Tell me about engineering careers.

Purpose:
Okay, I'm looking to plan out my future again. I want to be doing college education with a career-based goal in mind, since I'm pretty well set on everything else I've planned to do with myself.

Profiling Myself:
I like to solve problems, and I'm great at working with computers, particularly software. I am currently finishing the last of my Cisco CCNA-preparation classes at college, going for a Networking Technology degree, and am looking to springboard my way into something related but more interesting. After all, networking isn't terribly exciting, and everyone I've come to know in these classes reflect that. :P I also really love science and advancements in such areas as physics, chemistry, and of course anything tech-related.

Key Problem:
I was recently told I should be an engineer, but I know not what types of engineers are out there.

The Question:
If you know of something that fits my general area, what might fit me? Or, if you know something/anything about engineers/engineering careers, please post.

Expectations:
I'm hoping to learn of different types of engineers, their job responsibilities, notable engineering universities, and what I can expect to be doing if I started working in engineering in the next five years or so.

Computer Engineering sounds like it might cover a lot of your areas. You can specialize in many directions in that field. You can go towards software more, or you can go towards hardware more. Hell, with a bit of studying, you can do robotics and stuff as well.

Thanks for the reply Replicon, I'm going to take a peek into Computer Engineering and see what programs do what with that title, and what colleges are best for whatever branches seem appealing. :D

Anyone else know anything/have any opinions on engineers and their careers?

Probably robotics sounds like it would fit your interests. As well, since you mentioned chemistry and physics - Chemical Engineering could be good. It's mostly figuring out how to synthesize chemicals in large amounts I think. So you'd be dealing with the equipment needed, amounts of each chemical etc. But you'd be dealing with large, scumbag petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies (I think chemical engineers work in these areas last time I checked), so I spose it depends on whether you have a problem with that or not.
Physics would also come in to robotics as well if you went in to flight/space engineering. I'd imagine Aerospace Engineering would fit your interests quite well.

Also, the only university I know of would be MIT. I spose that's an obvious one though. But I'm not American lol, so I can't name any more.

Hi there, I'm also thinking of taking up engineering. Last week we had a career orientation. Well, there are lot's of engineering fields out there. There's the Civil Engineering, which focuses mainly on designing roads, bridges, buildings, dams and the like. There's the Mechanical Engineer, which focuses more on designing and constructing machines which are to be used in factories, mines and stuff like that. They also focus on creating and designing automobiles. There's the Electrical Engineer, which focuses in distributing electricity throughout a specific area(a building, a town, etc). They also focus in fixing and designing anything related with electrical machines(like generators, lamp posts, power plants, etc). There's the Chemical Engineer, I don't really know much about it but all I know is, it got tons of Chemistry in it. Maybe, it has something to do with finding a cure for cancer :P . Also, there's the computer engineering, focusing on designing and creating computer programs, there's also a part where you focus more on hardware. Aside from the ones listed above, there are more engineering branches out there like Robotics Engineering, Electronics Engineering(not to be confused with electrical eng.), etc.

I think you'll fit in either computer engineering or chemical engineering(since you love chemistry). But take note that the decision is yours. Choose the one you enjoy most. It's not about the money you'll earn, it's about your passion on that certain field. Hope this helps :)

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Originally Posted by weakamon

I think you'll fit in either computer engineering or chemical engineering(since you love chemistry). But take note that the decision is yours. Choose the one you enjoy most. It's not about the money you'll earn, it's about your passion on that certain field. Hope this helps :)

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Thanks for the input! Right now I'm really not sure what it is I want to be doing on a daily basis, though. I don't want to sit in front of a computer all day, though my numerous years of expertise with computers and tech does pull me in the direction of Computer Engineering. However, Chemical Engineering seriously sounds like I'll do the most good with my life, and that's really what matters to me in making this decision right now.


Thanks for all the info, everyone. :)

Also, a lot of the mathematical modeling tools you will learn are fairly interchangeable between fields. A linear mechanical system, and a linear electric circuit, are modeled by the exact same sort of equation, in the exact same manner, for instance.