Engineering Degrees
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Salaries For Degrees in Engineering
Those who majored in Engineering can be employed in a variety of jobs. While no one can say with certainty what you personally will do with a degree in Engineering, our survey panel picked the following jobs as likely options:
- Engineering managers (Best salary!)
- Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors
- Materials engineers
- Electronics engineers, except computer
- Materials scientists
- Nuclear engineers
- Computer, automated teller, and office machine repairers
- Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment
- Electric motor, power tool, and related repairers
- Electrical and electronic engineering technicians
- Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay
- Electro-mechanical technicians
- Electronic equipment installers and repairers, motor vehicles
- Electronic home entertainment equipment installers and repairers
- Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers
- Industrial engineering technicians
- Mechanical engineering technicians
- Medical equipment repairers
- Prepress technicians and workers
- Radiologic technologists and technicians
- Avionics technicians
- Security and fire alarm systems installers
- Semiconductor processors
- Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers
- Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers
- Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders
- Construction managers
- Environmental engineers
- Marine engineers and naval architects
- Sales engineers
- Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment
- Aerospace engineers
- Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers
- Industrial engineers
- Sound engineering technicians
- Aerospace engineering and operations technicians
- Aircraft mechanics and service technicians
- Audio and video equipment technicians
- Automotive service technicians and mechanics
- Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists
The median salary for people with a degree in Engineering is $89,913.98. The lifetime value of this degree is approximately $2,112,123.00.
Salaries are highly dependent on individual negotiating skill, years of related experience, your employer, area, and more besides. The estimates we show on these pages are just that: estimates. Your individual experience will likely vary.
Where does this come from?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the US government, classifies all workers into some 800-odd occupational categories. We paid a army of freelancers to get their opinion on what type of degree a holder of each type of job would likely have majored in. For pairs which had a high degree of consensus, we created a link between the degree and the job.
From this, we calculated the average salary for Engineering degrees and converted it into a lifetime value. We then compared it against other degrees at the same level of schooling (such as associate's, bachelor's, or master's), so that you can make informed educational and employment decisions.
Why Consider an Engineering Degree?
Even as an undergraduate, and engineering major may have the opportunity to engage in innovative research, especially in respected research institutions. Google started life as an engineering project from the Stanford engineering department. An engineering degree is likely to lead to a very stable, high paying job as more and more companies look to engineers to solve problems.
It is becoming more common for engineering majors to cultivate relationships with companies looking for their skill set before graduation. Many engineering programs, including online degrees, provide job placement and career counseling. Most engineers earn more than forty thousand dollars every year, as well as benefits including stock options. Some engineers earn well of a hundred thousand dollars a year.
Engineers who go on to earn business training as well will often find themselves almost indispensable. This is especially true as companies are more and more likely to open up engineering positions faster than they can fill them up. Engineers are much more likely than other workers to work for they same company for a long period of time, leading to long, innovative, engaging employment.
What Skills Should a Student Seeking an Engineering Degree Possess?
Students who are considering an engineering degree should have a mind that is tantalized by the prospect of solving problems. They should be analytical, and willing to embrace a constantly changing work environment. Since engineers must work together to solve problems, communication skills are important. Collaboration is important for innovation.
While a degree in engineering on its own is more than enough to get a stable, well paying job, further education in more human related affairs can also be incredibly useful. This is because while engineers are focused on designing, innovating, and improving products, the products are intended to fill human needs and wants. A history degree can give an engineering student the information to be aware of recurring problems. An understanding of social science can help an engineer solve problems that others don't know how to work around or are incapable of even noticing themselves. Even an understanding of literature can help feed the creativity of an engineer, which regardless of its scientific and analytical nature, is a very creative endeavor.
What Can Engineering Students Expect to Learn?
Many students considering a degree in engineering confuse engineering with general science. Engineering and science are certainly very closely related to one another, but unlike pure science, engineering is about applying scientific information and theory in order to solve real world problems. Engineers typically work on a much faster schedule than pure scientists, meaning that they are not subject to the kind of intense peer review that academic scientists are. Engineers, in other words, are not making scientific discoveries, not on purpose at least. While innovation is certainly an important part of the job, this is because of how it relates to design and invention, not discovery. Put another way, engineers are not looking to expand the scientific community's understanding of the fundamental laws of nature, they are looking to use the known laws of nature in order to solve problems and create products and services.
The majority of engineering majors will go on to specialize in a particular sub-field, and will take a great deal of classes on the subjects of math and science as they relate to engineering and their sub-field. Depending on the type of engineering major they are pursuing, and the kind of institution they receive their education from, and engineering student may learn in a more hands-on environment or in a more theoretical setting. The first is suited for certain careers while the second is best for others, particularly those that are involved in research or academia. Either way, engineers find themselves working with the latest technology, using and designing it long before the general public gets their hands on it.
It is becoming more common for engineering degrees to provide students with less directly related coursework in areas such as law, business, and ethics. This is so that engineers can function as businesspeople as well as creative engineers. Online engineering degrees are giving working students a chance to specialize or broaden their education without the need to quite their job.
A career in engineering is one of the most exciting and rewarding fields worth considering. Combining the analysis and pattern solving of a scientist, the logic and problem solving skills of a philosopher, and the innovation and creativity of an artist, and engineer will rarely find themselves getting bored with their work. Working together with people who are like minded, an engineer will find themselves right at home in their work environment.
Online Schools Offering Accredited Engineering Degree Programs
Most engineers can no longer or barely remember a time when computers were not an absolute necessity to do their work. Most of the fastest growing fields a student seeking an engineering degree should consider will in some way be related to computers. The most obvious of these, of course, is the computer engineer. A computer engineer focuses on building computers that work faster, more reliably, and less expensively. By improving old and inventing new forms of software and hardware to match the pace of improvement, engineers help improve the quality of home life and the efficiency of business, providing further levels of automation.
For students looking to further their education without having to leave home or consider quitting their job, online engineering degrees are a viable option. Some of the best options for this are:
Top Colleges & Universities Offering Campus-based Engineering Degrees
An engineering degree in civil engineering allows a student to go on to help our society deal with many of its emerging issues including water usage, energy shortages, and transportation. Civil engineers are capable both of providing new innovations to deal with these emerging problems in the business world, or issuing warnings about what not to do working from government organizations and private oversight committees.
Some of the most respected schools for engineering degrees are:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
- University of California in Berkley
- University of Wisconsin
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- California Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Cornell University
- Purdue University
- Stanford University
- University of Michigan
- University of Illinois
Two of the largest growing and most cutting edge fields in engineering are related to biology. They are biochemical engineers and biomedical engineers. Biochemical engineers looking at systems of living beings in order to resolve issues regarding food supply and the environment. Agribusiness is interested in biochemical engineers who can help increase crop yield and decrease the cost of growing food. Biomedical engineers attempt to improve the human lifespan. As more of the population becomes older, health care companies are interested in providing products to improve their lifespans and their quality of life.
Famous Students of Engineering
Many famous people have been Engineers. Some of the most famous engineers are Larry Page, Jack Welch (pictured right), William Hewlett, and Neil Armstrong. Even if you go to school for something you enjoy and get a job you think you are going to have forever, you never quite know where life will take you. An Engineering Degree is usually suited for people who are mechanically inclined to a certain extent.
If you like working with thing mechanically or if you like solving complex problems then an Engineering Degree may be right for you. There are a variety Engineering Degree options which allow you the opportunity to work with everything from large-scale bridge or tunnel construction to working with computers and software programs.
