Any Engineers In The House?

Well, my time in the Navy as a Corpsman is coming to an end in two years. I can renew, but am planning on going to school to be an engineer in the civilian world. I'd love to engineer automotive things, if possible, but I just love to build and design stuff. Does anyone here have any advice as to what engineering field I should go into? What would be most fun? Most profitable? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

Well, my time in the Navy as a Corpsman is coming to an end in two years. I can renew, but am planning on going to school to be an engineer in the civilian world. I'd love to engineer automotive things, if possible, but I just love to build and design stuff. Does anyone here have any advice as to what engineering field I should go into? What would be most fun? Most profitable? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

 

Civil and mechanical engineers always seem to be in demand. Computer networking engineering as also a great field. Best of luck

Emanon is a solid person to ask. He's a genius engineer.

Civil and mechanical engineers always seem to be in demand. Computer networking engineering as also a great field. Best of luck

 

 

Emanon is a solid person to ask. He's a genius engineer.

 

 

Thanks, guys!

Well, my time in the Navy as a Corpsman is coming to an end in two years. I can renew, but am planning on going to school to be an engineer in the civilian world. I'd love to engineer automotive things, if possible, but I just love to build and design stuff. Does anyone here have any advice as to what engineering field I should go into? What would be most fun? Most profitable? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

 

If you want to design automotive things, you'd most definitely want to go for mechanical engineering.

 

I'm mechanical but my masters is in systems. Mechanical is definitely a good choice and very open field. Aero can be good too depending on what you want to design. Best paying will likely not be any of those though But they will still pay well. Best pay these days is computer or network related engineering/programming.

I'm mechanical but my masters is in systems. Mechanical is definitely a good choice and very open field. Aero can be good too depending on what you want to design. Best paying will likely not be any of those though But they will still pay well. Best pay these days is computer or network related engineering/programming.

 

Just curious, what kind of systems?

Just curious, what kind of systems?

 

Specifically Systems and Information Engineering. But it is more so in a business type sense, kind of an MBA for engineering. Statistical analysis, simulations, holistic philosophies, etc. Unfortunately, most "Systems Engineer" positions with companies are really network engineers or computer engineers. They (most companies) use "systems" in a very broad manner.

Best pay these days is computer or network related engineering/programming.

Im in the network/programming side right now. You have to be super smart to get top pay. Im borderline dumb so that would not be me.

 

Fellippe is an Engineer too. Im sure he will speak up. I also have a friend who does engineering for fire trucks and another one that does cranes. They both do pretty well for themselves.

If you have a good knack for building things already, I can see mechanical engineering being a solid choice. I would say it is probably the most diverse of the disciplines, and allows one a better opportunity to move around from the manufacturing to the construction fields (and automotive too).

 

Automotive E is a specialty that is offered by a handful of undergrad programs in Michigan I believe. You could go the ME then AE as a master's route if you had the discipline and energy for it. I'd imagine emanon knows more about this stuff.

 

The Electrical field is diverse. You have your analog/digital hardware and electronics end, your computer/IT field, and power distribution. In that order you are going from most complex/volatile to less complex/less sexy but better job security. In a really good economy and market in the late '90s, there were guys in Silicon Valley buying exotics in this field, and then suddenly the field got hit harder than the Titanic on iceberg, and you would be lucky to just have a job -- to my knowledge the Valley has still not recovered, at least not to those prior levels.

 

I've been hearing Wall St. has been hiring some digital/analog guys to implement proprietary hardware for their needs.

 

Keep in mind this is one of the hardest fields of engineering on a technical level.

 

Computer stuff is cool but you have to like it. I used to be a huge IT nerd way back in the day, and now I'm sure any random member on LP would be more into it than I am. There's just about nothing that can be done to interest me in that field.

 

Which brings up another point worth mentioning here, that times and interest change. What I like/do now versus when I got my degree are night & day. I hated and scoffed at power distribution back in the day, now I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

There are fields of engineering that are rather esoteric and are challenging not only in school but afterwards. It's one thing to take the abuse for 4 years, but for a lifetime?

 

Civil Engineering and Structural are obviously a pure construction related discipline, and if you have a passion whatsoever for construction then this field is usually pretty solid as it's the foundation (literally) of everything. Civil E is the degree, but in practice civil deals with site development, roads, drainage, etc. and structural deals with strictly the building aspect.

