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Kayla Forest
Mr. Alburger
Kayla Forest
Mr. Alburger
23 February 2017
A Career in Engineering
As an engineer, mathematical and science skills remain the most important skill sets
needed for success. The different kinds of engineers all obtain different types of jobs, such as
building roads, houses, machines, planes, buildings, airports, ships, devices, etc. Without the
field of engineering, the world would not advance in reference to technology, structures, and
business development. Studying to become an engineer takes work, but once the hardships end,
all the engineers focus goes to making improvements in the world. Engineering involves
mathematical, science, and critical thinking in a day to day life, a long and hard educational path,
including many different fields to experience, and a long history of engineering as well as an
uprising future.
Engineering dates back to 2550 BC when the first engineer, Imhotep, built the Step
Period at Saqqarah, Egypt (Smith). With many different fields of engineering, each one brings an
unique background and began at different times. In 2016, a report said that the population of
engineers increased from 1.1 million in 1960 to 6.2 million in 2013 (Gonzalez). Thirty years ago,
most work done by an engineer involved only pencil, paper, and the basic fundamentals of
engineering (Bishop). Engineering improvements in the future will reflect off of the
Taking many factors into consideration, science will prove what the future of engineering
may look like. Today, engineers focus on the use of computers more than the use of pencil and
paper. According to Jamie Bishop, now and in the future, engineers will not use the
fundamentals taught to them when they become an engineer (Bishop). The increase of
technology continues to help engineers solve problems, store data, and design products
(Engineering). In the future, engineers may need to improve on the conflict involving the
number of people in society. The population of the world continues to increase and the
environment continues to go downhill, so engineers in the future will have to look more at
environmental problems and solutions. Not only will the environment degrade, but also with
more people in the world, engineers will need to improve transportation, design more energy
efficient buildings, make more materials, etc (Katechi). As the future approaches, the best
engineers around will begin to retire and put engineering in their past. In the future, the program
of engineering will continue to grow and help satisfy the people living around the globe.
Engineers go through a difficult educational path to begin their lives as a skilled engineer.
Engineers need to graduate college with at least a bachelor's degree. Once obtaining a bachelors
degree and completing four years of college, engineers may choose to pursue a doctorate or
master's degree. Shown in a study, most engineers finish their studies with a doctorate degree
(Gonzalez). In the United States, most colleges and universities offer unique engineering
programs, but not all excel in their engineering programs. The top ten engineering programs
according to the U.S. News and World Report constitute Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
University (Schools). In college, the classes taken relate to the majors studied. Most of the
engineering students take the same classes sophomore year and junior year; however, the classes
will become more specialized for the specific major studied (Bishop). Engineers may still take
elective classes should they desire to obtain a minor or an additional major in another subject.
Engineers should consider taking entrepreneurship classes when becoming an engineer because
engineers can possibly become more successful by having some insight into entrepreneurship.
The research has shown that gaining knowledge in entrepreneurship can take an engineer
anywhere, so having a background in engineering and entrepreneurship can give someone a lot
of success in life (Duval-Couetil et al). Some of the fields of engineering require professional
engineering licenses, but that depends on the field and job wanted (Gonzalez). If a field requires
a licenses then an engineer must take professional engineering (PE) test. A engineer must
complete a fundamentals of engineering test in their junior year of college (Bishop). The field of
Many engineers finish school after four years and obtain one degree; however, obtaining
a higher degree will increase an engineer's success, such as income (Gonzalez). The income for
an engineer that has 25 years of experience and a bachelors degree made $122,000, an engineer
with a masters degree made $131,000, and an engineer with a doctorates made $140,500
(Gonzalez). The level of education impacts the income given to any engineer, so any engineer
who wants more success should consider continuing their education. Also, returning to school to
gain a higher education can improve the knowledge an engineer already obtains with new
improvements made in the engineering field today (Gonzalez). When returning back to school,
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people do not want to leave work because they still need the income, even though their education
will become an important aspect of their life. Continuing education online helps to keep
engineers employed, so they do not lose their source of income. The following top five schools
Continuing education helps anyone become more successful in their field, but as an engineer the
Chemical engineering dates back to the 19th century when the industrial age began to
experiment with chemical reactions (Smith). Most of the knowledge chemical engineers need
constructing, and managing factories of the process that uses chemical reactions. The future of
chemical engineering ties in with technology because the number of production increases
While similar, aeronautics and aerospace contain a few differences. When mechanical
Leonardo da Vinci when he sketched the first plane (Stanzione). Ever since then, aeronautics
and aerospace engineering has grown and taken off. Aeronautics focuses on the planes designed,
processed, built, and tested for the use of anyone wanting to transport by air (Engineering).
