Engineering as a "status" occupation? LMAO

[ME_VT_PE]

Nothing wrong with being in an engineering field as long as it it not becoming derelict and obsolete.  My objection is with people who glorify it as something magnificent when in reality it's just a living, not a life.  Driving a dump truck is a living too and those who choose that path deserve just as much "status" as an engineer.

So you're a former engineer turned dump truck driver, eh?...I think I'm smelling what you're smoking bro.

 

[Exengineer]

Not a dump truck driver although I am qualified for that license.  Semi-retired and a Subcontractor Cargo Inspector for goods being shipped to African countries and a few other places (Indonesia, Iraq). An excellent way to ease into retirement or continue to work past retirement age.  Still maintain my Professional Engineer license but don't make any use of that.  Have not worked as an engineer since 2014.  My work week averages 14-16 hours per week.  My degree has been rendered obsolete and is only offered in a handful of universities in the U.S.  I call it my "great vaunted engineering degree" as it went out like a candle in a tornado.  

 

[jeb6294]

Semi-retired and a Subcontractor Cargo Inspector for goods being shipped 

i.e. Got fired from your Engineering job and now working part-time at the UPS Store....gotcha.

 

[goodal]

That's your fault bud.  My degree has opened many doors for me to better myself and the lives of my family, and the lives of my employees that I've hired as a result of my degree and the charities that I have donated to because of my "status" as you call it.  Just because your career petered out, or you didn't use your education properly, doesn't mean the profession is a farce.  I don't claim to be the smartest person in the room, but it took a lot of hard work to get where I am in my life and my degree has alot to do with it.  So assuming you're not a troll, what do you think is going to happen coming on an ENGINEERING board and crapping on all our hard work?  "Oh yea, we all hate our life and profession and wish we had went to work on a dock."  Don't think so.

I realize I'm mud wrestling with a pig here, but couldnt help myself.

 

[Exengineer]

It's no one's "fault" as you put it.  It is just the way circumstances presented themselves.  It wasn't a good program or degree, that's why it has been discontinued in so many universities.  The best years for it were the 1970s and prior.  Whose fault is that?  Probably no one in particular.  Not every engineering program is perfect and flawless, there are some that become quickly obsolete and their graduates are left to fend for themselves.  Universities don't want to spend time assisting graduates who have fallen on hard times, they want to serve current students.  Life goes on with or without a useful degree.  

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

If you're an engineer and just living a life, you're doing something wrong. Probably due to incompetence.

 

[goodal]

What weird post.  All students are left to fend for themselves after graduation.  Its called life.  I didn't have any help from my school after I left and didn't expect any.  They aren't running a daycare for engineers.  Once your out on your own its up to you.  So yes, it is your fault not your universities.  Own up to it and move on.  Your life will be much better when you're not so busy being bitter.

 

[JayKay PE]

If you're an engineer and just living a life, you're doing something wrong. Probably due to incompetence.

Affirmative.  You should either be over 100% utilized or building something at all times.  Living a life is not allowed until after your retire, and even that is suspect.

 

[Road Guy]

I feel like I've been 10% billable since I was 16...

But I don't really know many people I have met in my career that wake up everyday, and feel they are at some higher level status because they are an "engineer". 

I do believe that Doctors believe their shit doesn't stink.  But they are making $300K or so.  Would I like to make that, yes, would I want to be a doctor, nope. 

In terms of lawyers, I make more than the median salary for lawyers in the US so not going to lose much sleep on that one.

 

[Dleg]

I've lived in some pretty third-worldy places and being an engineer IS a status job. It just doesn't seem like it in US suburbia, where the differences aren't as noticeable.

I'll try to be a little more diplomatic than the others: if your original engineering degree didn't work out, you still have an engineering degree and you can move into other engineering jobs. I know plenty of engineers who are working and licensed in branches of engineering that are different than their degree, including me. Yes you might have to start off near the bottom again, but a seasoned engineer will learn the ropes and rise faster than a new graduate.  Seen it and done it. 

