Russell7

I'm having a very hard time deciding what engineering to specialize in. I've completely ruled out electrical and computer, but nothing else. Does anyone have any good sites that contains quality information (including visuals) of what each type of engineer does; job prospects, and whatnot? Thanks.

nowherefast

This forum can be quite helpful informative in terms of each engineering specialty if you provide us with a little more detail about what you like to study/hope to accomplish.

Russell7

I'm trying to decide on either Mechanical, Chemical, or Civil (moreso Geological). I'm interested in the Environment, but it doesn't seem like there is much money in Civil/Enviro Engineering. I don't seem to dislike anything about Mechanical... but there isn't anything that strikes me as extremely intriguing either. Same thing for Chemical as Mechanical, except with better salary prospects. Another thing is Mining engineering, which is more or less a branch of environmental engineering, but I don't think I'd like working out in the bush for extended periods of time.

I don't really know what I'd like to accomplish.. that's why I'm asking for info, so that I can decide that. If anyone has any information on these engineering fields, or if anyone can tell me about them and if you chose one of them, why? That would be great, thanks.

I don't really kno

jmmom

Are you already in University or applying? If you are applying, you can (and maybe should) postpone this decision, going in as Eng-Undecided/Undeclared if they ask. Then you can explore in the first 2-4 semesters. One way to look online is to go to one of the top Engineering schools with a full complement of sub-specialties (eg, Stanford). You can look at curriculum, their descriptions of what they are preparing you for, faculty interests, where students end up, etc.

Also, my son was able to job shadow in two fields (ee and civil/structural) as part of his HS Sr. Transition project. This helped him decide. You might contact engineering firms in your area and ask if you could do a few days/week job shadow.

aibarr

There's decent money to be had in something like geophysics or geotechnical engineering, which sounds like it might be something you'd be interested in. I'm not as familiar with geophysics, but geotechnical engineering is a division of civil engineering and I'm familiar with that. Geotechs design foundations and examine the interactions between structures and the earth. There's a lot of art to it, since that whole "the earth" part provides for a lot of uncertainty... I really enjoyed the courses I took in geotechnical engineering. Lots of fieldwork. Lots of drilling core samples. If you're decently good at what you do, you can make a very comfortable living.

gatordan

I'm looking at industrial engineering, it's a much more broad business based engineering program verses the extremely technical fields that most othre specialties offer.

aibarr

Talk to Dr_Reynolds about industrial engineering... It's kind of a dying field. Might want to do some more research on job prospects before you dive into that one. Lots of universities are cutting their industrial engineering departments way back.