The other construction related engineering disciplines would be power distribution (electrical), HVAC & plumbing (mechanical), and fire protection.

 

Structural is paradoxically the most underrated IMO of the construction field. It has the hardest licensing exam requirements (16 hours of PE exam versus 8), the greatest liability, and pound for pound doesn't pay as much as the other disciplines. Not sure why....maybe a supply/demand thing, but still. Here the field is split into bridges and buildings. You can design small structures all the way up to skyscrapers and huge bridges, so there's no limit to the complexity of projects here.

 

Fire protection engineering is a rather new, diverse niche field compared to the standard CE/ME/EE. It's only offered by one undergrad program in the US (U. of Maryland), with a handful of other schools offering a Master's in it. It's so new and understaffed that you'll find lots of non-FPE grads practicing in it. Like structural engineering, there's a healthy dose of life safety liability involved, which means the demand for the service will always be kept high and taken seriously. Some practice in construction (fire alarm, sprinkler, gas suppression design), others in insurance, and a few other are more academic minded with fire modeling. What is most interesting about the field is that it encourage and almost requires a desire to be interested in the other disciplines (to a small extent)....the structural, architectural elements and electrical and HVAC building systems all need to be understood and dealt with to implement a proper design.

 

I heard lab classes at UoMD for FPE have many opportunities to burn things if you like that sorta thing.

 

There are more fields of course, but they are even more niche (e.g. nuclear, aerospace, petroleum).

 

They have all their pros/cons, and IMO the "best" is the one that fits your passion/personality the most (which can be said of a lot of fields in general, but might apply more here). This might not even be apparent now, during school or even immediately after graduating. For some people it might, but for many others it's a constantly morphing thing. There's always the possibility of migrating over to ancillary non engineering fields within the company/industry you work for (construction management, marketing/sales, etc).

 

To simply target certain sectors solely on earning potential is not ideal, esp. if you are unfortunate in picking the wrong match. And I think I can speak on behalf of most engineers when I say it's pretty rare to always be doing super exciting stuff, and the field like many others has a very brutal reality to it that's not all that fun.

 

Also keep in mind that the more exotic the field, the more limited you are in where you can live. You like hardware design but can't stand living on the west coast, or certain pockets of the east coast and Texas? Not going to be easy. Automotive is mostly Detroit, but there are startups around the US. Aerospace is limited to where the companies are (Seattle, Boeing) to my knowledge. Unlike say finance and law which is available pretty much everywhere and the big cities, you'll often be relegated to where these places are until you have enough experience to open up your own shop.

 

If you're ok with something in a construction related field, then you can work anywhere in the world literally.

 

A lot of opportunities out there, and always remember the degree will be invaluable whether you stay in Engineering or not.

 

Hope that helped.

 

 

Great post Fellippe!

Phellippe! Thank you so much! This is great advice, and I'll be sure to remember it! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me more ideas of what's possible. Thank you!

 

Ian

If you have a good knack for building things already, I can see mechanical engineering being a solid choice. I would say it is probably the most diverse of the disciplines, and allows one a better opportunity to move around from the manufacturing to the construction fields (and automotive too).

 

Automotive E is a specialty that is offered by a handful of undergrad programs in Michigan I believe. You could go the ME then AE as a master's route if you had the discipline and energy for it. I'd imagine emanon knows more about this stuff.

 

The Electrical field is diverse. You have your analog/digital hardware and electronics end, your computer/IT field, and power distribution. In that order you are going from most complex/volatile to less complex/less sexy but better job security. In a really good economy and market in the late '90s, there were guys in Silicon Valley buying exotics in this field, and then suddenly the field got hit harder than the Titanic on iceberg, and you would be lucky to just have a job -- to my knowledge the Valley has still not recovered, at least not to those prior levels.

 

I've been hearing Wall St. has been hiring some digital/analog guys to implement proprietary hardware for their needs.

 

Keep in mind this is one of the hardest fields of engineering on a technical level.

 

Computer stuff is cool but you have to like it. I used to be a huge IT nerd way back in the day, and now I'm sure any random member on LP would be more into it than I am. There's just about nothing that can be done to interest me in that field.

 

See now me, I am just the opposite here. Computer engineering, in particular the sub-specialty computer architecture, is a huge area of interest to me, that I hope to someday maybe get a Ph.D in even. However mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, and electrical engineering also greatly interest me as well (and structural engineering too!).

