What kind of work is involved in engineering?

[ejs16205]

I'm a junior in high school and am trying to figure out what I want to do for a major in college. I always said I wanted to get into engineering but I'm not really sure what kind of work goes into it. I know that there is a lot of math and science and those are my two favorite subjects in school, always have been. But I am curious as to what else goes into it. It would be much appreciated if people who are already in or going into engineering responded to this.

Thank you.

 

[PhanthomJay]

I went into engineering because math and science were my favorite subjects in school. In college, much math and physics subjects are required, including 4 years of calculus/differential equations; a year or 2 of physics (mechanics, electromagnetism, and waves), then statics, dynamics, and electric circuit courses, Fluids, and Thermodynamics. And drafting/CAD. Then you specialize after 2 years in the engineering branch of your choice (Civil/Structural/Environmental/Electrical/ Chemical, Mechanical, etc.). At least that's how it was in my day, and i don't think it has changed much, except for the use of computers.

What type of engineering are you most interested in?

 

[ejs16205]

I'm still trying to decide, my boyfriend is majoring in computer engineering and I kind of like that, but I wanted to do aerospace, I'm still looking into different types of engineering though.

 

[phoenixosu]

In general the first year of an engineering B.S. is the same across most degrees, lots of math and science and the bac core classes. sophomore year things start to change, the chemical/biological engineers take more chem classes, the civil/mechanical/manufacturing engineers take more hard physics, electrical/computer/CS take physics and CS, and the engineering management guys take more business ish classes. JR year is where you get a lot of fundamentals in your chosen field, usually by then you have to choose a specialty. Sr year is all about your specialty and any bac core you missed.

As for what you do in industry depends on what kind of career path you want, and you won't know that for a while anyway (people change majors all the time).

In real world engineering there is a "design cycle" and you kind of decide where you want to fit into that cycle (it looks a bit different in each field, I'm a EE/CpE so mine may differ from aerospace)
1 product conceptual design (engineering management)
2 actual design of the product (design engineering)
3 design verification and validation (product engineering)
4 qualification (test engineering) and manufacturing (manufacturing engineering and engineering management)