metalman2785

Some of you guys may be thinking, what does engineering have to do with overclocking??? Well if you ever modded, changed, or designed a part for you computer you are engineering! That's right making things work is an engineers job!
A lot of you guys are young and have some time to think about the future. I am writing this FAQ to hopefully inspire a few of into the field of engineering. First I want to start out by saying, if you are good with technology, science, and math, engineering may be the field for you! A lot of you may not know what an engineer is, or does, so I am going to try and clear up a few things.

As basic, as I can put it, Engineering = problem solving. Engineers design, build, and operate almost every new piece of technology that comes to the market. Your new ATI or Nvidia card was desinged by engineers, as was you motherboard, cpu, and case. But the job posibilities are almost limitless for an engineer, here are some examples of engineers and what they do.

Mechanical Engineer - the most broad engineer there is. With a degree in Mechanical engineering, you can work with anything mechanical! An example of an M.E.'s job would be desinging jet engines for a company like GE, or designing automobiles at GM.

Chemical Engineer - the most well paid engineer, and one of the top jobs in America right now. The starting salary for a Chemical engineer is roughly 70,000 a year, that is really good when you are right out of college! As a chemical engineer you could work at a company like Dupoint, making anything synthetic, examples would be paint, glue, and new materials.

Civil Engineer- civil engineers work on civil projects such as, bridges, high rise buildings, damns, and road design. A lot of state, federal, and especially military jobs are perfect for civil engineers. The Army Core of engineers has civil engineers trying to fix the broken levy's in New Orleans, and also build new roads, water purifying, and power plants in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Computer Engineer- Ahh yes, this is for all you hardware nuts! Computer engineers are responsible for all of the hardware in your computer, and they will be designing tommorows new and better computer technology! You could work for AMD, Intel, ATI, Nvidia, or basically any computer manufacturer with the degree!

Electrical Engineer- Electrical engineers have a lot of diverse jobs. For example all the electrical components of a high rise building are done by an EE. But ATI is also highering EE's to work on the new catalyst drivers! As an EE you will learn circuitry and computer code.

What kind of tools do engineers use?
They use computer programs called CAD for most of their design work. Some examples are Pro-Engineer, Solidworks, and Autocad-3D. If you like drawing and modeling parts you will love these programs. Pro-E costs 1,500$ a year, so this is some SERIOUS software! I have a picture attached of a basic shape, and a rim I designed.

Well, in conclusion if you are really into todays technology, and want to be a part of the future design of the next generation of computers, cars, and electronics engineering may be right for you. There are a lot more engineers,(plastics, bio-medical, rubber) but I just wanted to give a brief introduction into the major engineering fields. This is my first FAQ, and I hope that it will perk some of your guys intrest in engineering. So if you are good at math and science, and love technology, try considering going into the field of Engineering when it comes time to decide what to do with your life after high school!

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metalkobra

there are some spelling errors in this, also I have a few more suggestions for jobs in demand: Networking and A+ are just a couple.

Progenicus

Nice FAQ, I'm always on the lookout for different careers (getting to that point in high school when you gotta decide what to do for the rest of your life >.<).
Reps for jah ;)

corned_beef

Im thinking about engineering. Probably go for mechanical, like working practcally. Great FAQ!

BFRD

Don't forget about software development!

HrnyGoat

Petroleum Engineering pays even more than Chemical. Like $120,000 a year. (or at least thats the average for graduates at my college)

The Duke

Mechanical Engineer in perticular!
They are dieing for people who have mechanical experance and the degree! I know of many automotive mechanics who were persuant to a ME degree and were scooped up quickly and there continuing education was paid for! They all managed to negotiate a solid salary too!!!

Melraidin

Forgot software engineers:

We design and build anything software related, from the low-level drivers for your network card to the games you play. Ever post on a forum? (note: if you're here you've probably already done so): that forum was created by a software engineer.

Not necessarily the most well-paid engineer these days, but a software engineer can usually count on always having something new and innovative to play with. A mechanical engineer may need to apply his design formulas in a new way, but a software engineer may need to completely re-create any formulas involved to achieve his goal.

ETA: I before E except after C.

-Thrilla-

My teacher told me that computer repair, server maintainance doesn't get paid as much as before ($200-400/h !!), he suggest me to learn multi-media, he is going to teach me how to use and run a Live TV software for the school.

ENTERPRISE

Im going to be the Computer ENgineer