Engineering?

Question

I am in High school and I am taking all regular classes and a 4 year pre-engineering high school class. I was wondering if I could get any advice from engineers on what they do, how much they make, how to prepare, etc.

Answer 1

Christopher J. Holland is being very Cynical.

Unfortunately, there is also a great deal of truth in it.

Engineers have to be VERY dedicated, as we are greatly undervalued compaired to sports stars, business people and the like.

I really do wish you well, but you are choosing a hard path. Do it for the love of engineering! I did and don't regret it, despite everththing...

Answer 2

This is what an engineer does.
1. You get a problem and a deadline. Your job fix it by deadline.
2. Decide on what you need to accomplish your goal.
3. Make cuts and adjustments based on cost and deadlines.
4. Start implementing your design.
5. Attend weekly meeting to discuss your progress and the progress of others.
6. Bring you project online and work out the bugs.
7. Meet the deadline.
8. Ship the product.
9. Turn the product over to sustaining engineering so when new bugs are encountered, engineers can fix those bugs.
10. Goto Step 1.

How much you get paid is directly proportional to how quickly and cost effective you are in designing your project.

Do more with less.

Answer 3

My advice is first, don't get into Civil Engineering. It sucks and you will work 60 hour weeks and get paid nothing compared to other engineers and other professions like accounting.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings

Civil Engineering salaries have been stagnant over the past 20 years while the cost of getting a Civil Engineering degree has skyrocketed and so has their liability insurance.

I suggest getting into Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering or Chemical Engineering. They make a lot more than Civil Engineers and they have a wider variety of companies that need these types of engineers so you can always find someplace you like.

That and those jobs are more stable than Civil Engineering jobs since civil engineering jobs are based on how much people are building. Back in the 90's there was a glut of Civil Engineers so a lot of them were jobless, right now we have a shortage of Civil Engineers but in the very near future we will return to having a glut of Civil Engineers due to the building slow down in the commercial and residential markets.

Answer 4

I am a retired NASA Eng. and it was good to me . Be sure and put in a good amount of computer as they will be controlling everything soon. With good program can change from a hard working Eng. to a successful Eng,