<p>Today I asked my son if he regretted studying engineering instead of going to a music conservatory. His response surprised me. He dislikes the same thing about each group. Music people seem to live and breathe only music, and engineering people want to talk about nothing else but engineering. He prefers to be around people with broad interests who want to discuss a wide variety of subjects, who move easily between disciplines, who expect excellence, and still can enjoy watching a movie or shooting a game of pool.</p>
<p>Is there a niche for such a person? What type of job areas might satisfy these requirements? I am at a loss to advise him.</p>
<p>I think that in the "real world" he will find people in any profession that do not want to talk about "work" all the time. He should choose his pprofession based on the work he wants to do, and know that he can make friends with people with all kinds of interests. Don't most of us enjoy watching a movie on the weekend, etc? It sounds as if he is in college and he needs to make some friends outside his major - he needs to join a film club if he is interested in movies, etc. Most adults have friends in all different professions. At work, I work. I don't shoot pool. I do that on the weekends with my friends, very few of whom I met at my job. I'd hate to see him give up engineering and take a job in some profession where he thinks people are goinng to be sitting around discussing their broad interests. They won't be. They'll be working.</p>
<p>I think your son's search can cut several ways:</p>
<p>First, certain types of people by their very nature have a broad range of interests and move easily among disciplines. They tend to seek out each other by placing themselves in activities where they share common interests. I for one studied engineering, journalism, romance languages, law...and found real enjoyment and satisfaction in each. But I am a person who loves learning and is attracted to new and varied experiences. </p>
<p>Second, there are environments that tend to bring together people like that...generally more urban, multi-cultural environments, Washington, DC for one...where there is a highly literate, educated population...a population of ideas and action.</p>
<p>Third, there can be career paths that expose the practitioner to a broad range of ideas. I'd think that educators, journalists, public servants (Capitol Hill types), or diplomats would be exposed to a broad range of disciplines and ideas. However, I've seen highly creative software engineers balance their careers with lifestyles rich with fine literature and the arts. I guess it's all in the upbringing and what you're exposed to.</p>
<p>So, bottomline, it's who you are and the people you surround yourself with, where you live and the environment you function in, and the multifaceted career you choose that serve as outlets for your renaissance yearnings.</p>
<p>But you must be true to your roots. Deep down, you know what you are meant to be, and that you must be for that is your essence...but you can still surround yourself with this incredible wealth of knowledge and experience and interplay of ideas that makes each day unique and exciting.</p>
<p>lkf, with all due respect your son seems to be hanging with the wrong group of students. I have been engineering prof for many years and an overwhelming majority of my students have a broad range of interests outside the classroom. Yes, the engineering curriculum does not allow our students to take as many non-technical electives as other majors, but that doesnt mean that they do not have many interests outside of engineering. Whenever I venture into the student lounge, unless they are talking about classwork, discussion is rarely about "engineering". Like any other student the discussion can be about music, upcoming weekend plans, war/peace, and in recent weeks the Alito nomination.</p>
<p>In addition essentially all engineering students at university have many non-engineering friends. I know when I was a college student, few of my friends were engineering majors and those that were played intramural and interscholastic sports, were in fraternities, tutored intercity youth, went to plays/concerts, were wild pranksters, etc.</p>
<p>Generally, the image of the engineer with the pocket protector and horned rimmed glasses is merely a caricature. Yes, the workload is heavy and requires more time hitting the books during the week. But come Friday evening they can blow off steam as creatively as any other student.</p>
<p>Another aspect of this is that when you are going through training - not "just" college, but real training, as an engineer or a performing musician or law school or med school - it becomes all-consuming, and otherwise very interesting people can become extremely single minded.
They can revert to become more well-rounded people.</p>
<p>I agree with cangel- intensive training can force you to put other priorities on the backburner, butI know lots of people who are math geeks and love music.
