Is this a valid fear?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I am really excited to go off into mechanical engineering next year but have a major fear after college in the real world. I would love to go work for a defense contracting company and develop new machinery, robotic systems, or aeronautic advancements but I am afraid I will end up working on the floor of some car factory waiting for an engine to move down the assembly line so I can screw in a couple screws 50 hours a week for minimum wage for the rest of my life. Is this a valid fear? I saw on a tv show that this was exactly someones job and their job title said engineer.</p>

2

<p>You make it sound like you’re going to graduate as an indentured servant. First, you wont get stuck in any job you dont apply for, they dont draft you out of college to work in a factory. Second, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be a factory worker because most of them dont have an education, that’s why they work in a factory. You could work there as Quality Assurance guy, or supervisor, or something along those lines which is totally different, but you’re not going to be the guy slapping a rivet on a car door day after day.</p>

3

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<p>Some guys go around collecting and disposing of garbage all day, they’re called sanitary engineers.</p>

4

<p>^ Yup! Any company can create a position called “______ Engineer”, doesn’t mean its an actual engineering position. Ever watch The Office (best show ever)? Dwight Schrute is called “Assistant (to the) Regional Manager” and is basically the same as every other salesman. Moral of the story, title doesn’t always match job description/pay.</p>

5

<p>Most of those positions (e.g. Sanitation Engineer) are jokes. I can’t imagine any PE Board would allow someone to use that title without a very steep fine.</p>

6

<p>My sister worked at a restaurant where the dishwashers were called “aquatic technicians” lol.</p>

7

<p>i know people who were “quality control engineers”. they ran lab tests on water samples or something all day. they had chem or bio degrees, although none of their jobs required more than a high school diploma (if even that).</p>

8

<p>You MIGHT end up in the floor of a car manufacturing factory but you would not be building the cars. Instead you would be doing something like trying to improve the efficiency of some robot/system or designing a new robot/system.</p>

9

<p>Dont forget all the managers out there. I’ve seen accounts payable people be called accounts payable managers when they’re either the only one or one of many doing the job with no subordinates.</p>