Why Engineering? A Career with an Impact

Why Engineering?
It's a Career with an Impact

April 17, 2020

By: Lisandro Vazquez, PE

So, why Engineering?

Engineering is what got you to this exact moment. Engineers developed the hardware in your computer, the physical infrastructure hosting the virtual domain of the internet, and the power plants & electrical distribution systems charging our interconnected world. Wherever you are right now, take a few seconds to look around you. What do you see? How do the things that surround us come into being to serve our daily lives?

Choosing a career path can be an intimidating process. It’s unnerving, and sometimes it can be downright terrifying. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re about to enter the job market for the first time—or perhaps you’re already in your first engineering role and you may be questioning your career decision—or maybe you’re just looking to switch careers, you’ll be asking yourself the following:

Which career is right for me?

While this question is difficult to answer as it is highly personalized, there are some steps you can take to home in on what’s right for YOU. And if an engineering career sparks your interest, Engineer Q&A has the information you need to get started.

Before we really dive into the topic though, let’s pause for a moment and take a deep breath. Relax. Really… you CAN relax. Sure, changing and/or selecting a career is a big decision; but, it’s an opportunity (of many) and it’s not permanent. Take some of the pressure off your shoulders for a second and repeat after me: “IT’S PERFECTLY NORMAL TO CHANGE MY MIND.” It’s ok to change positions, jobs, or even careers. It’s ok to have one, two, or even three or more different “careers” in your life journey. Take it from me; I’m on my second career path and I’m doing just fine.

Because some things will speak to you more than they speak to others, this article’s approach is to provide a framework for you to find your own path to the answer that’s best for YOU rather than prescribing a scripted answer.

In this spirit, take the following as a series of talking points or considerations for you to expand upon with your own opinions, values, and feelings.

For Your Consideration:

Passion & Apathy

Passion and apathy are extremes with respect to your overall attitude towards your career. Of course, if you are apathetic about your job, position, and career there’s probably a better path out there for you. But, contrary to much common advice, it is NOT necessary to be passionate about your career of choice.

Yes, you heard that right… you do not need to be passionate about your field of work. It definitely helps to have passion for your work, but it’s not a requirement for satisfaction with your career.

Let’s say you’re considering becoming (or already are) a Chemical Engineer. Just because you do not read about chemical engineering in your free time, or get super-excited when you pass by a refinery it doesn’t mean it’s a bad career choice.

If you find the subject of your work interesting, doable, and rewarding on some level, then it can end up being a very fulfilling career when applied to the other factors of your own personal equation for happiness. It is perfectly ok to be “in the middle” with respect to apathy and passion toward your career. A great resource on this topic is “Designing Your Life” by Stanford University professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. The book provides an outstanding guide on how you can design a great career to fit your desired lifestyle. My wife and I really enjoyed this book and wholeheartedly recommend it. Hopefully it will be meaningful to you as well.

Let’s be clear though, engineering is a challenging field. Its foundation is math heavy, and some of the concepts and tools may be abstract, or even out of reach, for some. While you don’t absolutely have to have an undying passion for engineering to be successful, you most definitely have to be interested in the subject and have an aptitude for mathematics and processes.

Pay vs. Play

Here’s a question to consider, “How much is $30 worth to you?”

What do you equate dollars with? A dollar bill unto itself has no intrinsic value. Its “worth” is as a medium for exchange. It allows you to exchange (or convert) your hours of labor into goods, services, experiences etc. To expand on this thought, the dollar simply serves as a conduit—or path—from one point (hours worked) to another (goods, services, experiences). Thus, the dollar is not the destination, nor is it the ultimate goal. So you don’t absolutely have to go for the highest paying job.

At a first look engineering jobs provide great pay and generally good benefits, but the majority of engineers will not be “rich.” Further, these jobs often demand above-average hours worked, so that must be factored into the real valuation of a salary. There are opportunities however for entrepreneurship which can lead to substantial financial gains.

Money is important in that it is necessary to achieve and/or acquire many—but not all—of the things that go into your desired lifestyle. The question of “how much do I need” is based upon the things you’d truly like to have in life and the things you’d like to do or accomplish. Now, let’s broaden this a little.

Why do you work?

