<p>We all know that medical doctors carry a lot of prestige with their position. Parents are usually very pleased to know that their kid became a doctor. But among doctors, some types are more prestigious than others. Surgeons are probably top rank as are anathesiologists. Pediatricians are up there too.</p>
<p>So in engineering - what are the most prestigous positions and companiess? What kind of engineer are parents probably most proud of their kids doing? Which ones hold the most weight with the public? What the “dream companies” for engineering students to work at today?</p>
<p>I’m thinking rocket scientists hold a lot of prestige. Aerospace engineers probably as well. What about NASA, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin? Toyota, GM, Ford? Or other industries?</p>
<p>The more prestigious ones are the smaller companies that you probably haven’t heard of, that are discipline-specific, and that would surprise you if you saw their project list.</p>
<p>I’m in structural engineering, so some of the top design places are Skidmore Owings Merrill (tall buildings, particularly), Arup (known for working with “starchitects”), Thornton-Tomasetti (kind of a domestic version of Arup), Walter P Moore (sports stadia, particularly), and LERA (tall buildings, particularly).</p>
<p>Two of the top forensic firms are Exponent (general failure analysis) and Wiss Janney Elstner (building systems failure analysis).</p>
<p>There are a lot of good firms, but there are some who are arguably the “best” at something.</p>
<p>This is by no means an exhaustive list of the prestigious firms in my field, though.</p>
<p>aibarr, don’t those companies that you just listed contradict what you said about small companies usually being the most prestigious? </p>
<p>The most prestigious firms in each field may not necessarily be well known to the general public, especially if those companies don’t market anything to the everyday people. For example, structural engineering is one of those fields, but companies in the automotive industry are well known.</p>
<p>P.S. Why do I get the feeling this is going to turn into a “which major is harder” type of thread?</p>
<p>Just for the hell of it I looked at their job postings today and found one that is basically tailor-made for me. It was basically saying “boneh3ad, come apply for this, for it is the exact description of your competencies and academic foci.” Too bad I still have 4 to 5 years left before this Ph.D. is finished. =/</p>
<p>Personally I have great respect for sanitation engineers. They’re like the kid in high school who didn’t mind presenting a group project by himself so his partners could just chill in their seats. I mean, someone’s gotta do it, right?</p>
<p>I dont want to steal someone elses thread but can someone please name some more prestigious aerospace firms, since thats what I am interested in doing after college.</p>
Depends entirely on what field of engineering you’re talking about. Research director is a pretty big position to have, and again depending on field what companies are prestigious is going to change. For some engineers Lockheed Martin would be prestigious, for others a company like the aforementioned Blue Origin would be prestigious.</p>
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<p>That’s really impossible to say. Most parents hear “engineer” and are either going to be happy (the majority) or unhappy (the stupid minority.)</p>
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<p>Probably aerospace since they can say they are rocket scientists. It could probably be made into a good pickup line if any of those Aero guys could figure out how to talk to girls. :P</p>
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<p>Yet again, completely depends on the type of engineering and what the engineer wants to do with the degree. For some it’ll be Lockheed, for some it’ll be Google, for some it’ll be SDI. It just depends on too many things to give a general answer for.</p>
<p>“Example of unknown prestigious aerospace firm: B1ue 0r!g!n.”</p>
<p>:P
Way to butter me up! We have a really awesome internship for upper division undergrads and for graduate students. Although it is too late to apply this year, consider next year!</p>
Wouldn’t that depend on the industry? In my industry (oil) there are no companies that are really “dream” companies, just the ones that pay the most - Aramco, Adnoc, etc. Fairly hard jobs to get if you are a Western national. Generally higher pay usually means you give up something (ie: having to live in Saudi Arabia or working 24/7).</p>