Attention Engineers: Do you enjoy your job? and what type of engineer are you?

Question

Christine: I'm currently in the Air Force and thinking about getting out so I can get my degree faster. I love Calculus, Physics and Chemistry and am also good at electronics. I'd really like to be the nerd that sits behind a computer figuring out crazy equations. What kind of engineer should I become? I've also got peopole skills but for the most part I'd like to use my brain at complex problems. Making money, doing something I enjoy and a feeling of accomplishment are all really important to me. Any advice would be great. What you would or wouldn't do if you could do it all over again. Thanks!

Answer 1

Become an Architectural/Structural Engineer. You will be proudly involved in the designs of today's modern architecture, and you will be the person behind making the building stand up. Not only will you become really good friends with your calculator and computer, you will also be able to go out to the job site to see your designs come to life. You will get to work with architects and see them conceive of great architectural ideas, and you will work with them to make things work. It's an awesome job.

Answer 2

I have a degree in chemical engineering and I work as a manufacturing and process engineer

I would say that I enjoy my work (but as Billy Joel says, "you won't want it every day").

Like any work, there are parts of it that I don't enjoy much but that is why they pay me a lot.

I do not spend much of my time behind a computer figuring out crazy equations. I have used calculus about 5 times in the 25 years since leaving school (and 2 or 3 of those times was helping kids with homework).

I do spend some time computer modeling and I spend a lot of time on design calculations but I spend even more time in the manufacturing plant trouble shooting and coming up with ideas for better processes and testing those ideas.

If you really want to be more in the "figuring" side of engineering (as compared to the doing, building, side) and if you enjoy interfacing with the computer for many hours, I would suggest you consider "computer engineering" which is a specialized form of electrical engineering (my son has a computer engineering degree and is working with a big government contractor on radar for missiles or something)

Also, if you really want to figure crazy stuff, you might want to consider a post-graduate degree. Usually the real researchy jobs are filled by engineers with MA of Phd

good luck

engineering has been great for me partly because the degree is so versatile (I have done operations management, process chemistry, design, and plant engineering which have very different daily tasks but are all good jobs for engineers, and there are many more kinds of jobs filled by engineers)

Answer 3

Wait a minute hear. I like being an Engineer but if you are in the military you should get your degree before leaving the military. I worked nights, and went to school during the day, and Guard drill once a month. It was OK but that part wasn't particularly fun.

My nephew is in the Air Force and his wife is also in the air force she is in a program where she will transfer into an ROTC program till she finishes college. You might should look at that. You could become an engineer and an officer at the same time.

Answer 4

Okay, I think you probably know the answer, you seems to be totally fit to become a computer engineer. And if you really are good in maths then you probably should try out discrete math and if you are really good at it, then I'm sure you'd love programming. And once you are into programming in good levels, you'll see how math can show magic. And also if you are interested in electronics, you'd be able to do some hardware works and it would be amazing. Join the programming contests and the software hardware fair and things like that, I'm sure you'll like it. Once you like it, it wouldn't be a matter of money.

Answer 5

Hi!
I am a graduate Electrical Engineer, now retired. My career concentrated on communications. I started working on submarine cable and telephone carrier equipment test equipment. Worked designing FM multiplex radios for people like Muzak. Most of my career was involved with designing and manufacturing equipment to deliver television. I worked designing test equipment and equipment for Master Antenna Television Systems (MATV) for apartment, hotel, and motels. Then into Cable Television, then called Community Antenna TeleVision Systems, (CATV). My specialization was in consumer products and systems. Those cable converters in the home. I ran an Advanced Development Laboratory, where we worked on Fiber Optics, High Definition Television, and Digital television systems. I have 15 US patents, enjoyed my career tremendously, and would do it again. It was interesting to see the evolution from vacuum tubes to semiconductors. Then onto Integrated circuits and dedicated processors. The later enabled doing complex mathematical processes at lightning speeds, enabling doing Discrete Cosine Transforms (DCT) and other processes like Huffman coding. This has enabled digital cameras, HDTV, etc. etc.. The mathematics enabled by fast electronics have made things like GPS, and the new Military radars possible.

My recommendation, Go For it!

Good Luck!

Answer 6

I enjoyed working as a mechanical engineer for several years but have been doing software engineering for a couple of decades now.

It's neat to be able to design something and have it created.