<p>I’m a rising senior at high school and would like to pursue a career in engineering. I’ve always loved to build and design things (one time my class had to build a vehicle powered by a mousetrap. CAD software and machine tools came into play on mine), so it should be a good fit.</p>
<p>I was thinking of getting a double major in electrical and mechanical engineering because it would let me build just about anything I needed to. Would this work out or would it be a completely useless combination? It seems like lots of engineers double major in business. Is there any reason for this?</p>
<p>Also, I read somewhere that an engineer doesn’t have much chance to hold a job after about 5 years. Apparently they are always being replaced by new graduates that know more. Is this true? If it is then I might have to reevaluate my choice of career.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading through the questions. I hope to get some answers.</p>
<p>That would be a waste of time. You think school will teach you everything you need to know to build just about anything you need to? Besides, there are very few jobs out there that give you a CAD terminal and unlimited resources and say “Go.” Pick which one interests you most and decide what you might want to build first, then work on acquiring all the other skills you will need. You’ll be amazed at how much you pick up by actually doing rather than by being taught in school. Personally, I prefer working with other engineers who focus on mechanical and electrical rather than a jack-of-all-trades.</p>
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<p>You pretty much answered your own question there. One thing I tell people in life, as well as here, is don’t work for job security, work for career security. There are engineers who spend their whole career with one firm, slowly work up the ranks, and end their career with some made up title given to them by their company just to remove them from the normal pay structures so they can earn whatever they can get. These, as far as I am concerned, are few and very talented engineers. Most engineers either end up job hoping as they get bored of the same old projects over and over, or they move to management, consulting, or business ownership, hence MBAs or other business education.</p>
<p>We have a friend who has an EE degree AND a ME degree. He also has a lot of job experience in both areas (he does a lot of work with design of machine tools and the electronics of those). His double degree has served him well and he has had a number of very interesting jobs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good reply. It gave me a few things to think about. I enjoy learning about any kind of engineering/science, I just don’t want to get stuck in a dead end somewhere.</p>
<p>The “building things” bit was mostly for my own interest. I thought having two separate engineering majors would give me two times as many places to get a job. From what you say it sounds like one engineering major and a business degree would be better.</p>
<p>1) You shouldn’t need to do two majors to get involved in projects involving both electrical and mechanical elements. Regardless of what major you pick there will be plenty of opportunity to combine the two, both in terms of the courses you take, and projects or research you take on. IMO these two disciplines are becoming progressively more integrated.
2) Your comment about the 5-yr. engineering job life is not accurate, or at least, it’s an over-simplification. A guy right out of school may have been trained with the most up-to-date curriculum, but at the same time the guy with experience has learned a lot about his particular technology area, his business environment, and how to communicate. Hopefully he has also developed credibility within his organization, for which there really is no substitute. Granted a complacent engineer may find himself in trouble as he gets up in age, but there is no reason why most older engineers can’t keep themselves reasonably up-to-date, and many companies make it relatively easy by sponsoring or encouraging continuing training. An individual who remains stagnant may also admittedly price himself out of the market, I’ve seen this happen. On the other hand it is more usual to see engineers grow and take on responsibilities which justify their increases in salary. Bottom line, do your best and in general you will do well in your career.</p>