Thanks</p>