Why You Shouldn’t Study Engineering Just For The Money

Nowadays, it seems that everyone wants to become an engineer or programmer. Schools that have excellent programs in the science and technology fields seem to be inundated with applications for admission.

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The standards are rising, along with enrollment into prestigious engineering programs. Now if you ask me why all of this is happening, I’m going to have to tell you that many people are interested in becoming programmers and engineers solely because it offers a good living, and getting a job in those fields is relatively easy, compared to others. If this is not why you are studying engineering, good for you, keep on studying and creating changes for the rest of us. If you are studying engineering for the money, please do the rest of us a big favor and transfer out.

Your average engineer will make around 60,000 dollars when he first starts out. I have to admit, that is a lot of money, especially for someone like me. Unfortunately though, others have noticed this too, and there has been a rise in enrollment for engineering programs. This isn’t a good thing for a few reasons. Firstly, engineers are paid good money because they solve problems, and build things. Do you need a taller building? A civil engineer can help you. Do you need a new motor design? A mechanical engineer can probably sort you out. The point that I am trying to make is that engineers work on serious problems. Their solutions better be 100% bulletproof. We all know what happens when an engineer miscalculates when he’s making a bridge. It certainly isn’t good. So if you are studying engineering just for the money, all that you will ever be is a mediocre engineer, who will create more problems than you will ever solve.

Another reason you may want to study engineering is because it seems like it is the in thing to do right now. If you haven’t picked up, it is popular because of money involved. That’s all, nothing more and nothing less. To that end, if this is the only reason why you are doing this, you will have a really tough time getting through the classes, as they are the toughest classes that most college offer. They are tough solely for the purpose of preventing people from succeeding, unless they really want to become an engineer. This tactic seems to work as engineering courses have some of the highest drop out rates overall. So if you do think you are smarter than the school, you will be in for a really rude surprise, when you get C’s and D’s and of course F’s. It will be an expensive mistake that will set you back at least a semester or two. By the time you will have finished college, you will say to yourself, this was the dumbest thing that I ever did. Last but not least, as someone with an economics background, I am delighted to assure you that this demand for engineers will not last forever. It may be at a critical level right now, but in a few years, things will start to normalize on the demand side, and if the supply doesn’t, there will be unemployment, and that is never fun.

To conclude, while you have free will to study whatever you’d like, do yourself, and the rest of us a huge favor, and drop your dreams of being a big shot engineer, if you are only out for the money.