Future growth prospects in engineering? 3

[ziggi]

A few years out of univ, I am really torn as to what I should do with my life, straight up engineering, at least the sort I'm doing, is not cutting the mustard.
What sort of engineering career should I pursue...by that I mean, which field has a future?
Or should I just forget engineering completely and use my math skills in another field such as business, finance or economics?

I know oil, commodities and energy are the hot topic, but by the time I get some work related steam in that field, will the cycle be trending downwards?
Biotech and nanotech seem like the up and comers but what's the outlook for them.
And autos and planes are quickly becoming commodisized (ie. all the firms copy each other, so that not many distinguishing features remain, a horse is a horse is a horse, after all).

I really don't care too much about what field I work in, I just want to know that my field and consequently my skills will not become obsolete...like those of many computer engineers out there. I do like aerospace (mostly space) but that's full of old-timers who wouldn't know an innovative idea if it pissed all over their mounds of bureaucratic paperwork.

I also don't want to be at the whim of some idiot....hmmm maybe I should go into technology policy or into business for myself.

If I had started this thread back in the early 90s, I
wonder how many people would have replied - computers.

Anyway I'd love to hear any info.

 

[ziggi]

It's funny you should mention Harvard, I'm actually seriously considering a business or technology policy grad degree from either Harv or MIT.

Owning my own business is also something I've looked into, and would love doing in the future, that's one of the reasons I posed this thread, to develop experience in a devloping field and then to go out on my own once the field emerges.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

Here's Dolph's bio from imdb:

"After graduating high school, Dolph spent considerable time studying in the United States and abroad on various academic scholarships. He attended Washington State University and Clemson University in South Carolina. In 1982, he received a scholarship to complete his Masters degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sidney, Australia and in 1983 was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, one of the world's top engineering schools."

 

[ziggi]

Holy crap, Dolph was a nerd. He was a terrible actor though, but smart, he probably made more money than he could count by acting.