Any regrets, Engineering majors? (or engineers)

HPuck35
Tue, 20 Mar 2018 02:57:19 +0000

Shadowing a practicing engineer in a field you are interested in has SOME value IMHO. There certainly are many diverse areas within the field of engineering and even within the sub-fields. But just seeing what the day is like can be of some use. It isn’t always exciting, there are times when it is just a lot of grunt work. But the high points can be really great.

I am a retired engineer / engineering manager and loved it. Sometimes I felt like I should be paying the company for the privilege of letting me have so much fun, other times I felt I was underpaid for all the aggravation I had. But fortunately the fun times were the majority. I worked for a NASA contractor mostly in the manned space program.

My son and daughter are both early career engineers and both seem to enjoy their work. You could tell my son was going to be an engineer at an early age. He loved to build things, find out how mechanical things worked, etc. It has always been his passion. My daughter was exposed to the same things as my son (as much as I could) and seemed to like them but never showed the same passion. When I asked her what she wanted to study in college, she answered right away; “Engineering”. Her only hesitation was what field of engineering. She chose mechanical and has never regretted it. It amazes me to see the passion she has for her job.

Your son will only know if he likes it if he tries it.