Engineering is the worst of all the best careers!

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi everyone! I’m a HS junior right now, and I and my father had a little chat about my future career.</p>

<p>I’m planning to do engineering in college because I like math and physics (I’m also good at it), and because I believe an engineering degree at a decent school will almost guarantee you financial and job security.</p>

<p>However, my father tells me that i’m wrong. He asserts that engineering is a good degree, but among the careers I can have with my potential (he talked about med school, pharmacy, business, etc…) engineering will be by far my worst option. He says that engineering will only promote you to a plateau, and you will stagnate the rest of your life. He also says that however smart you are, you will end up under the orders of a tyrannical boss who can fire you because of ridiculous whims.</p>

<p>Besides, he says that “financial and job security” no longer exists in engineering. As you get older, you will become less and less marketable because younger graduates will inevitably get more of the newer technical knowledge. Getting fired will inevitably end you in being miserable and jobless at the end of your career. He also says that working under the control of a boss is worst than anything else, regardless of your pay. He talked about how much competition you will have to get a job, and after, how long your hours will be to maintain your position. I think he bases his opinion on his previous career as a chief researcher under a computer firm. When he got fired, he never got another job again because he was so old at that time already.</p>

<p>Who is right? What is your opinion on this? </p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate your advice or help. Thanks for reading.</p>

<p>PS: I live in Texas, and I’m looking into ChemE because it looks pretty lucrative here :)</p>

<ul>
<li>Watson&Crick</li>
</ul>

2

<p>Get into management …or get your PhD in your field and research</p>

3

<p>First of all, it’s “my father and I”.</p>

<p>Second, you do not have to stay in the technical field of engineering for the rest of your life. Many engineers eventually do move into management. Also, just because you have an engineering degree does not mean that you have to stick with engineering. Careers in finance are popular choices among engineering graduates. An engineering degree is a solid choice because of the diverse career paths it can lead you to.</p>

4

<p>Well, obviously, you can see that i’m not a native english speaker. To be honest, I don’t feel that excited by a career in business or finance.</p>

<p>Are there other ways in science to get financial and job security? How much more job security would an engineer have, for example, compared to a pharmacist?</p>

5

<p>Work in the gigantic defense industry. Those jobs are always stable unless we eliminate all the rogue countries and terrorists, which will not happen for a long time I’m guessing. Defense jobs are currently very stable, and there is a backlog of multi-billion dollar contracts that will last for the next 10 years at the major defense companies.</p>

<p>Some engineers tend to go into engineering management as they get older. You don’t have to know all the little equations that the new grads know.</p>

<p>If you network and have good personal skills, your opportunities will be endless. The field of engineering is not as one-dimensional as you see it.</p>

6

<p>What’s the point of being so risk averse? You’re never going to accomplish much that way. If you’re afraid of getting fired, become an elementary school teacher. And there’s also a shortage of nurses.</p>

7

<p>There is no such thing as job security in any field, except maybe teaching, and besides, any sense of security will ultimately be proven false.</p>

<p>ChemE is a great major and there are plenty of jobs for you right out of school. Also, ChemE is a very ‘translatable’ job to other industries and professions.</p>

<p>Your father is right, however; if you don’t continue to advance yourself and promote yourself you will fall to the wayside and become an under appreciated engineer and whipping boy to some idiot boss. This, however, is true for most jobs. </p>

<p>Your father, IMO, sees you as a very smart person and doesn’t want to see this happen to you. If I were you I would do the engineering thing, but as you go look at other opportunities and always plan your career path a few steps futher than you already are and take steps to help you down that path. If you ever find yourself saying things like “in 5 years from now I pretty much see myself doing the same thing I am doing now” then you need a change, a reality check, something to get your butt in gear. Engineering can be lucrative, but it can also be a rut where very smart people end up by convincing themselves “it’s not that bad.”</p>

