Is mechanical engineering a dead-end career?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Im at the beginning of the program right now. I enjoy it, but based on what I’m reading in the news, the future of the engineering profession in North America seems very precarious. As China and India churn out hundreds of thousands (over a million combined) of engineers every year, the likelyhood of outsourcing and offshoring of many aspects of engineering seems highly probable and that it will only get worse.</p>

<p>Couple that with the fact that many of those engineers will want to leave India and China, any engineering shortage that may exist now should have no trouble being met with these numbers.</p>

<p>Much of a mechanical engineer’s work seems to involve working at a computer, which also makes the profession seem susceptible to offshoring. What’s to stop conceptualization of a new device from being created in India, the blueprints shipped to manufacturing in China, and the finished product to be shipped to the US, which can be serviced by mechanics, machinists, and technicians who’s salaries are much more affordable to businesses? If a company has a highly technical question about the device, surely they could simply communicate either by email, telephone, online chat, or videoconference with an english speaking engineer from India? The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman outlines how this is already happening. How would keeping an in-house engineer at triple to quadruple the price be cost effective nowadays for a company?</p>

<p>Because of this, I am seriously doubting my choice to study mechanical engineering. It just seems too risky. I’ve been thinking of switching to civil engineering, which “seems” more outsource-proof, or even switching to something medical, like med lab technologist or something. I would like to hear from engineers about whether or not they think my doubts are justified.</p>

2

<p>Engineering and dead-end career should not be in the same sentence. Don’t buy into the outsourcing hype. It’s overblown and exagerated. There will always be plenty of jobs for talented engineers in the U.S.</p>

3

<p>Look at the salaries. Mechanical engineering is still far better than many other degrees.</p>

4

<p>Outsourcing is inevitable. The best way to counter it is to provide better services than engineers in those low-cost countries. </p>

<p>Even in civil engineering, some of the work can be done overseas. The good thing is that right now, U.S. engineers work on overseas projects more than foreign engineers working on U.S. projects. It’s tougher to pull off with civil engineering than other fields because you’re usually using domestic labor, and there’s always the cultural barrier (not only language, but building systems, terminology, etc). You can’t really ship a pre-made building to another country without any interaction with the domestic labor force.</p>

5

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<p>funny thing, one of my professors made us read this book for extra credit. The points he highlighted were benefiting Engineers in the US.</p>

6

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<p>Based upon what you’re reading in the news, North America is going to be dominated by the rest of the world and our entire economy is going to collapse. Based upon what you’re reading in the news fifteen years ago, the hole in the ozone layer is going to cause us all to have to wear reflective suits whenever we go outside by the year 2003. Based upon what you’re reading in the news in the 1930’s, the dust storms in the midwest are so terrible that by 1950, there will be a new Sahara stretching from the Dakotas to Texas. The media sensationalizes and fans the flames of massive panics, because that’s what they’re paid to do. If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, then you’ll be a man, my son.</p>

7

<p>Well, my IE friend has left manufacturing for good after having watched job after job leave the US. I would avoid manufacturing, as so little of it is done here anymore, and concentrate on some other aspect of ME.</p>

8

<p>Yes I would say. My brother has a MS in Mechanical Engineering and passed a PE(Professional Engineering). He worked in this field until 10 years ago but now switched over to Web design(all in the same company, ie not laid off). I also know somebody that had to take time off to switch from ME to CS back in the 80s(before outsourcing). I agree Civil Engineering is a field that it’s hard to be outsouce because you have to be physical out and about measuring things.</p>

9

<p>So the conclusion is mechanical engineering has plenty of space for the next 50 years?
I also wanted to persuade ME.</p>

10

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<p>So you’re basing your judgement off of something that happened 10 years ago and someone you knew from the 80’s that switched jobs?</p>

11

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You can also look at the job listing to see if there are a lot of jobs in this field. There is no need to be snarky. I’ve often perused my company’s job listing and I rarely see jobs that are applicable for mechanical engineering. My comment based on the type of jobs that are available for this industry, not based on one person. Every company that I’ve worked for, there is one ME position for every 10/20 positions of EE or CS.

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<p>You also don’t know how hard it is to have a PE do you? Most engineers do not qualify for this certificate. And where do you base the above comment from? Please define takented engineers.</p>

12

<p>1) There’s always need to be snarky!</p>

<p>2) Perhaps your company, and similarly, all the companies you’ve worked for, don’t employ a lot of mechanical engineers, so I think you’re looking at a fairly narrow subset of engineering in general. You can’t really extrapolate from that, since I see a lot of jobs for mechanical engineers out there.</p>

<p>3) And yes, we know how hard it is to get a PE. It’s primarily a civil engineering thing, anyhow. Not many mechanical engineers truly need PEs, though it’s a higher percentage than, say, computer engineers.</p>

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<p>Sorry to disagree with you. My company is actually the only company that should be having a lot of mechanical engineers, however, I refuse to divulge anymore information. Please show me the numbers of employeed mechanical engineers vs EE/CS engineer before you get to be snarky.</p>

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<p>That’s specialty industries. Perhaps you should try not taking data out of context before posting it. Perhaps you skipped this table or just didn’t want to post it. </p>

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16

<p>Listen buddy, if you learn anything from this financial mess on wall street and from outsourching in general, it should be that nothing in this life is certain. Jobs that can only be done in America this decade might be able to be outsourced during the next decades…therefore, if you let fear dictate your career choice, not only will you be unemployed, you will probably be miserable too…</p>

<p>Dont loose to much sleep over this whole outsourcing thing…imagine what unskilled workers must feel like…pick a major that interests you, and worry about tomorrow tomorrow…</p>

<p>Also, things are rarely as bad as the media would have us believe… I mean, think about it, how many newspapers would they sell if they told us that everything was nice and peachy…</p>

17

<p>I wasn’t actually <em>being</em> snarky, I’m merely pro-snark. In fact, I thought I was quite civil, to spike a pun in the endzone.</p>

<p>I think your perceptions are incorrect, is all. I see plenty of mechanical engineering jobs out there, as does the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it would seem.</p>

<p>And yeah, if it’s okay, I’m gonna be more worried about doing a good job with the career that I’m in the midst of, rather than getting fired for being so knotted up in worries about being outsourced that I forget to do the job I actually <em>have</em>. Panicking and fearmongering never did anything to help bad situations.</p>

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<p>GM/Ford/Chrysler are the biggest employers of mechanical engineers and they are the companies to avoid. </p>

<p>[Mechanical</a> Engineering Major | What Can You Do With a College Degree in Mechanical Engineering?](<a href=“http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/engineering/mechanical-engineering-major.htm]Mechanical”>http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/engineering/mechanical-engineering-major.htm)</p>

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19

<p>Civil Engineering is a great choice. The need to rebuild america’s infastructure is widespread. I would say civil would be your best bet. Although, many jobs will be outsourced, alot of american companies look for engineers who can communicate their ideas and share information with their fellow employees. The degree isn’t everything. It is also about the person with the degree.</p>

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<p>I would also like to add that manufacturing jobs are in the process of being downsized. The engineering degrees that offer the most growth are civil, industrial, software, and environmental. I mean it all comes down to what you are interested in. You must also take into consideration that 65 percent of the American engineering core is over the age of 45. There will be a desperate need for engineers because we won’t have enough graduates in america to supply the need. Like I said it all depends what you love the most. Mechanical is a universal engineering disciple. You can do just about anything with it.</p>