Job as an Engineer

Hi Alexa,

I think this question has been answered a few times already on CareerVillage (see links below) - is there another specific type of engineering you're interested in? If so you might consider asking a more specific questions.

Day in the life of computer engineer:

http://careervillage.org/questions/95/what-do-computer-engineers-do

http://careervillage.org/questions/694/what-does-a-computer-engineer-do-on-a-day-to-day-basis

Day in the life of civil engineer:

http://careervillage.org/questions/1526/what-does-a-civil-engineer-do

Day in the life of automotive engineer:

http://careervillage.org/questions/1003/what-composes-the-day-to-day-life-of-an-automotive-engineer

Day in the life of mechanical engineer:

http://careervillage.org/questions/1041/what-do-mechanical-engineers-do-on-a-day-to-day-basis

Hi Alexa - one of my favorite things about being an engineer is that I get to creatively solve problems every day, and this profession/area of study doesn't limit any of your future career options. From an engineering background, you can do anything (even if you're not technically in an engineer role). Learning problem solving gives you a great background for innovation and for any role requiring technical understanding. As mentioned in other replies, an "engineer" can do many things. My experiences as an engineer have ranged from detailed mechanical designing, technical program management to operations/supply chain. A day in the life could include the following (and much more!): product concept brainstorming, computer design, conducting testing, analyzing data, traveling for prototype product builds, root cause analysis for product failures, participating in design reviews, planning projects (budget, resources, priorities), managing cross-functional teams, etc. There are endless options for an engineer - once you have a strong foundation in math and science, you can make a career out of whatever you find most interesting.

There are many different ways to be an engineer regardless of the speciality you choose. There are as many engineering jobs as there are types of people. Some engineers work in research or product development, working mostly by themselves to solve challenging technical problems. Other engineers work with people in sales, helping customers choose technical products; or management, guiding other engineers in doing their work; or in customer support, answering difficult questions that customers have about technical products. There are engineers working as teachers, showing other engineers how to improve their skills and solve new problems. Some engineers travel frequently and have been all over the world, others stay close to home and go to work at the same office every day. The one thing that engineers have in common is that they are all natural-born problem solvers with aptitude in math and science who like to solve difficult problems.

In the early stages it is a very specific job where you will work using the skills and knowledge you learnt in the course you choose, however due to the analytical skills engineers usually reach the top-level positions in big companies. Most of high-level management positions are occupied by engineers, even for non-technical areas like Marketing, Sales and other. The key is to be a fact based person - that is easy for Engineers - and develop relationship skills...that is not so easy for some engineers once we tend to be very focused on what we are doing and then we do not pay attention sometimes on the relationship piece. If you somewhere in your career path think to be a leader make sure you will take care about this!! Hope this helps! Good luck! Mauricio

Hey, I found this interesting article for you. Happy Reading & All the Best!

http://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesPage/tabid/85/ArticleID/798/A-day-in-the-life-of-an-automotive-design-engineer.aspx

There are so many types of engineers that you can almost assuredly find some engineering specialty or function that allows you to have any type of lifestyle you want (within reason). I agree with Kris that the next step for you is really to start exploring various engineering specialties to decide what specialty interests you! Try internships, job shadowing, and contracting local companies or trade groups/associations to ask for opportunities to see that job in action!

I studied Industrial engineering, for me it´s a complete career where you could see many other careers courses. In the curricula you could find humar resourcers, logistics, finance, IT, and also process of diferent fabrics.
This career gave me the chance to rotate in different jobs and get to know a complete base of an enterprise.

as several people mentioned above, there are lots and lots of types of engineers - what do you want to be ?

go thru this link which will tell you the different types of Engineers and then chose the path which you like and make a career

http://educatingengineers.com/career-specialties

The word Engineer means creator. So now you have to decide what you want to create and work towards gaining expertise. You need to understand that without proper knowledge you will always struggle to keep-up with bare minimum day to day activities leave along what you can engineer, which becomes far-sight.