<p>You can jump on Homer28 for expressing a simple opinion guys. He said that he wouldn’t want to be an engineer. There is nothing wrong with that. Its not like he said “no one should want to be an engineer.” If that were the case, it would warrant explanation.</p>
<p>I said engineering stinks because there are few job opportunities, especially for entry level engineers. I actually have a chemical engineer in my family and he regularly moves around the country, not because he wants to, but that is the only way he has been able to stay employed. On top of that, you have competition from H1B visas and outsourcing. In fact, if engineering is so good, then why do only one-third of engineering graduates ever work in the field? </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/Features/Su09Brown.pdf[/url]”>http://www.tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/Features/Su09Brown.pdf</a> </p>
<p>But everyone has the right to engineering as a major. Yes, you can work in defense since there is no outsourcing, but I would take a wild guess and assume that competititon for these jobs will be tough, especially if you are competititng against ex-military engineers.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen locally, electricians have fewer job opportunities than engineers. Local 3 IBEW, the electricians union here, has a mandatory 13 week furlough in order to keep their members employed.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if there a job out there with good opportunities right now.</p>
<p>I too can understand not wanting to work as an engineer. I got my bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering, but made a left turn to work in construction management.</p>
<p>Yes, I know that electricians have no picnic. But trade jobs generally cannot be outsourced. And I know that, here in NJ, most of the electrical contractors who own their own business are doing very well. They are constantly driving from job to job all day long. Same is true for the plumbing and HVAC contractors. I think only painters have it hard since people can paint themselves.</p>
<p>Also, I am not sure I would say that engineers have more job opportunities than electricians. Sure, there are lots of engineering jobs, but how many of them are entry level? Plus engineering is notorious for age discrimination, so many engineers have short careers before having to go into another field (see: <a href=“http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1226/p02s01-usec.html[/url]”>http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1226/p02s01-usec.html</a> and <a href=“http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b.html[/url]”>http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b.html</a> ). Who wants that? In this new economy, most of us will need to work until 70 to make ends meet.</p>
<p>You can’t complain about H1B visa people taking away engineering jobs, but not acknowledge the same issue with trade jobs. You don’t think there are unqualified day laborers out there that will do your work at the fraction of the cost off the books?</p>
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Doesn’t the first sentence contradict the second sentence? In any case, from what I’ve seen in the engineering field, experience is very valuable and cannot simply be replaced by a younger engineer.</p>
<p>Lay off the outsourcing. Its not nearly as big of a deal as people make it except in the computer and electronics industry.</p>
<p>"Lay off the outsourcing. Its not nearly as big of a deal as people make it except in the computer and electronics industry. "</p>
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<p>What’s your source? What about mechanical engineers in the manufacturing industry? Lots of factories have shut down and moved overseas or to Mexico.</p>
<p>And what about all of the engineers down in Florida who will likely lose their jobs when the space shuttle is retired?</p>
<p>“Doesn’t the first sentence contradict the second sentence? In any case, from what I’ve seen in the engineering field, experience is very valuable and cannot simply be replaced by a younger engineer.”</p>
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<p>No, I don’t see any contradiction. I know my survey is very unscientific, but right now on Monster, there are approximately 1,000 engineering jobs nationwide in all experience levels and specialties. Narrow down the job openings to ENTRY LEVEL and there are a grand total of 91 engineering jobs in the ENTIRE United States. That’s less than 2 jobs per state. Now yes, I am sure there are lots of engienering jobs that are not advertised on Monster, but if the same trend holds true outside of Monster, then there are nowhere enough entry level jobs for engineering graduates.</p>
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<p>Why only engineers? I think novices have trouble finding jobs in all areas nowadays.</p>
<p>So now the only engineering jobs in Florida are space shuttle related? What are you smoking? Yeah, some stuff gets outsourced. Some. And the space shuttle has nothing to do with outsourcing. You gave only one valid example. A few things being outsourced hardly means everything is being affected.</p>
