<p>I know this seems like a stupid question, but I haven't had almost any exposure to engineering b/c my high school has no courses involved with it- at least I think it doesn't. I'm not sure if I'm interested in engineering, b/c quite possibly its just a career involving a great deal of number crunching, but possibly not. If anyone can give me a general idea of what engineering exactly is, or some informational websites, etc that would be great. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>bump.. cmon guys</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering</a></p>
<p>Hah. The site said it all. Becoming an engineer is like becoming Dilbert. Lol... I heard engineers have highest suicide rates. Now build me a bridge by crunching numbers, dumby!!</p>
<p>actually its not all crunching numbers
engineers work to solve problems to create a better life for people. they come up with new solutions to problems. there are many fields of engineering (aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, mechanical, etc)</p>
<p>Engineers do not have the highest suicide rates -- unemployed people do.
And the best way to get employed is to get an engineering degree.</p>
<p>freezing to death under a bridge does not count as suicide, flopsy</p>
<p>In the general order of things engineers are sort of like scientists in the amount of training they need and the level of nerdiness etc. The difference is a scientist is usually on the cutting edge discovering ideas and the engineer is the person who then takes those ideas and figures out what they can be used for. For example a scientist would go about discovering properties of superconductors and then an engineer would figure out how to use those properties to build a faster computer.</p>
<p>An engineer is someone who</p>
<p>1> Cannot get a better degree (i.e. lawyer, dentist, etc.)
2> Will be outsourced at least a few times in his career.
3> Will be laid off a couple times at least due to downsizing
4> Has meetings 40% of the time, reviews others work 30% of the time, takes abuse 20% of time (from boss or from customer), and does engineering 10% of the time.....these are actual percentages, not dramatizations :).
5> Is afraid of buying a house or raising a family due to retirement concerns and lay-off threats.
6> Doesn't have time for vacation for 6 months out of the year, and the other 6 months may have nothing <em>but</em> vacation....either you're on the bench praying someone will give you work, or you have so much work (meetings+reviews+abuse+engineering) that you get sick of it.
7>has to move into management after 30, or he'll be the "old dude" doing coding/number-crunching.
8> will have to learn obscure tems for new technologies every 6 months, or risk looking like an idiot at work
9> will have to keep learning new things all the time, usually non-technical -- for example, getting a new project means knowing new application, server names, location of documentation, phone numbers of contacts and support personnel, reporting chain etc., etc..
10> in 10 years may wish he never got into somethign called "engineering" which would be a GREAT job if there was any real engineering involved....most engineering jobs are an exercise in corporate politics nowadays.</p>
<p>aehmo as you are 22, you seem to have an infintite amount of wisdom!! </p>
<p>I am 46 and an applied scientist who work areound many engineers. your assessment has some truth to it, but many fallacies....
comments 1
1. better degree? well both good professions, but numerous studies show a glut of lawyers and dentists(as dntal hygeine has decreased need for dentists)
2. Outsourced possibly, in todays world you do need to be flexible and find places to bring value ...also true of every other profession --know any marketing executives for Petsdotcom?
3. Sure possible, but you have a skill see #2 above
4. Were did youget these actual percentages (well I see a touch of sarcasm). What this does do is emphasize a key component f todays engineers which is group /team effort and coordination---numbers -yes- but mor than that
5. see #3 above--arthur andersen accounting,,and whatever happened to peapoddotcom
6. Everyone has to balance work and family ..... get used to it, no matter your profession
7. some truth to this--but not universal by any means,,,
8. Yes!! you always have to keep learning new stuff and terminology--thats what you really need to take from college
9 see #8
10. In 10years will probably be doing something other than he started with --but will --with hard work and some luck --be positioned to continue in good work for life....</p>
<p>aehmo---what is it you do or are studying?</p>
<p>It's rather amazing how aehmo knows these things at 22, when my parents, engineers for 20 years, have experienced exactly 0 of them.</p>
<p>
[quote]
An engineer is someone who</p>
<p>1> Cannot get a better degree (i.e. lawyer, dentist, etc.)
2> Will be outsourced at least a few times in his career.
3> Will be laid off a couple times at least due to downsizing
4> Has meetings 40% of the time, reviews others work 30% of the time, takes abuse 20% of time (from boss or from customer), and does engineering 10% of the time.....these are actual percentages, not dramatizations .
5> Is afraid of buying a house or raising a family due to retirement concerns and lay-off threats.
6> Doesn't have time for vacation for 6 months out of the year, and the other 6 months may have nothing <em>but</em> vacation....either you're on the bench praying someone will give you work, or you have so much work (meetings+reviews+abuse+engineering) that you get sick of it.
7>has to move into management after 30, or he'll be the "old dude" doing coding/number-crunching.
8> will have to learn obscure tems for new technologies every 6 months, or risk looking like an idiot at work
9> will have to keep learning new things all the time, usually non-technical -- for example, getting a new project means knowing new application, server names, location of documentation, phone numbers of contacts and support personnel, reporting chain etc., etc..
