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Most of my engineering friends all found decent jobs after graduation and are making six figures right now. So it's definitely not as bleak as some of you say. I had considered engineering myself once, but ended up going into medicine. My friends in engineering are doing far better than me when you factor in the lack of debt and a decade of extra schooling and training for medicine. Sure I'll make $100k more than them when I get out of residency, but I've also lost a decade in opportunity costs. My only consolation is that it has been a horrible decade for any kind of investments anyway.
Engineering is also a field where you really have to be good at what you're doing and where the barrier for entry is not particularly high, so there's an extensive weed out process during school and during the engineer-in-training years. Medicine's weed out process on the other hand is more frontloaded.
Most of my engineering friends all found decent jobs after graduation and are making six figures right now. So it's definitely not as bleak as some of you say. I had considered engineering myself once, but ended up going into medicine. My friends in engineering are doing far better than me when you factor in the lack of debt and a decade of extra schooling and training for medicine. Sure I'll make $100k more than them when I get out of residency, but I've also lost a decade in opportunity costs. My only consolation is that it has been a horrible decade for any kind of investments anyway.
Engineering is also a field where you really have to be good at what you're doing and where the barrier for entry is not particularly high, so there's an extensive weed out process during school and during the engineer-in-training years. Medicine's weed out process on the other hand is more frontloaded.
I don't know any engineers who are not on the management side who make six figures. And this is about 10 years out of school. And just about every company I've worked for has been an engineering company.
Funny thing is, to be a manager, you don't even need technical know-how or even an engineering degree. You just need an MBA or something and a fast mouth...
The engineering shortage is a manufactured game played by companies who need engineers. They don't want American engineers, they want H1b visas to import them.
Many engineers now work in other fields because they became tired of being disposable employees unable to get permanent jobs.
We can fix the problem by eliminating the H1b visas, and not extending them, until unemployment here is under X percent.
I don't know any engineers who are not on the management side who make six figures. And this is about 10 years out of school. And just about every company I've worked for has been an engineering company.
Funny thing is, to be a manager, you don't even need technical know-how or even an engineering degree. You just need an MBA or something and a fast mouth...
I'm still in engineering, not management. I passed six figures when I had about eight years of experience. That was quite a few years ago.
Whats worse than being an Engineer without an engineering job? An engineer with an engineering job. If you like working 80 to 100 hours a week. If you like being treated like garbage. If you like to travel all the time and never see you family then do it, I have a BSEE and MSEE I was an engineer for 15 years. It was a nightmare of overwork and abuse. I not only left engineering I left the country. I now teach math in Japan and Im a super happy guy!!
Whats worse than being an Engineer without an engineering job? An engineer with an engineering job. If you like working 80 to 100 hours a week. If you like being treated like garbage. If you like to travel all the time and never see you family then do it, I have a BSEE and MSEE I was an engineer for 15 years. It was a nightmare of overwork and abuse. I not only left engineering I left the country. I now teach math in Japan and Im a super happy guy!!
Sounds like myself wanting to learn all this math and science is bound to be a waste of time after reading all these harsh testimonials.
I thought I wasn't having much of a life driving a semi-truck and then I start hearing this from a group that's more educated than I am.
I'll just stick to getting my diesel and welding tech certifications whenever I get back to school.
Get some 40-hr/week work and occasional OT diagnosing and repairing the Detroit on a towed-in Volvo.
At least in my current line of work, it's all about drifting around until you find the right company with the right running area, home-time options, pet/rider-policies., etc
The engineering shortage is a manufactured game played by companies who need engineers. They don't want American engineers, they want H1b visas to import them.
Many engineers now work in other fields because they became tired of being disposable employees unable to get permanent jobs.
We can fix the problem by eliminating the H1b visas, and not extending them, until unemployment here is under X percent.
I've always thought that if a company really really wants an individual who has an H1-B,
then they should be willing to pay a premium in the form of a tax for that individual.
You hire and H1-B person for $50k when it would take $70 to hire the citizen.
The government collects a tax of 1.5x the salary the first year and 1.5x + 10%
the second and so forth. That way, when Microsoft or Intel whine about
how they really really "need" that person, they have to pay to prove it.
Someone on here poo-poo'ed that idea from me once before touting the "need"
to bring in Phillipino nurses due to the "chronic" nursing shortage. - Feh!!
Sounds like myself wanting to learn all this math and science is bound to be a waste of time after reading all these harsh testimonials.
I thought I wasn't having much of a life driving a semi-truck and then I start hearing this from a group that's more educated than I am.
I'll just stick to getting my diesel and welding tech certifications whenever I get back to school.
Get some 40-hr/week work and occasional OT diagnosing and repairing the Detroit on a towed-in Volvo.
At least in my current line of work, it's all about drifting around until you find the right company with the right running area, home-time options, pet/rider-policies., etc
You could do the mechanic thing for a job and do engineering school for fun. Even though US companies have totally run amuck, the core fundamentals of engineering, math and science are VERY interesting. There are some really cool things you can do if you know engineering and science, heck you could even fabricate things in your garage with your hands on knowlage AND the engineering know how.
I have some things I want to build from scratch but dont have the fabrication know how to build what I design so thats the next step, of course thats the more expensive step lol. Now that the people have finally figured out that the corporations and banks are robbing them blind hopefully we will get ron paul for president next year, once all these gaping holes are fixed in our govt then we can get back to do what americans do best, inovating and making things 32-40 hrs a week for a living wage.
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