<p>Why would firms in Wall Street hire engineers? Aren't they completely different? It is like mechanics.... and..... business ... Doesn't really seem like related... So what type of engineers do they hire? elec/chem/biomed/mech?</p>
<p>A lot because firms on Wall Street are trying to evaluate and understand information on a lot of companies that produce or are developing products or services that engineers will understand (ask your friendly accountant type if he knows whether a product just granted patent no. such and such will really perform and make money for a chemical company and whether that chemical company has sufficient and efficient resources to produce and meet demand for the product and the accountant-type is likely to answer, "Huh?")</p>
<p>analysis skills for one thing</p>
<p>Actually, there are several things going on. First of all, intherain is right in the sense that engineering and banking really don't have a whole lot to do with each other. But that gets to a general theme of all education. What you may have heard back in high school was right on target - the vast majority of the specific things that you learn after, say, the 6th grade, you will never use ever again in your life. For example, in high school, we've all spent years learning how to deconstruct novels, how to do reams of trig and calculus problems, how to write book reports, and all that jazz. But the fact is, the vast majority of us will never have to do any of those things ever again in our lifetimes. Apart from future English professors, how many of us are ever really going to deconstruct a Shakespearean play in our job? </p>
<p>The same thing can be said of what you learn in college, even in a professional major like engineering. The fact is, the vast majority of the specific things you learn in an engineering degree, you never use as a real-life working engineer. As an engineering student, you will learn how to calculate these vastly elegant mathematical models filled with extraordinarily complicated formulas and math tricks. In many engineering classes, well over half of the lectures is just spent deriving out various engineering formulas. But as a working engineer, you never use any of that stuff. I remember when I was an undergrad engineering student interning at an extremely famous pharmaceutical company surrounded by people with PhD's in engineering. A couple of them had kids in high school who were having trouble with their calculus and physics - so they asked me to reteach them how to do simple calculus integrals and force diagrams. They obviously had learned that stuff back when they were in school, but once they started working, they never used it ever again, so they forgot how to do it. </p>
<p>So now some people will read the above and simply conclude that education is worthless. Au contraire - that's where the fallacy lies. A proper academic education is not about learning specific skills that you will then use for the rest of your life. That's what a vocational school will do for you, but not an academic school. An academic school is supposed to teach you how to think. You get taught how to analyze Shakespeare in high school not because you are going to be analyzing Shakespeare for the rest of your life, but because it teaches you how to think analytically and express an argument. You get taught all these engineering mathematical formula derivations not because you're going to spend all your life deriving mathematical formulas when you're working as an engineer, but because it teaches you the logical, rigorous way of thinking that is central to the engineering mindset. </p>
<p>Let's face it. Whatever specific things you might learn in an engineering program today are going to be obsolete in a decade or two, because technology will continue to develop. However, what will not become obsolete is a well-trained mind that can pick up new skills quickly. That well-trained mind is what a true academic education is supposed to produce. </p>
<p>So when you look at it that way, you can see why banks like engineers. Engineers have developed their minds to think logically, and that's what banks are looking for. </p>
<p>The other aspect is time. Wall Street bank analyst jobs are notorious for requiring people to work 90+ hours a week, with frequent all-nighters. So basically, the job suits only those people who are extremely hard-working, who can perform at a high level while fatigued, and who are good at time management. An engineering student, particularly at a tough program like MIT, has proved all of those traits. If any student has the stamina to work 90 hours a week, it's the engineering student. </p>
<p>Basically, the banks are looking for high-quality, hard-working talent. This is why banks will happily hire engineers from schools like MIT, Stanford, and the like. It's not the specific engineering discipline (EE, ME, CE, etc.), rather, it's the work ethic and the trained, disciplined mind that they're really looking for.</p>
<p>bravo sakky, very good post (no sarcasm)</p>
<p>very interesting! that made me much more motivated to major in engineering this fall.</p>
<p>thanks I got it now :)</p>
<p>I agree with peck191, very good post sakky.</p>