I got my BSME in 1986 and I honestly can't say I am glad I did. If I knew then what I know now, there are a dozen other fields I would have considered and never given engineering a second thought!
I was in the auto parts industry for over 15 years, 14 years at one company before getting laid off in 2005, I lucked into another auto industry product engineer job quickly but that lasted less than a year before I got the axe. It took me over 9 months of daily sending out of resumes and talking to headhunters, and over 30 interviews to find a new job. I finally managed to find a job outside of the automotive industry, which I thought was a wise move. But a little over 2 years later I was out the door there too. And now 10 months out of work, with little reason to have any hope I will ever find another engineering job.
It is important to know that "engineering" is not a generic term. When you go to a certain company in a certain industry, your experience becomes very narrow focused. When you then try to get a new job, either to move on, or after a lay off, you will find that potential employers are looking for a very specific person when they are seeking to hire an experienced engineer. You spend some years developing widgets used in the aerospace industry using Pro-Engineer 3D software, and you send a resume to a company developing similar widgets used in the farm equipment industry using Solidworks 3D they will have absolutely zero interest in talking to you, they want farm equipment industry knowledge, and someone proficient in Solidworks. You hear about a company that makes gadgets and you think that would be great place to work, but since your experience is in the widget industry, they will have no more interest in you for their staff than they would in somebody who works in a McDonalds drive through, despite that BSME you killed yourself for 5 years to earn.
You will have an extremely difficult time ever finding another engineering job unless you find another company using those widgets you know so well from your former work, used in the same industry your old work serviced, and using the exact same CAD and FEA software you are experienced in.
Most companies are so specific in what they want in a new hire engineer that they have probably narrowed it down to 4 or 5 people in the country. They do not want to spend much time bringing anyone up to speed with training. They want "turn key".
When you hear things about how hard it is to fill engineering positions, don't be deceived! It is not that there aren't tons of engineers out there desperate for work, it is because these companies are so specific about what skills and experience they want, that there are very few out there who have that specific skillset.
Other things to consider, the starting pay is pretty high compared to other majors, but people with other degrees move up much faster than engineers, and within a few years you are sitting there making maybe 10% more than your entry level pay while all those people you knew with other degrees are now making 40-50% more than their entry level pay.
Engineers are not appreciated at most companies, when layoffs happen, engineers are usually the first to get hit.
Engineering management is generally pretty incompetent. Engineering managers are typically some engineer who got rewarded for good performance with the promotion, but since their background is in engineering, not management, they are not very good at it. And to make matters worse, management is not what they enjoy doing, they enjoyed designing stuff, and the fact that they are unhappy means that the people that work under them will not be working in a very positive environment.
Or, alternatively, someone is assigned to manage an engineering group who has little or no background in engineering, and has either no ability, or interest in learning about it. The end result is not pretty.
The pointy haired boss in Dilbert is pretty tame compared to many of the knuckleheads I have worked under. It isn't just me, just about every engineer can relate to the Dilbert cartoon because what you see there is our reality!
Your current work is being outsourced, wth makes you think engineering is any different???
Engineering centers that do contract work are popping up all over India, and many engineering tasks that were done here are being done overseas now. And that is a trend that is increasing, and not going to decrease anytime soon.
Engineering careers often don't last very long. Most of the people I have kept in touch with from college are no longer in engineering. I am surprised as I go through life how many people I meet in a variety of jobs who I come to find started out with an engineering degree. More often than not, they tell me they loved engineering but couldn't make a good living at it.
I'd be in the same boat if I could find any company that would give me a chance in a different field, having no job security and the difficulty and length of time it takes to find a new engineering job is a pretty lousy situation to be in!!!
Ironically, in my hopes to someday some way have a full time job again, I am taking an IT related certification class later this month, it is a hardware and system related field that can't really be outsourced. A good friend of mine is in that field and has been encouraging me for years to go into this area, and is starting some training classes, which I can take free, so I hope it will lead to something.
If it doesn't, I am still looking for other ideas but not coming up with much, I will probably end up getting a CDL and trying to make a living driving a truck. Not exactly a dream job, but I am pretty down on wasting time and money and all that stress earning another degree, when it might very well end up being a waste like my BSME!
Lots of people have been able to use an engineering degree as a stepping stone to a successful career, it is just that the career they end up being successful in is rarely engineering!!
Sorry to be so negative, but I really don't think getting an engineering degree is worth it and hope you can find something with more job security where you will be appreciated for your hard work!
