Deciding what you want to do for your future career can certainly be an exciting time in your life. Perhaps you already know that you are interested in a STEM career or maybe you just want an exciting type of work that involves a lot of learning new things and gives you the chance to develop your skills and take your work further, along with making a difference in the world and working on exciting new technologies and products. If you can relate to all of this, then you may want to consider pursuing a future career as an engineer. Engineering is a rewarding profession that can be a lot of fun to do, along with giving you the opportunity to work on a wide range of different projects, learn new things regularly, and put your creativity and innovation to work every day.
Earning a degree in engineering is an ideal way to start out in a fulfilling career that can lead to management roles, as more engineers are moving up the career ladder and pivoting into the business management and project management side of things. A career in engineering will not only help you develop a wide range of sought-after technical skills, but it can also give you the chance to boost your soft skills and learn important business skills that can help you with starting your own engineering business in the future if this is something that you might be interested in.
If you’re considering engineering as a career, there are now more options available than ever before for students who want to get an engineering degree. Studying online is now more commonplace and available from a wide range of respected colleges and universities, breaking down barriers to engineering that may have prevented some students from getting the education that they needed in the past. Online engineering programs are ideal for career changers who need to continue working full-time while they prepare to get into engineering or for anybody who is looking to save money and enjoy a more flexible schedule as they study.
Aside from the fact that engineering degrees are now more widely available to every kind of student, what other reasons are there to consider a career in engineering?
Great Salaries
Money might not be absolutely everything when it comes to choosing the right career for you, but it can certainly make all the difference when choosing between one career or another. Engineering is a career role with many generous salaries on offer depending on the engineering discipline that you would like to get into. There are many options to increase your earnings even more with advanced degree programs available such as this master’s degree in Engineering Management from uOttawa that will prepare you to get into a lucrative engineering management career and improve your earning potential. In fact, some engineering careers are the most highly paid around the world and on a par with medicine and other highly respected, well-paid fields. No matter where you work, as an engineer you can always expect to earn a good income with higher-than-average entry level salaries on offer.
Job Security
When choosing your future career, one of the most important things to consider is how secure you are going to be in your job. One of the best things about a career in engineering is that no matter where you are in the world, there’s no need to worry about being out of a job. With an engineering degree, your skills and knowledge are highly desirable, and you should have no problem finding work wherever you go and enjoying great job security. There are always lots of opportunities for working in engineering, and engineers are hired by organisations and companies that are known for offering highly secure positions, such as the military, where you can work for many years or even decades without the insecurity that is sadly all too common with many roles today.
Opportunity to Travel
Whether you decide to get your engineering degree on campus with a traditional study schedule or opt for an online program, this qualification is highly respected all around the world. As an engineering graduate, there’s no need to worry about being limited when it comes to the geographical locations that you can work in. If you want to travel and live in a different area of the country or are even considering moving abroad at some point in your life, engineering is a great career choice since these professionals are in demand no matter where you go in the world.
Different Disciplines to Choose From
One of the great things about engineering as a career is that the options are limitless when it comes to choosing how you work. There are many different disciplines to choose from with something for everybody based on your interests, skills, and what you want to work with the most. While the main principles behind the majority of engineering career paths are fairly similar, you will be able to choose to work in one of a huge range of disciplines whether you are interested in computers, science, air travel, space travel, mechanics, electronics, the environment, building and construction, and many more. Along with this, many of the engineering disciplines overlap and work with one another, giving you the chance to take your knowledge even further by learning about the different engineering areas.
Make an Impact
While engineering might not be the first career idea that comes to mind when you think about helping others and making an impact on the world, the truth is that the world would not be where it is today without the work of engineers. Engineering career options provide professionals with a great opportunity to work in a role that allows them to develop projects and solutions that help others, whether you’re working on improving transport links in rural areas, making a town or city a safer place for residents, developing new technology to help people in their daily lives or working on the development of new life-saving equipment.
What Skills Do You Need to Work in Engineering?