These planes remain in the hands of engineers from the request and requirements to the final
stages (Bishop). Aeronautical engineers have given their full attention or had hands on all planes
that fly today. All aircraft flown need to pass an inspection before take off and if a problem
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occurs, aeronautical engineers receive a call in order to remedy the problem. On the other hand,
aerospace engineering involves the aircraft flown to outer space. Not only do aerospace
engineers focus on the aircraft for space, but they also focus on different machines that people
may send into space (Engineering). Aeronautics and aerospace determine how planes,
Engineering started as a basic form of civil engineering, but civil engineering split off
into its own branch of engineering in the 18th Century (Smith). Most fields of engineering all
have a specific job to focus on, but civil engineering almost covers it all. Civil engineers improve
the society every day by coming up with new innovations to sustain the environment. Also, civil
engineers focus on building houses, roads, buildings, bridges, railroads, canals, airports, harbors,
docks, as well as transportation and water-systems, etc (Engineering). Graduating with a civil
engineering degree gives the student the opportunity to take a variety of paths. Civil engineering
requires knowledge of surveying, construction, fluid mechanics, soil fundamentals, and structure
requirements (Engineering). This type of engineering offers the only branch of engineering to
thinkers, such as Samuel F.B. Morse who invented the telegraph (Fink). Electrical and electronic
engineering deals with the design, application, and manufacturing of systems and devices that
require electric power (Engineering). Electrical and electronic engineering have different
branches to succeed from. The four main branches of electrical engineering: electronics, electric
power and machinery, communications and control, and computers each describe improvements,
inventions, and knowledge in electricity. Without electric power and machinery, the world would
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not have advanced as far with AC motors (Engineering). Civil engineering has a wide variety
of different jobs to focus on; however, electrical engineering focuses on just electronics, but in
different branches.
Geological and mining engineers focus on exploring mineral deposits and developing,
constructing, operating, financing, and marketing crude minerals and products (Engineering).
A mining engineer focuses his or her studies on minerals and processes involving minerals.
Geological and mining engineers learned about historical geology, mineralogy, paleontology,
and geophysics, as well as learning how to control tools like the seismograph and the
magnetometer (Engineering). These engineers do not only focus on mining and exploring
beneath the surface of the earth. They also work above the earth, for example, to build a dam, a
geological engineer first determines whether a dam will work in that location depending on the
Industrial engineering began before the first department of industrial engineering actually
began (Tanabe). Industrial engineers work to make machines, products, and materials superior,
so costs and safety do not develop into waste (Engineering). This kind of engineering focuses
on making products more useful, instead of letting products go to waste. Industrial engineers
engineering will improve over time because machines, products and materials improve everyday.
In England and Scotland, after James Watt and machinists of the Industrial Revolution
created new inventions, mechanical engineering formed (Smith). The tools and items invented
led to testing of the inventions. Mechanical engineering tests and builds all kinds of machines, as
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well as certain goods (Engineering). Many people refer to a mechanical engineer as the person
who fixes cars, but these engineers have many more machines to focus on. For example,
systems and machines make up the job description of a mechanical engineer. When a person
trains to become a mechanical engineer they must study mechanics, hydraulics, thermodynamics,
and become familiar with machine design (Engineering). Mechanical engineers continue to
Military engineering has always evolved around the military and their needs. Military
engineering first begun during the Iron Age in Europe (Military). Military engineers contribute
to the success of war because of the appliances made by them. Mechanical engineers use
supports the military and continues to assist with the safety of the United States.
Naval engineering and marine engineering share common aspects. On one side, Naval
engineers, also known as naval architects, design and construct ships (Engineering). Basically
the ships made by these naval engineers can range from small fishing boats to humongous cargo
ships. In contrast, marine engineers focus on the operating systems and designing of ships, which
contain some similar aspects of mechanical engineering (Engineering). Both of the engineering
fields work together to make and sell a safe and successful ship.
