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So you are trying to pick a profession to do. Being an engineer or doctor has a nice ring to it. You might feel good status and money is in those high-end careers. But is it? You might be pressured to be either one. After all, who does not want their kid to be a doctor or an engineer, right? Yet going into a technical and highly skilled career without any passion will only leave you miserable with a huge student loan to pay. These are just facts, and below is the proof.
Suppose you had to pick between becoming an engineer or a doctor. In that case, choosing an engineering degree will have a less negative impact in terms of study length, student debt and competition to enter the workforce. While salary-wise, doctors will be paid more eventually, the high pay comes at the cost of years of study, training and massive debt that eat away your high income, making engineering the lesser evil.
The fact that you are choosing between both shows that you might have less interest or passion in any of them. Believe me, high pay with no passion does not go well. There is a reason why the wealthiest people on the planet are so. They enjoy what they do; they live it and even dream about it. Success, fame and money are a side effect; it is never the motivation. Do not believe me? Then read how the founder of Amazon became filthy rich; The Philosophy Of Jeff Bezos Success.
So before we go any further, your question should be, what is my passion in life? What is my calling? What makes me happy? What is my purpose? What I can do that can bring value to others and make me happy in the process? Start with those questions first. A good start will be: Which is more important: High salary or job satisfaction?
But fair enough, we know the world revolves around money, and you do not want some random dude from the internet to tell you some crap about passion. You clicked on this page because you wanted an answer about who is the best and why.
Do not worry; I will go into the details very soon, and you can also use the table below to skip to the part you want.
All I wanted to say is:
Life is too short, do not waste it on a job if you know deep down that you will never have any attachments to it.
I am an engineer, and I know the struggle of being one, so forgive me for coming out a bit biased toward engineering, but I also used statistics to prove my point. So you can trust the numbers. And remember, it does not affect me at all what you will do in the end. I am only trying to help by shedding some light on a never-ending debate.
5 Reasons why choosing an engineering career is better than being a doctor
1- Engineers contribute to advancing the human civilization
An engineering degree teaches you how to find problems to solve, doctor’s degree teaches you how to fix people. Ultimately, the medical field has advanced, but thanks to the engineers, we made a real improvement in the quality of life and prosperity of human civilization. The improvement in nutrition, living situation and technology has improved human health and life expectancy. So overall, engineers have contributed more to saving lives than doctors.
Just think of it, if it were not for improvement in medical facilities and equipment, doctors would have difficulty saving a human life today.
So what does that mean for you? It means that if you are tossing up between an engineering degree and a medical degree, you can probably do more good by being an engineer. Engineers have saved millions of lives by improving transport, electricity, sanitation and many other things.
It is not always black and white; there is a whole grey area. There are millions of ways to save lives; engineers just do it indirectly but have worked wonders for humans.
2- Engineering is relatively easy to get into and scale-up
Seriously, you are tossing up between spending 3-4 years at an engineering school, and then you are good to join the workforce. Doctors must spend 4-6 years in med school and another 3-6 years of residency and fellowship. You become a licensed doctor in your 30s while engineers become licensed in their 20s, and by the time they are 30s, they become seniors and leaders in their field.
Is that because medical degrees are much more difficult than engineering? Probably yes, because med degrees have to do with human lives, and let’s be honest, our bodies are quite complicated. Engineering is quicker because real-life experience makes a substantial difference to the engineer experience. A university degree only teaches you the basics. For more details, read How Much Of What You Learn At Engineering School Will Use At Work?
Work is much easier to find if you are an engineer because we can never have enough engineers. You can easily scale up to higher management levels in a few years and gain experience by working with more senior people in your organization. Plus, stress levels are way less than working in a hospital. When was the last time you were excited to go to the hospital?
3- You do not have to work in your engineering field and still be successful
This is the good news: You do not have to work as an engineer and do just fine in life. If you were forced to do either engineering or medicine, and you do not like any of them. Then do engineering. 4 years later, you have a bachelor’s degree, much smarter, have a new look at life, discover your true passion, and pursue it.
Compare this to spending 10 years of your life just to be a doctor, which now you have to work as a doctor because, frankly, you have invested too much time, money and resources to be one. In the end, you have not developed other skills like what an engineering degree can offer.
And if you are very lost on what engineering degree to do, I would suggest sticking to the big 4 majors: Software, mechanical, civil and electrical engineering. Any of those degrees can open endless opportunities for you.
I can not stress that enough; you can work in any industry once you have an engineering degree: Retail, real estate, finance, agriculture, construction and education. These are some industries that would take an engineer every day. So do not limit yourself to a medical degree.
4- Engineers can get paid more and quickly
Sound controversial, but hear me out. Yes, doctors get paid more eventually and higher than the highest paying engineering salary, but that is much later when in your 40s. Engineers, on average, are in a much better financial position within 5 years of practising engineering.
On average, engineers entry-level salary in the US is around $65,000. But that figure increased by 30% within five years to $85,000. And within 10 years, you start making 6 figures, with an average high paying salary of around $110,000. This means you could be earning 6 figures when you become 35.
Residents and intern doctors could earn between $56,000 to $75,000 and become licensed doctors around the age of 29 to 30. Ultimately, doctors could earn anything between $90,000 to $300,000 within those years following their internship.
Doctors are usually underpaid in their 30s but get paid double or triple what engineers are paid in their 40s. However, engineers will be paid higher in their 30s, quickly setting them up for financial freedom.
In the end, doctors will make more, but the responsibility will be more. However, that does not mean engineers can not be rich. In fact, the world’s most successful CEOs are engineers. With enough hard work and passion, you can find a problem to a solution and become an entrepreneur. Read, Can Engineering Make you Rich? Are CEOs rich?
If you are reading this because you think an engineering or med degree is your ticket to 6 figures, then you are delusional (Do not take it personally).
You need to know that the responsibility grows with the paycheck, and you are more likely to take the blame for others’ mistakes and work very long and excruciating hours. Just saying, there are other ways to get to six figures that do not include 5-10 years of your life stuck with exams and classes.
5- Engineers have significantly less student debt
Including the above, your student loan is something you should take into perspective. Especially in the US, student loans can cripple you in your 30s and 40s, eating away your paycheck the more you get paid.
Average medical student debt is around $200,000 while engineering student debt is around $65,000. A huge difference that you will not wipe out any time soon. Moreover, the interest you pay on top of your student debt ensures you will never get out of that debt. At the time of writing student debt interest rate in the US is %3.73, and this is likely to go up in the future.
So ultimately, if you are lost and confused and dead set on doing either engineering or medical, why would you risk all those years and debt in a medical degree that you are not sure of?
The student debt crisis is real; despite the glamorous university campuses and all the marketing and advertising to push you toward a university degree, it is ultimately not worth the risk.
Engineer or Doctor Make a Choice Now!!
I hope by now you have more insider information. And I know that I might not have the full story, but the numbers do not lie. Ultimately you can try both. Do one year in engineering. If you do not like it, try a medical degree or vice versa. Sometimes passion develops once you know more about something. The best you can do now is to get more insider knowledge about what it means to be an engineer:
