7. Careers in Engineering

1. 7. Careers in Engineering By John Marcheggiani

2. What does an engineer do? • Old saying “An engineer can do with one dollar what any fool can do with two!” • Trained to use science, technology, and mathematics to solve problems in a systematic way

3. What types of engineer are there? • Civil Engineering • Structural (buildings, bridges, tunnels) • Transportation (highways, railroads, canals) • Environmental (air pollution management) • Water resources (flood control) • Geotechnical (mining) • Surveying & Construction

4. What types of engineer are there? (continued) • Mechanical Engineering • Energy (power plants, heating and air conditioning, alternative energy) • Structures and motion in mechanical systems (cars, planes, machine tools, medical systems) • Manufacturing (tools and processes, automated assembly lines, robotics)

5. What types of engineer are there? (continued) • Chemical Engineering • Design and operate any plant that involves a chemical process • Plastics and other petroleum products • Building materials • Food products • Pharmaceuticals • Clothing • Fertilisers • Environmental cleanup

6. What types of engineer are there? (continued) • Electrical Engineering • 36 technical societies with broad areas • Electronics (circuits, microchips, lasers) • Communications (cell phones, antennas, networks, fibre-optics) • Power (transmission and distribution of power, electric motors, and generators) • Controls (automated control systems, aerospace control systems) • Instrumentation (test equipment)

7. What types of engineer are there? (continued) • Computer Engineering • Hardware (computers, data storage) • Software(programming, operating Systems) • Digital systems • Computer architecture • Networks

8. What types of engineer are there? (continued) • Industrial Engineering • Industrial Engineers determine the most effective way for an organisation to use its resources (people, machines, materials, information and energy) • People oriented engineers • Must know computers and management practices

9. What types of engineer are there? (continued) • Other Major Special Types • Aerospace • Materials / Metallurgical (removing metal from the ore, refining, alloying) • Bioengineering (engineering and medicine) • Agricultural (genetic engineering) • Mining / Geology • Many - many - many - specialties

10. How Do You Become An Engineer? • High School • Study maths, sciences and physics • Learn communications and people skills (engineers work in teams and must be able to sell their ideas) • University • Not all universities are the same • Co-op program offers practical experience while you study • First two years are common specialization in the third and fourth year

11. How Do You Become An Engineer? (continued) • After graduation • Work under supervision as a junior engineer • After two years experience you can write the professional engineer exam and can practice as a registered engineer • May take further training (master's degree in engineering or progress to another degree) • There will be lifelong learning • Many engineers go on to become project managers and business managers

12. How Does An Engineer Do Things • Client has a problem or sees an opportunity • The engineer: • defines the problem and collect information and data about the problem • develops alternative designs or solutions (Usually more than one way to solve the problem) • identifies and compares the pros and cons of each solution

13. How Does An Engineer Do Things (continued) • helps the client determine the best choice for the best price • designs and manufactures the selected product • trains others to use and support the new product • continues development and improvement of the product • finds other uses for the product

14. What Types of Jobs Would a Junior Engineer Do? • Normally will be assigned as a member of a project team • Research (analysing and solving problems using scientific skills and logic) • Designing (need imagination and creativity) • Testing (lab work, conducting experiments) • Development (improvement or adapting existing products)

15. What Types of Jobs Would a Junior Engineer Do? • Sales (must have a very good knowledge of the product, because the marketing people may not be engineers) • Management – organising and expediting projects • Consulting • Teaching

16. AND ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE … • Some engineers that went on to other things: • Neil Armstrong – astronaut and politician • Alfred Hitchcock – writer and filmmaker • Boris Yeltsin – premier of Russia • Lee Iacocca – President of Chrysler Corporation • Yasser Arafat – Palestinian Leader

17. What can you expect from an engineering career? • Varied opportunities (opens the door to many areas) • Challenging work (brain exercise) • Social impact (improving our way of life) • Prestige (engineering is a well respected profession) • Lifelong education (always new things to learn about) • How do they do that (curiosity) • Creative thinking (dreaming)

18. What can you expect from an engineering career? • Good Salary (From PEO 2003 survey) • Graduates in 2003 are now making between $40,000 to $55,620 - average $48,304 • Graduates in 2001 are now making between $43,000 to $60,384 - average $52,396 • REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF OTHER TECHNICAL CAREER FIELDS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE TRADES

19. Careers in Engineering • WEB Sites • http://www.peo.on.ca/ • http://www.eir.ca • http://www.greatachievements.org/ • Questions