Should I study engineering even if I ...?

Hi there,

Do you think that someone who’s not that good on drawing or designing should major engineering? That’s my case, telling you sincerely, I do not enjoy designing, even on computer programs, since I got no patience to do it, but I do enjoy maths and a plenty of physics. I am just asking this because everytime I search Engineering on google images, I watch drawing plans everywhere, and it does scare me…

I know that on any Engineering I will be getting some classes on that aspect, but, at the time of getting graduated, may I get a job where there is absolutely no need to draw or any connection to it? For example, if I study Electrical Engineering, I graduate, and then I want to perform on that field without the need to design or draw…

If you’re not doing mechanical or civil engineering odds you probably won’t be doing any sort of CAD/sketching in a formal manner. I’m a materials engineer and, while I’ve learned Solidworks to better do my job, it wasn’t something that was part of my school’s curriculum (other than a few lab classes I had in intro to MechE where we designed a wrench). I do kinda wish I had taken a class at my school’s art department on sketching, though, because my inability to even draw a decent cube has been the subject of a lot of jokes in prototyping meetings, haha.

My son was in your same shoes. He worried that because he wasn’t “creative or artistic” that engineering might not be a good fit. Now, as a Senior, he’s most interested in design. Just do it. You’ll be fine.

On high school I had some art classes and technical drawing, I had better qualifications on the technical class, but not that good as others, I do remember on art classes my qualifications were just bad because of my teacher did not like my homeworks.

Which Engineering Majors require more sketching habilities? The engineering’s I am interested in major:

  • Electrical
  • Naval
  • Software/Systems
  • Civil

And no more…

I’m not great at drafting, but that was only an issue for an intro class freshman year (back in the days when you could only do drafting by hand). I think you’ll be OK in EE,… IF you like math and EE labs.

civil engineering definitely deals with a lot of designs of buildings. don’t be so hard on yourself, you probably are not as bad of an artist as you think.

I’m a civil engineer. Actually I majored in a subset of civil - architectural engineering, meaning I concentrated on building design. I’m now a structural engineer. And I don’t have an artistic bone in my body! I had to take two semesters of architectural design, in order to understand what architects do. Ouch. I was used to making straight As, but in that class I got a B one semester and a C the other!

It’s the architect who’s responsible for the “artistic” design of the building. Structural engineers figure out how to make the building stand up and resist forces.

I will say that it helps to be able to visualize things in 3D. I’m not naturally good at that, so it’s been a challenge. I’ve trained myself to do it, but I sure wish I was gifted in that area!

I use AutoCAD a lot in our office. To me, it’s fun, like playing video games. You don’t have to be artistic to use it.