The majority of engineers earn a B.S.E. degree and then go into industry. Undergraduate programs for engineering are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), which periodically reviews the curriculum and teaching facilities of colleges before renewing their accreditation. Many states require that engineers in certain functions (such as public works construction) be graduates of an accredited program.
At the behest of the professional engineering societies, ABET sets the minimum number of specific courses that engineers take. It also specifies such things as laboratory courses, computer programming, and design projects. These courses then become the required curriculum of college engineering departments.
Even though formal study stops for most engineers at the B.S. level, education continues. Most employers have some type of classroom education for new employees. And many engineers find it helpful to take continuing-education courses during their careers to learn about new areas of technology.
About 20 to 30 percent of engineers, depending on the type of discipline they are in, go on to earn a master s degree. Many engineers consider the master's degree the necessary final step for a fully trained engineer. It is quite common for students to take a full-time job and attend night school. Silicon Valley, the area south of San Francisco that is the heart of the electronics industry, came into being, in part, because of the strong base of good engineering schools in the vicinity. These schools served as an anchor for high-tech companies and provided a place where hired engineers could continue their education.
But many engineers can now continue their education in remote locations by gaining access to videotaped courses and computer-networked classes. As you will see in the following pages, many engineering specialties exist primarily at the master's level, so if you want to be fully prepared for working in these areas, the master s program is advisable. Usually M.S.E. graduates can expect to earn annually about $2,000 to $4,000 more than B.S.E. graduates when they start working. But this difference fades over time, as individual performance becomes apparent.
A substantial number of engineering graduates combine the engineering degree with a master's degree in business administration (M.B.A.). The engineering/M.B.A. combination is a powerful one for engineers who expect to move into management or to start their own businesses. So-called "techno-M.B.A.s" have the skills to run businesses, especially those that involve highly technical goods and services. Some schools now offer a "masters in technology" degree, which is tailored for management in highly technical businesses.
The doctorate degree (Ph.D.) is obligatory for engineers who expect to teach at the university level. Many research groups-either in private industry, at federally funded national laboratories, or at research foundations-prefer Ph.D.-level engineers. Annual pay can be $4,000 to $10,000 more than that of a B.S.E. graduate.
A final element in the educational environment is the question of professional licensing. This license is earned by passing two tests and by gaining several years' experience in actual engineering work. Only about 15 percent of all engineers take the time to get this license, and most of these are in the civil engineering profession where government regulations require licensed engineers to review blueprints. Licensure is desirable for any engineers who expect to work as consultants, who hope to start their own businesses, or who plan to spend the bulk of their career in one discipline or area of technology.
Employment in the Private and Public Sectors
According to data on graduating classes, well over one-third of the job offers engineering students receive come from manufacturers. This is no surprise because manufacturing is the sector of the American economy most closely tied to technology.
But this doesn't mean that the remaining sectors of the economy are closed off to engineers. In all likelihood most students head toward manufacturing initially because that's where they find the highest salaries. But there are well-paying jobs in other sectors, and if salary isn't an issue of high importance, practically the entire employment arena is open to the engineering graduate.
Engineers are attractive job seekers because their academic training prepares them to handle numbers easily and to approach work with a positive, problem-solving attitude. The question sets and tests that engineering students take during school are not just a means of getting grades; in many ways, these test questions are comparable to the problems engineers encounter in the real world.
Government service is another significant source of jobs for engineers; the government is perennially short of engineers. The main employment areas in the federal government are the Departments of Defense, Energy, the National Science Foundation (which helps run the network of national laboratories), and agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Army Corps of Engineers. The National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation hire large numbers of engineers annually, especially for designing and installing communication networks.
Again, it is important to think about one's long-term career while considering work in any area of the economy. Many engineers perform important work as consultants or business advisers, but they can only do so after gaining experience in manufacturing or government service. In the environmental field, for example, many specialists work first for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, or state-level agencies, and then go on to work for engineering firms that do clean-up projects. Another potential career choice is banking and financial services. Banks need to know as much as possible about the capabilities of the companies for whom they provide loans. Financial firms and stock investors may need advice on the potential of a new technology, the possible results of a shortage of materials or energy, or the effects of a new government regulation.
It is not easy to predict exactly what one would like to do ten or fifteen years down the road. Don't be frustrated if you can't decide now. Make plans to give yourself as many options as you can for the future. If you believe that you might do well in research, plan to take extra science courses. If you think that you might want to be a business manager, take extra economics or business courses, and perhaps make preparations for attending business school after you finish your engineering education.