<p>I want to reiterate that ChemE is a great major.</p>

8

<p>Second the defense industry suggestion. You won’t have to fear outsourcing, and the defense contractors that I know of tend to have good benefits.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>There is a level of ageism against older people in the software/computer engineering industries, but I haven’t heard of it being a big problem in other engineering fields, and I suspect it will change as the software industry grows up. As far as actual merit goes…there are plenty of options for continuing education.</p>

<p>My boss (also an engineer) is a very nice guy, not tyrannical at all. :)</p>

9

<p>My father actually proposed alternatives to engineering, such as getting a PharmD, an MD or DO, OD (Optometry Doctor), Chiropractic Doctor. He says that those careers have more guarantee for financial sustainability, and independence than engineering.</p>

<p>I am hesitating because although I’m drawn to the physical sciences for the moment (physics…), my father says that what I like doesn’t matter as much as what I “become.” I don’t mind studying biology, of course (notice my username), but I somewhat don’t find it intellectually stimulating unless you go to research. </p>

<p>So, how much financial guarantee would a ChemE from a decent school (let’s say with a M.S.) have compared to that of the careers listed above?</p>

10

<p>are you asian?</p>

11

<p>Yes. But in the positive way. My parents actually don’t “force” me into doing sth. They just advice. My father saw that those with the most success were usually those with a “D” (=doctor) in their degrees, whether PhD, PharmD, MD, OD etc…
My father was a Professor so although he doesn’t say it, I can sense his expectation that I won’t settle for anything less than a PhD, regardless of the field I’m engaging into.</p>

12

<p>It’s good that you’re already thinking about all this, but don’t commit to any career path too early. There are other things to life than “financial sustainability, and independence”. And your field of interest doesn’t necessarily deny you things things either. Here’s some good advice: [Text</a> of Steve Jobs’ Commencement address (2005)](<a href=“http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html]Text”>http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html) Both you and your parents should read through it.</p>

13

<p>Watson, I was in the same situation as you are in, three years ago.</p>

<p>My father and I had a huge debate on what I should pursue. He wanted me to become a doctor or a pharmacist. I didn’t want to become a doctor, and especially NOT a pharmacist. The idea of working at CVS filling prescriptions didn’t sound appealing to me. Sure you get paid a lot when you first get out of school, but the salary is almost capped. You’ll make, what, like 95k, but there’s not much room for development. This can change if you work for a company, like Pfizer, or GlaxoSmithKlein… </p>

<p>As someone said above, you don’t have to be an engineer all your life! Seriously. Even if “business” doesn’t intrigue you now, how do you know it won’t later on? You haven’t really worked for a large company with great responsibility in your hands. The way I see it, is that I’ll work as an engineer for a few years after I graduate (in 2009) and see what happens. I’m definitely going to get a graduate degree, but most likely <em>not</em> in engineering.</p>

<p>I have a flexible mindset as far as what I want to do. I’m not saying no to law or no to business, because quite frankly, I don’t know what it’s like. I want to get into industry, see how things are done and see where I best fit in. If you go into school thinking you’re only interested in one thing only, then you’re wrong. I was originally going to be a business major, but decided to become an electrical engineering major. Sure, I could’ve done business and still enjoyed it and succeeded in it, but if you think about it - in a lot of prestigious schools, engineers rank either #1 or #2 in the admitted list. (Take Harvard: [MBA</a> Statistics — Harvard Business School](<a href=“http://www.hbs.edu/about/mba.html)%5DMBA”>http://www.hbs.edu/about/mba.html)).) You don’t need a business degree to get an MBA. I also thought, ok - the average business major makes less than an engineering major when they first get out of college (unless you get into Investment Banking)… so if I can start out with more money and still get a job that a business major gets if they get the MBA, provided that I get my MBA, then I don’t see how I can lose.</p>

<p>You can get a bachelors in engineering, then a masters in business administration (MBA), which is fairly popular, but you don’t see those getting bachelors in business administration and masters in engineering. It’s almost impossible, unless you take courses to catch up beforehand. Engineering is a great career path to give you a kick start, provided that you don’t want to go into medicine. With engineering, you can branch off to business (which comprises of sales, marketing, management, consulting <– big money, and other subfields), law, other fields in engineering, fall back and be a teacher (I know someone that did this), start your own technology company (ever heard of Silicon Valley?), etc.</p>