- Do you work to support your desired lifestyle? Do you work to live, or live to work?
- Without getting too deep into this (that’s a whole article unto itself), imagine the things that go into your desired lifestyle (i.e. one that makes you happy, not necessarily financially rich).

Consider the following:

- How much time do you need to do the things which will bring you happiness each day, each week, or each year?
- What is the MINIMUM amount of money required to do the things you highlighted above?
- What is the MAXIMUM amount of hours worked each week which will still allow you to do the things that bring you happiness outside of work?
- Are there opportunities in the field you are considering (or currently doing) which will provide the MINIMUM necessary money required while allowing you enough time to do the things which bring you happiness? If not, are there other job opportunities which would allow for this? Are there other similar—but not necessarily the same—jobs within the field which could achieve this goal? Are there people doing these jobs who you can ask about their experiences?

When considering career choices be sure to give serious thought to determining whether your job’s workweek, hours, and pay are compatible with your desired lifestyle. Taking a high paying job that leaves no time for you to enjoy your income is a ticket to unhappiness; and, at the same time, taking a job with plenty of time off but without enough money to do the things you dream of can be just as bad.

Trust me… money is not everything. I have taken a pay cut on the order of tens of thousands of dollars to change careers and IT WAS THE RIGHT CHOICE. I seriously don’t miss that money. I realized that the things I wanted to do didn’t require tons of money, but they did require flexibility and time. Engineering has provided me with enough time off and more than enough money to accomplish my current goals and support a very comfortable lifestyle.

So, ask yourself: “What balance of PAY vs. PLAY will provide happiness for ME?”

The END can be different than the BEGINNING (Tomorrow’s Job vs. Today’s)

Always remember, you CAN change jobs, positions, and careers. If you aren’t 100% sure where you want to end up in your career, it’s ok. Don’t be fearful of being “left behind” by your peers, or “starting from scratch” if considering a job or career change. Today’s job market is so fluid that it’s rare for someone to stay in the same job or the same firm for 30 or 40 years nonstop. So, at some point you’re likely to be changing jobs anyways. Even if you do stick with the same career and the same type of job, if you’re in a professional field like engineering then tomorrow’s job WILL be different than today’s. New technologies will change how you do your work, how you think, and will impact your relationship with your career.

Let’s imagine (key word is imagine) that technology in your field doesn’t change significantly over your career span (unlikely). Even in this situation, as you build experience and gain knowledge, the specific duties of your position will change. Thus, again, your job in the future will likely be different than it is today.

A Born Natural

How much effort is required for you to understand the fundamentals of your work? Is it always a struggle to figure things out? Do you have to work “twice as hard” as everybody else? Why?

If you have to struggle more than others, perhaps you end up understanding the material better because you have to really dig into the material. That could be a great advantage and a badge of honor too. But, if you are considering a technical or tedious profession which does not come “natural” to you, take a step back for a moment and bear in mind that this is something which will last longer than a couple of school semesters.

How you feel at work spills over into how you feel in general. If you truly do enjoy being slightly out of your comfort zone, and really do enjoy the “challenge,” then a technical field could be a very rewarding career—even if it is a lot of work.

Now, just for a second, ignore what your friends and family say you should feel towards a challenging career and just think about how YOU feel about it. If in your mind you see “challenge” as meaning “struggle,” then perhaps you may want to do some more investigation into your career of choice and see what different types of job opportunities exist within that field which may suit your abilities and aptitudes best.

Personally, I like to be slightly outside of my comfort zone. I view my current role as a Mechanical Engineer as a wonderful learning experience and I enjoy expanding my knowledge. I really do get a rush from figuring something out which has stumped me in the past. I crave that feeling. Yet from past experiences, I know that I am unhappy when in a position of long periods of discomfort with respect to level of knowledge and stress. It’s a balance. Don’t force something that you know isn’t for you.

One last thing: if you feel that you aren’t a born natural at your job, it’s possible that you’re just being hard on yourself… it’s just a thought.

Legacy & Impact

On the topic of “worthiness” of a profession like engineering, part of this appraisal is assessing the impact your work has not only on yourself, but on your community. Designing a machine component, testing new chemical compounds, selecting the right air-conditioning system for the right job does make a difference. Think of all the things that make your life convenient or all the things that improve or extend your life. Who designed those things? Who tested them? Who revised them and reworked them to make them better?

