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Is industrial engineering a good major?

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What is industrial engineering?
What can you do with a industrial engineering major?
Are there a lot of opportunities in the field of industrial engineering/is the field growing?
What did you do with your industrial engineering major?

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Edward’s Answer

Yes. It incorporates traditional aspects of any engineering discipline- technical problem solving while incorporating human capabilities and economics. Industrial engineers are everywhere - transportation, operations, government, manufacturing, medical and financial sectors. My career has been focused around transportation, operations and government, and majoring in IE as an undergrad helped get me to where I am today.


Industrial engineering allows for a broad range of careers and is great if you are not exactly certain what you want to do when you graduate, but perhaps you know a general area or industry that interests you.


I recommend seeking industrial engineering programs online and looking where they focus their program to see if it interests you.


Good luck!
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Ken’s Answer

The answer is an individual one based one's personality traits and how they relate to people who are involved in industrial engineering. This takes getting to knowing yourself better to see how you fit into industrial engineering and getting to know people in industrial engineering to see how you relate to them and what they do and where they do it.


Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Jennifer’s Answer

I think Industrial Engineering is one of the best engineering disciplines if you're looking for lots of options upon graduation for employment. IEs work across a broad industry with most focused in ergonomics, manufacturing optimization, logistics, and engineering management. I'm an IE, but in telecom. Not a traditional field for an IE, but it shows that they can fit in many industries.

If you want a technical career (and enjoy math and science), but also want to work in an engineering field with a people focus, IE would be a good fit for you.


At my school, we had a motto that Engineers build things, Industrial Engineers build thing better. We may not design and build the widget, but we will analyze it and improve it to make it more efficient to the process or the human.


Because there are so many career options available to IEs, make sure you talk to many alumni at your college of choice to understand the variety of careers available to you.

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Amanda’s Answer

Industrial Engineering is a great major as a springboard for so many different industries across the country or other advanced degrees. I had so many different opportunities with an Industrial Engineering degree including manufacturing, quality, finance and supply chain. Industrial Operations engineering will teach you how to problem solve and create sustainable solutions, and these skills can translate in a number of industries in various jobs. I started my career in medical devices and now, I work in the IT industry. Although I changed the products I am supporting, the skills and knowledge easily translated. I think Industrial Engineering is a great starting point for a career.
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Samantha’s Answer

As a fellow Industrial Engineer I believe it is a great major for many reasons! It is a very flexible and comprehensive education in which you obtain foundational skills that can be applied towards many different industries and processes. In my experience, studying Industrial Engineering gave me the opportunity to explore how process optimization and quality assurance projects within this scope could benefit organizations across healthcare, urgent care, logistics, vehicle maintenance and sales. This also gave me the opportunity to identify my professional passion and I am thankful for obtaining a strong foundational toolset that has been very useful in all the roles I've had across Sales, Logistics and Global Sourcing.

Samantha recommends the following next steps:

Read more about Industrial and Systems Engineering here: https://iise.ie/
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