<p>I disagree with those that feel engineering is not a good field for future job security. Engineering is a very broad field - there are many different specialties in engineering at all different levels. I know from both personal and professional experience that an engineering degree and career is very stable. My husband is an engineer as well as many of our friends and relatives. Many have been with the same company for 30 years and the others have made one to two job changes in that period of time. Most have moved into management or are at a VP level. Most people want to and expect to have career growth over the years. Those who chose to stay in very hands-on engineering can and will. </p>
<p>I also recruit for engineering positions. These are some of the most difficult positions to fill. Most of the great candidates I find either do not want to make a job change and stay with their current employers or are being courted by multiple companies and made multiple offers.</p>
<p>Engineering gives you the opportunity to have a reasonably solid career for a reasonably long time, if not your whole life. No one will disagree that engineers DO get laid off, and not all engineers have a stable career. Engineers are also affected by the economy and the advancement of technology so certain fields can become obsolete.</p>
<p>However, if you look past all that (getting laid off, becoming obsolete) and think about what really happens to all those engineers that get laid off? I doubt that they all are instantly reduced to colossal failures faced with a dead end. The thing is, if you did engineering, and made it, then no matter what happens you will find a way to become employed (at the very least). In today's world what matters is how well you can market yourself. And engineers have many skills that are applicable in a wide variety of fields. Surely not all of them will become obsolete or begin out-sourcing or laying-off all at once.</p>
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You are fooling yourself if you think you can have a life long career in technical engineering even with the most up to date technical skills.
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<p>If companies like Lockheed are looking at 2/3 of their workforce retiring in the near future, then how can those jobs not have good security?</p>
<p>Well, let's say you start now, and they're turning 65 in five years. They work an extra ten years past then, so they retire right when everyone else is saying you're going to get canned for being too old.</p>
<p>If you are Computer Engineer workign in Silcon Valley, You will be payed 100k+. But remember the cost of living is high.Studio Apartments are like $1500+ a month and Houses are close to $1million</p>
<p>While if you are an Engineer in Nashville,TN, You may maybe $50k to 75K but a Nice House is under $250k</p>
<p>Pay will go up in the future though, America is suffering in Science and Engineering while we have homeless Art History Ph.Ds.
Some say jobs are being outsources...This is true...But the largest employers such as NASA,Boeing,Lockheed Martin,Cities...etc all require security clearances which offshore workers can't get.</p>
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You are fooling yourself if you think you can have a life long career in technical engineering even with the most up to date technical skills.
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<p>Look, you're fooling yourself if you think you can have a lifelong career in any field even with the most up-to-date skills.</p>
<p>How about the engineers working at aerospace companies? Most of them are older and soon eligible for retirement..it doesn't seem like they're being laid off, especially since there supposedly aren't enough engineers to replace them. I'd say many of them have been working in the same field for a long time...</p>
<p>My h is with the same company he's been with for almost 20 years, Ph.D. in M.E. He says it's difficult to get the "kids" up to speed and train them in his industry, and he'd take an "old" engineer any day of the week, as does his company many times. :)</p>
<p>Exactly Hockey,Aerospace research nearly ALWAYS needs an security clearance and jobs can't be outsourced, so Aerospace companies are desperate. </p>
<p>Most Aerospace Engineers(Computers too) jumped on the bandwagon in the 60s and 70s when the Space and Airline programs were huge. Computers were in the 70s and 80s as well...A lot of those guys are in their late 40s or 50s now.</p>
<p>We actually spoke about aerospace and defense jobs being outsourced in another thread recently. This</a> post claims that Boeing is outsourcing defense jobs to India.</p>
<p>It claims that India will be manufacturing certain parts of military aircraft, but does that mean they are designing them or just mass-producing them? And are they simple non-secretive things like lights or landing gear, or are they some new technology?</p>
<p>I have to say that the new technologies and new developments will be made right here. How could the U.S. Government possibly allow other countries to design our aircraft? That's like a total breach in national security., especially with military equipment. You have no advantage over your enemy if they already know your capabilities.</p>
<p>I have to agree that aerospace and defense jobs will stay right here in America. As I said, maybe they can mass-produce something elsewhere, but they aren't going to be doing anything critical to the development of our aircraft away from home...especially if you're outsourcing for lower costs. These foreigners may not care about your national security and just sell this stuff elsewhere for some extra cash on the side. National security anyone?</p>
<p>I could swear I saw a story about one of the aerospace companies outsourcing their production of airplanes to Turkey, which has, well, interesting relations with the US. They were actually doing some military-level aircraft which made a good number of people (including myself) a tad uncomfortable. I mean, after WWII, we brought over as many German scientists as possible; after the cold war we got as many Soviet scientists as possible. Now we're doing the work for our enemies, allowing the work to go right next door. It's like we've forgotten how geography is our greatest national defense asset.</p>
<p>Engineers probably have to worry about job security and being outsourced and laid off more than some other careers, and especially more than other "professionals." But anyone saying that staying employed or having a lifelong technical career is impossible just isn't right. Sure, not everyone will be so fortunate, but in general it doesn't seem so bad.</p>
<p>I know two engineers in the family. One of them has been employed for over 8 years at the same firm now... he's at a very good firm and has a good job that he enjoys going to. The other one has been employed for only 2 years at a different small company. Certainly, the latter is more concerned about his job security than the first, especially when considering that neither of them hold degrees in the areas they are working in.</p>
<p>Even so, neither is especially concerned about being unemployed or getting laid off, or outsourced. They lead stable and comfortable lives. This is in California though, so I can't say anything about the rest of the country.</p>
<p>Also, a bunch of my fellow classmates in engineering are from engineering families. They tell me that their parents have voiced some concerns over job security (especially when you get older), but that its not as bad as it is often made out to be... or else their parents would have pushed their children away from engineering. At the same time, I don't know too many people who want the same plain and simple technical career for the rest of their lives, so maybe engineering just isn't that type of a career anymore?</p>
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Engineers probably have to worry about job security and being outsourced and laid off more than some other careers, and especially more than other "professionals."