Precision & Petals: A Lifestyle Blog

When I was in 6th grade we took the test to find out what profession would fit us best – engineer was actually my suggested profession & it’s what I do today! Of course that isn’t what determined my future career. That was really due to my mom helping me when I was in high school (over a decade ago – yikes) consider options for my future and my love of math lead to my engineering pursuit.

Growing up, I didn’t have anyone in my life that was an engineer, so really I was working on a lot of faith and research when I chose my degree, hoping it was the right one for me. I’m hoping this post will help those interested in pursuing an engineering degree decide if it’s the right path for them!

In this post, we’ll look over the following:

• Early Considerations for Engineering
• Degree Options under Engineering
• Still Not Sure? Additional Steps to Decide

Early Considerations for Engineering

The cliches are cliches for a reason. If you don’t like math, you’re probably not going to enjoy your time pursuing an engineering degree. But aside from that, there are a few other items you might want to already possess before starting down the path. Some of these include:

• Academic Preparedness.
  • Strong math and science foundation. Ideally, you’ll have completed some level of college-level math courses in high school (AP or Dual Enrollment).
• Enjoy problem solving. A practical way to see if you like problem solving is to see if you enjoy logic puzzles. Here’s one of my favorites to try.
  • Logic games might seem silly, but they really show if you’re able to organize your thoughts and enjoy spending a lot of time doing nothing but thinking.
• Time Commitment.
  • Engineering is a degree that will be easiest if you’re able to commit full-time to the college’s program. The workload from even a couple/few engineering courses can be rigorous and demanding. If possible, I would go into engineering with the mindset that the curriculum will have to be the highest priority in my life for a while.
• Finances.
  • Evaluate the cost of the degree (tuition, books, living expenses, etc.) and the final outcome. The average salary from an engineer right after school is $70,000 and after licensure (at least 4-years after graduating) is around $100,000. This is based off of Virginia Tech’s 2019-2020 graduate salaries (data here).
• Job Market & Demand
  • Think about where you want to be and if engineering will align with your goal. This will really depend on which engineering route you go (which is explored more below). Consider, for example, an Petroleum Engineer will likely require living along the gulf-coast; whereas an electric engineer is likely going to be able to get a job anywhere.

Degree Options under Engineering

There are SO many types of engineering degrees! I got my degree from Virginia Tech in 2016, and they now offer 14 degrees under their College of Engineering. For a complete list, check out their website here.

These are the 6 most common engineering degrees:

• Chemical
• Civil
• Computer Science
• Electrical
• Industrial Systems
• Mechanical

Unfortunately, I can’t give an in-depth overview of each of these degree options, since I do not personally practice all of them. I’m a civil engineer and construction manager (an detailed post is forthcoming on what that’s like & details!). That being said, I have friends in most of these degrees and can give a general overview of each.

Chemical – in this job, you might be brought a new perfume/detergent/etc. from a client and asked to replicate it to a large volume. This is largely considered the hardest in terms of academics, but also highest paid after school.

Civil – transportation, buildings, dams, and the construction & design of these infrastructures are all under civil engineering. It’s one of the “easier” engineering degrees in terms of academics. This was my degree!

Computer Science – you might write code, create programs and apps, or actually develop hardware systems with this degree. It’s on the harder-scale in terms of academics among engineering degrees.

Industrial Systems – this is also known as a “process engineer;” this degree will help you to optimize systems/warehouses/factories/etc. and companies hire you/your company to help them optimize. For example, you might be tasked with deciding what’s the best packaging for product X, which promotes optimal storage ability and lowest shipping costs possible. This is typically considered one of the “easier” engineering degrees in terms of academics.

Mechanical – design power-producing machines. I actually had a mechanical engineering friend who went to work for General Motors right after school. This is one of the harder engineering degrees in terms of academics.

Still Not Sure?

If you’re still not sure if engineering is right for you, consider reaching out to an engineering firm in your area! Many of these firms are willing to take on interns/shadows to let them see the process/what they do day-to-day. Simply call or write an email similar to the below:

Mr./Ms. X,

My name is Kayla Thacker and I’m graduating xxx High School next year. I am considering pursuing a degree in civil engineering and was hoping to see if you, or someone in your company, would be willing to help me get a better understanding of what the job entails day-to-day. If there’s an opportunity to discuss more, or an opportunity for me to shadow within your company for a few days to experience what an engineer does first-hand, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kayla Thacker

Make sure you’re writing to a company that does what you’re interested in! For example, don’t write a civil engineering company about shadowing if you’re looking to do mechanical engineering.

People are GLAD to help those who ask. They’ve been there themselves! (In fact, that’s the whole reason I’m writing this post!) If you send that email to a company, I would be surprised if you didn’t get something useful in return.

Closing

In closing, a degree in engineering is one that can be very rewarding and I have enjoyed greatly. It’s not for everyone, but if the above considerations and general overviews sound exciting to you – it might be the perfect fit!