Why are you an Engineer, and more importantly....

[guitarjamman]

Would you decide to be one if you could start all over?

If I could start over again at 14, I am not sure I would take the same road. Granted I get paid decently (a lot better than my friends who went to school for a Bachelor of the Arts degree) and my work is rewarding/challenging, I sometimes feel like I took this career path because my Dad did. What about you? How did you end up becoming an Engineer? If you could go back and start over again, do you feel like you would take a different path?

With that said, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy my profession and am not depressed or bitter like I may have come across...Sometimes those "what if's" begin to make me wonder and self analyze.

 

[roadwreck]

I do it for the fatty $$$$.

 

[mudpuppy]

I do it for the chicks/groupies.

 

[snickerd3]

I loved chemistry but I didn't want to teach. My aunt (lawyer) whose son (from a previous marriage) was a nucE, said they were always looking for females in engineering and there was a chemical discipline. So i said ok why not give it try.

WOuld i change if giventhe chance. Nope. I wouldn't have met my husband if I did.

 

[ventilator]

If I had it to do over again I can't say I wouldn't but I would look at other careers more carefully. I honestly picked engineering on a whim. My high school counseling went like this:

counselor: So you have really good grades in all your subjects, are you looking for a science field or liberal arts type career?

me: I don't want liberal arts

counselor: do you want to do medical

me: no, too much school

counselor: what about engineering, they get paid well

me: OK

end of career advisement, I looked at starting salaries for new grads and computer and electrical were tied at the top so I picked electrical and here I am. It has gone well and I don't dislike my job but I do get tired of all the stupid people I have to deal with but I know that would be at any job so overall I am happy with the choice but I would definitely look harder at other things if I had it to do again.

 

[PeonPE]

I got into engineering just because I was good at science and math. My dad was an electrician and my mom was an accountant. The only engineer in my family was my uncle and he died before I was born but it was alwasy encouraged as a good profession so I went for it. The program was tough but I am pretty stubborn. We had 40 people in my freshman class Mechanical Engineering Program. Eight of us graduated four years later. Since nothing is made in this country anymore I turned Transporation Engineer and worked the last 10 years between the Agency and a Consultant outfit.

I like my profession because I know how to do things. By that I mean being able to do something of real value in the physical world. Engineers, Technicians, Carpenters, Farmers, Machinists, Millwrights, Steamfitters, Architects, Surveyors, Inventors, Physcians, Nurses, Clinicians...they can DO things. When their work is done you have something to show for it. The things we do cover more basic human needs such as shelter, food, transporation and material goods. The world in a sense needs us more than it needs let's say...actors, sports players, and to some extent attorney's, MBAs / Business Types, artists, and such.

Not that the entertainment industry isn't important - it is. But I like being a member of the community that gets the important stuff done. Lawyers exist to settle quarells, mooch off your mistakes, mooch off your big transactions and don't really "produce" anything of value. Business types...I have mixed feelings. I appriciate everything that accountants, controllers and planners do because I understand it. Some things that financial people do are a total mystery to me and higher ranks in big corproations always seemed to function more like a medieval aristocracy than what I was told a corporate entity in the modern era should be from my business classes. I guess since I am not in the trueborn super wealthy I am outside those circles.

So yeah...when I look back I definately have a more "honest and clear-cut" profession in my mind. I have two step-brothers who got into law enforcement when they economy tanked - you couldn't pay me to chase loosers on the southside and take a knife in the belly for 40 grand a year. I have friends who went to MBA school and Law school...they were grey at 30, been divorced twice and their family life is spinning out of control. When i ask them what's up - its always "the 80 hours a week at the job." So when I bitch and complain about my life suddenly it doesn't seem that bad. I go home when my shift ends and work stays at work.

Grass is always greener...nah, I am pretty happy with the kentucky bluegrass that grows in my yard. I can say I have no regrets. Only thing I'd do different is attend a bigger college with more girls.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I do it for the money, for the glory, and for the fun. But mostly for the money.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I wanted to drive trains.

 

[willsee]

Friend in high school went to college to be an engineer and suggested I do the same thing. So I did. I didn't know any people with college degrees and the only people I thought went to college were doctors, lawyers and teachers.

I wouldn't change a thing because nothing else I can think of would interest me for a career.

 

[YMZ PE]

I do it so I can play with dirt every day.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I wanted to drive trains.

I actually had a chance to drive a train when I worked for the utility. It was a lot of fun.

 

[goodal]

I seriously wanted to be an astronaut until i got old enough to understand how much school/work/luck it would take to do that. I was always good at math and I knew engineers got paid better than most. Alot of my family were electricians, so I chose Electrical Engineering. I got my EE but work as a ME. I like my job and get paid pretty good to do it. I would have liked to gotten into the EE consulting side but that just wasn't in the cards. No regrets though. This career has been rewarding, and not just financially. I really like not working out in the cold/heat. Call me a pansy, but at least I'm comfortable.

 

[Dark Knight]

I did it because wanted to build a house for my mom.

If I have the chance to do it all over again would choose another career, like an explosive expert. You cannot bullshit your way thru that one.

 

[Ble_PE]

I do it so I can play with dirt every day.

Changing a couple of letters in this sentence would make a lot of difference...

As for me, I started college wanting to be a doctor, switched to business, and then figured out I wanted to be an engineer. Of course, the school I was going to didn't have an engineering program, so I had to transfer. This led me to meeting Mrs. Ble, so it's pretty much the best decision I ever made. If given the chance, I don't think I could see myself majoring in anything else. I love my job, get paid well, and have plenty of time to spend with the family. Doesn't get better than that.

 

[YMZ PE]

I do it so I can play with dirt every day.

Changing a couple of letters in this sentence would make a lot of difference...

That's my night shift job.

 

[Ble_PE]

:dance: :Banane20:

 

[engineergurl]

If I could rewind time I would only go back to about 2008. That was when I was still in an official engineering position. I miss it. That job I felt like I was helping people but also had room to grow. Environmental regulation is tedious, everyone tends to hate you and it is not as rewarding... the same goes for unemployment too...

 

[EM_PS]

I do it so I can play with dirt every day.

and rocks...and getting the F outside -

Elsewise, i'd have done a culinary pursuit, try to get on Hell's Kitchen, if only to try and sucker punch Gordon Ramsay.

 

[envirotex]

^^^Well, I could have gotten just a geology degree to do that, but I added engineering for the fatty money.

 

[Supe]

Got into it because a) I didn't know of anything else I was good at, and B) a vast interest in all things automotive led me to believe mechanical engineering was the way to go. Now I'm a Welding Engineer, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd either be a lawyer or a psychiatrist.