The Career of Engineering

The Career of Engineering

Take a look around yourself. What do you see? Maybe books, chairs, a television, or even your clothes. All the day to day things that are man-made, you can be sure that an engineer helped make it. Engineers have shaped our world as we know it. There are many different kinds of engineers from chemical, mechanical, textile, civil, agricultural and structural engineers. Our civilization would be as advanced as the Stone Age without these people. This career demands a wide education of math and science. It is an ever-changing career with new advances in materials and the way products are produced. Engineering careers are very secure with respect to compensation. Regardless of this, it does have it’s disadvantages as well. All and all engineering is demanding, but well worth the work.

The education of an engineer is probably the most demanding as far as the mastery of the material given as any other degree. Usually in their first year, a student will be put into a special program that starts the course load with math and science. These are the basis for every engineer’s education. After the first two years of the program, the student chooses exactly what field of engineering he or she would like and finishes out their degree concentrating on that particular field. Towards the end of their college career, the student will usually be offered a job by recruitment or they are hired after they graduate. Most employers seek out four-year graduates with a degree in a specific area of concentration.

Engineering has many advantages to offer. The best would probably be the salary. A student with an engineering bachelors degree will be offered a higher paying job on average than any other bachelors degree offered. (Basta 12) An average annual salary in a starting Federal Government position was $96,370 in 1994. Along with high wages comes job security. Even when the economy is bad, unemployment of engineers will only rise one or two points on average. (Kirby 64) Other advantages include interesting work, creative work and working with the latest technological advances in the field you choose to go into. Engineering as a whole shows many superior qualities over other jobs, but it also has its disadvantages.

Engineering degrees require the most math and science of any other degrees offered. The study is extremely hard w...

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...ix it by creating a new system or device and being able to say that I made that, I invented that. Being an engineer has been one of the most personally satisfying jobs I have ever had. (Steele)

None the less, the career of engineering is one that provides many benefits to the ones who are willing to work for the degree. This field has a variety of areas to excel in. It provides creative work, the chance to work with a team, and the compensation is far from the average. Engineering is also one of the most important careers in our society. Without it, our civilization would be nothing like it is today; and the pleasures that many of us take for granted would not be here to comfort us.

Bibliography

Basta, Nicholas. Engineering Careers Lincohnwood, Illinois: Career Horizons 1996.

Clancy, Tom. Submarine: A guided tour inside a Nuclear Warship. New York, New York: A Berkley Book, 1993.

Kirby, Shelton, Richard. Engineering in History. New York, New York: McGraw Hillbrook, 1956

“Nuclear Engineering”. EXPAN Career Description.

“Engineering”. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Accessed February 23, 1999. Copyright, 1994.

Joe Steele, Personal interview 3, March 1999.