Early Retirement Extreme Forums

^^ So you get health care and education too! (burning up with jealousy)

I think half the population is on welfare, but we are still the best economy in the EU. Haha.. :-9

I'm an ME and it has worked out well. I work at a small R&D facility. A typical day for me involves drawing something up in Solidworks, going over to the lathe and mill and making it, then hooking it up and recording data of some kind.
I like my job and coworkers, if I could somehow be a part time engineer I would not seek retirement. I get to satisfy my urge to build things and somebody else pays for the tools and materials.
One thing I don't like is the trend for engineers to become managers. If you let them, your bosses will push for more and more management responsibility. You will spend more time in meetings and answering emails than getting hands dirty. I had to put a stop to it which is career suicide but good for the creative soul.

JerseyGirl: Am I wrong, but I once read you are going back to school? What degree?
AlexK: sounds like an AWESOME job.. no kidding, but it sounds like so much fun!

@AlexK

>> One thing I don't like is the trend for

>> engineers to become managers.
Yup. The worst part is that good engineers CAN be good managers, but generally aren't =/

@AlexK

>> One thing I don't like is the trend for

>> engineers to become managers.
This is why I left engineering... there was nobody there 20 years my senior doing a job I wanted to be doing (either management or some extremely niche position... ok there might have been one or two jobs I'd like, but the competition would make shooting for that very risky).
I didn't really say why I thought CivE was best for ERE -- mostly because it seems the most interdisciplinary to me, which is a part of ERE.

I think I want to be a civil engineer. I predict a lot of failing bridges and other infrastructure in the coming years and I have an analytical mind--but I don't have the required math/science skills to get into any programs. I regret I didn't take them as an undergraduate.

(I'm an EE)
If EE is something that interests you, it can make a lot of money very fast. In the server/storage/networking field, with a few years of experience you can make $100K/year. If your goal is to make a lot of money fast for ERE, this is a good field.
With all that said, don't choose a field you won't enjoy just for the money. I loved EE'ing for many years, but as I've grown tired of the discipline, it's not worth the money to do something you don't enjoy.

@tjt I dunno, with ERE the "do something you like" advice changes. It's not like you'll be stuck in the career for decades. It's more a question of: Do something low-paying that you kind of enjoy for 10 years, or do something high-paying that you hate for 3 years...

I like Mike's answer. There is something to be said for making as much money as you can as fast as you can, IF you plan to ERE, and it suits your disposition.

I am a Chemical engineer. If I were to do it over again, I would either go with mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering. Chemical engineering teaches you to problem solve, but you really don't get to apply it day to day. I stopped doing work in that field about 14 years ago. I moved into sales and have stayed there since.

It was interesting reading the replies. I am a chemical engineer as well. I would say many chemical engineers end up as "process engineers" and do problem solving and optimization of processes. I echo many of the general sentiments here but believe chemeng to be just as broadly based as ME or CE as there are chemeng working on materials, aerospace, and many other disciplines.
My biggest agreement and reason for seeking ERE or ER is AlexK's observation. At my company, engineers are pushed into project leadership, project managers, or management roles. Very few reach the upper levels of technical work as they don't need everyone to be a big thinker. Even these people spend most of their time mentoring younger engineers (management?).
The best description of engineering in general that I have heard is that the product being produced by engineers is paperwork! If you don't like reports, memos, plans, reports, schedules, plans, reports, MEETINGS, pointless meetings, reports, and plans, then you shouldn't seek out engineering. I just wish they had told me this part in school!

@chemkrafty - I have not been in the engineering field for some time. The point you made about process optimization is basically what I learned. I alway felt mechanical engineering would give you the most experience in how machinery operate, which would be important in everyday life and make you more resourceful. I am not afraid to take something a part, and usually can repair items, but I just felt like what my friends in MechE did was more useful day to day.

Well, I majored in Mechanical Engineering and Economics (minor in models and data analysis... sort of seems like I was studying for ERE), and I've ended up working for a Civil firm, starting out with high speed rail design, then moving (with a layoff and hire-back) into transportation - mostly highways and such, with a few years of construction when they ran shorthanded. I would recommend civil for employment purposes, but it can be painfully boring. I ended up ME rather than EE (about 2 classes difference in what I took) because I liked to break/burn things
The work isn't hard, and that can be a problem for a certain sort of person, but the jobs are there. Its probably one of the more mobile professions in the US, and has a great practical grounding, but doesn't pay as well as other branches. Doing it all over, I would consider going into finance (strongly considered when I graduated) with a focus on engineering firms or industries, where being an engineer would be a real advantage compared to peers.

I know an electrical. mechanical, civil and agricultural engineer. By far the biggest earner and the socially most important role is the electrical engineer. He has been making sure thousands of people have power after a disaster, during a winter. Whatever you decide, try and specialise in areas that aren't popular among students ie high voltage engineering as opposed to consumer products. Also recommend mixing it with business experience.
BTW I did Economics, it's not all about business, I found it really interesting, we seem to have been conned into believing economics is the free market milton friedman rubbish. But you don't have to do a degree to understand it. - you may want to read some economists books eg J K Galbraith "an affluent society"

I have a civil engineering license and would say it's a very broad ranging and useful degree. Not sure if the degree was worth what I paid to get it from a top 10 school, but it allowed a 50k salary out of school and most people can be making 100k after 10 years and a license.

I am an EE stuck in the NuclearE world at a Nuclear Plant for now. I want out! It is so boring, never go into Nuclear! I rather work on robotics, lasers, remote sensing micro controllers or AI Programming; anything but power! Though it is the most lucrative and stable career an engineer can have, but I rather Live a life full of creativity than a life in maitaining procedures and safety! This is why i want ERE.