Engineering is an extensive subject that splits into various disciplines, such as civil, chemical, electrical, robotics, aeronautical and mechanical, to name a few. Students who graduate with an engineering degree are logical thinkers with excellent quantitative aptitude and problem-solving skills.
Engineering graduates have many career fields open to them, such as IT, telecommunications, food and agriculture, logistics, government agencies, and more. In addition, graduates can seek guidance through career fairs, counsellors, or alumni to help select the best-suited area of specialization. However, since engineering involves practical work and field experience, some firms prefer students with internship experiences.
Engineering graduates must consider different factors when choosing a domain or field, such as the growth prospects of a profile in an industry, the average compensation in that industry, the stability quotient of the profile and company location.
What does engineering entail?
Engineering is a scientific field that applies the working principles of technology to build, invent, design, or use systems, machines, structures, buildings, and various other things. Engineering involves technology, computers, and machine learning. With this new digital age, the spectrum of technology has become broader, and so has the career scope of engineering.
The contributions made by an engineer ultimately help in shaping the future of technology globally. Today, almost all industries rely heavily on engineers. If you like to be innovative, technically and mathematically sound, and love creating new things, engineering is likely an ideal fit. There are many different job opportunities in the field, and every engineering discipline comes with additional factors that differentiate it from the rest.
In this post, we shall discuss all the major career choices for an engineering graduate in the US job market:
1. Career as a Biomedical Engineer
Biomedical engineering is an innovative combination of all techniques concerning engineering along with medicine and biology. It is among the best futuristic courses for engineering. This field develops new strategies and methodologies that should be applied in the field of healthcare. The subjects involved in this engineering field include biomaterials, biomechanics, neuromodulation, and orthopaedic repair. After completing a biomedical engineering course, students can find various jobs to suit their interests, such as installation engineer, chief biomedical engineer, researcher, instrument engineer, and maintenance engineer.
2. Career as a Mechanical Engineer
Engineering graduates in the United States consider mechanical engineering to be a popular engineering domain. The area of mechanical engineering relates to the designing and manufacturing of machines. It also focuses on improving existing machinery by implementing newer designs and technology.
Aeronautical engineering and space engineering are also two branches that emerge from mechanical engineering. A part of biomedical engineering also involves mechanics. Many students also opt for material manufacturing. There are avenues related to sales, technical writing, research engineering and mainstream mechanics for graduates who specialize in mechanical engineering.
3. Career as a Computer Engineer
The job market for career options in computer engineering is blooming with opportunities today due to the involvement of computer technology in every field. Computer engineering graduates work with various systems like integrated circuits, programming or communication, and computer systems.
There are multiple positions for computer engineers across industries. This makes the field of computer engineering very growth-oriented. The various job profiles suitable for computer engineering graduates in the United States include computer systems analytics, aviation electronics engineering, protection and cable engineering. Different career options focus on varying components of computers like designing software, hardware, and computer programming.
Computer engineers can even work in designing and drafting various computer accessories and computer-related technologies. Some other positions involve research, testing, software engineering, and systems engineering. Sectors that hire computer engineers are transportation companies, aircraft industries, computing and software companies, engineering firms, manufacturing companies, construction firms, and even pharmaceutical companies. Computer engineering graduates interested in academia can also opt for a career in teaching and research in colleges and universities.
4. Career as an Electrical Engineer
Electrical engineering as a career often overlaps with other related areas. Electrical engineers find work in industries ranging from communication and media to construction and healthcare. This is yet another area not restricted only to electrical engineering graduates since many companies accept applicants holding different engineering degrees, such as mechanical engineering.
Electrical engineering involves designing, developing and maintaining electrical control systems and components using a combination of commercial awareness and technical knowledge. According to Indeed, electrical engineers can earn up to $90,962 on average in the US job market. Electrical engineers must be master multitaskers — they should juggle multiple tasks simultaneously without compromising the quality of their work.
5. Career as an Aeronautical Engineer
The field of aeronautical engineering relates to designing, assembling, and building airplanes. As an aeronautical architect, one applies mechanical, mathematical and logical standards to research, create and design airplanes for commercial and defence use. Aeronautical engineers also design, build and renovate spacecraft and rockets. They ensure that aircrafts, spacecrafts, missiles, and the like adhere to the safety standards and have the necessary equipment to avoid severe accident or malfunctioning.
6. Career as a Robotics Engineer
The field of robotics engineering centers around building machines that can accomplish human tasks efficiently. Those who specialize in robotics engineering create devices, applications, or bots that work similarly as humans for various industries such as manufacturing, mining, and automotive services. Hazardous labor in multiple industries that can harm humans is often taken up by the machines and robots developed by robotics engineers.
A robotics engineer usually designs prototypes, builds machines, and maintains the software that controls robotic devices. These engineers also research to discover the safest and most cost-efficient manufacturing processes for building robotic systems.
7. Career as a Telecommunication Engineer
The field of telecommunications engineering focuses on the exchange of information across various channels via wireless or wired means. It brings together many electrical engineering, computer engineering, and systems engineering elements to improve and create different telecommunication systems.
Engineers in the telecom industry work to design, develop, and maintain data and voice communications systems. These include satellite, optical fiber, cables, unwired and wired communication, along with the encryption, encoding and compression of a massive pool of data. Telecommunications engineering has penetrated various aspects of our daily lives via GPS navigation, internet surfing, and WiFi.
Upskill with upGrad
If you have an engineering degree and want to top it up with additional certification to fetch the best paying engineering job in the US, give a shot to upGrad’s Master of Science in Computer Science course. Thanks to the surging demand for engineers across multiple sectors, a computer engineering degree will reward you handsomely in the long run.
upGrad boasts a global paid learner base of more than 40,000 spread across more than 85 countries. It has helped more than 500,000 working professionals to upskill in their careers. In addition, learners get to work on real-world projects and case studies under the mentorship of industry experts who offer them a complete round of exposure to engineering.
Conclusion
Like students belonging to other disciplines, engineering students also get overwhelmed by the thought of choosing a career domain. After all, there are a plethora of engineering jobs available in the US job market. Thus, it is crucial to have clarity of thought and plan according to your interests and career goals.
To conclude, engineering is full of exciting and versatile opportunities. All you need to do is find your areas of interest and strive hard to pursue your career aspirations.
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