Jalen
What’s good about being an engineer
#STEM #general #consulting
12 answers
Rohail Siddiqui
Rohail’s Answer
By studying to become an engineer, I believe the biggest advantages you gain are your ability to "think", your effectiveness in a team, and how well you handle pressure / stressful situations. I will touch upon these a little below.
1) Ability to think: In my opinion, this is the single biggest advantage an engineer gains compared to their colleagues. From day 1, the university starts giving you problems where they test your ability to problem solve. You have the knowledge to solve these problems but without the ability to logically deconstruct a problem into its individual parts and then try to tackle it one problem at a time. The constant barrage of these problems over your 4-5 years in university engrains these problem solving steps within you and you start applying them to all situations even outside the realms of academics and professional situations. I still distinctly remember the excel spreadsheet I made to plan out my three week vacation to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Egypt so I was optimizing on time and making sure I was seeing everything.
2) Effectiveness in a team: This is related a little to the above but ultimately, very rarely are you asked to perform any tasks in isolation. Most projects are in the form of groups and including a final project year project that is a requirement to graduate. This puts you in partnership with a variety of people and personalities and improves your ability to handle different people and the best steps in working in cohesion with them.
3) Handling pressure: Engineering is considered one of the most intense fields of study, most situations after engineering school never are as stressful as the late nights you spend trying to deliver on projects and coursework. This prepares you well for these situations in the future.
And more and more, companies are realizing this too. Most professions, not just engineering, target engineers and other STEM majors for roles. I also made the switch from engineering to consulting because the company I work for was targeting engineers to fill their roles. Hope this advice was helpful.
Melody Cerro
Melody’s Answer
You get to change the world!
Abhishek Krishnan
Abhishek’s Answer
Once you started thinking like an engineer, you will have a process and method to solve complex problems. You start breaking down problems into smaller chunks and start solving them one by one, by getting to the root of the issue. Providing scalable solutions to problems is one of the many traits an engineer carries, no matter how big or small the problem is. Pick an field you enjoy and in which you see a career for yourself and pick a relevant engineering course.
Cynthia Assayan
Cynthia’s Answer
What I can say is that, even though I did not choose a career in engineering, I can firmly say that the 4 years I spent studying it provided me with a sense of logic and analytical skills that I use everyday in my work.
I believe that engineering can shape your way of thinking in a way that is crucial to solving business problems in a clear, efficient and structured way.
Leni Augustine
Leni’s Answer
If a person is passionate about being an engineer he can contribute miraculously to the society by his/her inventions or coming up with a unique idea.
Its a profession which will do things which can simplify the daily tasks. We will get ourselves motivated, when our works are being appreciated!!
Milinda Jhunjhunwala
Milinda’s Answer
Having the degree helps tremendously - open up an entire job market to you! I would highly recommend it!
Naveen Venkateshaiah
Naveen’s Answer
Engineers are respected around the world and you will get lot of good job opportunities to work.I being Engineer for almost 13 years now, have to upgrade/master myself everyday with new skill and new technologies, this is very exciting for me and I feel happy to be an Engineer.
All the best!
Zak Koster
Zak’s Answer
Nearly everything you see was made by an engineer directly or indirectly. Cars, buildings, clothing threads, bikes, rockets, fridges, TVs, doors. Engineers harness the power of physics, our deepest understanding of the world, to create what makes humans' lives better and solve the problems that challenge humanity.
When I look over a city and understand how every built thing works in the world is an incredible and powerful feeling that delivers a deep sense of responsibility on me. That responsibility and opportunity to make the world a better place, to save people from dying with medicine, to build really exciting and fun racecars, to mass feed the unfortunate, excites me so deep to the bone I wake Mondays genuinely exited to tackle the largest problems humanity has and make my contribution to the world. Doctors are great - many doctors save tens of lives a day and their work is incredibly important. An engineer can save millions of lives a year if they invented a surgery machine for example like the DaVinci that gets used all over the world. Save millions of lives by cheaply cleaning water in poor countries. Or designing the rockets that first put humans on another planet just Google SpaceX. All of those dreams are are so much closer to reality than I can tell you in words.
More than their job harnessing the physical laws of the world, many engineers get paid more than doctors, you develop problem solving skills where setbacks become challenges, and because of your responsibility and contribution to society, you gather a respect recongized very widely. Furthermore, many jobs are going to decrease in your lifetime as engineers are making solutions to support but also replace many jobs and by being a secientist developing new knowledge, a mathematician (harnessing the language of engineering) or an engineer - you are surfing the wave that is bringing humanity to it's next level. Being an engineer is awesome.
Take a lot of physics and math classes in high school, do really well, be on the robotics FIRST team, apply to 10-30 engineering colleges, and work tirelessly. Every other kid that became an engineer has been in your situation. If those other kids had advantages you didn't have, that means those kids will get tired and problems will weigh on them. Every setback of challenge is an opportunity and the more opportunities you chase, the stronger you become at chasing and the more doors you will open. The harder it is for you, the stronger you will become. One day you might wake up and realize you never expected your life to be as good as it is (as I have) and be joyfully overwhelmed by the work you have done and what it means for human-kind.
Tooba Athar
Tooba’s Answer
Ellen Sasson
Ellen’s Answer
Engineers are disciplined, logical people. I believe what's good about being an engineer is that you have an approach to analyzing and solving problems that gives you a leg up on most people. You are not intimidated by problems because you are comfortable solving them. Engineers are highly respected by everyone in the work world.
Mark Cunningham
Mark’s Answer
Aaron Strauli
Aaron’s Answer
I agree with a lot of people here. However, you don't have to be an engineer to think logically or be seen as "smart" or help people. You can do all of that without having the word "Engineer" in your job title. But..if you end up being an engineer, the one truth I can tell you is that you'd probably end up being paid well.