How "SAFE" is engineering major or engineering job???

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I want to major on engineering in college, but my parents are always telling me that engineering is not a safe field anymore. (especially when all the products are being made in China and most of the computer engineers are in India) But I was wondering which engineering fields are still safe, will be growing in future, have no threat of being outsourced and have good money (starting $50000).</p>

<p>What type of engineering is most susceptible to outsourcing? What type of engineering is growing?
I know outsourcing is occurring so I wanted to know what type of engineering is most outsourced/ have the danger of being outsourced? </p>

<p>P.S.: Please take computer science/software engineering/data analysis engineering into count although those don't count as "real" engineering)</p>

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<p>btw, if you’re parents really believe engineering is suffering from outsourcing (relative to other occupations) you probably dont want to be getting career advice from them.</p>

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<p>I don’t blame them. They are hearing different things from different persons and my cousin who is a mechanical engineer is saying the same thing. So… But I would really appreciate if someone could tell me which engineering is growing and safe.</p>

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<p>Safety is a relative term: there is no engineering job that is perfectly safe. </p>

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<p>The perfect rejoinder to your parents is: what’s the alternative? Would they rather have you major in one of the liberal arts? Is that safer? </p>

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<p>Both of these claims are clearly false. Granted, China’s manufacturing output has been rising swiftly, but that doesn’t mean that the US manufactures less. In fact, until the recession, US manufacturing output was the highest it had ever been in its history, and that output will surely rise apace when the economy recovers. Just because one country manufactures more doesn’t mean that others manufacture less, for the demand for manufactured goods is not fixed, but rather rises over time, as the demand for consumption is insatiable.</p>

<p>Secondly, most of the computer engineers are not in India. The confusion seems to stem from how different countries define the term ‘engineer’, with community-college-equivalent technical training deemed as ‘engineering’ within certain countries. By a fair measure, the US actually graduates more engineers than India does. </p>

<p>[About</a> That Engineering Gap…](<a href=“Bloomberg Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Bloomberg Businessweek - Bloomberg)</p>

<p>The truth is, outsourcing is, at worst, only a minor threat to engineering employment. The far more “dangerous” threat is simple technological obsolescence, which ironically receives relatively little attention despite - or perhaps because - it is fostered by the engineers themselves. How many mainframe developers have lost their jobs because of the rise of the PC, and consequently how many PC developers have lost their jobs because of the rise of the Internet as a software development channel? How many traditional fixed-line telephony jobs have been lost because of the rise of mobile phones and VoIP? How many videotape and VCR manufacturing jobs have disappeared because of the rise of the DVD and DVR? How many people are still employed by the typewriter industry? The number of jobs shifted to another country by outsourcing is a tiny fraction of the number of jobs that are lost completely due to changes in technology. </p>

<p>With that said, the real goal is not to fret over which particular engineering discipline may be outsourced or eliminated due to technological change, but rather to obtain a strong educational base upon which you can flexibly shift your career to whatever happens to be the hot new industry of your career, whatever that may be. It also means developing marketable and topical skills whenever the opportunities present themselves. That also means not being locked into one particular discipline. </p>

<p>Think of it this way. 15 years ago, practically nobody outside of academia had even heard of the Internet, much less actually used it. But those who had a strong technical base and were willing to aggressively develop new skills were able to capitalize on what is arguably the most important technological development of this generation.</p>

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<p>Check the BLS OOH (short for Burea of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook). Google it.</p>

<p>It has data relating to outsourcing risks, job prospects, and pay scales for engineering and CS/SE disciplines.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>Anyone in most any field you can think of claiming to have job security in this economy, is either not living on this planet, or extremely delusional.</p>

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<p>…unless you’re talking about active-duty military. They’ve got excellent job security.</p>

<p>And to connect to that, military contracting is relatively “safe” as well. Pretty much any engineering field has usefulness to certain military contracts, so if you get a job in that field, it should be “safer” than the average. And you don’t have to worry about outsourcing because most of those jobs require US citizenship at least, and security clearances as you progress.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, you then have to worry about a different type of safety entirely. Outsourcing risk pales in comparison to gunfire risk. </p>

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<p>Safer, perhaps. But hardly perfectly safe.</p>