If you are interested in these benefits of a career in engineering and feel that this might be an ideal choice for you when it comes to what you will do for work, then you might be wondering which skills are the most important ones to develop. Along with the technical engineering skills that you will learn when you are getting an engineering qualification, employers of engineers today are also often looking out for a certain soft skill set that can be applied to the work that you do. Some of the most important skills that will help you get further in your engineering career include:
Leadership
Working as an engineer can often be a career path that gives you the option to develop your leadership skills. If you are interested in a supervisory or management role in the future or have plans to start your own engineering firm, leadership skills are going to be some of the most important skills that you can possess. Strong leadership skills will be essential to help you succeed as a project manager or engineering manager. Throughout your career as an engineer, you should take advantage of any opportunities that you get to develop your abilities as a leader and your ability to inspire others to succeed.
Teamwork
Becoming a better team player is a skill that is more and more important for engineers today, as the workplace becomes a more collaborative place. Engineers in every discipline will often find themselves working alongside other professionals in a range of fields and industries and being able to work well together as part of a team of different people who may not always have the same engineering knowledge and experience as you is crucial to not only your personal success, but also to the success of the team and the project.
Communication
Communication skills are one of the most sought-after skills in the world of work today, including for engineering career paths. The truth is that without good communication skills, it’s difficult to build the strong professional relationships with others that you will need to succeed in your career. Whether you are an engineer or an engineering manager, there’s no denying that working to improve your communication skills can make all the difference when it comes to being more successful in your career and the projects that you work on. Being able to communicate instructions, ideas and concepts clearly will make a difference to team results, and active listening skills allow you to build better working relationships with other people and avoid misunderstandings. Along with this, working on improving your communication skills can also help you get the most from networking with other professionals in the field which can ultimately help you land more opportunities.
Problem Solving
Problem solving skills are often some of the main skills that employers will look out for when they decide to hire an engineer. As a career, engineering is often all about solving complex problems and in some cases, coming up with solutions to problems that people did not even realise that they had. If you want to get into an engineering career, it is worth spending some time working on improving your problem-solving skills. Employers want to hire engineers that have the ability to assess situations, quickly identify problems, and come up with solutions to them.
Attention to Detail
Engineering is a very technical career, so having strong attention to detail is a must if you want to succeed in this role. As an engineer, you may be working with intricate parts and details, and you may often have to follow very precise instructions in order to complete a project successfully, which is why being observant and detail-oriented is often one of the most highly sought-after qualities in the engineering profession. As an engineer, you might find yourself working on projects that are going to be hugely important to people in the future and getting all the smaller details right will be absolutely essential to future usability and safety.
Computer Literacy
While some engineering disciplines like computer engineering and software engineering are focused on computers and require a higher degree of computer literacy than others, all engineering career paths today will require professionals to be skilled at using computers. No matter what engineering sector you decide to get into, chances are that you are going to be using a computer or other type of computer device on a daily basis to do your job. Certain computing skills such as programming skills are very desirable across a wide range of engineering disciplines, so working on boosting your computer skills can help you find the engineering job that you want and help you stand out to prospective employers.
Creativity
Many employers are looking to hire engineers who have a natural talent for creativity and innovation. Thinking outside of the box is something that might help you to stand out when getting into an engineering career. In this career, you might often be in situations where you are dealing with problems and issues that you have never seen before, especially if you are working on developing new products. Being able to come up with creative solutions is a must for engineers in a lot of disciplines.
Adaptability
The ability to adapt to new situations and work well under pressure is another skill that is often highly sought-after in engineers. Engineering can sometimes be a high-pressure, challenging career where you might be working on stressful projects with tight deadlines that need to be completed quickly and well. Improving your ability to adapt to changing situations and work even when there is a lot of pressure on to get it right is crucial in order to be successful in your engineering career and developing this skill will help you manage better during these stressful situations.
If you want an interesting career with lots of different specialty options, great salaries and high job security, engineering is worth considering.