<p>I keep hearing lots of news about how students major in engineering are unable to get jobs. Even people with engineering degrees can't get jobs in this economy.</p>
<p>Is it true that engineering is finished (jobs being outsourced to India or China)?</p>
<p>Should I even dream about becoming an electrical engineer or should I major in either biomedical engineering or computer science or even biostatistics just for the money?</p>
<p>Please Answer!!!</p>
<p>major in electrical engineering. You will get 5 job offers upon graduation.</p>
<p>No, and I don’t know what news sources you are hearing this from. Quite honestly the only engineers that I went to school with that had a hard time getting a job were the incompetent ones.</p>
<p>BREAKING NEWS: Everyone is having a hard time getting a job right now. The economy is bad and has been for 3 years.</p>
<p>This source comes from my father who is very intelligent. His friends are telling him what I typed up there. jobs in other field except healthcare are dangerous and majoring in them could be stressful.</p>
<p>boneh3ad: Define what you mean by incompetent ones? I am a bit lazy in physics lab, but I study hard in physics (lecture) and calculus (lecture). Does it mean I am an incompetent? I have a 3.7+GPA (transferring from CC).</p>
<p>CC aint college. Get ready for a wake up call.</p>
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<p>You clearly never went to a CC. I bet you the guy with a 3.7 at a CC will be more successful than you. Ignorant people aren’t generally that successful.</p>
<p>Is engineering dead in the US? No, that’s silly. Is community college the same as regular college? Not quite, but it’s close. Do biomed and CS have better job prospects? Sure they do. Should you major in something for the money? Probably not. Because you like it? Sounds like a plan to me.</p>
<p>I want to major in electrical engineering and minor in computer engineering. Walk out with two degree. I keep hearing news about how economy is going bad, jobs are going over seas…sometimes it makes me think…“is it worth going to a good state university for my engineering degree?” </p>
<p>Because from many I hear, no matter how hard you work in college. You still might not end up with a job.</p>
<p>So, I am just not sure, is it worth continuing with my plan in EE/CE or should I go into healthcare or do Biomed Eng.?</p>
<p>At the end of the day; money is really important after all!</p>
<p>Burgsoccer09: </p>
<p>CC is college after all… Besides I wasn’t ready for a high school to college transition. I was seriously not ready with my study skills. CC just prepared me for it but now I am not enjoying it here. I want to leave CC.</p>
<p>KamelAkbar: </p>
<p>Thanks for the defense!</p>
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<p>This can happen in any major, if you graduate at the wrong point in the economic or industry cycle or just get unlucky.</p>
<p>Also, biomedical engineering is generally not any better in terms of job and career prospects than electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science in most <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html</a> . Indeed, it is significantly worse in some career surveys. So, out of these majors, you may as well do what you are most interested in (and you can still be designing electronics, computers, or software with medical applications after graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science).</p>
<p>Okay…so avoid engineering and instead do…what?</p>
<p>This is why you need to be competitive. Go to monster.com and I’m sure you’ll find 1000s of engineering jobs in the U.S.</p>
<p>There’s many different engineering specialties. Due to the housing bust, many are struggling: Structural Engineers, many Civil Engineers, some Mechanical Engineers. Aerospace Engineering might be hit or miss because of gov’t budgetary issues.</p>
<p>Other types of engineering are a lot more stable: Computer Engineering, Computer Science (Software Engineering), Electrical Engineering. I’ve also heard Chemical Engineering is doing well. Industrial Engineering (not really “engineering”) can always be stable because of the need for business analysts, supply chain management, process improvement, etc.</p>
<p>There are engineering jobs in the US, but there is also more competition for those jobs. In particular, people are coming from outside the US and getting some of those jobs. Other jobs are being sent outside the US when it is feasible and cost-effective to do so. This means you need to consider the possibility that you might not have a job (in engineering) upon graduation, and/or at various times during your career, you might be un- or underemployed. True, this can happen in any field, but until now, it was rare that this would happen in engineering, to the extent that it would be part of the national debate.</p>
<p>If you really want to be an engineer, go for it, but take note of the potential pitfalls.</p>
<p>My husband and I are structural engineers and we are definitely not struggling. We’ve worked on a big hospital project, a lot of houses (a few new ones plus problems with old ones), and inspections for insurance companies. There are always existing structures that need work by engineers. As long as we’re flexible, we can find work.</p>
<p>“What people are saying” is not as valuable in this case as what is actually happening, and the reality is that engineering grads have lower unemployment, higher salaries, and much better prospects, even in this economy.</p>
<p>Usually, when you hear about a guy who just graduated with an engineering degree and can’t find a job, it comes down to one or more of the following:</p>
<p>–he’s inflexible about where he is willing to work (i.e. he won’t move out-of-state, let alone abroad)
–he has no internship experience
–BO
–bad personality
–bad interviewing skills
–can’t put together a resume to save his life</p>
<p>I have class mates that I wouldn’t hire (or who don’t want to move out of town, or out of state, and moving out of the country is a joke to them), even if they graduated, so it’s no surprise that even with an engineering degree there are peeps out there having trouble getting a job.</p>
<p>It’s important to go to an engineering college that’s good at connecting students with employers for internships. Internships/co-ops are as essential as good grades. And if you happen to go to college in Silicon Valley or next-door to Boeing or something, even better.</p>
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<p>This is obviously regionally specific. Looks like you’re in Maine, which was obviously not as volatile (construction wise) as other parts of the country. I was taking classes with a structural engineer two years ago in Florida that was back in school getting his Masters in Statistics, because his SE job was so bad at the time.</p>
<p>A co-worker’s brother had the distinct pleasure of helping his component manufacturing company transition their entire engineering department from Chicago to communist China before being laid off. They claimed they “had to lower costs to remain competetive.” </p>
<p>One of the realities is that each chinese engineer has a bookshelf filled with $5,000,000 worth of american design software, something the company could not afford in Chicago.</p>
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<p>Are you saying it’s bootleg software? If so, wow. I don’t even know how we can compete. We need the IP law to keep people producing good software but the laws are allowing China to unfairly compete. What the heck are we supposed to do about that?</p>
<p>A $20,000 seat of Pro/Engineer costs about $5 in China. Windows OS is $1. Needless to say, software companies do no like this.</p>
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You’re just not the norm. Norm is jobs for civils is bleak.</p>
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Chinese are also producing lots of computer and software engineers to crack these softwares and make them available for nothing and there is nothing the US can do about it.</p>