One friend for example has a Phd in stats- works at Boeing and his mandolin orchestra just released a 2nd cd!</p>
<p>I guess you are correct about the quantity of work being sort of pervasive. Also, I think there is a certain amount of freshman enthusiasm at play for most students and they want to talk about what they spend most of their time doing, be it music or engineering. </p>
<p>I have met some of his friends and they seem like genuinely nice people with different interests. Maybe S gravitates towards those types of people. I think he was a little put off from conservatory because "many" of those students were very single-minded; nor does he enjoy the "many" engineering students who discuss math and physics during every free moment. He just happily rolls along with his varied interests, including music theory and performance, engineering and a double major in German Language and Literature. He also maintains his personal hobbies. I hope he is not abnormal, and I hope that high degree of singlemindedness is not essential for success, because I don't think he has it in him (although he is a perfectionist in all he does). I just pray that he finds a niche that suits him and makes him happy.</p>
<p>PS - We have noticed that alot of tech people have music as a fairly serious hobby, so maybe there's hope!</p>
<p>I spend every day with software engineers. Have for many years. Here's what I have noticed. Some of the guys are just deep down tech guys. Go to lunch with them, they want to talk gadgets. But some of the other guys are kind of creative. In their free time hey want to talk architecture and photography as well as gadgets. Well, OK, not literature, but the stuff that is on the path between science and humanities. I don't know any music guys, but I am sure they are there. </p>
<p>So once he gets a job, it will probably be similar. Note that it's the architects who most like the creative stuff, in my experience.</p>
<p>Now, there's always the issue of what to do for the entry-level job. Frankly, they are almost all boring, so he just needs to think will he like the field when he's been there for five years. To be an engineer, although he doesn't have to talk about it exclusively, he will have to love it. Here's one litmus test. Does he love to talk about cellphones:). Seriously if he doesn't love technology, or building things, or chemical processes or whatever, he will probably gravitate to something else, and probably before college is over and grad school begins.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with law school after an engineering degree:). Lawyers hate to talk law:).</p>
<p>My D is attempting to resolve this issue by doing double degrees in engineering and music. It will be really interesting to see how this works out beyond her freshman year and where she ends up in life and careers. For now it appears that her closest friends are from the very small group of double degree students. The way she sees it, the single degree students are too narrowly focused and have too much idle time.</p>
<p>Our high school lets parents be involved in the High School Musical. My Engineering-Husband is playing Belle's Father in Beauty and the Beast -- complete with lines and a duet/solo. He also coaches AYSO soccer and goes on Mission Trips with the church. The only way you know he's an Engineer is if you ask him. The only people that talk "Engineering" with him are my family and his. They think that because he's an engineer, he should be able to fix their computers.</p>
<p>My dad was a double major in math/music in the 1950's and spent his career as an electrical engineer. Throughout his career he taught private lessons on two instruments, variously played in community bands and orchestras, and now, in retirement at age 76, plays pretty much full-time in a semi-professional orchestra. And, together with my mom, he raised 3 kids. It's definitely doable for those who wish to put forth the effort.</p>
<p>I am an electrical engineer who has worked for over 20 years for the likes of Bell Labs, Telcordia, and other industry leaders. During that time I have also performed with a number of professional and semi-professional musical ensembles. While there are a few in both groups who have no concept of the world outside their chosen profession, it has been my experience that the majority of engineers and musicians have a wide range of interests. In one musical organization to which I belong, at least a third of the members are techies.</p>
<p>I remember one boss in particular who came to lunch almost every day with his group. He had a rule that business would not be discussed at the lunch table and, off the cuff, I can recall conversations that included topics in literature (imagine that, alumother), sports, travel, automotive repair, opera, politics, architecture, cinema, linguistics, history, cosmology, cooking and religion.</p>
<p>In my own college days, I spent nearly as much time in the music department as in the engineering school and was one of a very small number of "toolies" to have presented a solo recital there. My daughter seems to be following the family tradition from the other direction. She is a performance major in a conservatory who plans on transferring into a double major program in math at the associated LAC.</p>
<p>I agree with those who say that your son's limited experience is likely to change, particularly after graduation.</p>
<p>BassDad - You got to discuss literature? I'm jealous. I have actually threatened to send my colleagues an essay on Montaigne and force them to read it if they made me listen to one more discussion of their cellphone plans and new features:).</p>
<p>On the other hand, I've had great discussions with them on architecture and the movies of Ang Lee...</p>
<p>I was lucky to hang with engineers with second majors (French, history, poli sci) who had other interests: billiards, ballroom dancing, softball, whatever. </p>
<p>I was also lucky enough to work at a company that required a very broad set of skills - no one specialized in anything, just due to the nature of the work.</p>
<p>I'll keep you updated as to what I'm doing with my life - because your son and I probably have a very similar outlook on academics and jobs. :)</p>