 

Which brings up another point worth mentioning here, that times and interest change. What I like/do now versus when I got my degree are night & day. I hated and scoffed at power distribution back in the day, now I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Power distribution I find interesting, but does it have research advancing it much or is it a more static field?

 

There are fields of engineering that are rather esoteric and are challenging not only in school but afterwards. It's one thing to take the abuse for 4 years, but for a lifetime?

 

Civil Engineering and Structural are obviously a pure construction related discipline, and if you have a passion whatsoever for construction then this field is usually pretty solid as it's the foundation (literally) of everything. Civil E is the degree, but in practice civil deals with site development, roads, drainage, etc. and structural deals with strictly the building aspect.

The other construction related engineering disciplines would be power distribution (electrical), HVAC & plumbing (mechanical), and fire protection.

 

Structural is paradoxically the most underrated IMO of the construction field. It has the hardest licensing exam requirements (16 hours of PE exam versus 8), the greatest liability, and pound for pound doesn't pay as much as the other disciplines. Not sure why....maybe a supply/demand thing, but still. Here the field is split into bridges and buildings. You can design small structures all the way up to skyscrapers and huge bridges, so there's no limit to the complexity of projects here.

 

Fire protection engineering is a rather new, diverse niche field compared to the standard CE/ME/EE. It's only offered by one undergrad program in the US (U. of Maryland), with a handful of other schools offering a Master's in it. It's so new and understaffed that you'll find lots of non-FPE grads practicing in it. Like structural engineering, there's a healthy dose of life safety liability involved, which means the demand for the service will always be kept high and taken seriously. Some practice in construction (fire alarm, sprinkler, gas suppression design), others in insurance, and a few other are more academic minded with fire modeling. What is most interesting about the field is that it encourage and almost requires a desire to be interested in the other disciplines (to a small extent)....the structural, architectural elements and electrical and HVAC building systems all need to be understood and dealt with to implement a proper design.

 

I heard lab classes at UoMD for FPE have many opportunities to burn things if you like that sorta thing.

 

There are more fields of course, but they are even more niche (e.g. nuclear, aerospace, petroleum).

 

They have all their pros/cons, and IMO the "best" is the one that fits your passion/personality the most (which can be said of a lot of fields in general, but might apply more here). This might not even be apparent now, during school or even immediately after graduating. For some people it might, but for many others it's a constantly morphing thing. There's always the possibility of migrating over to ancillary non engineering fields within the company/industry you work for (construction management, marketing/sales, etc).

 

To simply target certain sectors solely on earning potential is not ideal, esp. if you are unfortunate in picking the wrong match. And I think I can speak on behalf of most engineers when I say it's pretty rare to always be doing super exciting stuff, and the field like many others has a very brutal reality to it that's not all that fun.

 

When you say "a very brutal reality," do you mean in terms of the job market?

 

Also keep in mind that the more exotic the field, the more limited you are in where you can live. You like hardware design but can't stand living on the west coast, or certain pockets of the east coast and Texas? Not going to be easy. Automotive is mostly Detroit, but there are startups around the US. Aerospace is limited to where the companies are (Seattle, Boeing) to my knowledge. Unlike say finance and law which is available pretty much everywhere and the big cities, you'll often be relegated to where these places are until you have enough experience to open up your own shop. If you're ok with something in a construction related field, then you can work anywhere in the world literally.

 

A lot of opportunities out there, and always remember the degree will be invaluable whether you stay in Engineering or not.

 

Hope that helped.

 

Great post overall

mechanical is a nice broad category, and sounds like the direction you want to head in. You may be able to focus on Automotive for your BS, or go for a masters in some sort automotive design type direction, depending on the school.

 

I'm a mechanical engineer, and in the medical device field. I've been in the field and 10 years, and it's a terrific field, and never a shortage of jobs, and a pretty good paying area of mechanical engineering. Lot of biomedical, hardware, and software engineers in the field too, that I deal with daily.

 

In my neck of the woods there are tons and tons of medical companies, and I get calls/emails from recruiters probably once a day.

