Petroleum Vs Industrial engineering : A battle of interests

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Oh no not another Vs thread :) </p>

<p>I have searched and lurked a round but I have found no thread really focusing on a comparison between the two. The closest I saw was someone asking if Major in petroleum engineering and a minor in IE would be ideal. </p>

<p>I am interested in both fields because of the potential but different prospects but I only have a superficial understanding and need a a little deeper understanding. </p>

<p>Many go into petroleum engineering because of the lucrative potential and this has caused a rise in applicants and a drop in base salary but my main focus is a genuine interest for the energy sector and to be a apart of it. </p>

<p>Generally it seems that unless you have a great gpa you are put into field work to gain necessary experience which could be 2-4 years then return to the office , no qualms there. Then there is the traveling and working in remote areas which I know gets old after awhile. My goal would definitely be team leader maybe management and that is where I see myself down the road.</p>

<p>Industrial Engineering I like the focus on optimization of processes within a business and would also like to do a minor in econ or logistics. I honestly would love to do this more as it it would give me a better skill set to return to my home country after some years working armed with experience on managing people , processes , factory layout design etc... to set up my own manufacturing business and this seems more attractive because the manufacturing sector is in its infant stage so the potential is there. </p>

<p>I am torn between the two.</p>

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<p>What do you want to know? I am currently in a Masters in IE so I can help shed some light on that subject.</p>

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<p>Hi Chucktown </p>

<p>I am assuming you have returned to do a masters and if not you can shed some light on the relevant ones.</p>

<p>What is the course load like ? </p>

<p>Would taking a minor in econ or logistics be worth it or what would you recommend? </p>

<p>How is the Job market? </p>

<p>What is the working environment like? </p>

<p>What tends to be the roles and potential roles than IE could take on
and could you work with banks? </p>

<p>Would a career path in IE prepare me to run my own business? </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>

The first two years are going to be your general engineering course work (Calc’s, Physic’s, Statics, Solids, Materials, Circuits, etc), so depending on the load you take it will be pretty typical. A lot of people like to go in guns blazing to prove to themselves and the world how smart they are. I don’t advise this because your gpa is a main factor in getting a job. Employers won’t know that you took 19 hours and got overloaded, they will just see that you have a 2.8 and skip to the next resume.</p>

<p>Overall the undergrad coursework was challenging but doable, I took 14-15hrs/semester and was able to keep A’s.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>To me, not really. A minor doesn’t really do anything for you. You get hired for your major, most people don’t care about the minors. If you are interested in logistics or econ take some extra courses in it but don’t worry about fulfilling the requirements for a minor unless its just really easy. </p>

<p>

Plentyful, if you have good grades. For my undergrad career fair there were 120+ companies there to recruit IE’s, which was more than the number of IE’s in the program.</p>

<p>

That is really going to depend on what industry you end up in. I recently interned with the railroad industry. It was pretty great. Had my own desk on the top floor of an Atlanta high rise. Was able to travel out to sites and do a little IE field work (analyzing capacity and congestion issues/causes). But like I said, this is really industry dependent. If you choose manufacturing you will more than likely be in a plant all day.</p>

<p>

Roles, as in different areas we get hired for? That is a lot to list but here are a few that the job boards call for: Industrial Engineer, Project Engineer, Supply Chain Engineer, Cost Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Logistics Engineer, Operations research analyst, Marketing, Healthcare Engineer, Quality Engineer…and probably a few more…And can we work with banks? I assume so. I haven’t really seen a large role in it, but if they want someone with a heavy math background, we definitely have that.</p>

<p>

It will give you some great tools that will help you handle running your own business. But, from what I have seen, nothing really prepares you for running your own business. My brother-in-law makes over 200k/year running his own business, and he was a business major. I’m sure if he knew some of the stuff that we learn it would help him tighten his belt a bit, or focus his marketing/product better, but even without it he is still a good businessman.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the answers above they were very insightful </p>