<p>Did you know that even though the shuttle is shutting down and the constellation was cancelled that nASA’s budget actually is being increased? The number of jobs shouldn’t really change, much, they will just shift into the research area. Quit painting such a bleak picture. It isn’t as bad as you make it sound.</p>
<p>So then why do the vast majority of engineering graduates never work in engineering?</p>
<p>“His data shows that only about one-third of STEM graduates take jobs in STEM fields. While the data is not precise, it indicates no shortage of engineers.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/Features/Su09Brown.pdf[/url]”>http://www.tbp.org/pages/Publications/Bent/Features/Su09Brown.pdf</a> </p>
<p>“As a result, Wadhwa says that more than half of the engineering graduate students at Duke don’t pursue engineering as a career and there is another indicator that the market is anything but short of scientists and engineers.”</p>
<p>[CNN.com</a> - Transcripts](<a href=“CNN.com - Transcripts”>CNN.com - Transcripts)</p>
<p>FYI: Wadhwa is an engineering professor at Duke.</p>
<p>And at UPenn, only 17% of graduates at the school of engineering and applied science actually got engineering jobs. I am sure if you go to other college sites, you would find smilar data:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/seas/Survey2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/seas/Survey2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>
I hate these “statistics”. I’d imagine there are a lot people who didn’t follow their undergraduate study after graduation, regardless of which area…
Doctors and nurses. People say we need a lot… but come on… we don’t even have enough hospitals…</p>
<p>Here is a very simple logic… if engineering fields bad, and since economy is bad, we would have high amount of unemployment…
if economy is bad, then all fields are affected. Then, getting a job in technical (you said you want to become an electrician) field is just as hard as the engineering…</p>
<p>I asked a similar question some days ago. The short version: assuming we have 100,000 students graduate from college each year, how do we put them into the work force???
The answer is the market will adjust it.</p>
<p>If there are too many graduates, why should everyone get into college??? This is another debate, which is critical in your argument.</p>
<p>Well UPenn engineers are overwhelmingly shootin for finance or other more lucrative endeavors. That is part of the reason. I would expect Duke to be similar.</p>
<p>The fact is, an engineering degree is one of the most versatile degrees you can get in college, and a lot of engineering students work for the degree with a goal other than eventually working in engineering. It should come as no surprise that a lot go into non-engineering jobs.</p>
<p>It is bad right now for everyone, not just engineers. Engineering is actually still one of the safer degrees outside of things like nursing.</p>
<p>Homer: first of all, you are misreading that TBP article - it notes the number of STEM jobs vs the number of STEM degree holders, it does not indicate how many of those STEM degree holders hold STEM jobs at some point.</p>
<p>Second, 91 for the whole country? My employer hires 100-120 new BS or MS holders every year.</p>
<p>Third, no career prospects? One of my company’s biggest problems is long-term retention - senior engineers are so in demand that it is hard to keep them, especially from lucrative management positions.</p>
<p>Fourth, many of those STEM graduates take their degree to somewhere more lucrative - management, patent law, finance, etc. Especially at places like UPenn - you think a real hardcore engineer is likely to go there? Others find different things they prefer along the way - a know a groupd of 4 guys who went into the “competitive intelligence” side of things, just as lucrative and they happened to enjoy it more. In other words, it’s not like the 2/3 not currently in STEM jobs are lacking for great opportunities, or were all forced out against their will. I personally know 3 STEM grads with law degrees, and they are all making a killing.</p>
<p>Logically, how can there be few entry level positions, but at the same time claim that companies prefer to have younger employees?</p>
<p>“Logically, how can there be few entry level positions, but at the same time claim that companies prefer to have younger employees?”</p>
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<p>Because they want people with experience, but not too much experience. I know, sounds crazy, but many companies do have crazy hiring practices. </p>
<p>But for job prospects, healthcare beats engineering any day of the week: Nursing, theraphy, pharmacy, doctor, etc. are all better career choices. Only downside is that you will need more than a 4 year degree (except nursing). Law is also a better field provided you go to a top law school. Emphasis on TOP LAW SCHOOL.</p>
<p>Except if you would hate being a lawyer or a doctor. Just get out of here, ■■■■■. Some of us do engineering because we actually like it. We don’t need some accountant to sit here and tell us we should have done accounting.</p>
<p>I never told anyone to do accounting, now have I? I am not here to sell accounting. It’s also a crummy field. Many accountants get laid off after tax season. H & R Block gets tons of resumes for $11 an hour jobs. Need I say more? Most accountants are not lucky enough to get into the Big 4.</p>