Becoming an engineer with a Physics degree

[Shaun_W]

If you can't become an engineer in America without an engineering degree then you could easily move here to find work as an engineer, since you do not need an engineering degree to become an engineer here - in fact I've seen people with all sorts of degrees on the engineering graduate schemes.

 

[Phyisab****]

Like others said...

If you want to WORK in Industry as an engineer you NEED to achieve the status of a "professional engineer" (engineer licensed within to offer professional services to the public).

And to achieve a PE license you need to have a degree in engineering.

However, if you want to do research you may not need to...

By the way, I don't think you need a PE in the software industry.

Your use of caps to underscore the absoluteness of your statement is unnecessary and incorrect. You do not NEED to be a PE to get many engineering jobs. How is it that I just got a job as a manufacturing measurements engineer with a BS in physics?

Also, you don't think you need to be a PE in the software industry? Why would you? Of course you don't.

 

[Ben Espen]

Like others said...

If you want to WORK in Industry as an engineer you NEED to achieve the status of a "professional engineer" (engineer licensed within to offer professional services to the public).

And to achieve a PE license you need to have a degree in engineering.

However, if you want to do research you may not need to...

By the way, I don't think you need a PE in the software industry.

This is incorrect. For some positions a PE may be a requirement, but not in general. The purpose of a PE registration is to regulate who may market themselves to the public as an engineer. The details of what that means vary from place to place. My business card says "Process Engineer". I do not have a PE. I do have a BS in Physics. This is fine in Arizona where I live and work. In some places you cannot do this. In many of those places, you can do the work, you just call yourself something else.

 

[josh_einsle]

This is incorrect. For some positions a PE may be a requirement, but not in general. The purpose of a PE registration is to regulate who may market themselves to the public as an engineer. The details of what that means vary from place to place. My business card says "Process Engineer". I do not have a PE. I do have a BS in Physics. This is fine in Arizona where I live and work. In some places you cannot do this. In many of those places, you can do the work, you just call yourself something else.

agree with ben above. I have worked as a process and applications engineer for the last 10 years. In fact the majority of the people at the company i just left do not have engineering degrees, but all have the title engineer.

physics provides a great basis for doing engineering, especially in the high tech sector where the line between engineering and physics becomes more blurred.