One of my classmates actually did that. He had the fab shop before he went to school, but in recent years it has gotten busy enough he quit his engineering job to work in his fab shop full time.
Mining is really on a downslide right now. It wont fizzle out completely but the demand for mining engineers is a fraction of what it once was.
I wonder if that will shift any as battery demand increases exponentially in the coming years.
Nuclear Engineering as a major was getting phased out during the 90s and early 00s. Eventually getting down to less than 20 schools. It's since stabilized and even had a brief uptick at the graduate level. But with the "nuclear renaissance" effectively dead, I would expect more programs to close up shop again. I doubt there will be many operating nuclear plants by the time I retire. I wouldn't recommend the major to anyone in high school now. The undergrad programs that survive will probably shift into something closer to Medical Physics or Radiological Engineering; traditional Nuclear Engineering might just become a graduate level major, similar to the few remaining Health Physics programs.
Yep, see below
Yes, there are a few niche programs out there, along with the super in-demand polymer and fiber engineering and paper engineering!
Yes, most of these program have just been consolidated into material science programs.
I doubt it'll ever go away entirely. Mining in general moves in cycles. We'll always need raw materials from the ground.
Maybe, maybe not? IIRC most lithium reserves are outside the US, and are often found in salt flats. Edit: I forgot about rare earth metals which is a totally different story, so yeah it could pick up again.
It would be nice to see an uptick. My opinion may be shortsided but I think the heyday may be going out with the coal industry. It will just be a smaller piece of the pie but it will always be around.
Two in Georgia, not counting the DOE nuclear work. Much bigger prospects for those wanting to work internationally.
Tough question because the future is never clear. When I started my first company, I had business plans with entrance and exit strategies, back up plans from A up to plan G, but I made many mistakes when it came to execution. Took me a couple of years to recover and I learned to keep raw irrational emotion under control. Probably the best back up plan, in my opinion, is to have a land/property and/or house of your own-free and clear of encumbrances, so if all your plans fail, you're not homeless. Just my 2 cents.
