<p>I'm currently an engineering student, who will be transferring to a 4 year university for the next spring 2011 term. I have always been interested engineering and have set my goal to pursue engineering as my professional career since high school. But since then and until now, I'm still confused and not sure what engineering type or discipline to get in to. But now that I am finally planning on transferring, it is my time to finally make a decision. I have gained a lot of insight about each discipline over the years, and after taking introduction to engineering courses. But I think what is holding me back from choosing a discipline is well beyond my interests. I am worried about job security, job opportunity and availability, job growth, salary, etc. when i graduate around 2012-13. Without looking at what my interests are, what engineering type would be the best to get into around 2012-13 looking at all the factors that make a career worth investing time in. Choice's could include, Mechanical, Computer, Chemical, Biomedical, Civil Engineering, or anything else that you may think is worth getting into. I am also located in California, Silicon Valley area. I am also flexible to work in the middle east if I need to; getting a degree in chemical engineering and working as a petroleum engineer in the middle east and getting great pay could be an idea?</p>
<p>If you’re willing to work in the middle-east, get a chemE degree. Petroleum is fairly enjoyable to work with and it’s a secure, well-paying job.</p>
<p>By what I read, you are majoring in engineering because of the job opportunity and salary. Thats probably the worst way to decide what to major in. Engineering is a very unforgiving major and it will weed out the fake who pursue purely for the money. Pursue something that you find interesting and the job opportunity will take care of itself. Do you enjoy math and physics?</p>
<p>There are a good deal of job opportunities for most disciplines of engineering in the SF bay area. The only thing is avoid is biomedical engineering. From my experience, those who I know who’ve held a BS in BME get lumped together with bio and biochem majors and never really considered for traditional engineering positions. Lots of city and county govs hire CivEs for infrastructures and EnvEs for sewage and to take care of the bay. I’ve seen positions for ChemEs in biotech and hi-tech doing process dev/control for biopharma and wafer production, respectively. I knew some MechEs that worked at NUMMI plant in Fremont that got hire to do validation for biotech companies after the plant went bust. </p>
<p>Just do some research for yourself. Check out BLS.gov and job listings for companies you might want to work for and see why they’re hiring. Just make sure you pick something you enjoy doing. That is what’s most important.</p>