Would You Encourage Your Kids to become Engineers? 4

[Christine74]

Suppose you had a child that was in the process of choosing which career path to pursue. Knowing what you know now about the engineering profession, would you encourage them to pursue that field of study, assuming that they had the necessary skills to succeed as an engineer?

I think most of us would agree that there are plenty of other careers out there that earn better pay, garner higher status, and get better benefits than engineers. And many of these degrees are much easier to obtain than an engineering degree.

What would you advise your children?

Thanks.


-Christine

 

[HgTX]

StructuralEIT--to me, getting a lit. degree would be hard. Data entry is boring and tedious. Coming up with stuff to write about that I just don't feel is hard. There *is* a difference. I could force myself through an accounting or geology program. I would flunk out of a lit program. FOR ME, the way MY brain is wired, thinking about literature is hard. (And let's not even discuss the many engineers who can't so much as put together a grammatical sentence, and who would probably not be able to get through an elementary school teacher training program.)

I have another degree in a social science. I can't say that one degree was "harder" to get than the other. Either way, I was doing work along the lines that my brain liked to go. In both cases, I sometimes hit areas where my brain didn't really want to go. That's "hard".

I also have a master's degree in each field. In the social science, I was lost, dazed, and confused, and really only got the master's because I dropped out of a PhD program. In the engineering program, I wasn't the best student they had, but I managed to maintain a merit-based fellowship without serious trauma. Does that mean that engineering is easier than the social science?

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[Lion06]

HgTX-
I can appreciate that YOU feel a lit degree would be hard. No one was talking about an individual case, we were making more of a general statement. That being the case, I have to reiterate that for the masses an engineering degree is much harder.
There is a reason that far fewer people get an engineering degree than a liberal arts degree and it isn't just because they find the subject matter so moving.
The majority of people just could not take it - having to give THE correct answer instead of just being able to defend AN answer. Many people do not like the idea that there really is a correct answer. I personally need that, but that is irrelevant.
The point I am making is while there are exceptions to the rule, generally speaking (as considered by the masses) an engineering degree is harder than most.

 

[SomptingGuy]

The majority of people just could not take it - having to give THE correct answer instead of just being able to defend AN answer. Many people do not like the idea that there really is a correct answer.

Uh?

I take the exact opposite view. It is SO much easier if there is only one answer, you know how to derive it and you ultimately know whether you are right or wrong. "Opinion" answers and exams based on expressing opinions are well avoided. Give me a black & white exam any day.

 

[SomptingGuy]

... likewise all those subjects marked via coursework were also avoided by me in favour of the exam-based subjects. How do you score 100% in a coursework-based subject?

 

[Lion06]

somptingguy-
You are correct. It is so much easier when there is only one answer and you know if you are right or wrong. The flaw with that statement is that you are making the assumption that someone knows how to do the problem. That is the very essence of my point - that most people don't (and even with schooling can not succeed at it).
As HgTX pointed out - anything is easy if you know how to do it. The point I am making is that a larger magnitude of people can not handle the coursework for the engineering degree.
I am done arguing this point because it is coming dangerously close to a previous thread in which I got angry. I don't like to be angry.

 

[kchayfie]

I don't know about you guys but in the engineering I do, there isn't a right answer, there's no black-and-white yes-or-no. There's a lot of different solutions to the clients problem and the art in what we do is to find the most appropriate answer according to the client's priorites at the time. If there was only one answer, the clients would do these jobs themselves and they wouldn't need my help.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Yeah, but I was talking about passing courses and getting grades. I've always regretted not taking some courses that would have done me better in life, solely because they weren't exam-based. Likewise it really cheesed me off in my final year that I came top in the "operations management" exam. That was supposed to be about running factories, something I knew I'd never do.

Coursework is probably more valuable than bookwork, but if you need a good final score to get a job, then so be it.

 

[Twoballcane]

I agree with StructuralEIT. The method to get to the one answer is the tough part (math, physics, chem..etc) and there is no difference of interpritation, it's either right or wrong and no partial credit. For other non-science / math base classes (english, art, law ...etc) you can figure out what the preofssor wants and if you don't like the grade, you have a chance to defend your point of view of the subject matter. You can not do that in engineering. It is either you did the calcs right or wrong. It is easy to get it wrong, but it is harder to get that one needle in the hay stack.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[JJPellin]

A good friend of my wife had a son that just graduated from high school. He wanted to go into mechanical engineering, but his parents talked him out of it. They told him that mechanical engineers sit at a desk all day doing theoretical calculations and that would bore him to death. Instead, he changed to physical education and plans to be a high school football coach. I was saddened that I did not have a chance to explain to him that engineering is not just theoretical calculations. I knew I wanted to be a mechanical engineer when I was 10 years old. I have had a few bad days, but overall, I have enjoyed it. I find it challenging and rewarding. I get paid more than most of my non-engineer friends. I am able to live well and take care of my family. If a child has an interest in engineering, I would encourage them to go into engineering as a career.

