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Does choosing a degree in a specific engineering discipline narrow your opportunities?

When choosing a degree, does it matter a great deal which discipline you choose, or can you work for an aerospace engineering company with a mechanical engineering degree? Also, does choosing a job as say a chemical engineer force you to live in a large city, or can you still live elsewhere? #engineering #degrees

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Christopher’s Answer

Hi Matthew,

You surely want to pick a major that jibes with your area of interest. With hard work, you can be great in areas that really don't interest you...but OMG, in an area that totally piques your interest and excites you, hard work feels like an absolute joy and you won't be just great, you'll be phenomenal :)


And at the end of the day, we engineers are some problem solving folks. Specializing in an area surely helps with the speed to initial understanding of problems. But the fact that engineers "learn how to learn" early in their career, you'll find that your positive contribution will range well beyond your official major.  Where you may end up working used to have a strong geographic dependency.  But nowadays telepresence helps lessen that dependency quite a bit.


Keep talking with folks  and keep asking great questions....you'll be fine in the ranks of the bold, the daring....THE ENGINEERS!!!
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Nicole’s Answer

Hi Matthew P. I see that you posted this question a little while ago so I hope my answer to you (or others who may read this response) is still helpful.

As I write this answer to you in the summer of 2021, I can share that because of the the global pandemic, COVID, companies are putting a lot less emphasis on the the physical location of their employees. So the short answer to one of your questions is you can be an engineer and live someplace other than a large city. Many reputable companies have figured out ways to have their employees work remotely and still be productive members of a project team.

Speaking specifically in the space of chemical engineer, if the chemical engineer has tasks that require them to do lab experiments, they may find that they can work in labs that are closer to their physical location. If the chemical engineer has tasks that require them spend more time analyzing data, that task may be better suited for a full remote job. So the specific task will matter.

More broadly, yes, there is a difference between chemical engineering and electrical or mechanical engineering but I think the good thing about all of the different engineering disciplines is how they train individuals on how to be strong problem solvers and how to innovate. With these two skill sets, it becomes less difficult to get good opportunities in the job market.

Hope you find this helpful. Best of luck to you!
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Ken’s Answer

Not necessarily so. Your options are really based upon your interests and personality traits as they relate to others in the vast field of engineering. When selecting a career field, it is best to find one that offers satisfaction and fulfillment with the work that you are doing. Introspection and real time face to face networking with people working in your area of interest will allow you to select an area that gives you a wide amount of flexibility and many options within that selected area. 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. 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 ##
Here are some sites that will allow you to learn more about the various areas of engineering and the options and activities offered in each. Disregard that one appears to be aimed at girls, as it is the most complete explanation of the complete field of engineering which I have encountered. ## https://www.engineergirl.org/ ## ## http://www.futureengineers.org/ ## ## https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zVcmTJSKM ##
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