<p>If I want to do law, I can still do law. Have you heard of the field “Intellectual Property and Patent Law”? If you haven’t, you need an engineering degree or science degree to qualify to become an attorney who practices in that field. That pretty much kicks the business/humanities majors out of your competition. You’re up against fellow engineers/scientists. There’s another career path that will make you successful. You hear about lawyers working all the time and that might dissuade you, but it’s the same for doctors. They work long hours and most are on call 24/7 (depends on specialty, location). Quite frankly, I don’t want to be waken up during 3AM, having to run to work, or be disrupted during dinner. I’ve seen it happen with my uncle who is otolaryngologist (ear, nose, throat doctor).</p>

<p>And yes, I’m Asian too :)</p>

14

<p>sorry about the asian question I was just curious…great post undefined…you can also go to med school if you take a few extra classes to fulfill med school requirements</p>

15

<p>ChamilitaryMayne is right. Since you’re going to be doing ChemE, I’m sure you can fit in Organic Chem I/II somewhere in your schedule and pickup some biology courses during your senior year of college.</p>

16

<p>Engineering can be very lucrative if you’re good. As you gain experience you can naturally develop yourself in three areas, technical, management and business development. If you take initiative, you become a natural to start leading projects, groups and divisions. You develop tremendous insight both technically and in markets. The more you develop your skills the more valuable you become. In other words, you eventually get to BE that tyrannical boss (just kidding). All this in addition to it being a whole lot of fun!</p>

17

<p>OD’s don’t have great job opportunities unless they are able to open their own practice; even then it can be tough. Many OD’s are working in the mall or a few days a week for more than one private practice because individual employers avoid paying benefits by keeping employee hours below full time.</p>

18

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<p>Yeah, but that begs the question - what if you can’t get into med-school/pharm-school/chiro-school? Plenty of people who want to get into those schools are unable. </p>

<p>For example, every year over half of all med-school applicants get rejected from every single med school they apply to. And that’s obviously just counting those people that actually apply. Many others don’t even apply because they know they won’t get in. For example, if you graduate from college with mediocre grades and earn a terrible score on your MCAT, you probably know you’re not going to get into any med school, so why even waste time applying? </p>

<p>Furthermore, as others have already pointed out, getting an engineering degree does not preclude you from pursuing those other careers. I know many engineering students who went on to med school. Surely there must be some who went on to pharmacy school or chiro school. {I don’t personally know any, but I’m sure that the number isn’t zero.} </p>

<p>If nothing else, an engineering bachelor’s degree gives you entree to a relatively well-paying career right out of school in case you don’t make it to a grad professional school like med school. That’s something that few other bachelor’s degrees can provide. </p>

<p>I know a lot of people who have been working for many years (but who don’t have engineering degrees) who still to this day do not make the kind of salary that even a starting engineer makes. Hence, an engineering bachelor’s, despite all of its problems, is still a relatively decent choice. Honestly, are there really that many other undergrad majors that are better?</p>

19

<p>As sakky mentioned, not many people get into med school. Then what happens? This is another thing I told my dad… I forgot to mention. It’s not easy getting into med school. But also, let’s say you do get in. Who says you’re going to stay (just using you as an example, I’m not targeting you and your abilities :p)? There are MANY students who drop out after the first year of medical school due to the inability to keep up. (You can say this for engineering too, at the Bachelors level, but it’s not as common as maybe what you’d see at med school).</p>

<p>Another thing you might want to consider - the cost of medical school. Surely, you’ll have to take loans out initially. Medical school debt is also on the rise. I don’t know if this will be an interesting read or not: [Young</a> doctors in debt - Nov. 16, 2007](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/16/pf/young_doctors.moneymag/]Young”>Young doctors in debt - Nov. 16, 2007)</p>

20

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<p>Really? I’d always heard that getting in was the hard part, and that once you were in they’d move heaven and earth to keep you there.</p>