All nuclear explosions that happen around the world would not exist if nuclear engineers
did not create the reactors. Nuclear engineering remains one of the newest types of engineering
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brought alive in the 20th century (Smith). Nuclear weapons and reactors have become much
more famous around the world. Nuclear engineers design and construct nuclear reactors as well
as nuclear devices. (Engineering). Nuclear engineers develop methods to keep people safe
from the harmful radiation released by nuclear reactions (Engineering). So, not only do nuclear
engineers produce the harmful radiation in the reactors, but they also keep people safe from the
radiation.
Both safety and sanitary engineering keep workers safe in their work environments as
well as protecting the environment. Safety engineering jobs involve designing machines,
factories, ships, and roads as well as providing safe methods for workers in dangerous situations
(Engineering). A safety engineer sticks to his or her job title by actually contributing to
people's safe and healthy life. For example, safety engineers help design machines to ensure that
the machine contains certain safety parts that keep workers out of dangerous situations
(Engineering). Safety engineers provide safe situations for other engineers in different fields.
Other branches of engineering train their engineers to become familiar with the techniques of
safety engineering (Engineering). On the other hand, sanitary engineering focuses on the
hazardous situations in the environment. Sanitary engineering deals with problems such as water
supply, community wastes, pollution control throughout the environment and atmosphere, food
sanitation, sanitation in houses, insect control, etc. (Engineering). Safety and sanitary
engineers improve the publics day to day life in and out of their working environments.
In all engineering jobs, the engineers seek satisfaction in knowing they will continue
working with the same company, stay in the same location, or have their salary raised. Salary
remains a key component of job satisfaction among 2013 respondents, but issues such as
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work/life balance and job security rank high as well (Nelson). Engineers make a great deal of
money that benefits the engineer along with his or her family. The location effects the salary of
an engineer; the West Coast has the higher salaries and the Southeast has the lowest salaries
(Nelson). Most of the citizens in the United States know that the cost of living on the West coast
remains different than living in the Southeast. Security ranks as another important thing when
working in any job; therefore most engineers feel comfortable and safe in their career (Nelson).
Engineers should consider those three factors of job satisfaction when employed.
A day to day life as an engineer may differ depending on the type of work done in the job
type. Engineers on average spend 9 to 10 hours a day working in an office and outside of work
they may answer phone calls, emails, or continue to work on unfinished material (Bishop).
Engineers, similar to all others, need to disconnect from work and live their lives outside of
work. Depending on the position held, most engineers work in a team. An engineer receives as
well as completes the tasks, the manager manages the workload, and the director strategizes what
the group as a whole should do (Bishop). Engineers have different options to consider when
When society hears the word engineer, male builders, workers, designers, etc. come to
mind, but now the engineering program seems to pull more women to the workforce as an
engineer. Back in the 50s and 60s, men made up the majority of engineers (Bishop). Today, the
world has become more diverse when it comes to working in general. A report by the
Congressional Joint Economic Committee states that NASA employs approximately 14 percent
of women engineers (NASA). With females beginning careers in engineering, more and more
females will follow in their footsteps. Women engineers who become successful will start trends
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that make engineering improvements as a whole (Bishop). The uniqueness of women engineers
will cause engineers all over the world to follow the trends the women engineers start.
SWE magazine shared the stories of women engineers such as Mabel Esteves-Velzquez,
graduated with a bachelors and masters degree. Also, Mabels employers hired her as the first
woman employee at their company. Also, another electrical engineer, Courtney Gras, studied
Courtney Gras accomplishments. Her entrepreneurship background helped her co-found Design
Flux Technologies (Perusek). Ashley Johnston, a mechanical engineer at Precision Valve and
Automation in Cohoes, New York, lives an abnormal life compared to most engineers (Perusek).
Engineers should look up to Ashley due to her courageous and impressive career and because of
the life she balances. Ashley still works a normal schedule, but on the side she practices the
second thing she loves, hockey (Perusek). Most athletes pick an easy major to major in, but
instead Ashley took a different route and showed how strongly she can stand. Mabel, Courtney,
and Ashley, as well as other amazing women engineers, can make a difference, just by having an
unique way to become the people they have turned into today.
The history of engineering as well as the future, improves the education and the day to
day like of an engineer to make engineering unique. All universities and colleges contain
depends mostly on the salary given to the employee; however to receive a high salary the
engineer should graduate with an advanced degree. A person who desires to become an engineer
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better start studying their options, because engineering has many different paths someone could
take.
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Works Cited
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Fink, Donald G., and John D. Ryder. "Electrical and Electronics Engineering." Encyclopdia
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