Johnny Pellin

 

[mechmama]

To the OP, as a parent of a 10 & 3 year old pair of mechanically-inclined boys, I would encourage them to pursue engineering, even though I complain about the career a lot myself. The older one seems to be pretty good at math and pretty bad at reading, and he's already figured out how to fix his own bicycle & dirt bike.

I'm going to encourage him to get an engineering degree. If he had his way, he would be a tradesman, a pro dirt biker, or maybe a snow board instructor. I guess if you're looking at getting your very bookish child into the most lucrative profession, perhaps you should promote finance or medicine over engineering, but if you're getting your hands-on, anti-sit-at-a-desk type kid to succeed in college, engineering is going to be a good place for him. He might find another degree easier (exercise science, perhaps), but I want him to have the most versatile education possible, and I think that's engineering right now.

 

[MechanicalChef]

If my child was good at math and science, and expressed an interest in engineering, I'd encourage them. It's an honorable career which has HIGH potential to make money, unlike much softer majors. But, I wouldn't push them into it either. I've know many people who cursed their parents because engineering school wasn't something they had really wanted. I don't ever want to be told, "I never wanted this, you forced me to do it."

Engineering was my idea, my choice, and I did it myself.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Education required...

What is a "major"? In The UK we choose the entire syllabus before we start. A fresh-from-school kid has to know whether to be a poet or a doctor or an engineer before starting. What's the score elsewhere?

I enrolled into a mechanical engineering degee at the age of 18. Luckily I liked it.

 

[sms]

In general it is the same in the US, but there are a set of general requirments that everyone takes (English, social science electives, etc) and so you really don't have to declare a degree plan (major) until your sophmore year (or so). Engineers in general take engineering basic courses from the start (statics, dynamics, intro to electrical), but again you can begin pursuing an engineering degree without settling on a discipline until you are a sophmore or so...

At least in the schools around here, I suppose it is different state by state.



"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[SomptingGuy]

SMS,

It sounds like your first year is general studies; your second year is a bit like our crammer 6th form years, where we do nothing but maths, physics and chemistry. And then after that you specialise. Almostlike the average UK 6th former is equivalent in education to a US graduate. That would explain why US master's degrees are seemingly equivalent to UK bachelor's degrees in terms of knowledge.

 

[KENAT]

Sompting, now you've started it.

While things change over time in the UK people actually start to specialise at about 14 for their GCSEs, they still cover quite a few subjects (I did 9 + typing) but not everything.

When I went to College (last 2 years of high school) I took 4 subjects (most took 3), all related to eventually going into Enginneering. (I think now they have to take 5 for their first year but then typically only take 3 in their last).

Once at University as Sompting says I literally only studied Engineering.

I know the US system is meant to make you more rounded but having been here a while now I'm not entirely sure about this.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[sms]

"That would explain why US master's degrees are seemingly equivalent to UK bachelor's degrees in terms of knowledge"

I certainly did not mean to imply that.... and I am pretty sure that I don't agree with it.





"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[deveng100]

I would wish my kid to be an engineer
I know that it can be wierd enough for him to chose career in rafting or painting or anything..
But a typical art commerce or social job does not involve charm..
I mean you can see a 60 year old engineer also finding new things to learn from his job..his field is neverending...
It teaches you a way of life
Anecdote
We were 4 friends..who happened to visit some hotel out of our state
Now two of us who were engineers , we could understand the system of hot and cold water and shower and bathtub..
But other two non technical guys..just came out after some time asking others for help..
A simple scenario..
We call find such differences in many other things
Engeneering teaches new way of life...even though at the cost of salary and so called sophisticated bankers and lawyers job

 

[IRstuff]

But, you need to read the fine print. The number of guys making those bucks is miniscule. If even only the ones reading this thread all became investment bankers, a major portion of them would do no better than they did as engineers, and the ones that could would only dilute the salary pool.

Michael Jordan was unique and was paid accordingly. If everyone who wished to be Michael Jordan could actually perform to the same level, the rewards would not be nearly as great.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[RDK]

From an early age it was apparent that my son was headed for the hard sciences. Soft sciences or literature just was not his forte.

The only advice or encouragement that I gave him about engineering was that he could take an engineering degree and if engineering was not what he wanted to do then he would have the same skills and knowledge as a chemistry or a math major but a professional degree.

He is now a civil engineer intending to go into construction project management.

Encourage your kids to do what they want. They will be the ones doing it not you. Don’t try to make up for any failures or disappointments in your life by living through your kids.






Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[sms]

I just read this in the Times online

"At present the majority of universities charge £3,000 a year, the maximum permitted by the Government."

6000 USD (more or less) maximum per year for tuition?
If as the saying goes "you get what you pay for" then Somptingguy I wonder a bit about your assesment of US vs UK education... A top notch university in the US could easily be twice that cost....

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.