<p>Hmm, most of the engineers I know do spend a fair amount of time at their computers, but you can also get out and look at job sites. I think some of it depends on what sort of office you end up at. He might like to be on the construction management end of things, but he also might like environmental engineering better. </p>
<p>I worked in an interior design office for several years, and I got out when I became the computer person. I spent my days putting furniture in spreadsheets. It was awful!</p>
<p>I’m a civil engineer. I was wondering what major your son was in… There’s a wide and varied world of civil engineering out there, and not all of it involves sitting in a cubicle. Look at forensic engineering and failure analysis. Also construction management. Don’t panic yet! Tell him to shop around, and encourage him to talk to some professionals in the field. When you’re a senior, they like to go pretty nose-first into the theory to prep you for grad school, which is pretty much <em>all</em> sitting in front of computers.</p>
<p>Not to worry! It’s a big field, and there are a lot of opportunities for people who want to do all sorts of things.</p>
<p>That, and I’ve got friends who’ve done civil engineering and ended up going into law, politics, business, education, and even <em>acting</em> with their degrees. It’s really versatile. People like to hire engineers for all sorts of things.</p>
<p>DH is an engineer (mechanical). He works for a power company. As I’m typing this he is
overseeing teardown and maintenance work today on a huge turbine generator at a nuclear power plant. Many civil engineers work in the power generation industry too.
There tons of avenues for engineers. Encourage your S to be open minded about his job possibilities. Maybe he’s just getting biogged down in the last semester stress of college.</p>
<p>Remind him that his first job doesn’t have to be one he keeps forever.
Don’t let him come home and sit on the couch. A neighbor’s 23 yr. old S graduated last May with a dream job in mind. Ten months later, he has not found his desired job…or any job for that matter… and is sitting on Mom and Dad’s couch doing nothing rather than going out and getting whatever job he can get just to get his foot in the door. The first job is not usually the dream job.</p>
<p>Swimom, there is a engineering majors site on CC. You should check it out and post a question or two. You will likely get some great ideas about the wide possibilities for an engineering major. I’m with the others on this too: its a great background with from what I gather a ton of different jobs, and also a great springboard to lots of other educational paths down the road as well. I would also add that engineering is an extremely common major for those pursuing an MBA.</p>
<p>In the case of my friend, he baaarely graduated because he was involved in every play on campus and never had any spare time. Then he got a job as a civil engineer with a large firm, put together a resume and some headshots, and gradually transitioned from being a “real engineer” to being a “real actor”. It was quite a thing when he finally quit his day job, but he’s shot two movies so far, so I guess it’s working out okay for him! He’s a real actor now with an IMDB profile and a bunch of commercials on his vita, and thanks to engineering, he never had to live on anybody’s couch while he was waiting to be “discovered”. ;)</p>
<p>Well, thanks for all the info & advice. It’s 2 yrs after graduation, & S couldn’t find a job in 2009 when he graduated - so he took a job in a ski resort. It was kind of fun & definitely not fun. After one season of that, he was out looking again. Now he’s moved to the west coast in a town he loves, has a job doing data entry, which is supposed to progress to a job in engineering after a year or two. Right now he loves the 8 hrs he’s awake not working, but not so much the 8 hrs working. He wants to try the enigneering job, tho he’s not sure he’ll like it. He wants to explore his options. But of course he’s lucky just to have a job. As his younger bro still in college was discussing with his friends - it’s too bad that we can’t be retired in our 20’s ,while our bodies work well & we’d have all kinds of time to do physical activities & time to raise our kids, then work @ the end of our lives, when sitting at a desk would be pretty much all you can do anyway.</p>
<p>Many folks find careers that really don’t have anything to do with their actual college majors. I would suggest that your son go to the career center at his college and attend any job fairs they might have. He might see something that interests him.</p>