<p>I wanted to know which is the best Engineering major in terms of pay and also in terms of consistency . And whether having a degree in that specific major , would ensure jobs . (Eg- these days due to the Global crisis and recession many Civil engineers are being fired).</p>
<p>Also please State the Universities (these universities should be offering a very high Standard of education and should have very good job recruitment facilities . It is not necessary tht these colleges should be limited to the U.S.) that offer this major .</p>
<p>The pay of engineering majors is comparable. The current situation is that Chemical Engineering (followed by Computer Engineering) pay slightly more than the others. Civil Engineering pays a little less than most other Engineering majors, the same with other lesser known fields such as Bioengineering and (correct me if i'm wrong) industrial engineering.</p>
<p>There will be plenty of employment in every field, don't worry about that. Our economy needs all kinds of professionals, so just choose what you like, excel in it, and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>I think you are misinformed about Civil, at least if you are in the US. Obama's stimulus is going to include 100+ billion $'s to repare infrastructure in the US. That's going to create employment for a whole bunch of engineers.</p>
<p>I agree with fatpig that pay is comparable. Some earn more than others, on average. However, the gap is not significant enough to base a decision on . Employment is pretty steady as well, even in "this" economy.</p>
<p>See US News & Report for rankings of colleges, and specific engineering programs. If you are going to invest a lot of money in an education in engineering, you probably would want to go to school in the US since it offers a better quality of education, on average, than most other countries. Also, a degree from a US school will be better recognized internationally, and all the best programs are located in the US (i.e. MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech etc).</p>
<p>You are indeed mistaken about civil engineering. Obama's infrastructure stimulus packages will only fund projects that are ready to go within 90 days of funding. I've heard stories about civil engineers being pressured to get designs done ASAP so the client can get their project funded. </p>
<p>Even after this stimulus package, there is still a lot of infrastructure improvements necessary to support the growth of this country. This holds true around the world.</p>
<p>I haven't heard much about civil engineers being laid off. It's mainly been those in construction who have been suffering, particularly those in commercial real estate where clients lost funding for their projects.</p>
<p>Yes, but obama will not be president for the rest of our lives...he might be out of the white house by the time this guy graduates! But nevertheless a decent civil engineer will always be gainfully employed.</p>
<p>Nothing has been finalized yet, however, from what his economic team has been reporting to the press it seems that the initial investment will be spread over 2 years. It is only going to fund repairs (bridges, roads etc), and is not going to fund new projects, since repairs can be started almost immediatley and can be stopped quickly if need be. New projects need to be designed, approved etc so it could take years, and if they are stopped half way through they become a waste of money.</p>
<p>They will also probably fund new projects, like high speed rail, after the whole mess has blown over. So there will be a lot of jobs in infrastructure for a while.</p>
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Yes, but obama will not be president for the rest of our lives...he might be out of the white house by the time this guy graduates! But nevertheless a decent civil engineer will always be gainfully employed.
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<p>The Obama comment was in response to the OP's assertion that civil engineers are currently being laid off. Regardless of who's president in the future, Obama is bringing to people's attention the need for infrastructure funding and that can only be a good thing.</p>
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What type of infrastructure are you talking about Ken? Roads that need to be paved? Buildings that need retrofitting?
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I was mainly talking about rehabilitation work. It will probably fund some new projects as well, but they've probably been already engineered. For example, I've heard some funding will go towards the "THE Tunnel" here in NY/NJ. That project is pretty much ready to go except we need more funding for it. This is an infrastructure improvement that will not only have short-term employment benefits, but long-term economic benefits as well. </p>
<p>Even if a project has already been engineered, an infrastructure stimulus package will be beneficial to civil engineers since you still need civil engineers working after the initial design and during the construction phase of the project. </p>
<p>Secondly, a civil engineering major may choose to go into construction (like I did). These people would benefit more than those who go into design. </p>
<p>Even before this economic crisis and stimulus package, Obama had supported spending more on infrastructure. Unfortunately, since this wasn't a sexy item for the press, it didn't get much attention. The following is from a speech Obama made during his campaign: </p>
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For our economy, our safety, and our workers, we have to rebuild America. I'm proposing a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years. This investment will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly two million new jobs – many of them in the construction industry that's been hard hit by this housing crisis. The repairs will be determined not by politics, but by what will maximize our safety and homeland security; what will keep our environment clean and our economy strong.