Even the small things add up. And these are things to be proud of.

Remember, the work you do is WANTED by SOMEBODY. Otherwise, nobody would pay for it.

Essentially every job has at least some minimal level of community impact. The question to ask yourself is what specific impact or legacy do you want for your job? Think hard about how the operators, owners, or stakeholders of your work will benefit from your labor. How long will people use or benefit from the product or service you may provide? How does that make you feel?

Another thing to consider is this: since engineering is a technical profession which requires years of education and years of practice, the expertise of engineers can be an invaluable asset to nonprofits and volunteer organizations. How many people can pick up litter from the side of a roadway?

Now, how many people can design a safe yet affordable suspension bridge across a remote gorge in rural Asia or Africa? Because of their unique training & skillset engineers can affect immeasurable impacts on communities by volunteering their time and efforts to engineering projects which provide electricity, infrastructure, and clean water & sanitation to those in need. Check out the Resources page for links to engineering-focused volunteer organizations.

Long Hours at Work?

A job in engineering may require working hours which are somewhat longer than the average. Are you concerned about this issue? If so, what answers do YOU have for the following:

- - With these extra hours am I growing my knowledge with respect to my field of work?
  - How does the workload for my job change over the course of my chosen career path? Are there other paths I can take within my field which yield different results?
  - What is the opportunity for advancement and promotion? How long will I have to do what I am currently doing before I move to the next level of achievement? Do I want to be at the next rung of the ladder or do I like my current responsibilities? If I want to be at that next level, how can I use my extra hours at work to better maneuver myself closer to my goal?
  - How can I capitalize on my increased experience?
  - Are there things I can learn at work which I can apply to my personal life?
  - What are the things at work which bring me joy? How can I increase my exposure to these things?
  - Are there licenses, credentials, or certifications which I can be working towards or earning credits for while I work? How can I build my resume in my current role?
  - How do I feel when I tell people what I do for work? How do I feel when I see people’s reactions when I tell them what I do for work?
  - Am I proud of my work? If so, how can I remind myself more often of the pride that I feel?
  - Are the extra hours worth it? How do I measure “worth”?
  - How can I achieve a healthy work life balance? For more on this, check out my article How to Improve Work Life Balance: 9 Ways from Easiest to Hardest

Professional Growth

Growth is vital to building confidence, achieving a sense of accomplishment, and maintaining satisfaction in life and in your career. Because of the technical nature of work and the years of training & practice required for mastery, an engineering career will almost certainly provide a multitude of opportunities for professional growth. There are countless licenses and certifications available to expand your professional skillset across virtually all engineering disciplines and most engineering problems require knowledge of several fields.

For example, my own career is in Mechanical Engineering, more specifically HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning) and Plumbing Engineering. I started off as an Engineer-in-Training (EIT) (now called Engineering Intern, EI), earned a certification in AutoCAD (design software), earned a certification as a Certified Plumbing Design Technician, got licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE), got promoted to lead a small engineering division, switched jobs to work on larger engineering projects, and now I have even more opportunities ahead of me.

I can continue building my knowledge & experience and move up the ladder to become a senior engineer, or a divisional/departmental manager. I could aim for a management level role as a project manager or even a management role outside of engineering. I could start my own engineering company. I could join a startup as a principal member. I could take a year or two off from work and volunteer my time in engineering-focused volunteer organizations.

There are just so many opportunities for growth if you start off in engineering.

So, why Engineering? It’s a Career with an Impact.

Engineering is what has made the industrial wonders and modern conveniences of today possible. At every passing second around the world engineers—people just like you—are designing air-conditioning systems for buildings, bridges for rural communities, sanitation networks for entire cities, and are developing the technologies which will help all of us combat climate change.

So, if you’re ready to consider pursuing engineering as a career and want to know what it takes to get there, check out Engineer Q&A’s “Becoming an Engineer” page for a comprehensive listing of related articles.

Thanks for reading!

If you want to learn more about what it’s like to be an engineer check out the articles below:

What is it like to be an Engineer? (Series Intro)

What do Mechanical Engineers do?

What type of environment do engineers work in?

How many hours do engineers work?