My parents are telling me that engineering sucks...

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I have wanted to be an engineer for quite a few years now. I'd say I was inspired to become an engineer during my freshman year of high school. And right now I'm a senior and still want to be an engineer. However, my parents are telling me that I should not become an engineer, because: </p>

<p>1) It is a job with low pay and low job security (for them, $100,000 salary is low)</p>

<p>2) It is very hard to climb up the ladder</p>

<p>3) You have to constantly keep up with technology and advances or else your skills will become obsolete</p>

<p>4) Long periods of study are required in college to maintain a decent 3.0 or higher GPA</p>

<p>5) Because technology advances so quickly, a 50 year old engineer is no better than a 20 year old engineer</p>

<p>6) If I get laid off when I'm 50 as an engineer, I will be unemployed for the rest of my life</p>

<p>7) Engineering jobs are being outsourced to countries like China and India, and the prestige and value of an engineering career is being decreased as a result</p>

<p>8) There are much more prestigious, better jobs where you can earn more and do less work, or at least not work as hard as an engineer must</p>

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<p>Are what my parents saying true? Should I heed their advice or should I continue to pursue my interests of being an engineer? </p>

<p>I'm also looking at a career in actuarial sciences, but it doesn't seem as interesting as computer or electrical engineering. I'd actually like a career where the concepts I learn in the classroom can be useful to me as a personal hobby and whatnot.</p>

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<h1>5 is debatable and #6 is untrue.</h1>

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<p>Do what interests you, especially if it is engineering.</p>

<p>1) Anyone who thinks 100k is a low salary needs to get their head out of their ass, frankly.
2) Hahahahahaha. Look at the population distribution of engineers. They’re. All. Retiring.
3) This is true. Only become an engineer (especially computer) if you want to keep on the cutting edge of everything. If you love engineering you’ll want to do that anyway though.
4) True. Engineering is hard. If you love it you’ll do it anyway.
5) Wouldn’t even be true if technical knowledge were all that mattered. By the time you’re 50 you’re hopefully in some sort of leadership position anyway, so 20 year olds won’t be gunning for your job.
6) I’ve never been a 50 year old engineer so I can’t give you personal experience, but I don’t believe that for a second.
7) A lot of them can’t be, and while some jobs are being outsourced So Is Everything Else. Engineers are safer than most other occupations when it comes to outsourcing.
8) That might be true. If you love engineering you’ll do it anyway.</p>

<p>Oh, and be an engineer. Your parents are nuts to try and push you from engineering to actuarial science.</p>

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<p>And what do they do? I don’t see how actuarial sciences is any better.</p>

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<p>I’m going to tell you, at highly ranking schools, large portions (or even majorities at schools like MIT) of engineering undergrads DON’T get engineering jobs. They go into finance and consulting. If you want a prestigious job with 100K+ pay, you’re probably going to want one of those, or be an entrepreneur. An engineering undergrad is a great set up to all three of those things. And if at the end, you still want to be an engineer, then you’ve got that set up too. </p>

<p>What are your parents suggesting instead? If a BBA, then keep in mind that engineers have a higher starting salary, and then can go on to get an MBA. That MBA + technical background is more useful than a BBA + MBA. If pre-med they are silly and you should ignore them. If pre-law, you can do that from an engineering degree too (infact, Math majors either perform as #1 or #2 on the LSAT, and engineers do a lot of math), and if it doesn’t work out, you’ve still got a useful degree.</p>

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<p>What are some examples of the jobs that satisfy item #8?</p>

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<p>^You’re not asking me… But I figured consulting was one.</p>

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<p>I met a kid at a prom a month ago whose Dad went to Purdue for EE and then later to MIT to do grad. work for EE as well. He graduated, worked in EE for a few years, then he started a few financial business, made bank, then opened a bakery. He is doing very very well. If you want success and are willing to work for it you will find it no matter your major. Unless you go into elementary education, but I guess there is still a slim possibility there. <----Joke people, don’t freak out.</p>

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<p>That isn’t low in the grand scheme of things, only in the minds of your apparently pretentious parents. It also tends to have GOOD job security.</p>

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<p>That is also no true. You may not make it to CEO, but it is not uncommon to make it into upper management at many companies as an engineer. Tack an MBA onto your resume and you have even better chances.</p>

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<p>100% true, but if engineering is a passion, this is a non-issue. I love reading up on new techniques and advances.</p>

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<p>Also true, but again, if you like engineering, its not that big of a deal. Also, good time management will significantly ease the burden.</p>

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<p>Not really true. A 20-year-old is more likely to be more current on technology, that much is true, but the vast experience that a 50-year-old can draw on is worth quite a bit as well. Companies run best when they have a mix of old wisdom and new, fresh ideas.</p>

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<p>I can’t really see where this makes sense. Assuming you have meaningful experience on your resume, there will be a market for you.</p>

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<p>Some are, some aren’t. Computer-related jobs are the most vulnerable, but even with all that, there is still a large number of domestic jobs for engineering. It is mostly the low-level work being outsourced anyway, so assuming you aspire to more, then it shouldn’t be too big of a threat.</p>

