Making a career change to engineering in your 30s...?

[rokuremote]

Originally Posted by Tronas

Thanks for the input but the two paragraphs in your post pretty much contradict themselves. Didn't she decided against it because she didn't want to work for that company full time rather than because it would've been too big of a step to do an engineering degree as a mature student?

They're not contradictory at all.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Dave_n_Tenn

Engineers rarely if ever get Ph.D's. They usually get MBA's to expand their careers.

Would agree.

This is actually the path i'm seeing myself drawn to as well. More money on the business side at Director level and upper management.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Tronas

Wow the racism.....

Where is the racism? Call it reality. You have been posting for several years about quick fix "how to" from stores targeting retired expats to bio engineers.
There are jobs which require a certain presence and that includes language. Having to untrain and retrain is not something a lot of employers are interested unless a candidate brings something special to the table.

[Dave_n_Tenn]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Would agree.

This is actually the path i'm seeing myself drawn to as well. More money on the business side at Director level and upper management.

Director level is a whole different ball game. There you need a degree in politics. Managers run the business, directors run the company.

[Tronas]

Originally Posted by BigfishTim

We joked that industrial engineering is a "pseudo-engineering degree".

I presume the attitude tends to be the same towards systems engineering as well, right?

[2nccoast]

Originally Posted by Tronas

A related question so I don't start a new thread: does engineering have good international mobility? I particularly have in mind the branches that I have mentioned in this thread: textiles, environmental, systems, industrial.

OP - I think you are dealing with "analysis paralysis" here. You are in the EU while most, if not all, the posters in this discussion, are in North America. So the advice they give may not be totally relevant to your individual circumstances. You should talk to folks in your own country. Have a set of focused questions so you don't sound like someone who has no idea of what s/he wants to do.

I live in the US. I have a couple of US engineering degrees (Mech. Engr) and have worked in Africa and Europe. But that was through an international organization that is present in a lot of countries. That organization took care of all the visas/work permits which is a huge hassle when you are a non-native of the country you're working in.

Also, earlier in this thread there was discussion about what one poster calls a "catch-22". This myth has been thoroughly debunked so pay no attention to it - although reading through the posts can be entertaining.