But many start in engineering and never finish. Those that do finish, usually have good employment opportunities. And as @Gator88NE says, there are lots of options to build on once you land that first entry level position.
@emilybee, considering that the percentage of college grads who are STEM (and I believe engineering) majors has barely budged in decades, I doubt there is a bubble in engineering.
Again, just going off of what people say at one particular point in time doesn’t give you a good idea of whether there are too many engineers or not.
Larger engineering companies typically have a wide variety of technical engineering levels and titles. It’s common for engineers who stay at the company to advance through the titles based on annual performance reviews, experience, skill set, and general contribution to the company’s goals, rather than just stagnate in an entry level position with the same responsibilities and same income. Annual performance reviews often come with a salary increase (varies by company), regardless of whether title advancement occurs, whose size depends on both how well individual goals are met and how well group/team/company goals are met during the review period. For example, one large engineering company offers the following levels on their technical track. They have separate levels on the managerial track. Principal engineers and above typically have 20+ years experience in this example (many other companies have different criteria for what they call “principal engineer”, some of which typically have much less experience).
Engineer I
Engineer II
Engineer III
Senior Engineer
Staff Engineer
Senior Staff Engineer
Principal Engineer
Engineering Fellow
Yes, being a manager or starting your own company usually has a higher maximum income potential than technical tracks, but many who become engineers enjoy creatively solving problems and are not looking to focus on managing others instead of personally solving tech problems. Many of this group would be perfectly satisfied with a maximum salary potential of less than $200k or other arbitrary 6-figure number. It depends on your personality and goals.
@PurpleTitan, enough. I have my opinion and you have yours. I am not going to debate you on this.
@emilybee, you will not let data sway you and will rather hold on to a viewpoint that isn’t supported by numbers.
That’s cool.
Re: CC and that “everyone’s kids are going to study/are studying engineering.” That is not my perception. There are numerous forums regarding all kinds of majors on CC, and a general respect (from most people) for numerous paths that kids can take. If you enter a thread focused on engineering, you are going to get data from people that are interested in engineering. Pushing a kid toward engineering that does not have an interest in it / aptitude for it, makes no sense. It is hard enough even if it you have a genuine interest in it. Our kids can do well with all sorts of majors. It is not a contest.
CC also seems to indicate a massive bubble for IR majors.
Isn’t premed to medical school one of the most common aspirations among high school seniors posting here? Usually, they seem to default to major in biology.
That too, but I think that will always happen and premeds will always be weeded out and either way the med school seats are limited.
The research scientist thread sort of converges with this point.
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=37
Details:
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_318.20.asp
Engineering is not a popular undergraduate major.
Boom in my opinion.
My company is still struggling to find qualified engineers.
Many engineering graduates are not qualified.
Post # 89
Anybody , male or female, needing to be/ wanting to be/ in the same locale as their partner or spouse will potentially pass up decent opportunities in other places or not even look in other places to begin with.
It is wonderful that your son was one of 15 of 3000 candidates that was hired by his company as a Political Science major. He obviously is very impressive. Many business majors also seem to be doing well these days if they are in good programs with a good track record with recruiting. Obviously, not all the opportunities are in engineering, and I don’t recall anybody here saying that. It’s all good. I don’t wish for any profession that any kids are going for to experience a “bust” or a “bubble that will burst.”
This.
Just having the degree doesn’t necessarily mean they can do the work.
The irony is that people who do it just for the money often turn out not to be so good at the work and often leave the field. So for them, yes, there’s always the bust.
OTOH, I once told my boss that I’d do the work for free if I could afford it, but I take the money so the company remembers that they care.
Great discussion, thank you all.
We are using payscale data now???
An engineering grad can work in many fields, including finance, politics, marketing, etc. An engineer can even write a novel or perform in theatre.
Finance, polysci, marketing, creative writing, or theatre grads cannot work as engineers.
This is true. In my experience, even an engineer has trouble working as an engineer if (s)he steps out of the field for more than a couple of years … unless they go back to school for a semester or two or re-enter via a contract house.
“Anybody , male or female, needing to be/ wanting to be/ in the same locale as their partner or spouse will potentially pass up decent opportunities in other places or not even look in other places to begin with.”
True, but I find it difficult to believe there is a lack of engineering jobs in Southern California. Podunk, Iowa I can see, but San Diego?
Whenever a kid is unemployed, or underemployed, you may never know the whole story. Could be unwillingness to relocate or commute, lack of skills, poor GPA , lack of motivation, unwilling to take a job that they feel is not the perfect fit, poor references, etc. That can happen with any major and would not be unique to engineering.
True, I only know she graduated from U of R in 2015 and has been looking since then in the San Diego area and has not had one offer. I’m sure she didn’t anticipate she wouldn’t still be unemployed over a year later, too. Fortunately, it’s not my kid in this position.