Sadly, I believe most kids coming out of American high schools don’t have the basic skills to succeed in engineering, and everyone knows you can always hire smart people…..right?

I think too many kids have grown up seeing their hard-working intelligent parents get the crap kicked out of them, while some salesman down the street has a cool new car every year. The flashy appearance of a moneyed lifestyle has more of an impression on young people than watching their parents top out their salary very quickly to lead a deliberate rational conservative life. Of course, they don’t know the other side of the story yet, you know…because it wouldn’t be polite to say anything mean about the neighbor down the street.

Reply to this comment

I have had to work very hard to get my engineering degrees, since I majored in Engineering Physics while minoring in Chemistry. The loss of jobs in my field forced me to switch my major in my senior year. I have used most of what I have learned throughout my long career. I learn new jobs extremely fast.

I designed almost single-handedly the coffee roasters of Maxwell house with 14 tons/hr capacity and the ability to grind and can right out of the roaster. Seven machines I designed provide all of the coffee that is sold by General Foods throughout the world. I designed probably the latest lube oil blending and grease manufacturing plant. It is in Jubal Saudi Arabia. Through the use of ingenuity and hard work, I was able to cut 15% of the equipment and installation costs to bring it in on budget and on time.

I did successful design and stress analysis for a large number of organic and inorganic processes, one of them for the military. I have one patent and contributed to two others. I have contributed to the many changes in one plant that eliminated unplanned downtime and brought the place into compliance with OSHA. (Before I was hired a man died there, after I was hired there were no lost time accidents. The literally hundreds of breakdowns weekly were reduced to zero.) I have also solved ventilation problems, “sick building syndrome” for schools, prisons and packaging plants.

I didn’t make much money and I still don’t, but I can look back to many accomplishments that were above and beyond other’s abilities that were made possible by my unusual engineering education. Money is not everything. I know that I made the world better through improvements in safety, efficacies and reliability of what I was able to work on during my lifetime.

I now work on emission reduction for power plants. The engineering education has made it possible for me to cut pollution and reduce energy use by what I accomplished, that is more than the equivalent of hundreds possibly thousands of people switching to hybrid and all electric cars.

This is what most do not consider when choosing a carrier: What impact will life make for the word if I choose one path vs. an other? In what role can I serve mankind the best? Engineering education offers the possibility that your life will impact and improve the lives thousands possibly millions on this planet.

Reply to this comment

I’m in my waining years as an engineer – I’m 75, and still working as a consultant – but it’s been a great way to make a living. I’m not wealthy, but I get by.

To make a lot of money as an engineer requires other personal characteristics that I didn’t have: e.g.: risk-taking, people skills, and single-mindedness. …I’m not complaining, I’m living my life in a way that pleases me.

That said, Engineering is perhaps the most rigorous education a beginning college student can enter. It’s rewarding in itself, explaining a lot of the world to the student that has curiosity, giving him the tools to understand the physical world around him or her.

At the beginning of the 20th century, engineering was the top-rated profession in the U.S., above medical doctors and lawyers. (Compare to now…)

Somewhere in my files, I have two cartoons (probably from “The New Yorker”): one shows a young child playing with his blocks, his dad is standing over him, and says: “Don’t be a jerk, get in sales!” The other cartoon shows a child playing with his blocks in front of the TV; his parents are seated in easy chairs, with empty beer cans around them, watching a child prodigy performing at a concert on the TV. The father looks at his child, and comments, “You slob!”

Engineers in the U.S. need to toot their horn more loudly. Mexico has many more engineering students enrolled at this moment than the U.S. has. Ditto for – no surprise – China and India.

Pax.

Reply to this comment

Got my BS in Manufacturing Eng. in ’99 and currently pursuing my MS in Software Eng. There are a couple of things in this article, like in almost all similar articles I have read on the subject, that are lacking.

“With tuition expenses at an all-time high, many students may be mistaking the most popular subject areas with the most rewarding ones.” I think potential students are informed enough to know better. The statement made in the article is rational . . . and that’s not enough. I would like to read an article that covers more of the “irrational” motivators (or de-motivators) for pursuing STEM-based degrees. Some of the comments left previously allude to this.

Also, like all other articles I’ve read, this focuses on salary as the prime motivation. I would like to read an article that weighs all the factors including stress level, hours worked, time away from home, competitive (sometimes cut-throat) environments, social isolation (having to learn something and work on your own), and the like. Sure, in America, we would like to believe that money drives us all to do what we do . . . again, too rational.

Reply to this comment