At the beginning of the 21st century, lawyers and economists were among the most needed professionals. They have been replaced by financial analysts and programmers, and now the labour market is in great need of engineers.
If you still have doubts, here are 10 reasons to be a design engineer:
- High salary. According to payscale.com, 7 of the top 10 highest paid fields are engineering (and mechanical engineering just in tenth place). This means that as a design engineer you can expect a very high salary.
- You’ll be taking order after order. If you are the type of person who likes to move on autopilot and idle all day, this job is not for you. As a design engineer, you’ll be designing products to meet the demands of picky customers in a short time frame. And when you’re done, you’ll have a new assignment waiting for you.
- You’ll learn a variety of skills. To succeed, you’ll need to be well versed in the core engineering disciplines. You will have to learn how to manage complex projects, meet deadlines and budgets. You will need to master a wide range of software, including CAD, FEM, PLM and CFD systems.
- You will be pushing the boundaries of technological capability. Design engineers are hired to create new products and solutions for the world. Whatever your industry, gas turbines, spacecraft or tablet computers, you will be at the forefront of developing new technologies, creating new tools, products and systems to solve the world’s problems.
- You will have many opportunities for career advancement. Working on a variety of tasks and projects, you will naturally gain a wealth of skills and knowledge in both purely technical areas like FEM, and in broadly applicable ones like project management. All these new skills will be greatly appreciated, giving you the freedom to choose your career path.
- You will use all your skills (and even those you don’t already have). Do you think designers sit in front of a computer all day? Think again… to be successful you’ll need to develop the verbal and presentation skills to communicate your ideas, the persuasive skills to get buy-in for your projects, the project management skills to deliver complex projects on time, and the creative intuition to translate technical requirements into functioning systems and products, not to mention the obvious requirements you need to meet. You may need maths, fluid dynamics and a foreign language in one working meeting.
- You will have a high status in the company and in society. When engineers talk, managers listen. You will have the authority to start or stop a project, product or idea. With a rare combination of technical skills and competence, you can demand high pay, interesting projects and responsibilities.
- You and your work will inspire others. How many of today’s engineers have been inspired by the Tesla Roadster electric car, Google’s unmanned car or the iPad? As a design engineer you will have the opportunity to create amazing products and solutions that will inspire others in different industries. As your experience grows, you will be able to teach and mentor, passing it on to the next generation of new engineers.
- You will know how things work. As an engineer, you will have a deep fundamental knowledge of how the world works. From your TV car to your local power plant. You will know how to fix them if they break down or how to design them better!
- You could end up running a large company. According to businessinsider.com 33% of CEOs in the S&P500 are ex-engineers. Engineers are logical, organised and focused on results. All necessary qualities for a chief. So if you think you might one day run a company, it’s a good idea to start with engineering.
If after reading this you are thinking about a career change – we are waiting for you to join our team as a design engineer ?