10> in 10 years may wish he never got into somethign called "engineering" which would be a GREAT job if there was any real engineering involved....most engineering jobs are an exercise in corporate politics nowadays.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Okay, I'll use my father as a rebutting example.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>He has his B.S. in Biochemical Engineering, a Master's in Microbiology, and a Ph.D. in Genetics. He is an engineer.</p></li>
<li><p>He worked in Boston for 6 years before getting a better job offer in Maryland where he's been working steadily for the past 8 years</p></li>
<li><p>"Laid-off" is not in either one of my parents' vocabulary</p></li>
<li><p>Well, the percentages from my father is more like: 100% of the time, managing other engineers</p></li>
<li><p>Is afraid of buying houses? This is definitely why my father has invested a lot of money into real estate... he currently owns 12 properties (but has a gigantic loan to pay off :p)</p></li>
<li><p>Ummmm.... what?</p></li>
<li><p>Actually, my father just got into management about 5 years ago or so (he's almost 50 now)</p></li>
<li><p>what's wrong with learning new terms? Doctors have to update themselves with new innovations in medicine, scientists in new breakthroughs, lawyers in new case laws/precedents, etc. You think mathematicians today are still trying to discover Calculus?</p></li>
<li><p>Again, what's wrong with that? See number 8.</p></li>
<li><p>My father wishing he never got into engineering??? Haha, that's exactly why he's trying to push me into being a Chemical Engineering major instead of a chemistry major.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Your 10 arguments most likely have some truth to them, but at age 22... I have no choice but to take your comments with a grain of salt. Sorry!</p>
<p>plus, I would think an engineering degree is one of the most versatile undergrad degrees out there.</p>
<p>Engineers later on can easily complete MBAs, JDs, Ph.Ds, MDs, etc.</p>
<p>"aehmo as you are 22, you seem to have an infintite amount of wisdom!! "</p>
<p>Thanks...if my insights help anybody, then it's worth it.</p>
<p>"7. some truth to this--but not universal by any means,,,"</p>
<p>That's the worst part about engineering...you almost have to move into management or look like the "old dude"! I don't think that's a satisfying career, since it ends at the age of 30.....once you're a manager, it's a different ballgame.</p>
<p>aehmo, you have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to engineering. None at all.</p>
<p>My OP was that I was bit in the dark, but I have to agree with aehmo. Yeah, most ppl don't want boring office/desk jobs or stupid grunt work, but majority of ppl end up there even with having college degrees. An engineer is worthless. He has no innovative ideas but simply does the grunt work number crunching, probably the only constraint an engineer has is how to build a bridge using the least amount of money. Wow... engineer is corporate whipping boy. Good luck future Dilberts! If you don't commit suicide in a few years, gimme a call!!</p>
<p>aehmo,
Do you read the Mad magazine? I thought people your age have never heard of the Mad magazine.</p>
<p>Are you kidding me, goBears and aehmo?</p>
<p>I'm about to start a job with a company as a structural failure analyst and am virtually guaranteed a long and illustrious career rappelling off of skyscrapers, tunneling under crumbling bridges, coming up with innovative solutions to preserve historical buildings (my company reconstructed the entire plane from the TWA flight 800 crash, and actually relocated the historical Cape Hatteras lighthouse due to environmental perils) and and going to get to supervise construction, design new buildings, and examine structural disasters for the rest of my life, saving lives and restoring function to cities and communities. Eventually, I'll decide that I don't want to hang my butt off of buildings anymore and will sit back and enjoy the stock I own in the company. I'll supervise younger engineers and will retire or consult.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm gonna be committing suicide in a few years. I'm gonna be doing grunt number crunching and will languish as a corporate whipping girl.</p>
<p>Don't talk about the things that you admittedly have NO IDEA about. My job is exciting and intellectually stimulating, and I wouldn't trade it for anything else on this earth. I worked hard to get to where I am today, the job market was excellent, I just turned down FIVE OTHER JOB OFFERS, and I have an incredible salary with amazing benefits. Heck, I'd become an engineer again in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Quit talking out of your rears. People who baselessly say the sorts of things that you do and turn young and intelligent people away from engineering make me just furious.</p>
<p>people like me are turned away from engineering by all those negatives....</p>
<p>aibarr, how much is your salary likely to increase in the coming years? Also, how was your college experience?</p>
<p>Take away the "worthless" engineers and all those other professions go down with them.</p>
<p>Who designs and builds the "space age" medical devices like MRI imaging?
When your grandfather has a heart attack, who builds the circuitry that's behind the pacemaker that restores his useful life?
When you need to get a patient from the ground floor to surgery up on the 9th "stat," who do you think keeps the building and floors from collapsing and the elevators in working, safe conditions?</p>
<p>My, my what we take for granted these days. But go ahead, live in your alternate reality; I just hope my life is in the hands of trained professionals who have done more than watch a few episodes of ER in-between their Algebra II homework.</p>