Would majoring in engineering be worth it?

Hi Jason. While your parents might be right about the risk of being laid off later in your career as an engineer, I think that is true of virtually any profession you could choose. In my opinion, the more important question to ask yourself is what kind of job really interests you for the long term. If you like math and science and enjoy designing things and/or problem solving, then a career in engineering might be the best fit for you.

I also think you have at least two more years to discover what interests you and how your academic skills develop before you need to decide on a career path. Take the time during the next two years of high school to explore all the possibilities that are out there. Some students can even delay choosing their major for the first year of college, although that is harder to do if you want to get an engineering degree because of the early focus on math and the hard sciences such as physics.

Best of luck whatever choice you make.

Terry

Engineering can be a very rewarding career, both financially and contributing to the well-being of society. Engineers are always in great demand, so finding a job will almost never be difficult. Engineers are also generally are paid better than many professions.

With respect to possible age discrimination, there is a lot of that in many professions, including engineering. I worked full-time until age 66 and experienced some drop-off in opportunities in my later years. But I was never faced with a layoff. My large degree of experience was valued where I worked.

Engineers and STEM majors in general are always in demand. I wouldn't worry about getting laid off as an engineer, yes its possible, but that goes with every profession known to man kind. I honestly would squash that bug now, don't worry about it. Focus on doing something you love. You can fail at something you don't like, so you might as well fail at something you do like. You might not know what you love to do yet, and that's perfectly fine. I liked working on stuff and solving problems. I decided on engineering because I wanted to choose something challenging and I essentially told myself failing some piece of paper math test wasn't going to hurt me. What I tell people all the time is to not be afraid of engineering and STEM because of math and science. Math and science does take more time and dedication but once you spend time with it and start to move higher in your classes you start to see the world through the eyes of someone who understands physics and math and its capabilities. All the classes you'll take in college will be like adding screw drivers and wrenches to your tool box for solving problems later. Initially I choose mechanical engineering. Once in school I got involved with robotics and realized I loved robotics because it involved both mechanical and computer knowledge and as I got used to programming it wasn't that bad and so I changed to computer engineering. If you're worried about which engineering to choose, I would recommend Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering. Both these field are broad and you can do almost anything with them. Engineering shows you can solve problems, and companies want a problem solver and good person. Sometimes the title of the degree doesn't completely matter. Maintain a growth mindset. You can learn and do anything!

Hey Jason,

...the answer to your question is "Yup!!!...it's worth it". You will find that after you attain your undergraduate degree, you will be one well-rounded problem solver. With all the courses that you are required to take in addition to the ones you could take as electives, you'll find that you will know how to do technical stuff as well as understand the time-value of money as well as tackle ethical situations as an engineer . Many years ago (as I humor myself at times with tangential statistics), I discovered that the folks who score the highest on the LSAT (for law school) were engineers. Think about that. The fresh engineering mind is quite adept at many aspects of problem solving...including legal interpretations. Rest assured, you won't be a 'one trick pony'. You will be confident, assured and ready to take on both planned in unplanned challenges. Hope this helps, Jason :)