calling all engineers.

[BillLee]

i need help choosing a career. right now, i don't know what i want anymore.

i just want to know what kind of engineer you are and how long you went to school

[Citizen Z]

Originally Posted by BillLee

i need help choosing a career. right now, i don't know what i want anymore.

i just want to know what kind of engineer you are and how long you went to school

Combat Engineer - 4 years at the university + 5 months in a military course

Oh, you're thinking one of the civilian disciplines. Which field interests you? Electrical Engineering? Civil Engineering? Mechanical Engineering? Geologic Engineering?

[josephr25]

I studied Mechanical Engineering at UCI for five years, 2000-2005. If I didn't have a lot of relationship drama I probably would have been there for four, but that itself was a major learning experience. ME is a broad field so you will definitely want to specialize in something. I work with a Boeing-owned company that does the maintenance manuals for the upcoming 787.

The thing about engineering is that it forces you to think outside the box, something I learned to appreciate while working.

[BillLee]

Originally Posted by Citizen Z

Combat Engineer - 4 years at the university + 5 months in a military course

Oh, you're thinking one of the civilian disciplines. Which field interests you? Electrical Engineering? Civil Engineering? Mechanical Engineering? Geologic Engineering?

the two that interest me right now are mechanical and electrical engineers. i just started researching a couple weeks ago, so i have no idea what other types of engineers are out there.

[AjzRide]

I spent five years getting a Chemical Engineering Degree. Took and extra year to do a co-op. I would highly recommend everyone do the same. Only one of the students I graduated with that co-op didn't get a job. I have a ChemE but I work in an EE dominated field, process controls.

[ad78]

i am a Electronics and Communications in Engineering which course is 5 years in the philippines.
after i graduated i went to this major telecom and work as a switch engineer for 5years. then hired at ericsson and did work for them in south africa for a year. sad to say when gsm starts booming here in US which is very late compared to asia and europe. i started doing work here in US since 2004 as a consultant. at&t,t-mobile. now i am regular employee for this vendor as RF/Microwave engr.

the good thing now is we are eyeing LTE = 4G and so on... technology never stops!

[Bimmer335i]

BSEE, MSEE, currently working as a Network Engineer for DoN. Current job has nothing to do with EE, but they love to hire EE's...

[E90SLAM]

BSME...now work for a petrochem engineering design firm....

but I heard ChemE got paid more...

[bigslickak]

BSEE in 2003, went to school for 5 full years and then two quarters of another year, so almost 6, lol. I was an intern for my final 3 or so years of school, and it was a great experience and prepared me to seamlessly enter the workforce.

I was also told ChemE is the top paying right out of school, but it is known to be the most difficult Engineering major as well.

At my school the majors were Electrical, Computer, Mechanical, Industrial/Manufacturing, Civil, Aerospace, and Chemical/Materials Engineering. I entered school as a freshman with my major in EE declared, but I almost switched sometime during my freshman year to Civil or Aerospace. I was intrigued by the whole rocket ship/missile stuff in Aerospace, but it was a dying, almost dead major at the time. Civil was interesting to me too, but also perceived to be in decline, and EE's were always going to be in demand I thought, so I stuck with it. I don't know if that was the right way to look at things, or even if I was correct, but I'm quite satisfied with my educational and career path now.

[Turbo>NA]

Go for it.


My Econ Professor told us today.

In 5 years, 200,000 engineers will retire. So the demand for a position will be high1

[lib]

Originally Posted by BillLee

the two that interest me right now are mechanical and electrical engineers. i just started researching a couple weeks ago, so i have no idea what other types of engineers are out there.

Since you don't know what types of engineering are out there, here's a few:
Aerospace Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Engineering Interdisciplinary
Environmental Engineering
Industrial and Operations Engineering
Automotive Engineering
Financial Engineering
Manufacturing Engineering
Pharmaceutical Engineering
Plastics Engineering
Macromolecular Science and Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
<There are others, I'm sure>

The amount of time you spend in school is fairly independent of the type of engineering you pick.

Here's a breakdown of the #'s of graduates, average & median starting salaries, hiring by employment sector, etc from my old school. While it's useful information it does vary by school and you're MUCH better off in the long run doing what you love, even if it is not the highest paying degree for a new college grad: http://career.engin.umich.edu/annual...Report0708.pdf


Personally I went in for a BSE & MSE in Computer Engineering and took a few years off in the middle before finishing school. Worked at Intel & AMD on their server chips (Potmac, Tulsa, Greyhound) and then joined a consulting group at IBM that did a big chunk of the Xbox360 processor. After that was out the door I spent a little under 2 years on Power7 CPU development and I'm now working on to their next two future server CPUs.

I love the work in the hardware design side of the field but I'm a little strange... To me, my job is fun
Though, I do sometimes miss the style of work from the consulting group

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by BillLee

the two that interest me right now are mechanical and electrical engineers. i just started researching a couple weeks ago, so i have no idea what other types of engineers are out there.

I studied both. BS in ME, a thesis and a couple classes away from my masters in EE. Now I own my own construction company. Go figure. Go ME or EE, whatever interests you more. The relationship between the two is strong - systems these days are so tightly integrated, that's why I did both. I graduated in 1999.

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by AjzRide

I spent five years getting a Chemical Engineering Degree. Took and extra year to do a co-op. I would highly recommend everyone do the same. Only one of the students I graduated with that co-op didn't get a job. I have a ChemE but I work in an EE dominated field, process controls.

co-op, co-op and co-op some more. I spent 6 years doing my combined, would have needed another year to finish the masters, but I did 2 years of co-op all told. The experience more than paid for itself. I had multiple offers due to my experience, and my salary rose faster than others around me, due in part to my experience allowing me to move up more quickly.

[mileydog]

Electrical and Computer Engineering for me. It took me 4.5 yrs. I did some interns in the bay area as well. Got my 1st job in Computer Networks (Network Appliance)

[sparkyg]

Chemical Engineer here but my job is mostly mechanical engineering

I'd recommend Mech E, lots of opportunities and broad scope.

[NewSong]

I did Computer Science and was a software engineer for a while.

Boy. I don't think I'll ever go back to that.

[Schmed]

Chemical Engineer - 4 years in school - working in Technical Sales. Great industry (for me). The sales route isn't for everyone, but if you are good at relationships and communication and a decent understanding of the technical side of things, Tech Sales is a good choice.

[kjrulz]

BSEE, going for MBA.

[Wakka]

im in my 4th year of ME graduating in 4.5 though. freshman year was a blur

[E90SLAM]

Any concerns...ask Dilbert...

[jreich]

I have an MSEE. I'd stay away from engineering. I had no life in college, rarely got any ass, studied a lot(graduated with honors)...though the money is great. I'm 24, own a 50k car (only owe 18k left on it) have a nice motorcycle and live in a nice apartment. The only thing that is missing is the ass. Between work, going to the gym, and relaxing, I have no time to meet the ladies(though I just graduated last January). Don't let people kid you, being an engineer isnt the easiest job. I find it to be very stressful at times. If I had to take it all back I'd be a fish and wildlife major and be a game warden.

[E92-Lighting]

electrical engineer. cal poly pomona