2 answers
Isaias
Student
Conroe, Texas
1
Question
Updated
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What is the hardest part of becoming a Mechanical-Engineer And looking at the market, would you change to a different engineering? #Spring26
I was considering switching to a petroleum engineering major but I am not so sure about it. What does your every day life look like and how hard is it to get a job?
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2 answers
Jerry Van Norman
Professional Engineer with over 50 years of experience
12
Answers
San Marcos, Texas
Updated
Jerry’s Answer
Isaias,
Don't worry about changing your engineering focus until your third year. The first two years cover basic subjects like math, chemistry, mechanics, computer science, etc. You have plenty of time to decide, and your academic advisor can help guide you.
You mentioned Chemical Engineering as an option. If you enjoy and excel in chemistry, it could be a great fit. However, Mechanical Engineering might offer more flexibility in the job market.
Remember, industries can change quickly. Flexibility in your career is important because job requirements and availability vary. When you graduate, consider joining a large company with a new-hire training program. This will help you learn the company's needs, and such companies often provide opportunities to switch roles or fields later.
Good luck! The world needs talented engineers.
Don't worry about changing your engineering focus until your third year. The first two years cover basic subjects like math, chemistry, mechanics, computer science, etc. You have plenty of time to decide, and your academic advisor can help guide you.
You mentioned Chemical Engineering as an option. If you enjoy and excel in chemistry, it could be a great fit. However, Mechanical Engineering might offer more flexibility in the job market.
Remember, industries can change quickly. Flexibility in your career is important because job requirements and availability vary. When you graduate, consider joining a large company with a new-hire training program. This will help you learn the company's needs, and such companies often provide opportunities to switch roles or fields later.
Good luck! The world needs talented engineers.
William Vvuko
Retired engineer
233
Answers
Moyo, Northern Region
Updated
William’s Answer
Hi Isaias,
You raise important issues. Let's look at the fundamentals.
Many factors influence our choice of career. Firstly, destiny endows us with different potentials, talents and/or special gifts. These are opportunities we can successfully craft careers out of. Besides, it's important that we love and enjoy what we do so we can fully put our heart into it.
Throughout the ages, engineering has always focused on addressing some of the pressing needs of society. Your joining the profession affords you the opportunity to contribute to this noble cause.
Excelling at what we do, especially when it meets an important human need, can easily guarantee us financial freedom. As such, we need to exhibit excellence in all our endeavors.
To be competitive, we need to be competent. Knowledge is the foundation for competence. We need skills to effectively utilize both knowledge and other resources available at our disposal. The critical skills include the ability to plan, schedule & execute activities/work; organize; identify & resolve problems; communicate effectively; work in teams; collate, analyze & critically evaluate information.
Our willingnesss to get the job done as required is the third aspect of competence. Important qualities are required to be able to do this. Amongst these qualities are: commitment, diligence, positive mindset, perseverance, passion, attention to detail, assertiveness, self-drive, empathy, self-control, curiosity, willingnesss to take risks etc. Many of us are born with a significant number of these qualities. Others have to learn them through experience. Demonstrating these qualities effectively in our daily routines makes us emotionally intelligent - the single most critical contributor to our success at the place of work.
I hope you find this useful.
Good luck in your studies.
You raise important issues. Let's look at the fundamentals.
Many factors influence our choice of career. Firstly, destiny endows us with different potentials, talents and/or special gifts. These are opportunities we can successfully craft careers out of. Besides, it's important that we love and enjoy what we do so we can fully put our heart into it.
Throughout the ages, engineering has always focused on addressing some of the pressing needs of society. Your joining the profession affords you the opportunity to contribute to this noble cause.
Excelling at what we do, especially when it meets an important human need, can easily guarantee us financial freedom. As such, we need to exhibit excellence in all our endeavors.
To be competitive, we need to be competent. Knowledge is the foundation for competence. We need skills to effectively utilize both knowledge and other resources available at our disposal. The critical skills include the ability to plan, schedule & execute activities/work; organize; identify & resolve problems; communicate effectively; work in teams; collate, analyze & critically evaluate information.
Our willingnesss to get the job done as required is the third aspect of competence. Important qualities are required to be able to do this. Amongst these qualities are: commitment, diligence, positive mindset, perseverance, passion, attention to detail, assertiveness, self-drive, empathy, self-control, curiosity, willingnesss to take risks etc. Many of us are born with a significant number of these qualities. Others have to learn them through experience. Demonstrating these qualities effectively in our daily routines makes us emotionally intelligent - the single most critical contributor to our success at the place of work.
I hope you find this useful.
Good luck in your studies.