<p>Engineers are suppose to solve today's world problems such as built the next efficient solar ship, solar plane, the next nano bot that can go inside a human body and destroy cancer cells, and whatnot. I have still to understand why people here on CC have engineering degrees but want to get into Finance. What, am I missing some vital point here? Do people obtain engineering degrees to have a better chance to get into a top MBA program? Because if that is, that's just lame. But is there really another reason?</p>
<p>Because managers with no engineering background that try and manage engineering departments usually do a pretty bad job. It makes sense that some engineers should chose to advance to management.</p>
<p>Why business is important for engineering. From another post of mine.</p>
<p>I have a couple of true stories for you guys that I heard at college from my professors.</p>
<p>There was an oil company. The engineers built the mechines and the mechanics fixed them. The mechines kept on breaking down. The mechanics blamed the engineers for a crappy design and the engineers said the mechanics did not know how to fix them. They were fighting with each other and the problem was not getting fixed and the company was losing hella money. So what the company decided to do was hire a business consultant. The business consultant found out that the root of the problem was in the communication between the engineers and mechanics. Things were not getting done because they were blaming each other. When they worked together they fixed the problem.</p>
<p>There was a medcial mechine that some engineers had made for a medical supply company. This machine was so well built that it did not break down in 25 years. The problem was that hospitals only bought this machine and it was very expensive so they would only buy one at a time. The engineers were told to make only a medicore mechine but they made a hardcore one. Management was ****ed. The CFO and CEO had to sit down with the chief engineer. The chief engineer didn't know what he did wrong. He thought everyone was going to be happy because his design was so good. The CFO said these machines cost a lot of money to make. Now if you had made a medicore design like we wanted you too we would have saved money for each design. Now your machine does not break in 25 years which means we would have to wait 25 years for someone to buy our machine. The CFO told the chief engineer to make a machine that breaks around 10 years. This way cheaper machine per uint cost as well as a buy every 10 years.</p>
<p>probably because their interests are in engineering but the money is in finance... that would be my reason anyway</p>
<p>I gave a long time ago trying to understand it. I say let them be - if somebody wants to go through the hell to getting an engineering degree at a top-notch school just to go to investment banking (I've been here too long, I almost used the CC acronym) when they could have just as easily gotten a finance degree, that is their prerogative. </p>
<p>Besides, engineering teaches you a way of thinking efficiently. It never hurts to have those skills in any occupation.</p>
<p>From what I understand engineering degrees start high (salary wise) but really don't increase by as much over the years as some other professions. Admittedly, if engineers start at higher salaries then they don't need their salaries to increase as fast as others to stay above, but there can be something of a ceiling. Some people consider management the next step, and I would much rather have a manager with an engineering background then without one. At my internship I am working with an MBA who has no technical background but he is working for a drilling company and he wishes he had a more technical background just while working there... he's not even managing.</p>
<p>As to why they would do IB/Finance? 2-4 years in IB and student debt can be eliminated, you can have invested in a house even, and employers know you can handle a world of stress and pressure. Not to mention in 2-4 years you still have a working knowledge of your degree and I have no doubt they could slide back into engineering if they chose.</p>
<p>an engineering degree is extremely versatile in today's world. i'm sure you've heard of the MIT student quoted in a news article as saying that many engineers are attempting to get into consulting/banking (if they're from a target or semi-target such as MIT) because it pays more for their services. Quantitative majors like engineering are great in almost any analytical field.</p>
<p>An engineering degree is IMHO the most versatile degree you can earn in college and provides tremendous analytical, problem-solving, team work and other training that is desirable to most fields, including the business world. Many business/financial firms recruit engineers due to their analytical abilities and perhaps as a secondary reason, while schools might differ across the board, engineering is difficult anywhere and therefore a smart engineer is an excellent candidate.</p>
<p>On an interesting note, when I interviewed for consulting positions at Deloitte, Accenture and a few other firms, my engineering training "fast tracked" me in the application process. While all the other business/finance majors had to go through case interview after case interview, I had 0 technical questions. Interesting enough, my "starting offer" was 5k higher than the others and my recruiter attributed that to the fact I was an engineer--she said, and i quote "we give engineers an automatic plus 5k".</p>
<p>so how exactly would you get an engineering degree and go into business? like what kind of routes would you take?</p>
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An engineering degree is IMHO the most versatile degree you can earn in college and provides tremendous analytical, problem-solving, team work and other training that is desirable to most fields, including the business world. Many business/financial firms recruit engineers due to their analytical abilities and perhaps as a secondary reason, while schools might differ across the board, engineering is difficult anywhere and therefore a smart engineer is an excellent candidate.</p>
<p>On an interesting note, when I interviewed for consulting positions at Deloitte, Accenture and a few other firms, my engineering training "fast tracked" me in the application process. While all the other business/finance majors had to go through case interview after case interview, I had 0 technical questions. Interesting enough, my "starting offer" was 5k higher than the others and my recruiter attributed that to the fact I was an engineer--she said, and i quote "we give engineers an automatic plus 5k".
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<p>What kind of an engineer are you and did you have any prior work experience before applying for such consulting positions?</p>
<p>Thanks
Jai</p>
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so how exactly would you get an engineering degree and go into business? like what kind of routes would you take?
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What kind of an engineer are you and did you have any prior work experience before applying for such consulting positions?
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<p>There aren't any "special" classes that you need to take. You could take a finance class or two if you want to go into banking but for the most part, they will train you anyway. </p>
<p>As for the discipline, I found that it doesn't really matter at all. EEs might have a slight edge since they can go into programming/IT side of business, but overall I found that business firms would hire ANY engineering major. I was a ME with 0 work experience but I think my strong grades and research experience helped make me competitive.</p>
<p>Just check your career fair/career center to see which firms are coming and then send your resume in!</p>
<p>Cool.. I'm an IE actually so hopefully that counts.. How are you liking consulting so far? Was their training enough to get you started or was it lacking?</p>
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Cool.. I'm an IE actually so hopefully that counts.. How are you liking consulting so far? Was their training enough to get you started or was it lacking?
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<p>I actually passed on the consulting gig--I wanted to get some "hands on" engineering experience before I became a consultant.</p>
<p>So what do you exactly do as a consultant for engineering firms?</p>
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So what do you exactly do as a consultant for engineering firms?
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<p>If we are talking a business consulting firm such as Accenture, Deloitte, Bain or McKinsey, you'll assist in a wide range of business problems that can vary from product delivery, logistics or management decisions.</p>
<p>Engineering firms on the other hand will typically specialize in certain niches and provide evaluation services. For example, a structural engineering firm will look over the loads and design of a specific structure and supervise the process. Oil/gas consulting firms will provide advice on drilling or production, whether there is a problem or just for the sake of efficiency. There are many other firms that provide computational work such as Orcaflex, CAD or fluent.</p>
<p>What is the difference between what the supervisor/senior manager of the engineering group does, and the role of a consultant in this group?</p>
<p>Assuming you're talking about an engineering consultant and not a business / management consultant... A consultant provides expertise and professional advice to others. I used to work for a traffic engineering firm and for one project we hired a sub-consultant to analyze a traffic circle for us. Why? Because nobody in my company knew anything about them so we had to find somebody who had the niche expertise.</p>