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"fun" Engineering jobs?

I'm looking for an engineering field that isn't completely a desk job. Aerospace, electrical, mechanical, and industrial engineering stand out to me. I'd appreciate any insights into the type of work each field has and how they compare.

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Glenn’s Answer

I am a Mechanical Engineer in product development. Depending on what you are working on and the company will define how much this is a desk job. People in Analysis are more tied to the desk. I worked for companies that I was responsible for products from concept to production. For this type of role, you are more tied to a desk during the concept phase where we are spending a lot of time on CAD, and less as we move to prototyping phases. I also travel to suppliers and the factories for audits, supplier selection, and factory builds. I have been to about 12 countries for work. I do not consider this a desk job.
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Farhan’s Answer

Hi Marcus,
Construction Engineering is one of the field where most of the time an engineer is required to be in the field interacting with field Ops and vendors.
It is a great field to be in if someone likes to interact and be out there in the field.
regards
Farhan
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Dan’s Answer

Neither of these engineering fields have to be primarily desk focused (although all of them will require some desk work).

A manufacturing firm, say automobile, food processing or steel/aluminum processing, will require both design engineers (more desk based) and manufacturing plant engineers (more hands-on/less desk work). You may want to consider an engineering career working on the plant/manufacturing floor where you will be responsible for the operation, maintenance, and installation of the manufacturing process/equipment. You will most likely work closely with technicians and plant operators by providing guidance on issues requiring higher level engineering decisions. I have experienced many excellent design engineers who lacked the understanding (and interest) of the manufacturing process so most companies highly value a good shop/manufacturing engineer.

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Bill’s Answer

Hi Marcus, Great question! I am a EE by training, but I am now in Engineering management at a large defense contractor, so I lead other engineers in various disciplines. There are many aspects to engineering--requirements analysis, design, trade studies, prototype fabrication, integration, test, and manufacturing, to name a few. Each discipline shares in this spectrum of activities, but I would say that mechanical engineers have the most flexibility in the market--they tend to have a wide range of skills, thus you have the option of working on non-desk jobs, although most any position will have some level of analysis/desk content. Field engineers (whether EE or ME) will have a wide variety of non-desk jobs. These engineers typically support customers with installation or troubleshooting on-site at their facility or where their equipment resides. I hope that helps. Good luck to you!
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Laura’s Answer

Hi there! All of these options would likely give you a good balance of desk work and field work as many of them would involve hands-on work or field visits. I personally studied Industrial Engineering and I loved it! The great thing about IE is that there are opportunities in so many different areas, so you have a lot of flexibility in finding the type of work that you most enjoy. For example, there are more desk-heavy positions focused on things like data analytics or supply chain, but there are also jobs like facility design or process design, where you'd need to be onsite to review and optimize things like production lines or warehouse layouts.

You can also think about what types of subjects you enjoy the most. For me, I chose IE because I'm more of a math and logistics person than a physics or materials science person. Aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineering are all much more physics-based than industrial engineering, which is much more analytical and math-based.

If you're still unsure, many schools offer dual majors where you can study two similar fields and get a degree in both. Since the fields you listed are all similar you could likely combine any of them into a dual major. Most of these probably require similar core classes as well, so you can start to develop a better idea of what you like as you start those (for example, when I learned about circuits in a physics class I knew I did not want to be an electrical engineer). Most schools make it easy to switch majors, so you can use your first few semesters to get a feel for what you like and then switch your major if needed.
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Brett’s Answer

Hello Marcus,

If what you’re looking for is hands-on or at least a balance of desk time and hands-on time I think mechanical engineering could be a great choice for you. There are many industries where you can find jobs as a ME and many positions are a blend of hands on and project management, design, or other desk-based tasks. There are many opportunities for growth and variety in your career, so even if one role doesn’t suit you, there are many other opportunities available depending on where you want to live. Electrical Engineering is also composed of a good deal of desk and hands on tasks. My number one suggestion for you would be to get into an (paid) internship and get a feel for what it’s like and where you want to end up.
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