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An engineering career can indeed offer stable jobs and a reasonably good salary. However, only doing engineering for financial gains or career stability does not mean you can be a successful engineer. Some jobs can be very technical, making it difficult to progress in if you do not have any interest. Therefore, doing something that falls within your circle of competence or interest is key to a prosperous career. Engineering is not always the stable career that offers a high salary as many young people think.
In general, people who pursue technical careers for financial gains and hope for a stable career usually get stuck in their position due to the complexity of the work. It isn’t easy to progress in jobs that you do not have passion for. On average, engineers can make between $60,000 and $90,000 annually, guaranteeing a reasonable living. However, there are other career paths that can offer competitive salaries even more than engineering. This means that chasing engineering careers because of financial gains and stable jobs without passion is not worth it.
Engineering is a very complex career requiring you to think for solutions and work in teams to design or deliver a prototype. This is one of the careers that require a lifelong learning process. The people who go for such a career must be learning-oriented, enabling them to increase their knowledge every day to improve their designs. If you are questioning if you have what it take to be an engineer, check this article How Do You Know If Engineering Is Right For You?.
To answer the question more specifically, we can take a specific example with my personal experience and then some reasons to do and not to do engineering.
Personal experience as a civil engineer
I remember my first week at university. I was in a lecture for a subject called introduction to civil and environmental engineering. The lecturer started by asking the students, “what do civil engineers do?” And then students started saying they build bridges, some said they do building, others said they make tunnels …etc.
The lecturer stayed silent and only nodded his head with approval on whatever the students said. Almost all their answers were correct. Until one student said, “they solve problems,” and then the lecture shouted, “that is exactly what they do; in fact, that is what every engineer does”. The lecturer spoke with such enthusiasm that you can tell that he is extremely passionate about engineering.
Then the lecturer asked another question to the students “why are you doing civil engineering?” The whole class went silent for a few seconds until one student shouted, “To make a lot of money” the entire class started laughing as everyone had the same idea that you can make a lot of money. The lecturer stayed silent with a serious look, and I could tell by his eyes that he was not happy with the student answer and the student’s reactions.
He then started saying, “You can make a lot of money in many places, bankers make money, people who work in sales make a lot of money, but they hardly have a complex job like engineers do, so why do you think this is the path that can make you a lot of money”. The whole class was silent and amused as the lecturer started explaining how engineers jobs are more important than financial gains and why there is Huge Demand for Civil Engineers.
Years after, I understood why the lecturer was very angry that day. I understood the challenging tasks, yet I enjoyed solving those complex problems because I had a passion for the industry, which made me think about the struggles of people who are only there because they believe it is a stable career with a good salary. Since then, I have learned that doing something you do not love is setting yourself for failure.
Reasons not to do engineering
There are many reasons not to pursue a career in engineering. Simply put, If you do not have any interest in physics or math and have more passion for science or literature, then engineering is probably not for you. In the end, it comes to your passion and interest in life. The people who only do things for stable jobs and financial gains, their happiness and stability are short-lived. I can not imagine doing anything in life and excelling at it if I do not have a passion for it. Therefore, the biggest reason not to do engineering is your motives.
When I wanted to do Civil Engineering, it was something that I chose and wanted to do, which I enjoyed my university course very much, and It was something I enjoyed learning about. I can not imagine the same for people who were not interested at all. If you think that engineering is for you can learn about what will your Life Look Like as an Engineering Student. What can a graduate engineer teach you?
Reasons to Pursue a Career in Engineering
The main reason to pursue a career in engineering is the drive for change. If you want to make a difference in the world and are driven by innovation and technology, then engineering is for you. There are different industries to get into, and almost all depend on the ability to solve problems logically.
Most people think just because they were not good at math while at high school, they are not fit to be engineers. This common misconception discourages many people before even trying. You can learn more about why math is not as essential to engineering as you might think here.
On the other hand, many think that they are not that smart to pursue a career in engineering, making them quit before starting. The real question is, Are Engineers Really Smart? How Do I Know if I am fit to be one? It drilled in many young students because of the bad experience they had at school. However, the truth is hard work makes all the difference, and any person can be an engineer.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, people should not pursue engineering because of financial gains. It is tough to succeed at anything if you do not have a passion for it. Engineering careers are very technical and require lots of thinking and innovation, making it difficult to progress if you do not have passion. The misconception that engineering can make you rich is not always true, pushing people to make poor decisions that can cost them a lifetime of unhappiness.