<p>If you dont mind </p>

<p>Why did you return for a masters ? </p>

<p>From your experiences do other engineering majors end up being managed by IE’s?<br>
When I mentioned working with banks I meant if you could be consulted to improve the efficiency ( profits) of newly acquired company…etc </p>

<p>It does sound like what I had pictured in my mind especially the bit about the job market. It seems like work I would enjoy very much but thats easy to say from behind a computer screen, pretty sure it has it’s days… </p>

<p>Starting my own business is very attractive to me and is ultimately my goal but that may change if I find myself in a position that I like and enjoy.</p>

<p>If anyone can chime in about petroleum engineering I would appreciate it.</p>

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<p>

Long story, but basically I already had a previous bachelors in a social science field and after working for a bit realized I was not where I wanted to be. I got into a BSIE, knocked out 2 years of classes, and had the opportunity to finish with a Masters. </p>

<p>

Nope. Managers are chosen for their managing skills, not their major. The internship I mentioned, was for the industrial engineering department, and I had two managers, one was a Civil and the other was a MechE. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Efficiency of a newly acquired company… That’s more of the executive level. As an IE you will look at processes and optimize those. So you could be asked to look at a process within a company to optimize, but I haven’t heard of IE’s being the go-to to manage the efficiency of new companies.</p>

<p>One thing you also might like is management consulting. Lots of the Big Consulting firms recruit from our IE department. Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Accenture… With that experience, and the connections you create with it, can be very valuable if you can handle the 90+ hour work weeks.</p>

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<p>ISE is such a broad field, not all engineering programs focus on every facet. The most common are “Manufacturing Systems”, “Supply Chain Management”, and “Transportation and Logistics”.</p>

<p>However, the op may be thinking of “Financial Engineering”:</p>

<p>How can the risk of an investment be reduced?
How can we build a robust investment portfolio?
What price and length should a service or warranty contract be?
Which capital projects should be funded (capacity expansion, equipment replacement)?</p>

<p>As Chucktown said, if you go into this field, it’s common to get into consulting (and be recruited by investment firms, banks, etc).</p>

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<p>actuary is another career im looking at my career counselor insisted that this would be a good choice seeing that my interests lie in financial side of engineering. my net isnt working that good and typing from an qndroid phone so i cant reply as in depth or properly as i would like to</p>

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<p>Be aware that oil can be messy, smelly, and generally nasty.</p>

<p>Be aware that many of the places that oil is found can be unpleasant. Think of whether you want to be on an offshore oil rig, a remote very cold place, a country with frequent political violence, or a country with very conservative religion-based laws.</p>

<p>High pay for petroleum engineering may be at least partly related to these working conditions.</p>

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<p>My sister has 2 friends graduated with IE major, one works at Goldman Sachs in SF and the other one works as a consultant, not sure which company also in SF. Both have very high GPA at graduation.</p>

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<p>i’ve heard that industrial engineering is popular mainly in the east. is this true? because i’m planning on studying in a regional state college in the Bay Area, and i’m not sure if this reduces my job opportunities</p>

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<p>Which bay area? If you mean the one in California, there are three state universities with industrial engineering bachelor’s degree programs in the area. Two of them have post-graduation career surveys.</p>

<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/IEOR.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/IEOR.stm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.sjsu.edu/careercenter/employers/salary-data/Salary%20Survey%2011_12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.sjsu.edu/careercenter/employers/salary-data/Salary%20Survey%2011_12.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>i have read the answers and thanks for those who gave their input. </p>

<p>does the working conditions for p.e improve?
i spoke to a friend who says her aunts fiancee dis pet e and worked in the fields for 4 yrs in the east starring from 75,000 - 115,000 but moved to butler type office in the middle of nowhere pulling in 320,000 after 4 years so it seems that salary come with a price. </p>

<p>After speaking with a BB bank my interest im finance has grown. Honestly there is too much lol…</p>

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<p>not butler but bunker dam auto correct. typing from such a small screen has its challenges.</p>