<p>Although pay is low, even before the economic collapse there was a huge need of civil engineers due to most of the people, typically gen x and gen y, going into field such as IT, finance, etc... </p>
<p>Not sure if you noticed, but from my and my friends' observation, in civil egr field there are a huge age gap between the old boomers that are ready to retire and the younger ones...</p>
<p>Civil engineering is still a good field to go into in regards to salary.It's starting salary is above all the rest of the non-engineering jobs.I think starting civil engineers make more than starting accountants.</p>
<p>Civil engineering is still a rewarding degree.</p>
<p>How easy is it to find work as an electrical or computer engineer? Also, what are the chances that an electrical or computer engineer can be laid off?</p>
<p>Computer engineering has some great job opportunities. Mostly because there are so many different jobs you can get with the degree. Your chances of getting laid off aren't great unless you work in IT for a cruddy company.</p>
<p>The Best engineering degree is the Hardest engineering degree. And that is the one I am majoring in right now. : )</p>
<p>Actually, the best engineering major is the one that sounds most interesting to you. You'll probably do better work when you are doing something you like. Maybe you'll earn more money doing it too. (!)</p>
<p>I'm doing electrical engineering, but I was joking about it being the hardest.</p>
<p>You have to realize that if you listen to engineering students from different majors talk about The. Hardest. Engineering Major., you'll learn that every engineering major is the hardest one!</p>
<p>From what I have seen the different types of engineers all get paid similarly but the differences are not negligible. If you consider the difficulty of the degree, amount graduating per year and industries where you will find those engineers you will get a good idea of how much they make. From what I have heard chemical engineering is the hardest, has the smallest classes, and is associated with the energy and petroleum industries so it is not hard to see why they make the most on average out of school.</p>
<p>For the comment about Industrial:
At my school; Aero, Civil, Material and Agro all have lower starting salaries than Industrial. However, keep in mind that starting salaries only tell a small part of the story. Most Industrial engineers go into general management soon after graduation, jumping above the pay scales in any engineering field. Also, Industrial Engineering is arguably the most recession proof of them all. As companies downsize in any industry, it is Industrial Engineers who get to find ways to do that. You could even argue that Industrial Engineers decide which other kinds of engineers get to keep their jobs. lol... :)</p>
<p>However, many students with an engineering degree choose to make the leap to management, etc. So, long story short, you can't go wrong with an engineering degree, just choose something that you have interest in or it will be a painfully long 4-5 years...</p>
<p>I promised myself long ago that if anything happened to the oil industry; I would jump ship to get my masters in IE. I'm going into PE for the travel/experience, my fascination for oil as a national currency, supply and demand factors, and of course; the money. If I chose a major primarily by passion; I would choose IE. For this reason, my true interest is in business. Accounting seems boring and tedious to me, finance is good, but you have to go to an elite school, but the idea that IE deals with saving companies millions of dollars turns me on. lol sorry The material is just so interesting to me, cutting costs, minimizing everything, deciding what would be more efficient/make better profits. Just EVERYTHING I would thrive in the major. I would just hate to take cal: 1,2,3 AND 4. I can take cal 1 and 2, but 3 and 4 jeez man... Not too big of a math guy...</p>
<p>Our math classes are as follows ; calc 1&2, multivariate calc(calc 3), diff eq, linear alg, stat & prob 1&2... I'm not sure what you are referring to with the calc 4. In any case, if IE is what interests you, I wouldn't let the math hold you back. For me, I don't mind the math as much as the science courses. I can already see that we use the math, however, I have a hard time seeing how an IE uses E&M(physics), chem, etc... The actual IE courses are cool, once you get to them. I love it, I was like you a while back. I can remember thinking that I really wanted to major in finance or econ, but in the long run I really wanted to have the quant background. IE was a perfect fit, it's like business school on steroids - you can talk the technical talk and the business talk... And, it's a fast track to top management for this reason. If it's not too late, I'd say go with IE if you have the interest - as long as you do you can make it through the math. Good Luck!</p>
<p>PS: It also sounds like you're interested in PE for the economic factors of oil, I am almost certain that as a PE you are going to be working the platforms in a one piece suit and goggles lol (no offense to PE's), but my point is that you are going to be miles away from dealing with the business side of oil as a PE. Those guys are going to be sitting in an office on-shore looking at their bank accounts while you bust your a-s-s on the rigs. Just something to think about. - I'd say just focus on something you enjoy and you will be much better at it, the money will follow...Also, many people, including myself, find calc 3 easier than calc 2. It deals with 3d graphs, and is much more visual than calc 2, making it easier(in some cases) to see what you're doing. Linear alg, is easier than calc for most people. Diff equations is tricky from what I hear, but I'm sure it's nothing that you can't get through with a little work... So, long story short, if you make it through calc 2, you might as well knock them all off.</p>