 

 

I work in a Civil field, all be it here in Australia. Civil is a good all around basis for engineering, however it seems to be a case that there are more and more civil engineers coming through the ranks leading to a situation where its becoming more competitive and pays are dropping. It seems most Civil Engineers these days are just project managers or draftsmen with the extra bit of paper, and not 'hands on' so much (that's based on my industry anyway which is utilities).

 

as noted above Mechanical would be your way to go if you want to build things and tinker etc.

 

however if you're looking at it for a perspective of purely $$$ rather than doing what you enjoy, it seems "environmental engineers" are in very high demand for good money (again based on my observations here in Australia) . but you're also then very limited in the fields in which you can work and what you can do. and I struggle to agree with it being an "engineering" degree LOL.

Great post Fellippe!

 

 

Phellippe! Thank you so much! This is great advice, and I'll be sure to remember it! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me more ideas of what's possible. Thank you!

 

Ian

 

Thanks guys, just know the feeling of wanting to get into something and looking for some guidance.

 

See now me, I am just the opposite here. Computer engineering, in particular the sub-specialty computer architecture, is a huge area of interest to me, that I hope to someday maybe get a Ph.D in even. However mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, and electrical engineering also greatly interest me as well (and structural engineering too!).

 

They all are intriguing depending on the day. I started out and got a Comp E degree but couldn't be further than that.

 

 

Power distribution I find interesting, but does it have research advancing it much or is it a more static field?

 

It's pretty much static, but the interesting thing is that it has become almost a lost science. It used to be the EE specialization to get, and now it's barely scratched on the surface by most schools -- you get the bare minimum and that's it. Doesn't mean there isn't a lot to learn, and it's mostly broken up into the high voltage power distribution of a utility company versus in building sub-600V distribution. To be really good at both would be very impressive.

 

And then of course there's also the option of combining all that design with electrical contracting....electrician work. There's good potential in that line of work.

 

When you say "a very brutal reality," do you mean in terms of the job market?

 

Brutal reality meaning, you see and fantasize about the glamour of a job......and then you find out that there are annoying parts to it dealing with managerial/budget aspects, a good amount of clients caring only about getting it done cheap, headache jobs that are challenging in not so fun ways, etc.

 

In school you imagine all this fun design, like a total creative playground and it's usually not as much as you like. Some fields more than others for sure, and of course some people are fortunate enough to migrate high enough in certain companies where you are doing amazing stuff.

 

It's like picturing Valentino Balboni's test driver job as just powersliding cars all day long, and I'm sure even that has its boring aspects. Obviously not the same thing, but I think you get the drift.

Great post overall

 

Thanks!

Fellippe, thank you for the information. One of my fears about engineering is what you mention about budgets and managerial stuff and all of that. I've read that from other engineers, where they think they'll be doing just creative work and instead there's meeting and dealing with clients, budgets, meetings, cost analysis, etc...I've also heard of some engineers being forced to do jobs totally separate from actual engineering, such as cost analysis for engineering projects and that kind of stuff. What is it that makes you like power distribution so much better? Better job security? More opportunity to do actual engineering (for example, no clients to deal with, etc...)?

 

BTW, I don't know whether you realize it or not, but you kind of made two puns in your response. You said:

 

And then of course there's also the option of combining all that design with electrical contracting....electrician work. There's good potential in that line of work.

 

and

 

It's like picturing Valentino Balboni's test driver job as just powersliding cars all day long, and I'm sure even that has its boring aspects. Obviously not the same thing, but I think you get the drift.

 

Fellippe, thank you for the information. One of my fears about engineering is what you mention about budgets and managerial stuff and all of that. I've read that from other engineers, where they think they'll be doing just creative work and instead there's meeting and dealing with clients, budgets, meetings, cost analysis, etc...I've also heard of some engineers being forced to do jobs totally separate from actual engineering, such as cost analysis for engineering projects and that kind of stuff. What is it that makes you like power distribution so much better? Better job security? More opportunity to do actual engineering (for example, no clients to deal with, etc...)?

 

BTW, I don't know whether you realize it or not, but you kind of made two puns in your response. You said:

 

 

 

and

 

 

 

 

Haha, pure coincidence...good catch.

 

The whole construction field is more appealing to me than manufacturing, so hence I'd take power over the other alternatives. If I was a Mechanical Engineer, it would be HVAC and plumbing over the rest. There's a greater sense of relatability to what Engineers in construction do than what Engineers in manufacturing do, even though we all use the latter's work every day (cars, computers, phones, tablets, TVs, stereos, etc).

