Five reasons to become an engineer

The universal question, “Why should I become an engineer” resonates in our society. Beer With An Engineer has provided clarity and answers to this pressing question.  The question should probably be “Why is engineering such a good career choice?”  To help we have distilled our guest’s responses into five common reasons why our guests have, and why we believe people should, become engineers. 

Travel: Become an engineer, see the world

It doesn’t seem to matter which engineering discipline you chose.  If you are aware of them, the opportunities are there.  After picking through the bios and LinkedIn profiles of our guests like some cyber stalker, it is becoming increasingly rare that people just work in one country.  It is a career that can take you from a remote village in Vietnam to a conference hall at the UN.  And absolutely everywhere in between.  There is truly no limit to where an engineering background can give you career progression.  “You really can land in so many different aspects if you’re willing to say yes” (Lydia Gentle Ep 34) 

“You have the opportunity to do and go wherever you want and really make your mark on society” Don McPhail (Ep33) 

Impact: The impact is greater reaching than many other careers

Often quoted on our podcast, Carly Price (Ep08) commented that a doctor can heal a patient, but an engineer has the lives of thousands in their hands.  It is a profession that changes lives.  Engineers “….aren’t the ones that go in and save people, but they’re the ones that stop them from having to be saved in the first place” 

“The career purpose of an engineer is often about the impact of technology and use of technology on people” Trish White Ep20 

Think: Your discipline is simply a starting point

“One thing engineering does is it teaches you to think.” Andrew Balak (Ep2).  The way that an engineer learns to think allows them to be adaptable to any situation. 

“You do your degree in engineering, you learn so much more than how to build a bridge or design a road.  It’s really the things that you learn on how to solve a problem, learn how to think outside the box, I think it’s a completely different way of thinking when you’re an engineer.” Lydia Gentle (Ep34)  

Just speaking with a range of people who studied Mechanical Engineering, they often found their careers that would not fall into the traditional realms of the mechanical engineering.  Their jobs range from Oil Traders to Financial Directors of companies to Operations Managers for energy networks. 

“Even if you know what an engineer does, you’ll never really understand all the possibilities within this field” Erin Hughes (Ep32) 

Future-proof: It’s a career that will never be redundant

No matter what happens in the future, it is engineers who are creating the technology.  We are the most self-sustaining profession there is. 

“Engineers are a strange profession because they disrupt themselves.  They constantly innovate and constantly improve and constantly increase the efficiency.” Ashley Brinson (Ep17) 

Amazing: You get to do some really sensational things

Most professionals will spend their lives sitting in office and boardrooms.  Engineering is one profession where you can be involved in the most amazing things. 

“Engineers work with everything, from the very small that can only be seen with a microscope, to space stations and everything in between” Lydia Gentle (Ep34) 

Engineers have the opportunity to stand on the top of some of the most iconic buildings, see the world of tunnels that snake below the ground, stand in presence of machinery too large to fathom and help to leave structures behind that people will talk about in hundreds of years.  

As an engineer you truly get to leave your mark.