What kind of job environment can I expect to work in?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I’m a freshman engineering student. I managed a 3.64 GPA for my first semester, however I had to take precal which means I will be taking Calc 1 and calculus based physics 1 in the spring. My hardest class from the past semester was Chem 1 however I made a solid A in it and in the process found I have a real knack/love for chemistry. Entering college I had planned on civil engineering, however for one reason or another I have drifted away from that for the time being. Now I am considering Chemical Engineering or Material science. </p>

<p>Based on what I am interested in, what can I expect from a job in the engineering disciplines Ive mentioned. Are most engineering jobs going to be heavily field based and involve lots of outdoor exposure? I suppose in an ideal world I see myself being able to work in a mostly office environment with maybe 20-30% of the time needing to do outdoors. I’m not trying to make it sound like I want to be behind a desk all the time, but I just don’t want to go into engineering thinking it’s going to involve less field work than it actually does. </p>

<p>Also, along the same lines, what kind of place am I most likely to get employed. When I hear of people doing engineering it almost always involves them doing well at some given engineering school and getting a job offer they cant refuse, only to end up working in the middle of no where. I would absolutely not be against relocating, especially away from home. However I would like to stay close to a sizable population. I grew up in a city of 50k and a surrounding metro area of around half a million. I don’t think I would want to live somewhere much smaller than what I am used to and in fact I would like somewhere bigger.</p>

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<p>Field work will depend on the job. You can find jobs that range from 100% field work to 0%, encompassing everything in between. For the most part I have held positions that are about 30-40% field work, as you do need to work the process to understand it. </p>

<p>Most of my process have been totally contained in doors, unexposed to the elements. My current job is an outdoor process, which is nice when the weather is nice.</p>

<p>I have worked in or near major population centers, never have I been somewhere I would deem “the middle of nowhere”. Those jobs exist however, should you want to get away from it all.</p>