 

Job security in construction related disciplines are generally better than manufacturing, probably out of the sheer quantity of work available if you use an entire country as your job pool. If you're a licensed PE, you're usually in good shape. The alternative is having a Master's degree from a top school and still being at the mercy of the tech industry. I have family in the Valley, so I'm pretty aware on how that world can be.

 

You have to do what you like doing. The good news though is that the degree is broad enough that you can move around to some extent if you want to do something different.

 

 

 

 

No love for petroleum engineering? You can make BANK doing that.

 

I work with 80% EEs, 10% Mechanical Engineers, 7.5% Manufacturing Engineers and 2.5% Nuclear Engineers.

No love for petroleum engineering? You can make BANK doing that.

 

I work with 80% EEs, 10% Mechanical Engineers, 7.5% Manufacturing Engineers and 2.5% Nuclear Engineers.

 

Your field is petroleum engineering?

Haha, pure coincidence...good catch.

 

The whole construction field is more appealing to me than manufacturing, so hence I'd take power over the other alternatives. If I was a Mechanical Engineer, it would be HVAC and plumbing over the rest. There's a greater sense of relatability to what Engineers in construction do than what Engineers in manufacturing do, even though we all use the latter's work every day (cars, computers, phones, tablets, TVs, stereos, etc).

 

Job security in construction related disciplines are generally better than manufacturing, probably out of the sheer quantity of work available if you use an entire country as your job pool. If you're a licensed PE, you're usually in good shape. The alternative is having a Master's degree from a top school and still being at the mercy of the tech industry. I have family in the Valley, so I'm pretty aware on how that world can be.

 

You have to do what you like doing. The good news though is that the degree is broad enough that you can move around to some extent if you want to do something different.

 

Regarding structural engineering, I find skyscraper engineering, bridge engineering, and structural steel design interesting. Really all engineering subjects interest me, just some more than others. In case you are interested, a really awesome book on the history of structural engineering is Building: 3,000 Years of Design, Engineering and Construction. It has incredible graphics and illustrations but is a very in-depth book on the history of structural engineering and construction.

Your field is petroleum engineering?

 

No I work with the nukes.

No I work with the nukes.

 

Okay I get the sarcasm

Okay I get the sarcasm

No sarcasm. Remember my advice after you were worried about the "issue" at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant?

Emanon is a solid person to ask. He's a genius engineer.

 

Thanks buddy!

 

 

If you have any specific questions don't be afraid to ask.

 

Read this, it will give you some info specifically on working in motorsports and also what a lot of engineering will entail, aka lots of paperwork and bullshit.

 

http://www.lambopower.com/forum/index.php?...mp;hl=paperwork

 

That being said, I will never talk anyone out of an engineering degree. If you can elevate your personal communication skills above that of a drunk sloth (a challenge for many engineers) it will open many doors.

 

One thing to always keep in mind is what will this job really entail. We all enter engineering school thinking we'll be working with Ralph designing the upcoming Viper ACR or some other awesome passion project where you jerk off at the thought of going to work and doing dyno tests on the hellcat all day. And that job does exist, for three dozen people in the whole country. Can you be equally excited designing the emergency brake mechanism on a chevy volt? Or some automatic hatch system on a minivan? Because odds are you're far more likely to be doing that sort of thing, and doing it well will at least give you a pathway to the cool shit.

 

Also take into consideration where you have to live, If you want to work for GM you'll be in Michigan... take a look at their weather forecast today. I realize this isn't directly degree specific, but when you get into certain fields it can really pin you down geographically, which may or may not matter to you.

 

As Hannibal said, Oil/Gas is where the big bucks are. Move to Tx and you'll come out of school with a $100k starting salary. I would totally do this but my wife told me I don't want to live in Houston. For the amount of education involved Nuclear doesn't pay shit, and you can thank the government/politics for that. Likewise, Aero sucks currently and is super unpredictable due to government politics as well. A good friend of mine has a masters degree in Aerospace Engineering and he does tech support for the maintenance guys at Boeing. The pay is ok but about the only thing he "engineers" is how much cream he puts in his coffee.

 

Sorry if I've gone four degrees off course here but it all feels relevant to your initial post. Like i said ask away and I'll do my best to be as helpful as I can.