The Truth About Engineering? - 2005

[vshah]

i hear differently from alums i know

 

[StormRider]

Is this what people who couldn't make it in engineering tell themselves to make themselves feel better?

 

[Orsorum]

Nothing is static in the American work environment, and you are not guaranteed a job. I know that I will be constantly refining and expanding my skill sets as I mature in my careers, and I am not expecting myself to end my career in consulting or tax accounting - I would not be surprised if I ended up in policy work or law. That's jsut the way it goes.

 

[archcommus]

Okay, glad to see everyone contested this article.

 

[wildcat86]

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ
Personally, as an Engineer I don't feel that I'm missing out on the "fun" of college. The whole get piss drunk and sleeping around doesn't appeal to me. I enjoy hanging out with friends and drinking on occassion.

aka: "I don't get any and never will, so I'll rationalize it."

 

[spidey07]

If I had it all over to do again I would go for the easiest MBA I could find.

Much more money.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Thanks OP . I changed my major from MAE to Liberal Arts - Chicano Studies.

I thought you start HS tomorrow?

 

[Imdmn04]

Who ever wrote this article is sour cuz his engineer peers are making mad bank after college and he is a barista at Starbucks with his liberal arts degree.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Thanks OP . I changed my major from MAE to Liberal Arts - Chicano Studies.

I thought you start HS tomorrow?

Check your saracasm detector much?



I'm sure the article is true in some aspects. I live in Silicon Valley and I always hear about layoffs and things of that sort. People are getting laid off left and right. However, you generalize engineering when there are so many different kinds of engineering that are so unique.

 

[WheelsCSM]

Originally posted by: LordFortius

As an engineer
1) you will miss out on a lot of fun in college, forsaking some of the best years of your life.
2) you will miss the best chance you'll have to enrich your mind in a variety of academic areas
3) you will be limited to working in a few major cities.
4) the hours will be excessively long
5) you will be surrounded primarily be men at work
6) many if not most of your coworkers are going to be foreigners
7) your salary will top out early and those liberal-arts majors will catch and pass you
8) by the time you're in your 30's you will be worried about keeping a job
9) you're NOT going to get into management
10) the long-term outlook for engineers is dismal

As a mechanical engineer that has been out of school for just over 3 years now, I can agree to some of these statements, however I think some of your ideas are a little too one-sided and extreme.

First of all, you have to have the right mindset to go into engineering. Not everyone has it, and that's why so many people drop-out. As others said, I did not go to college to party and meet women, but I still had a good time (and met my wife there anyway). I definately did not have as much fun as my liberal arts friends, but my starting salary compared to theirs made it all worth it.

When I first graduated school I got a job working for Intel as a Process Engineer and was laid-off two months later because the economy was not doing as well as they thought it would. I always thought I would like the tech industry, but 2 months was enough for me to never want to go back. I would say my job at Intel definately agreed with your points about job security and outsourcing. I wish anyone wanting into this field the best of luck, from my brief experience, it seemed very competitive, fast-paced, and not a whole lot of locations to work at (unless you are willing to go to China or India). I think outsourcing is/will put a major dent into tech jobs over the next few years, but there will always be tech jobs for people in America, they will just get more competitive, and when the layoffs come every few years (as they do in tech) you will just worry that much more.

When I left Intel, I went straight to work for an investor-owned utilty, and coming from that side I could not disagree with you more. I am one of the youngest in the company (of about 10,000) and most people are 45+, have worked there for 20+ yrs, and are fairly well paid. Granted, it is not as exciting as Intel, but you cannot produce electricity in China and ship it to the US, and there are power plants all over the US that I could work at. About the only thing I can complain about is the hours, typically 40-45 a week, sometimes (rarely) 50.

The entire utility industry is getting ready to face some serious labor problems as its agining workforce starts to retire. I figure in about 2-5 more years I should not have much problem getting a job anywhere I want.

 

[Armitage]

Meh - see my reply from last year.

 

[Hammerhead]

GIS Professionals > Civil Engineers

 

[spidey07]

Engineers = grunts in the real world. Expendable and cheap.

 

[Skiguy411]

WTF. Here I am, my 1st semester at NCSU in their engineering program, after finishing my first chem 101 test and I gotta read this. I would like to think that the work I put in school now will pay off. Should I really consider switching? Gah! so frustrating.

 

[ViperVin2]

Originally posted by: LordFortius
The outcome is that on average 1 out of every 2 people who start in engineering switch out before graduating. For EE it is 2 out of 3!!

haha... I just switched out of CE into EE.

 

[LordFortius]

Thanks for your replies guys - I should probably make something clear though, I am not really the OP of that post. I found it on a college admissions forum last year when I was entering college. As has already been pointed out, a lot of the points made are really pretty silly. Still, with all the outsourcing (Intel is even designing microchips out in India now) and layoffs going on these days, especially in the last year, you have to admit it raises some points that are worth thinking about. There are definitely some grains of truth, and I am sorry if it has touched some nerves, but I wanted to bring it up again because I'm sure there are more kids on this forum facing the same questions I asked myself last year.

In case anyone is wondering, I am a Stanford Engineering student and I have been an intern at Intel for the last three years.

 

[loup garou]

I'll just repost my post from the last thread:

The Truth about Engineering!!!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

This guy talks about people graduating from ITT Tech of Devry and does not recognize the EECS engineers graduating from a top notch engineering school like UC Berkeley who are easily recruited into the private sector. This guy also doesn't realize that many engineers have tons of fun and party their @$$es off and get drunk too. But I guess that's not everyone... If you're an engineer and you make it through and if you don't party to begin with, you wouldn't think you're missing out anyways... so what's the loss?

 

[apac]

As an engineer
1) you will miss out on a lot of fun in college, forsaking some of the best years of your life.
2) you will miss the best chance you'll have to enrich your mind in a variety of academic areas
3) you will be limited to working in a few major cities.
4) the hours will be excessively long
5) you will be surrounded primarily be men at work
6) many if not most of your coworkers are going to be foreigners
7) your salary will top out early and those liberal-arts majors will catch and pass you
8) by the time you're in your 30's you will be worried about keeping a job
9) you're NOT going to get into management
10) the long-term outlook for engineers is dismal

I am a CS major, junior year.

1) I go to parties, have lots of friends, play sports, have a gf. You're right, I don't have any fun.
2) This semester I'm taking Geology, Biopsychology, and The History of Jazz, alongside 2 CS courses. Bzzzt - wrong.
3) I live in Boulder, CO. I wouldn't consider it a major city. Ever heard of IBM? Sun Microsystems? Yeah, they hire people for their branches here.
4) How is a 7-8 hour day writing software different from any other day job? It's work, a type I happen to like.
5) You're right, and that's fine by me. You don't sh!t where you eat.
6) If they know their stuff then I could care less. I personally work with some asian/indiant people and I've got no right to complain when they wrote our networking code.
7) I'm so afraid of topping out with a 60k/year job.
8) You've amazed me thus far, but telling the future, my MY that IS impressive! Please, let me know which stocks to buy now so I can retire on those funds in 10 years after my job security goes to hell.
9) Good. I'd rather get my hands dirty with my work.
10) I'll be sure to take your opinion on that and sign right up for a liberal arts degree. After all, they're the way of the future, right? You said it, not me.