Question for Engineers

<p>What do you like about it? It is hard for a person, such as myself, understand why people fall in love with this concentration. I have heard people say because I like design or I like working with materials and I have no idea what any of this means. Basically question is for all the engineers out there at UMich. What made you choose this path? I have been getting a lot of...well...my parents did it and so did my siblings so I decided to...the money is good right out of college...or I don't hate it...so why stop? I don't really like these motives.</p>

<p>Thanks!
MHailJ</p>

<p>I’m purely in it for the money. In my view, that’s a good enough reason.</p>

<p>I was drawn to engineering because I like problem solving, and engineering in industry is essentially creative problem solving. The money is nice too.</p>

<p>$$$$ plus I like it and am good at it, plus $$$$$$$$$$</p>

<p>Haha, so still money so far…</p>

<p>people who stay in in definitely don’t hate it and are definitely up for the job. Not everyone can sit through calculus lecture.</p>

<p>^ Exactly… most engineers actually like what they’re doing to some extent. You’re not going to sit in calculus for 4 years… if you don’t truly enjoy math and problem solving. If you do not have a similar desire, I would not seriously consider it. </p>

<p>As with all majors/concentrations, you either have to like it or be good at it, money is often a side product, especially for engineering for the reasons stated above</p>

<p>" You’re not going to sit in calculus for 4 years… if you don’t truly enjoy math and problem solving."</p>

<p>I’ve sat in calculus for one year and am done. Though I do like Calculus. But Calculus isn’t Engineering. </p>

<p>" Not everyone can sit through calculus lecture."</p>

<p>The vast majority of UMich does.</p>

<p>well what I meant is that not everyone enjoys or appreciates math/science type courses and lectures :|</p>

<p>people have different interests</p>

<p>engineering =/= money… really have no idea what you guys are thinking. In fact, the engineering majors who want big money probably wont enter the engineering field at all</p>

<p>What major are you suggesting instead?</p>

<p>Money tree planter</p>

<p>Okay…again, anything besides the money? Like- what makes it so interesting? I am serious thinking about sitting down in random engineering classes just to see how it goes because I am really interested in ; why</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>In engineering, you get difficult but interesting problems. Then you get to figure out just how to break down these problems, how to make sense of them, and what you need to do to solve them. Then you get to implement these solutions - planning, design, implementation, and so on. This process of problem-solving and creation is really interesting for most people who want to become engineers.</p>

<p>Exactly what type of problems I’m talking about depends on which area of engineering you’re interested in. </p>

<p>If you’re an EE, you might get asked to filter a signal to remove noise. For example, removing tape hiss from an old audio recording. Or getting rid of static from a video. There’s a million other applications. So you have to figure out just what a signal is and how one can make a filter for a signal. There’s some abstract concepts involved that have to be figured out. Once these are understood you can come up with a mathematical description of what the filter should be. Then once that’s done, you have to come up with an implementation. That might mean, how should I use circuit components to put together a circuit that implements the filter? Or maybe it will be a digital filter, so you’ll have to program a DSP chip to do the job. </p>

<p>And once you’ve done all this work and solved all the problems, you get to put it together in real life and enjoy seeing your solution do the job.</p>

<p>That’s just one example of an engineering problem. There’s millions of other ones out there, so pick a field of engineering that you find more intriguing and go research some engineering problems and see how they’re solved. If that process is interesting to you, you might enjoy engineering.</p>

<p>Here’s a link you might be interested in:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.eecs.umich.edu/courses/eecs373/Labs/Web/projects.html[/url]”>http://www.eecs.umich.edu/courses/eecs373/Labs/Web/projects.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>These are projects from a computer engineering project class. Imagine the engineering process for these projects - starting with an idea, a problem to solve, picking that problem apart - and eventually putting it all together and seeing the project in action.</p>

<p>Someone needs to let these kids know that money is not in Engineering…</p>

<p>Okay, what major do you recommend instead?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s not true either - there is money in engineering. Plenty of money to live an upper-middle class type of lifestyle.</p>

<p>For those people who want to be truly wealthy, somewhere in the multiples of 100K yearly income, finance or business positions are a better idea.</p>

<p>I dont think.any of us r expecting to make 700k a.year but to say there is no money in engineering is wrong. I plan on working in power production or something along those.lines
Considering r nations biggest concern is energy, or it should b. Throw in some business, i.e. not sitting.behind.a desk all day and ur good.</p>

<p>There is most certainly money in engineering.</p>

<p>[News</a> Headlines](<a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/29408064/Highest_Paid_Bachelor_s_Degrees_2010]News”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/29408064/Highest_Paid_Bachelor_s_Degrees_2010)</p>

<p>Sure, the ceiling is generally higher in business, but that is only one factor.</p>