Fuck yes.

I'm doing a bachelor of engineering (first year) this year in Australia. If you do it full time, the work load is pretty intense. The after awards are so good though, I'm not sure about where you live, but here, after successfully finishing your first year you can apply to one of the defense forces as an engineer (army/navy/air force). They pay your uni fees (text books and all), give you over $40,000 a year to study, then give you a job for the amount of time they covered you in uni + 1 year. I'm not sure if i'll do it yet though because if it interupts my time with my girlfriend drastically then I'll have to decline it.

But even so, if you complete one of the engineering majors, and change your mind about being an engineer, tones of jobs will open up to you because of the skills you learned in your course. In other words, doing an engineering course will open up way more jobs than just engineering. They make us read all of the possibilities in the first week of one of the courses (mine being ENG1002), starting salary of a first year graduate on average (not in the defense force) is around $60,000
in the defense force it;s over $80,000

Engineering is definitely a good move for study, provided you enjoy learning about how things work as well as designing etc.


that's a lie, depending on your field engineering can bring you way over the average salary.

my major is mechanical, that opens a fucktone of other fields, engineering is probably different to what you think it is though; it's not just putting shit together, that's more like a mechanic
there is a ladder of importance when it comes to a job involving engineering, the laborer who puts the stuff together is at the bottom
the engineer is the guy in the suit sitting in the chair overseeing it all with a shitload of paper on his desk. It's a lot of hard work though

This post was edited by Vengance on May 10 2011 11:42pm

if you like :
physics -> mechanical/civil engineering
chemistry -> chemical engr
electronics -> electrical engr
computers and robotics -> computer engr
programming -> computer science major

dont know what a general 'engineering' major favors though

Additionally, if it's anything like it is in NZ, your first year will just be general (but mostly prescribed and required) science and math papers, which you can cross credit to a BSc if you decide (or are forced to) call it quits after your first year. At the uni I'm at the acceptance for professional years is B+ average, and then they run down the list until places run out. About 50% of first years don't make the cut.

Eg My first year:
COSC121 Introduction to Computer Programming (Python)
EMTH171 Mathematical Modelling and Computation (MATLAB)
ENGR101 Foundations of Engineering
ENGR102 Engineering Mechanics and Materials
MATH103 Mathematics 1B
PHIL235 Cyberspace, Cyborgs, and the Meaning of Life
PHYS101 Engineering Physics A: Mechanics, Waves and Thermal Physics
PHYS102 Engineering Physics B: Electromagnetism, Modern Physics and 'How Things Work'

(Spot the odd one out)

As you can see it's very general, just building up your knowledge base and general mathematical/analytical skills and seeing how well you cope.

Many engineers, upon graduation, often take on careers that are not engineering based,
since engineering is a great basis for numerous careers.

I definitely think it's a great choice. You'll have a great variety of choices before you when you graduate