Should i change my major?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Right now i am in Industrial Engineering major (or Operation research).
I was used to believe that i have chosen the right major, but now, it came to me that so many people take this major because it was considered easy.</p>

<p>I began to rethink over again about my choice. Do you guys have any suggestion?
I actually choose this major because i love organization thing and i want to be more technical (thats why i take engineering, instead of taking management right away). </p>

<p>Any suggestion?</p>

2

<p>Look at mechanical engineering. I had looked at both when I was transferring out of computer science, and MechE seemed to be a more logical choice. Just from looking at the courses, MechE seemed to offer more solid technical training. And during my internships in plant engineering I was able to learn the same stuff that some Industrial students learned in class. I'm not very knowledgeable of the industrial engineering major so I really can't give a good comparison and contrast.</p>

3

<p>well is it easy?</p>

<p>anyways it totally depends on you. "easy" is relative. i mean if you enjoy studying stuff you like then no matter what it is and the general consensus of if its hard or not, its going to be "easy" cause you are interested.</p>

4

<p>i got a question.....if you have a BS in ChemE, is it possible to go to grad school as an EE major if you have a minor in EECS?</p>

5

<p>Coolspot,</p>

<pre><code>I am going to be honest with you, Industrial Engineering is a dying field. It's getting harder and harder to find emplyment with this major. I live in a manufacturing town and you would think they would hire a lot of IEs, but they hire none. Why? Because the local companies know that MEs, EEs, ChemEs come out of college with more enigneering skills and more rigorous coursework. And the specialized skills that IEs get can be taught to these other students fairly quizkly. One of our professors was in IE and he got out of the field because he could see what is happening.
</code></pre>

<p>It's not that you couldn't get a job, it's just not nearly as good as other engineering majors. You will never get the respect from other engineers as well. We called IE "imaginary engineering" which is harsh and unfair but that perception is out there.</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
i got a question.....if you have a BS in ChemE, is it possible to go to grad school as an EE major if you have a minor in EECS?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, I'll put it to you this way. I know some people who are in grad school at MIT in EECS who neither majored nor minored in EECS as undergrads (instead, they majored in things like ChemE, ME, math, physics). </p>

<p>
[quote]
I am going to be honest with you, Industrial Engineering is a dying field. It's getting harder and harder to find emplyment with this major. I live in a manufacturing town and you would think they would hire a lot of IEs, but they hire none. Why? Because the local companies know that MEs, EEs, ChemEs come out of college with more enigneering skills and more rigorous coursework. And the specialized skills that IEs get can be taught to these other students fairly quizkly. One of our professors was in IE and he got out of the field because he could see what is happening.</p>

<p>It's not that you couldn't get a job, it's just not nearly as good as other engineering majors. You will never get the respect from other engineers as well. We called IE "imaginary engineering" which is harsh and unfair but that perception is out there.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I agree that IE is widely regarded, and with a lot of justification, as an 'easy' engineering discipline. </p>

<p>I also agree that traditional IE, meaning the traditional optimization of manufacturing plants, is not a high-growth field. However, what is growing and developing are the business and managerial tasks associated with IE, particularly with the optimization of supply-chains and logistics. As more manufacturing moves to China (thereby reducing the demand for traditional IE work), more expertise will be required in transporting and shipping and distribute manufactured goods from China to warehouses and stores here (thereby increasing the demands of IE people who are knowledgeable about logistics) to improve lead times and stock availability. And as companies become more multinational and 'virtual', with headquarters and sales/marketing located here, and production located in another country, customer service in another country, and R&D located in yet another country, IE people will be needed who can understand how to coordinate this 'virtual company'. </p>

<p>Hence, the point is that I don't see IE really dying, but rather that it is changing and shifting. Traditional IE work is probably not a good way to go. However, the newer IE initiatives are quite intriguing.</p>

7

<p>i would agree with sakky. industrial engineering in terms of working with manufacturers and plant operatioins is a dying field, but operations research, logistics, and financial engineering are all growing fields. i looked at some my ra's books (he's a grad student) and they had a lot of interesting books including stuff like game theory, microeconomic simulations, etc... at some schools IE is also called management science.</p>

8

<p>Yeah, Industrial Engineering, Management Sci., Operation Research, Manufacturing Eng. are the same thing.</p>

<p>So, any suggestion other than IE? Coz i want something that have to do with management. SO far, i think my best bet is Mechanical Eng. but i still need to see..</p>

9

<p>what exactly do IE's do? do they like design boxes and stuff?</p>

10

<p>Nah, more like optimizing manufacturing production lines, figuring out where on the shop floor to locate manufacturing machinery to maximize yields, improve product quality/reliability, and basically (at least traditionally), how to optimize a factory to maximize profit. </p>

<p>Lately, IE's have been breaking out of the factory and have been getting heavily into supply-chains, distribution, information technology, all in an effort to get materials and goods where you want, when you want them, at the lowest cost. </p>

<p>You can read about it here:</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_engineering%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_engineering&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>you could further specialize in (graduate studies) in financial engineering as well. i bet that's quite lucrative</p>

12

<p>"Coolspot,</p>

<p>I am going to be honest with you, Industrial Engineering is a dying field. It's getting harder and harder to find emplyment with this major."</p>

<p>Hm... what about Industrial Engineering AND Operations Research?</p>

13

<p>Try General Engineering (I like to call it Business Engineering) and find out what you're interested in using the special qualities of the major. If you're interested in the economics of engineering get a specialization in that (dont know how other programs work but at U of I, GE is the major + specialization [basically a chance to stand-out b/c GE is considered easier]) Or computers? Specialize in EE or CS. There are dozens of specializations from engineering to business to liberal arts. There was a huge revamping of the program and it's quite nice now. I think GE is becoming the new IE in terms of what it does and what it is good for.</p>