A question for engineers/engineering students! Especially female?

Question

I'm getting a B.S. in computer science this summer and I'm thinking of doing something else for my master's. I'm considering engineering because I'm strong in math and science and I want to have a challenging but steady job, but I worry because I've never considered myself to have an "engineer's personality" (I didn't really take things apart as a kid or play with constructor sets, etc.). I do like computer programming very much - it's like solving logic puzzles! - but I'm thinking to branch out and do something really interesting and difficult.

Are there any engineers or engineering students out there, especially woman engineers, who can tell me how they came to choose engineering and what their personality is like? I'm trying to find out if I'll be a good engineer, and what type is right for me.

I added the thing about women in my question because it would be encouraging to hear the thoughts of a successful woman engineer. Also, I thought they might read into my apprehension about entering such a male-dominated field, and that they could relate.

Answer 1

I am a woman engineer and have been a project manager of projects as large as $242 million.

I started out as a chemistry major and had a friend who was an engineering student. I had never thought about engineering, but learned that there was a huge difference between the pay scales of chemists and engineers. My father was dead, but I had the opportunity to talk to his old boss. He encouraged me to go into engineering and it has been a very good move for me. I don't think that I started out with an "engineer personality", but I probably have one now.

With your background there are several fields to consider branching into: engineering, MBA or law school. The legal field might seem to be overpopulated, but most of them have non-technical backgrounds. The legal field is highly dependent on information processing, so it might also be a good fit for you.

Answer 2

Engineering is application of science to useful purposes. Enjoying some kind of science (even computer science) helps. The most important thing might be the urge to make something and see it work, even a program. Engineering of large systems also gets into management and organizational issues. If you like computers, you might want to learn more about how the machines work - even how to create new ones for new purposes.

I've seen lots of women in software engineering, and especially in signal processing - well, lots compared to other engineering fields.

Engineering is a great field - I've done it my whole adult life, and can't think of anything I'd rather do.

Answer 3

I'm an electronic engineer and I recall in my university class, there were only 2 women among 50 students. Sad, I don't know why women seem to avoid the challenges of such a stimulating study!

As a kid I started tinkering in electricity at age 6. By age 7 I started being curious about my dad's electrical tools and other electrical things (sometimes I would take a drill apart).

By age 8 I was experimenting with small DC motors, speakers and lightbulbs, by age 12 I built my first AM transmitter out of parts I salvaged from discarded TV sets and radios (tubes).

I'm 40 now and with the current state of consumer electronics (surface mount technology) I feel sorry for kids who want to experiment with electronics but can't salvage and experiment with stuff the neighbours toss out - surface mount is too small to really play with.

Answer 4

I am a male mechanical engineer with 25 years experience. I could see that you could become an excellent fit for an organization that has several or many engineers and uses software to to analyze possible designs. In many companies you could be the person that performs finite element strength analysis for the other engineers or ditto for aerodynamics, heat transfer, vibration, or forensic animation. Alternatively you could become the person who is given data from actual observations and assigned to create a computer model that fits.

Then again, maybe you should get your engineering degree then go to work for one of the companies that makes software to sell to engineers.

Answer 5

Sounds like computing or electrical engineering might be good for you. There are more and more female engineers in the work force every year. If you like "problem solving," thats a good indicator.

Answer 6

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