<p>A few months ago, I was walking in our Physics building and I noticed a promoting physics as a great major and career to pursue. I can't remember this precisely, but I think that one of the claims that the poster tried to make was that students pursuing a career in physics can actually do engineers' jobs, with the exception to civil engineering because, to do CE work, one has to pass CE exams and have CE licensing. </p>
<p>Is this true? And to what extent? Is there a catch to this? </p>
<p>I got the impression that the poster (which was very concise) was trying to claim that a BS or MS in physics can allow someone to do mechanical, civil or electrical engineers' jobs.</p>
<p>Thanks Shackleford, you really helped out a lot. I probably shouldn’t even post because you did such a great job answering the questions. </p>
<p>A physicist can do engineering jobs, although an engineering job that would eventually need a P.E. (Professional Engineer license) would be off limits for a physicist because you <em>need</em> an undergrad degree in engineering to obtain a P.E. </p>
<p>At your school you can find what the alumni of any degree is doing. At my school they list the “job title” of graduates with each degree. Under physics degree, there are engineers, but not all. If you really want to be an engineer, I’d suggest you do an engineering degree. That, of course, is the most direct route.</p>
<p>You don’t need a PE license for most engineering jobs. Civil engineering requires a PE license, to approve plans and so forth, because it concerns the public.</p>
<p>We need to make a distinction here, though. A person with a B.S. and even an M.S. Physics is not, generally speaking, a physicist, unless they’re exceptionally advanced. A physicist has a Ph.D. An engineer is an engineer. A person with a B.S. or M.S. Physics would be able to do many engineering jobs, but they would need a lot of on-the-job training and get up-to-speed with engineering practice. Engineering and physics are different. However, engineering is the application of physics and most physics graduates should be able to make that leap to application from theory.</p>
<p>“If you can get through the physics curriculum, especially Junior and Senior year (Advanced Mechanics 1/2, Advanced E&M 1/2, Quantum Mechanics 1/2, Thermo/Stat Mechanics, the labs, research, etc.), you will have made it through a very rigorous undergraduate curriculum that will take your problem solving abilities to another level. That being said, physics majors have success in grad school in many different areas especially Mechanical/Electrical engineering.”</p>
<p>Notice however, I said graduate school. You can’t expect to take a B.S. in Physics and go do a full fledged engineering career unless you have some good contacts, are very lucky, or have experience that warrants your work in the field.</p>
<p>I think I read someone’s post that said he/she got an engineering job with a degree in Physics, because he/she took some engineering classes for elective. That’s all input I can give for this thread lol</p>
<p>But I suggest you that you just major in Engineering and not worry about this issue.</p>
<p>Some aerospace engineering research jobs are fine for physicists, esp. aerodynamics, if you have coursework in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.</p>
<p>Physics probably can do computer engineering better than others. You just learn far more of that than anything else. 2 semesters of modern physics, EM and programming, 1 each of electronics, solid state physics, upper div quantum, thermo, stat mech, electives in EE, etc. On the other hand, you don’t learn much about fluids.</p>
<p>Physicists transition well to other fields: EE, MechE, ChemE, etc. because they are well grounded in math and physics which are essential to those fields. As others have mentioned, some fields have practical requirements (e.g. passing the PE) that prohibit a physicist from becoming a Civil Engineer, for example. You might have to get an MS in a subfield to have really solid job openings, but no one that I know who finished a BS in Physics has had a hard time finding a job in engineering.</p>