<p>*Boeing itself sends key military work offshore.</p>

<p>Less than a month ago, for instance, Boeing announced a deal to form a joint venture with India’s Tata Industries, under which the U.S. aircraft manufacturer pledged to ship $500 million worth of defense-related aerospace component design and manufacturing work to Tata’s operations on the sub-continent.</p>

<p>At the time, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems CEO Jim Albaugh said the deal “represents another step in our commitment to India.”</p>

<p>According to Boeing, the agreement’s intent is to “develop new supply sources throughout the Indian manufacturing and engineering communities for both commercial and defense applications.” Boeing stated outright that it plans to outsource work on the Navy’s F/A 18 Super Hornet to its Indian joint venture.*</p>

<p><a href=“news”>news;

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<p>There are a substantial number of military jobs with little to no risk of being shot at. Not everyone is infantry. I know some people who went to Iraq and basically sat around in air conditioned tents all day long.</p>

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<p>In fact, there are a substantial number of engineering jobs in the military that don’t involve you leaving the US at all.</p>

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<p>Even the air-conditioned tents are subject to attack. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101100172.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101100172.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yes, but are you guaranteed to get them? Not everybody in the military gets the job that they want. I rather doubt that anybody can join the military while specifically declaring that he will only work engineering jobs in the US and be guaranteed to get that.</p>

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<p>You can also work as a civilian for the military. At Edwards AFB, there’s a large civilian engineer contingent working on flight testing the Global Hawk, some more working on the issues with the Airborne Laser, and they’re starting work on the new F-35s soon.</p>

<p>Besides, when are you “guaranteed” anything in any job?</p>

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<p>While I’m not 100% certain of the extent, I’m pretty sure you can have stipulations in the contract you sign when you join. You can request certain jobs and even units. However, I don’t know to what extent you can do this and you’d probably have to ask a recruiter.</p>

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<p>Then I would ask, why doesn’t everybody demand only safe non-combat roles, preferably only in the US? Or, if the person wants combat, then demand only the ‘sexiest’ combat roles? I know a bunch of people who would probably love to join the military - but only if they could be fighter pilots. If they just end up, say, flying transports, then they don’t want to join.</p>

<p>I think that shows that there are clearly great limits as to what you can negotiate. I doubt that any military recruiter can guarantee that you will never be deployed to a combat role. </p>

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<p>Which is where the outsourcing of military (yes, *military) projects becomes salient. See the story of Boeing’s outsourcing strategy above. </p>

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<p>Nobody is arguing that you are guaranteed anything. In fact, that’s been my point all along.</p>

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<p>Some people want to be infantry. They want to put bullets through the skulls of America’s enemies. They enjoy combat, as it’s obviously something that is very exciting when the bullets do start flying.</p>

<p>You cannot be guaranteed something like a role as a fighter pilot - that is up to you. When you go to flight school if you graduate at the top of your class you get to pick what you want to do. So, in a sense there is a contract stipulation that says you can do whatever you want, you just have to make sure you put in the effort.</p>

<p>There are units that do not deploy abroad. For example, if you are analyzing surveillance received from Predators with you will be doing it in America (at least I know of one unit that does not deploy). While there is always a chance you might get sent somewhere, it’s extremely unlikely.</p>

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<p>What jobs are they pushing you in rather than engineering? Engineering, in general, has the best post-graduation career prospects of any undergraduate major.</p>

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When are you “guaranteed” anything except for death and taxes? Period</p>

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<p>I believe somebody - perhaps John McCain - once said that the soldiers who are the most eager to engage in combat are usually precisely the ones who have never done it before. </p>

<p>Regardless, I am quite sure that many Americans would eagerly join the military if they could be guaranteed that they would never be sent to combat. But of course the military will never provide that guarantee. That is, after all, the whole point of having a military: to fight if necessary. </p>

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<p>It’s not just about putting in the effort. After all, there are only a certain number of total fighter flight slots available and numerous candidates are competing for them. There is a strong chance that you can work as hard as you humanly possible and still not get a slot simply because others are more naturally intelligent and physically capable than you are (and also put in the effort). </p>

<p>Furthermore, you may not even be selected for any flight training at all. Many people enter OCS or the Academy hoping to become pilots and then are relegated to some other training. </p>

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<p>But how do you guarantee that you will get into one of those units? Simply put, you can’t. There is no guarantee that you’ll get the unit you want. You could very easily find yourself in a forward area.</p>