I want to becone an engineer but I don’t know which field to pick between civil, electrical, mechanical, aerospace, or computer engineering. Which one of these is the best field as far as being in demand and overall?
Most all engineering disciplines will be “in” right now in terms of demand. Please, for the love of god, don’t pick your major based on what will “pay the most” in the end. You’ll end up unhappy if you’re constantly just chasing whatever will make you the most money. Pick the field you enjoy the most and are interested in the most.
i genuinely love math and physics so I want a career that requires it. my ideal career is a p.h.d in physics but I only have time and money for an undergraduate degree
I vaguely remember hearing that either electrical or mechanical engineering is the most in demand. Pretty sure computer is the least.
I would try your hand at all of them though if you can, through class/internships/career shadowing/whatever you can do. They’re all in pretty big demand right now and pay well. And you’ll almost certainly have a favorite.
I would say Computer Engineering and Aerospace since the technology field is growing every day.
However, most engineering paths are in demand.
I would suggest picking what interests you the most.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the most engineering openings during 2012-2022 will be in Civil. The BLS expects Mechanical to have the next most during that time, but the growth in Mechanical to be less than a quarter that of Civil. They have their predictions for all disciplines (all occupations, in fact) at http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm.
I suggest that you ask about comparative overall desirability in the Engineering Majors forum. (It seems to be where a lot of engineers are.)
I don’t know why you don’t have time, but the majority of PhD programs in Physics are funded- you don’t pay them, they pay you (getting your teaching and research labor in return).
ALL engineering programs will make you very employable- but you will do better if you are studying something that you find interesting, so as other posters have said, follow your interests. Getting relevant summer jobs/internships (easy to say, hard to do, so perservere) will help you get a good job post graduation more than being in any specific specialty.
If you have to get only 1 degrees go for Chemical or Computer Science - just look at the stats - google them. Mechanical/Elec/Civil are too generic and tied to overall strengths of the economy but Aerospace is too focused with extremely few employers.
The stats that are out there seem to show that mechanical, electrical and civil engineers’ unemployment rates are [not really that much different from chemical engineering and computer science unemployment rates.](Box). Chemical engineering has slightly lower rates for experienced college grads (> 5 years of experience) but not necessarily enough to make one change their major; computer science unemployment rates are actually slightly higher for recent and experienced college grads and graduate degree holders (but not so much higher that it would make me change majors simply for that reason).
And as far as [projected jobs growth](http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm), civil engineering has the largest, with a projected 19.7% growth in that market by 2022. Computer engineering follows at 7.4%, aerospace at 7.3%, electrical at 4.7% and mechanical and chemical at 4.5%. However, the sheer number of jobs show that demand for mechanical, electrical, and civil engineers far outpaces the demand for chemical engineers - there are 200-300K jobs in the first three fields, but only 33,000 jobs in chemical engineering (and 83,000 in aerospace engineering). For computer science (and computer engineering) it really depends on what you do with it, but there are over 1 million jobs in software development and they’re expected to grow much faster than average at 22%, so you’re probably good there. (Computer hardware engineering is expected to grow much more slowly, since most innovation is currently being done on the software side.)
But remember that this second set of data is about jobs, but majors. Some mechanical engineering majors may eventually become civil engineers; some electrical engineers may eventually go into mechanical engineering. Of course in a professional field like engineering it’s best to try to major in what you think you want to do, but that doesn’t determine your career for the rest of your life.
I don’t think civil engineering is any more “generic” than chemical engineering - that’s pretty specifically focused on civil infrastructure and construction. Computer science is probably more “generic” than all three of those engineering disciplines. The flexibility of mechanical and electrical engineering might actually be perks for you, OP, if you want some flexibility in what to do in the engineering field and/or the ability to build upon prior knowledge to specialize (example: some mechanical and electrical engineers learn some life/medical sciences and go into biomedical engineering).
Plus your choice is going to be based upon your preferences. If you don’t want to be involved in the construction and maintenance of chemical plans, for example, it doesn’t make sense to major in chemical engineering even if that field that a 100% employment rate. If you really see yourself outside at construction sites wearing a hard hat and supervising new bridges, civil engineering might be the way to go.
My source was also the US govt Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm#17-0000
This seems to indicate that Chem E mean wages are substantially higher than other disciplines. Bear in mind that nuclear and petroleum engineering are also part of chem e at most colleges so if you were to aggregate those the mean wage differential between chemical and other disciplines jumps up even further in chem e’s favor and the total jobs in Chem jump to 83,000.
The job growth in Civil seen so far is understandable after the 07 housing crash caused many projects to be shelved, which created pent up demand for housing. I would, however, seriously caution against believing in the projected Civil job growth rates. I am now a builder-developer-financier of houses and anecdotally, this growth rate in Construction jobs is plateauing.
Having said all that, you can’t really go wrong in any engineering field - focus on what you might enjoy most. And remember, an engineering degree is a gateway to a lot more. I am now in the fields of construction and finance - my 1st degree was engineering but it paved the way for a lot lot more.
Wages are only one part of any job picture. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies make millions, but there are only 500 of them, so it’s a tough field to break into. Also, if I am terrible at business and looking at the big picture, I will never make it into the position because nobody wants a terrible CEO.
hahahaha! its not that tough - you just need to walk through corridors looking intense with a notebook full of stuff that looks worn. People will assume you know what you are doing - tried and tested. My engineering degree was the best thing my dad pressured me into, a shotgun marriage included… but thats another story.
Seriously, if you have the mental aptitude for engineering it is insanity to do anything else from a purely future earnings and career potential point of view. Currently, you are looking too far ahead. Just get into a good engineering school and let your likes and focus guide you.
I have come to have doubts about BLS’ predictions.
On the Indeed.com jobs website today one gets the following numbers of results (rounded to 2 significant figures): 1,600 for “aerospace engineering”; 1,700 for “biomedical engineering”; 10,000 for “civil engineering”; 5,900 for “chemical engineering”; 16,000 for “computer engineering”; 27,000 for “electrical engineering”; 17,000 for “mechanical engineering”; and 240 for “petroleum engineering”.
of course your two minutes of googling trumps government data
whats indeed.com? is it like monster.com? do big firms post any jobs there? i employ people and my buddy works for a collosal bank… he is the head of their HR. Neither of us have heard of it. anyone can make up numbers - consider their sources and objectivity. do you think there are just 240 jobs in petroleum engineering…?
When this question is asked on the engineering board (which it is every few months), long-time CC users answer by describing our favorite flavor of ice cream (I like cookie dough myself), because it’s impossible for us to answer for you. You need to decide what you’re interested in. Don’t base it on job prospects alone! When I was in school, petroleum engineers were much in demand, so a lot of kids majored in that. The MONTH I graduated, oil prices plummeted, and suddenly petro engineering jobs were very scarce and remained that way for quite awhile.
I am closing this thread since it was started in June and the OP has not been on CC since June 28.