Anyone have any experiences changing careers, especially from engineering ? What did you change to ?

Question

What are you experiences ? What are your options ? What career did you change to ? Why did you change ? Engineering is not that good in North America right now -- what other careers is an engineering education good for ?

Answer 1

There are several alternative careers out there for someone with a degree in engineering. I agree that the engineering job market is not as good as people make it out to be, but that's a discussion for another day. Personally I've stuck with it, but know there are other opportunities out there. As others mentioned you can always get your teaching certificate (many schools will allow you to teach while you're working on it) and teach high school math and science.

If you're willing to go back to school you can go back for your JD and become a patent lawyer. If you're still young med. school may not be out of the question, although you'd likely also need about one year of additional undergrad. coursework in organic chem. and biology. On the business side, you could always try to parlay your scientific knowledge into a job in sales or go back for an MBA and work in finance. You could also take some journalism courses and try to land a job as a technical writer or science journalist.

These are just a few suggestions off the top of my head. A really excellent resource for those considering non-traditional careers in science is Cynthia Robbins book "Alternative Careers in Science". Each chapter of the book was written by someone who made a career change out of science and it details their individual experiences.

Answer 2

You're right. Engineering career opportunities are very slim and look to be getting worse in the US. You could easily parlay your engineering degree into a teaching license by taking a few ed courses. Or, look for a job at a local technical college training your future indian and mexican replacements. If you're young, dynamic and have great grades from a prestigious school, go for Wall Street. They're looking for analytical types, but only the cream of the crop.

Answer 3

I'm in the process of changing from traditional work to photography and network marketing. I chose network marketing because it's so easy and the rewards are great. Chose photography because I'm very good at it.