Engineering - is it worth it? (1 Viewer)

[Mountain.Dew]

To All who is involved with engineering in one way or another,

is it worth doing engineering? i have been to one of the open days at usyd, and i found engineering to be quite interesting. however, i have done a little bit of research and heard a lot of opinions, and they all said that there isnt such a big market for engineers, plus, in the global market, other engineers from other countries are too competitive.

is this true? will i be able to live comfortably as an engineer?
is there the possibility of having my own small business?

and yes, i do know that many people choose engineering because they enjoy it, but right now, i am sitting on the fence.

any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[antarctic]

At the end of the day, whether something is 'worth it' or not is a value judgement, and is something only you can decide.
As far as the market for engineers is concerned, you may interested in this website:

http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#emply

Also, the USyd graduate destination survey may interest you:

http://www.careers.usyd.edu.au/students/careeropt/degree.shtml

Good luck

Antarctic

 

[Adam]

Do whatever you enjoy. I love engineering full stop, that's why I'm doing it.

The fact that more civil engineering graduates get a job in their first year out then nurses - well I'm not complaining. Not to mention a starting salary of 40k. Which is one of the highest of all courses....

 

[sikeveo]

no, not mining, or dent, or med.

 

[Adam]

one of

 

[withoutaface]

Not to mention mining is actually an engineering discipline.

 

[KeypadSDM]

Go engineers.

I wouldn't pick an Engineering degree for the job prospects in the engineering field at the end. If you want a job here, and you're smart, you'll get it. The point of an Engineering degree is to give you a wide variety of general skills. It's a very universal degree.

 

[allstarr69]

There are plenty of jobs for engineers. Read the papers recently.. there was an article outlining the shortage of engineers coz all the smart cookies do science / commerce.. and all females generally stay away from engineering. There will always be a demand for engineers as techinology is always improving.. especially in computer / electrical / mechanical fields. Just choose a discipline you like.

Alot of people hire engineers strictly because of their logical mindset... maybe not so much what they know but the way they think.

 

[aquaa123qwe]

if there's no job the degree properly won't exist

lmao

 

[aquaa123qwe]

do anything u like

 

[Tabanacle]

there was an ad in saturday's smh for 40 electrical graduates at energy australia offering $55k + super

 

[Carnivour]

Ok, well, I'm not in engineering at the moment, although I have defered my mechatronic (space) at USyd for next year.

However, I will respond on behalf of my brother, who completed bachelor of environmental engineering (which is essentially civil engineering) at Newcastle. He also completed his PhD in newcastle.
At the moment he works in Princeton in the US as a researcher in the field of CO2 sequestration (basically researching ways to store carbon emission underground hence reduce greenhouse effect blah blah). This research project is sponsored by the gas company BP, and is the largest funding they have ever given out on a research project. My brother earns 65K a year USD after tax. Its his first job. He loves it because its incredibly flexible - there is no 9-5 hours, he can work at his own pace, and work with leading engineers from around the world, and there is actually little pressure on him despite the fact its an ivy league school. Thats the beauty of the life of an academic.
After his contract finishes at the end of the year, he intends to apply for a job in New York where there is ample demand for people with engineering qualifications in the area of financial analysis as their maths skills tend to be far more advanced than those with commerce degrees.

So, this is my two pennies on the kind of different opportunities an engineering degree from newcastle has given my brother and hence i decided to go into the field also.

 

[Tuna]

You want to earn as much as him right?

 

[Carnivour]

bahahahaha my brother is a genious, so firstly its highly unlikely that i would be offered a job at princeton straight after finishing phd with that kind of starting salary. so im not planning on 75 straight out of uni. however if its in a field i know i will enjoy because i know exactly what it entails, and it could potentially bring more moolah, i think im fairly justified in choosing it.
starting salary in australia is somewhere around the 40k mark right? thats more than fine with me. i would never ever put myself through 4 years of maths and science if i didnt enjoy it or wasnt good at it and then finish and have a job in a field i hated. thats just stupid.