One of the best ways to find out about a university and its programs is to meet and talk to the people that are experiencing it every day. This includes our faculty, who can give broad and experienced insight into curriculum, careers, and the engineering profession. But many applicants find it easier and more interesting (sorry faculty!) to talk to current students, who were applicants themselves just a few months or years ago. There are several ways for people to connect with our current students. Continue reading
engineering careers
Engineering Salary Statistics
The Globe & Mail, a newspaper published in Toronto, has posted an interesting graphic that allows you to determine the average early career earnings (ages 26 to 35) of various university majors, including several engineering disciplines. This is based on StatsCan data, and so is presumably reasonably good. After a quick look, some comments.
First, Chemical Engineering (my discipline!) seems to have the highest median income (over $71,000) among the engineering fields. I suspect it’s skewed by the people working in northern Alberta (Fort McMurray, etc.) where the salaries tend to be high, but I can’t say for sure. Most other engineering disciplines are in the low to mid $60,000 range for the median salary. Not bad for someone in their mid 20s to mid 30s, and higher than pretty well any other major (except Pharmacy, as far as I could determine). For comparison, in 2010 the median lone-parent family income in Canada was $37,050 according to StatsCan.
The other thing I notice is that female median salaries are consistently lower than male. This seems to be the case for all majors. I doubt that it is systemic salary gender discrimination, but probably reflects the fact that these are the prime child-bearing years for females, with time off work and lower income.
Overall, some interesting info, and it confirms that with engineering you can mix science, math, problem solving, and a decent standard of living too.
Thinking About Mining Engineering
The Macleans article I referenced in a previous post had a story about mining engineering, and the many lucrative career opportunities that are opening up in Canada. Part of this is the increased demand for resources (a similar story for petroleum), but part is the well-known demographic wave of upcoming retirements among engineering professionals. This is a challenge in many industries, and not unique to mining. There are a couple of things to say about this article, however. Continue reading
About Engineer Stereotypes
Here’s a nice post about engineering stereotypes, and the importance of adapting to change. In Engineering Education, we might refer to this as “lifelong learning”, but similar idea. When we talk with prospective students, it’s important to dispel these old stereotypes, so thanks to the author!
My August column in Mechanical Engineering magazine.
The overplayed stereotype always had something to do with a socially inept engineer sporting a short-sleeve white shirt and slim black tie, big horn-rimmed glasses, and a pocket protector overstuffed with BIC pens. He always seemed to be working alone in some lab trying to figure out a way to calculate a new formula.
I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but that guy is gone and with him the stereotype of who engineers are. If you think I’m kidding, you haven’t been paying attention. Hopefully, most of you are part of the transformation. If you’re not, look around you and see the young woman sitting a few feet away; she’s the new project manager. To her left, the guy with the tattoo is just home to Seattle from Bolivia and wants to go back to help build a new plant for a burgeoning…
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What Do Engineers Do?
Here’s a great post about what it’s like to be an electrical engineer. These are the sorts of stories we like to use to help prospective students decide on their career path, so thanks to the author!
When you think of what an engineer does on a daily basis, what comes to mind? Do you think we sit around and solve math problems all day? Maybe you think we sit in a cube and work on our projects alone.
Well, I have to confess that I don’t perform calculations all day. I’m sure that there are some engineers who spend time “doing the math”, but most of the calculations I do are either relatively simple or I rely on software to do it for me.
So, what is life as an engineer like? What do I do in a typical day? Considering that engineers aren’t typically known for their communication skills, I spend a considerable amount of time communicating via emails, in meetings and on conference calls. Oftentimes, I am communicating with colleagues around the world. (It gets really interesting when you have an engineer in Mexico…
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A Professor in Waterloo Engineering 