 

[Drewism]

Go where I am from. Most people end up working at civil servant jobs. It's decent money but it's demanding work physically. Eventually that will catch up to you and you can't put a price on your physical and mental health. Also, I consider this profession to be quite fulfilling and dignified. Do you really want to work in a career where all you do is move things all day? Pay is only a small portion of a career.

 

[Exengineer]

All I know is that I did the best I could with what I had and if things didn't work out, tough.  As for changing engineering careers, I tried that at age 25 and attempted to go from metallurgical to microwave electronics and it turned out to be a disaster.  I dropped out before I could be fired.  Some people can do that if they have good mentoring and advising, but if you are left on your own most of the time it is extremely difficult or impossible.  The word "engineer" is used rather loosely anyway.  Would you like to see a chemical engineer doing designs of bridges and other structural work who hasn't been guided and mentored along that path, just allowed to "educate himself?"  There are liability issues involved.  Engineers should not be performing work for which they have had no training.   Yes I can say my overall career was disappointing but I will have spent 70% of it as an engineer and only 30% as a non-engineer, including 5 years total of unemployment.   You know how many people pity me because I now work as a Subcontract Cargo Inspector instead of an engineer?  Zero.  Even my wife knows what a crappy major I did and where it is currently (discontinued at almost all universities) so she is happy I am doing something productive.  Taking photos of cargo, filling in pre-printed forms and putting bolt seals on container loads is not a difficult task.  I will still be able to do this past 65.   At least it's something to get me out of the house on a daily basis and meeting many interesting people.  

 

[Supe]

You keep saying "discontinued at almost all universities", but only by virtue of it being absorbed into most schools "materials engineering".  And almost every single company/supplier I deal with has one or more full time materials engineers. 

 

[Ble_PE]

You keep saying "discontinued at almost all universities", but only by virtue of it being absorbed into most schools "materials engineering".  And almost every single company/supplier I deal with has one or more full time materials engineers. 

 

[csb]

 

[Exengineer]

Yes, some metallurgical departments were converted to "Materials Science & Engineering" but many universities chose not to.  For example the University of Notre Dame once had a Metallurgical Engineering department but they dumped it and do not have Materials Science & Engineering.  Also, the metallurgical part of materials science is a very small part of the overall curriculum.  It's fair to say no one is going into Materials Science & Engineering so they can be a metallurgist.  My guess is that Materials Science & Engineering will have a relatively short shelf life as students find that positions are not plentiful and most will require a Masters degree.  Universities will close down those departments when undergraduate enrollment falls below certain limits and it is no longer useful to the university to run them.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Yes, some metallurgical departments were converted to "Materials Science & Engineering" but many universities chose not to.  For example the University of Notre Dame once had a Metallurgical Engineering department but they dumped it and do not have Materials Science & Engineering.  Also, the metallurgical part of materials science is a very small part of the overall curriculum.  It's fair to say no one is going into Materials Science & Engineering so they can be a metallurgist.  My guess is that Materials Science & Engineering will have a relatively short shelf life as students find that positions are not plentiful and most will require a Masters degree.  Universities will close down those departments when undergraduate enrollment falls below certain limits and it is no longer useful to the university to run them.

Not sure what information you have to validate this claim.  Material & Metallurgical Engineering is still very strong and my undergrad, which wasn't THAT long ago, included both as separate courses because of the content to cover.  Also, we do quite a lot of failure analyses on mechanical components and almost always a materials/metallurgical engineer is required to review the findings.  I'm very surprised that you're sitting here telling us your degree program is obsolete.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

My company recently hired a metallurgist, and before we hired one, we employed one of two local firms that have multiple metallurgists on staff.

 

[aog]

I work at a steel mill, so I can vouch that metallurgy is alive and well.  The research groups have employees with doctorates in the field.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

At least two job openings on the boards in my area for experienced metallurgists.