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Jobs for engineering majors

What jobs are there that would be good for an aspiring engineer to get their foot in the door while completing their undergraduate degree. It seems like lots of engineering jobs want experience so I want to get a head start if I can #career #college #university

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Ken’s Answer

Congratulations on being interested in becoming an engineer. It takes a special person to enter this field and meet the demands which this career area presents. The first step is to get to know yourself to see if you share the personality traits which make engineers successful. The next step is doing networking to meet and talk to and possibly shadow engineers to see if this is something that you really want to do, as a career area could look much different on the inside than it looks from the outside.  

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
Here are some very interesting sites that will allow you to become more familiar with the vast array of opportunities in the field of engineering: You can disregard the fact that one site appears to be aimed at girls, as this is the site that contained the most complete introduction to engineering which I could find. ## https://www.engineergirl.org/ ## ## http://www.futureengineers.org/ ## ## https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zVcmTJSKM ##
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Austin’s Answer

Hi John,

It is true that many jobs after college ask for some work experience. Companies don't expect you to have worked a full time job with three years of work experience when you graduate, but they do expect that you are a qualified person based off of the work experience that you do have. The work experience that students typically have is made up of internships which is what I would recommend you pursue. Internships are a great way to gain vital work experience, explore a career, and develop new skills in a low stress environment. Internships are typically short (under a semester long usually) so you are not stuck in the job for a long time if you do not like it.


I had some good friends who were engineers and they got some amazing internships. I am not sure what kind of engineer you are (civil, biomedical, electrical) but I do know that engineers are highly coveted as interns. You likely posses digital skills, hard science skills, as well as people skills which are all things that companies like to see. I recommend going to your student career center and talking to a career adviser to help you find and apply for internships. They likely have a list of employers that are popular among engineering majors that accept interns. My engineering friends completed internships in the summers during college as well as sometimes during the school year. This ensured that they had the necessary work experience to find a good job upon graduation.


I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck!!


Best,

Austin

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