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<p>First of all, who gives a rat’s arse about prestige? Do what you love, not what your mom things is prestigious.</p>

<p>Second, this alludes to another fundamental problem (in my opinion) in this country right now. For example, there is no way that a Wall Street banker should be more prestigious than an engineer in my opinion, but the pay is so much higher than normal engineering jobs that the top engineering candidates flock to these non-engineering jobs, in turn making them more prestigious. It is quite ridiculous.</p>

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<p>Your parents are misinformed. I wouldn’t listen to them at all. 100k is not a low salary. The majority of people would laugh at this. I guess they are not aware of the average salary in this country. Most professions will never hit that mark. Do your parents have enginering experience or are they just making stuff up? An engineering degree is probably the best investment you can make for an undergrad degree. I would seriously ask them what other alternatives they suggest. The fact is there is no perfect job out there. I know physicians who don’t recommend med school and attorneys who don’t recommend law school. If you want to be an engineer, then go for it. If you are passionate about it you can do really well.</p>

<p>Shame on your parents for not supporting you to do something that you would enjoy. They are not in touch with reality. Engineering is a great degree to have and a very solid career that provides many opportunites for success.</p>

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<p>Pick any career, 95% of that career requires you to do garbage on a daily basis. But completing that 95% allows you to enjoy that 5%. </p>

<p>Listen dude, do what you enjoy or at least what satisfies you to a decent level; as long as you don’t harm others, you should be fine. Time is the most valuable asset you have; don’t waste it on garbage you will regret later or at the very least minimize the amount of garbage.</p>

<p>All professions suck. Life sucks. That’s why we enjoy the happy, fun moments.</p>

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<p>Couldn’t disagree more!</p>

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<p>It would be entertaining to know what they would recommend…</p>

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<p>I would put my money on them saying investment banking or pre med.</p>

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<p>Oh, and yeah, if you study engineering that doesn’t mean you have to get an engineering job. Some companies actually prefer engineers over other more related majors because they know that when you walk out of a college with an engineering degree you are a solid student who has been challenged, and you know how to solve problems.</p>

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<p>@boneh3ad:</p>

<p>Ok, maybe life does not suck. Actually, life is pretty awesome now that I think about it! Hahaha! I do think all professions are mostly composed by “suckiness” and a little “awesomeness.”</p>

<p>But I share your feelings when it comes to this:</p>

<p>"Second, this alludes to another fundamental problem (in my opinion) in this country right now. For example, there is no way that a Wall Street banker should be more prestigious than an engineer in my opinion, but the pay is so much higher than normal engineering jobs that the top engineering candidates flock to these non-engineering jobs, in turn making them more prestigious. It is quite ridiculous.</p>

<p>Money is what makes these jobs “prestigious.” I bet if janitors started earning US$1 million tomorrow that job would become “prestigious.” It’s as if we are still in 1600s Holland chasing tulips.</p>

<p>My opinion? As long as you add some value to society, your job carries prestige. After that is all a matter of whether or not you enjoy what you do.</p>

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<p>I believe that to be a pretty fundamental truth. In America (and often to a lesser extent, other countries) the dollar is king. It doesn’t matter what value you add to society to most people, they just want to know what you make. It is a sad fact, and until you start getting people out of this mindset, the Wall Street jobs are always going to carry more “prestige” to the bulk of the population.</p>

<p>Personally, though, I could care less what someone makes. I care what they do, what value they add to society, and how happy they are doing it. I respect someone who stocks shelves at Target making $8.00/hr and enjoys doing it more than a Wall Street banker who is filthy rich and hates his life.</p>

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<p>I don’t know about you guys, outside of a few financial centers in the US there really isn’t a whole lot of these financial jobs. Engineering in a lot of the country is pretty much some of the best earning jobs that don’t require graduate education and don’t require risk.</p>

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<p>I’m back. Interesting responses… Few more things I want to add to this discussion.</p>

<p>I didn’t include this in my original post, but my parents also told me that they chose to become engineers because that was the only thing that they could do when they immigrated to the United States, with their deficient English communication skills and everything. They told me that if they spoke more functional English, they would have chosen a higher-earning, more prestigious career like finance, law or medicine. </p>

<p>They also told me that it’s mostly a lot of first-generation immigrants who come to the United States on H1-B visas to do engineering work and that white people steer away from engineering and instead pursue higher level jobs in finance, where communication skills are more important.</p>

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<p>Tell that to all the Indian and Chinese MD’s that practice in the US. Finance and law would be tough as an immigrant who doesn’t speak a ton of English, but medicine wouldn’t be any less possible than engineering, and after the 12 years of schooling it takes to do medicine, they would probably be a lot stronger in English anyway.</p>

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<p>That is categorically false. There are still a ton of white, domestic engineers. In fact, we are still the majority in undergraduate programs and it isn’t even that close. In grad school, there are a lot more foreigners and minorities than whites for some disciplines, but not engineering as a whole.</p>