My d19 really loves math and science and has enjoyed the high school tech classes she has taken (for the most part). The part of the tech classes she hasn’t loved has mostly involved computer programming type stuff. She is thinking she would like to major in chemical engineering. My question is, will that be a field that heavily uses computers? It’s not that she wants to completely avoid them or that she can’t handle the work with them, it’s just that if current chemical engineers tend to spend vast amounts of time on computers, it may change her opinion. Thanks!
Would she dislike data analysis using computers? My only work experience is an internship in manufacturing, which is just one of many fields engineers can go into, but I do a lot of looking at data using Minitab or Excel to see how the process is running and how it could be improved.
My D is studying engineering. In high school she used computers proficiently, but viewed them as a tool, with no interest in knowing how they worked, fixing them, programming them, or anything else. The only programming exposure she had was Code Academy, which she thought was dumb. Three years into engineering (architectural, structural), she has taken a CS class, learned Matlab and has also been exposed to much more CS (dating a CS major). She now says she could easily have majored in CS if she had known more what it was back when she was choosing a major. In her major, which is interdisciplinary and involves civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and in her internships, she does a lot of design and analysis work using computers. Computer use is not minimal, it’s integral to the job.
Good point that she just might not have enough experience with different areas using computers to really know. She took a CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) class last year and it wasn’t much fun in general but part of that could be the teacher. A nice enough person who has best been described as really boring.
I believe in any ABET accredited program, all engineering students will need to take some sort of basic programming course. That course alone is often the only programming course required for most engineering students. For ChemE, one definitely does not need to be amazing at programming in order to get through the major. You do not need to love programming either, but you must be competent with the basics.
Perfect. She has definitely been competent so far with what she has done. She did get an A in her CIM class and was one of the highest scorers in her final. Thanks.
Chem Eng is a broad field with environmental, pharma, nano-technology, energy, materials science. Some will require programming, but only as a portion of a project. Having some experience in HS will help her get through her freshman skills class (usually Matlab).
Engineering freshman intro programming courses generally assume no prior programming experience. About half the students will come in never having seen a line of code before, but it is still possible to get a good grade in the course even without such experience. Having experience in high school helps, so taking a programming course of some sort is not a bad idea, but if it comes her second semester of senior year and she just wants to relax, there is no reason to sweat it. MATLAB is a very important language/software that will be used in almost every field of engineering, but it should not matter what language a high school may teach a programming course using.
Anyone who wants to be competitive in their field should have an affinity for computers. The coming generation will be dealing with Artificial Intelligence in all fields.
My daughter is a rising junior majoring in a biological science field, not engineering, but in her summer internships, research projects and classes she has already used over 20 different software programs and 4 programming languages. She spent most of this summer at a research internship using a supercomputer in addition to some lab work. She loves it, because she had debated majoring in CS. My point is simply that computing is essential to science and engineering nowadays (and most other fields as well). It is best if your daughter learns to be comfortable coding and using computers. In STEM fields, familiarity and comfort with basic coding is essential. People who are already in the workforce without that foundation are having to go back and learn it.
It isn’t just engineers and scientists that spend vast amounts of time using computers. I have worked as an attorney at jobs where I used 7 different software programs, and spent 40 hours a week using a computer. Many artists spend all their time in front of a computer, as do writers. As time goes on, it will be harder and harder to find jobs where a considerable portion of the work is not done in front of a computer. I don’t think time spent in front of a computer should be the key deciding factor in choice of a major, unless she is someone who really wants to be outside a lot or in some special setting other than at a desk job. Then it might just be a matter of what type of job to pursue later, rather than selecting a different major. I have met and read about engineering majors with a wide range of jobs, from technical sales to data analysis to small business ownership.