What mathematics software should engineering students use?

[matqkks]

What mathematics software should engineering students use? Is it correct that much of the engineering industry relies on MATLAB, making it the tool many graduates will encounter in professional settings?
How does SageMath compare? It is a free package that supports both numerical and symbolic computation and can be installed on various platforms. Could it become more widely used because it is freely available?

I am an academic who has taught engineering mathematics, and taught the engineering module with Maple. Many students and colleagues have indicated that Maple is not commonly used outside their mathematics courses, so I am exploring possible alternatives.

 

[jrmichler]

My jobs have been mostly analyst, problem solver, mentoring young engineers, and project engineering. I have used MATLAB extensively. I have looked at other packages, but ended not using any of them.

My actual calculations were mostly algebra and trigonometry, with some calculus. I have done a few numerical solutions, but have never done an analytical solution, to differential equations. I used ABAQUS FEA software in graduate school, and SolidWorks FEA on the job. Excel spreadsheets got a lot of use.

My recommendation is that engineering students should be proficient with Excel and MATLAB.