Industrial engineering a good career field? Anyone on here have this as a career?

[Anonymous]

I hear some companies don't take this as a real, too vague, engineering position. DD is considering this field

[Anonymous]

I was a STEM major in college, but not engineering.

I also took 2-3 IE classes since they were approved technical electives for me.

All the situations were like "at the tomato cannery, you need to maximize the production while minimizing or controlling the cost."

I knew a lot of MEs/EEs who called the IE majors "imaginary engineers". I can see why. An auto manufacturer isn't going to hire an IE to develop new vehicles or engines, but they will want someone to evaluate cost & productivity.

A google search of "What companies hires Industrial engineers" says (in no particular order) Ford Motor, AmEx, Lockheed Martin, Google, P&G, Siemens, GM, Boeing and plenty of others.

[Anonymous]

I have a master's degree in operations research from Columbia University. Some IEs take operations research as a specialization. The job market is very strong in OR.

[Anonymous]

I work in healthcare administration and have worked with a TON of people with this degree. It’s all about process. The people I’ve worked with this degree are super smart and capable, but my husband (whose degrees are in electrical engineering) jokingly/disdainfully calls them “imagineers.”

[Anonymous]

Just an anecdote, but while everyone on here is moaning about the job market, my son just graduated with a degree in IE and ended up with 2 job offers.

[Anonymous]

Logistics and operations research are better imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear some companies don't take this as a real, too vague, engineering position. DD is considering this field

Consulting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear some companies don't take this as a real, too vague, engineering position. DD is considering this field

As a hiring manager, I never have any idea what that degree covers at university A versus university B.

I suspect PP is correct that it is meant as a degree for folks who intend to go into management consulting work, because the degree itself is so nebulous.

I do understand what a more specific engineering degree covers (AeroE, CivilE, ComputerE, EE, MechE, or NuclearE).

If it were my DD, and if she was not intending management consulting, then I would steer her to a specific engineering degree.

No doubt others will disagree, since this is DCUM, but that is My perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just an anecdote, but while everyone on here is moaning about the job market, my son just graduated with a degree in IE and ended up with 2 job offers.

Congrats to your son. I think lack of flexibility as far as geographical location is an issue for many young grads. My son who graduated with a CS degree got a job with a company in Phoenix willing to pay him $70k. He didn't want to live in Phoenix and he thought $70k was peanuts. He is still looking for a $150k+ salary ins software engineering in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just an anecdote, but while everyone on here is moaning about the job market, my son just graduated with a degree in IE and ended up with 2 job offers.

Congrats to your son. I think lack of flexibility as far as geographical location is an issue for many young grads. My son who graduated with a CS degree got a job with a company in Phoenix willing to pay him $70k. He didn't want to live in Phoenix and he thought $70k was peanuts. He is still looking for a $150k+ salary ins software engineering in the DMV.

There are very few CS jobs in this area with a starting salary for a new grad with a BSCS above $100k. He might be searching for a while if that is his salary requirement.

IMHO, $70k is a reasonable starting salary for the greater Baltimore-Washington region. One might do better or worse -- depending on which specific upper level CS or ECE electives the student took and on the specific skills brought to the table. Web programming skills pay less than $70k. OS kernel programmers will pay more, and will peak at a higher number over anlong career, but still will start below $100k for a new grad.

Silicon Valley salaries are much higher than here --because-- the cost of housing and cost of the special "California blend" gas and the cost of other necessities all are so much higher in SV than here. Been there, done that.

If DC is not working while job hunting, he could productively spend his time learning all about Linux or FreeBSD kernel internals. That knowledge is relatively leas common and so is more valuable in the jobs marketplace than many other things. Alternately, he could learn GCC or LLVM compiler internals. Source code for all of these is no cost online. The last suggestion would be to get "TCP/IP Illustrated Volumes 1 & 2" and learn that valuable material. Volume 1 is protocols and volune 2 is a detailed tutorial on the BSD implementation of Internet networking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just an anecdote, but while everyone on here is moaning about the job market, my son just graduated with a degree in IE and ended up with 2 job offers.

Congrats to your son. I think lack of flexibility as far as geographical location is an issue for many young grads. My son who graduated with a CS degree got a job with a company in Phoenix willing to pay him $70k. He didn't want to live in Phoenix and he thought $70k was peanuts. He is still looking for a $150k+ salary ins software engineering in the DMV.

Seems like a bird in the hand situation but I guess if he has free housing in his parents basement he can look for whatever salary he wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear some companies don't take this as a real, too vague, engineering position. DD is considering this field

It is a strong, smart field to be in. Graduates can go to various careers paths, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, General Management, etc.

[Anonymous]

DC is going to major in Operations Research within the broader umbrella of Industrial Engineering. DC hopes to go into consulting.

I remember when DC was researching majors and programs, an earlier version of this website was helpful:

https://ise.usc.edu/academics/undergraduate-program/