Is Engineering for me? Part II : Career Advice

Part 1 is right here.

Electrical

Employment Prospects: B- in 4 years

Course load: 10.5/10

A lot of people I know who want to get into electrical have a fascination with electronics. Hurr durr what a no brainer. You do learn a lot about electronics and it does open up fields in the mobile phone and video game industries. One side note tip that applies to many fields of engineering, however: if you are looking at a specific dream job, make sure to get experience in a similar field even if it means a lower paycheck. If you aim to make video game consoles, working for a small electronics company would be more beneficial than working with the electrical grid of an oil refinery. For those interesting jobs, coding experience would also of course be helpful.

Software

Employment Prospects: A in 4 years

Course load: 10.5/10

There’s three degrees in University that have you work mainly with computer programs: Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Information Systems. What’s the difference?
Software Engineering (also called Software Engineering) – Engineering focused
Computer Science – Science focused
Information Systems (also called MIS or CIS) – Business focused
I’ll get into more detail about the other two degrees but that’s for a different article. Software Engineering is about practical applications, containing discrete math and design applications. Think of Software Engineering vs Computer Science as Chemical Engineering vs Chemistry. Anyways, software engineering is very much in demand and is as rigorous but lucrative as it sounds.

Industrial

Employment Prospects: B- in 4 years

Course load: 10/10

Industrial Engineering is sometimes made fun of, being called “Imaginary Engineering.” You don’t actually help develop products, you design ideas dealing optimization and efficiency. My dad has an Industrial Engineering degree and he has worked for research, clothing manufacturing (Levi’s in fact), pharmaceuticals in the Middle East, and in Alberta dairy.  Industrial Engineers are often employed by the manufacturing industry. The big issue about Industrial is that Mechanical Engineers are often qualified for most Industrial Engineering positions, and employees are very aware of this. The big upside of Industrial over Mechanical, however, is the course load comparable to Civil Engineering.

Biomedical

Employment Prospects: B+ in 4 to 5 years

Course load: 11/10

This one’s the new kid in the block. Biomedical Engineers design technologies used in the healthcare system. People who thoroughly enjoy biology or are looking to medicine but can either not stand the lab work involved in a biology degree or are more mathematically inclined are often attracted to Biomedical. Bad news: there is not a lot of demand for specifically Biomedical Engineering graduates at the moment, Biomedical program are often new and inexperienced, and it’s a super rigorous degree. The good news is that the Biomedical industry is quickly expanding, Biomedical is an excellent premed, and if you do take it as a premed you can tell everyone you’re both an engineer and doctor. You’d be the coolest kid around.

Sounds awesome! I want to be an Engineer.

Cool, here’s one more tip: In Alberta, Engineers have to be part of APEGA, the regulating body for Engineering. Make sure that your university courses are APEGA approved. This is specially a concern if you take courses outside of the province or the country. You become a Professional Engineer(P. Eng) after 4 years of training under another P. Eng. I’ve heard that being a P. Eng “pretty much guarantees $100k a year” but that is an exaggeration.

Another interesting point to mention: There’s a stereotype that not a lot of girls take Engineering. It’s true. Kind of. The guy to girl ratio would certainly show that more guys take Engineering, but girls do take Engineering. Also, this stereotype doesn’t hold up everywhere in the world. In some parts of Europe and the Middle East, classes can be equal in gender. In fact, sometimes, girls find it easier to meet the admission averages and so make up the majority of certain engineering classes. Nevertheless, girls/women deserve empowerment and a welcoming environment in the STEM fields.

Still down for Engineering? Before applying for engineering, make sure to do a bit more research not just about Engineering, but also about yourself, and you’ll succeed.

 

I’ll be doing Business on my next career advice post. If you guys have suggestions on what I should do after, make sure to leave comment 🙂

Here‘s the featured image.