engineering major

[tilted]

I have always been the math/science type so when coming across a major choice engineering seemed to be the automatic choice for me. It is definitely what I want to major in and work as after college. However, with so many fields I am unsure what type branch to major in. I was wondering if you engineers can give your own insight into the the branch(es) you are familiar with both as a major and career and also any other advice you have.

[El Diablo]

tilt,

I was a EE. At Rice, the degree was Electrical & Computer Engineering. When I was there, you could choose either Solid State (physics-heavy), Circuits (more tradtional EE degree), or Computer Engineering (lots of CS and chip design stuff) specialization. I went with the computer track, which basically included most of a CS degree except for a couple of senior team programming labs.

I spent my junior year interning as an electrical engineer and realized that it was pretty boring to me, so I joined a consulting firm and did that for a short while after school before starting a software company of my own.

[James Boston]

El D,

How much of, if it's even quantifiable, your successes in business would you attribute to this engineering background?

I ask because a friend I spoke with this weekend, who's an EE, is realizing that most of his companies' sales team relies on the EE's to sell the product. He's thinking of trying to go to sales since he practically does it anyway, but that's not the point.

[theben]

I'm still in school but will soon graduate as an ISE (industrial and systems engineer)

if you plan on doing some serious partying in your first year or two of college or play way to much of that damn game, then you'll be joining the ranks of my major

we are generally business majors that can understand math and statisics or we just like to make up BS and work in manufacturing.

[El Diablo]

JB,

Very little. I do think that there are some benefits to being in a program where you have pretty rigorous analytic and logic -related work, which sort of trains you to think about complex problems in solid ways, but I think you can get that from a wide range of majors (or work on your own if you are so motivated).

[James Boston]

El D,

I'm kind of surprised. I would think it would be more than "very little" to someone who developes software, but I don't know anything about developing software, so I can't really talk here.

[MisterW]

I started out in the ECE (electrical and computer engineering) program and switched to CEE (civil and environmental engineering) with a minor in construction management. I'm currently finishing up a Master's in structural engineering while working for a large A/E (architecture and engineering) firm. I have some close friends who are also engineers, namely mechanical, biomedical, electrical, computer, nuclear, and engineering mechanics and astronautics.

Civil/structural was the right fit for me, but it took a lot of informational meetings and talking with people during my freshman and sophomore years to figure that out. With this degree you can design buildings, bridges, roads, environmental projects, etc. or manage the construction of these things on-site or in the office.

My computer engineering friend works for Microsoft, makes the largest salary, and loves it. Nuclear engineering friend is finishing a Master's and has already been offered a number of jobs, which he says will all be fairly cush and well-paying since the US will do whatever it takes to keep its nuclear engineers in the states (this is what he tells me). Biomedical engineering friends work for companies that make hospital equipment (GE Healthcare and Cardinal Health). They all love their jobs and get to travel to Europe and South America regularly. Engineering and astonautics friend just finished his Master's and is now working at NASA - haven't heard from him yet, but NASA must be cool. Electrical engineering friend is working as a programmer and doesn't like it that much. Mechanical engineering friend also works for GE and gets to travel, but he does a lot of CAD work which he finds boring.

What are you interested in? Do you have engineering related hobbies you enjoy like building computers, working construction, etc.?

[El Diablo]

JB,

I spent about one year actually developing software (when we were bootstrapping my first company) and since then have been completely on the business side of things.

[maddog2030]

[ QUOTE ]
I spent about one year actually developing software (when we were bootstrapping my first company) and since then have been completely on the business side of things.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm going to graduate very soon with a degree in CS from Virginia Tech. After doing some "real world" CS work during my Junior year, I discovered that I'm much more interested in the business side of things. By that time it was too late to switch majors, so I added a business minor so that I at least have SOME background education in it.

Could you make any recommendations on how to prepare myself to make the switch over like you did? I haven't really been able to find anyone who could give me solid advice on this.

Edit: I realize this is a fairly general question and you'd probably need a bunch of details about my background to answer it fully... so if you are kind enough to answer, just let me know what details you need and I can provide them.

[disjunction]

IMO there are two types of science/engineering types.

(1) Those who really dig technology, and can't wait to see and build the latest gadgets.
(2) Those who love theory, they like solving problems in innovative ways, kind of like Sklansky.

Do you lean towards one or the other?