Engineering degrees ranked by difficulty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about material engineering, I don’t totally understand how it is different from chemical

In a nutshell, it's hard stuff rather than liquids or gas. It's a lesser known field, but the ratio of jobs to applicants is very favorable - you are very versatile, less funneled into one narrow path. At most schools, you'll benefit from smaller classes and lots of faculty attention and research opportunities once you've made it out of the Intro to Engineering type classes. Worth checking out.

Absolutely. We have such a hard time hiring materials engineers - they are in really high demand! The ones I know are absolutely brilliant.

Where do materials engineers typically work? (genuine question - as I wonder if this is a potential for my DC based on their personal interests...but not sure what the jobs would be)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

What career did you end up falling into with that combo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

I think you are the 2nd person I’ve heard that was chemE and went to law school after. Is this a thing?

[Anonymous]

Lots of great opportunities when you combine STEM and law (i.e. patent attorneys).

[Anonymous]

Have a couple late career engineers in the family and they definitely joke that certain types of engineers are not “real” engineers. Civil and environmental gets bagged on. So this rings true to me.

When I was a kid, I thought they were train conductors, lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

I think you are the 2nd person I’ve heard that was chemE and went to law school after. Is this a thing?

many of my classmates (ChemE undergrad) went on to law schools. I went to phd chemE program at GaTech but work as a quant/financial engineer @banks, HF, and asset management companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about material engineering, I don’t totally understand how it is different from chemical

In a nutshell, it's hard stuff rather than liquids or gas. It's a lesser known field, but the ratio of jobs to applicants is very favorable - you are very versatile, less funneled into one narrow path. At most schools, you'll benefit from smaller classes and lots of faculty attention and research opportunities once you've made it out of the Intro to Engineering type classes. Worth checking out.

Absolutely. We have such a hard time hiring materials engineers - they are in really high demand! The ones I know are absolutely brilliant.

Where do materials engineers typically work? (genuine question - as I wonder if this is a potential for my DC based on their personal interests...but not sure what the jobs would be)

Everywhere that there is an interest in failure testing. Have you heard of finite element analysis? This is in their wheelhouse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

What career did you end up falling into with that combo?

Patent litigation.

[Anonymous]

A great area, since it involves two skills (legal and STEM) that the market values. It's also filled with brilliant people. Often the BS/JD grads find themselves competing with PhD/JDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

My dad was a mechanical engineer and thermodynamics was his specialty. I think he did a lot of material stuff as well. But I’m not sure they had all those different sub spdcialties when he went to school (in the 1940s with graduate work in the 1960s).

[Anonymous]

Interesting no one is talking about environmental engineering. I don’t really know what they do. It seems like if you are interested in the environment, chemical, materials or mechanical would all be relevant.

I posted earlier looking for a summer program for HS kids — there are so many specialties now I think it must be hard for kids to figure out which they are interested in. In my family we have a couple mechanical engineers, a chemical engineer, and a one studying aerospace engineering and I still feel totally at sea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about material engineering, I don’t totally understand how it is different from chemical

In a nutshell, it's hard stuff rather than liquids or gas. It's a lesser known field, but the ratio of jobs to applicants is very favorable - you are very versatile, less funneled into one narrow path. At most schools, you'll benefit from smaller classes and lots of faculty attention and research opportunities once you've made it out of the Intro to Engineering type classes. Worth checking out.

Absolutely. We have such a hard time hiring materials engineers - they are in really high demand! The ones I know are absolutely brilliant.

Where do materials engineers typically work? (genuine question - as I wonder if this is a potential for my DC based on their personal interests...but not sure what the jobs would be)

They are in high demand in the aerospace industry - that's where I work. Really think about anything that involves high-tech manufacturing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chemical engineer. I do not think that it was a harder course of study than other engineering disciplines. There is some extra course load w/ the extra chem courses and associated labs (damn you P-chem lab!), but "harder"? Nah. More time-intensive? Probably.

What I love about engineering school is that it teaches kids to get comfortable with the feeling of being lost. There are times when you are sitting in a lecture and have zero idea what the professor is talking about. You don't panic. You sit with the discomfort and then eventually, hopefully, things start to click. This is why I love hiring engineers for jobs even when not directly technical. They know how to solve problems and don't freak out when given a task outside their comfort zone.

This. I’m one of “lower-tiered” engineers that’s moved in a different but still very technical direction and I believe PP is correct. “Engineering” is about logic and innovation and reality (and the physical, chemical, electrical and practical limitations that govern most ventures in life). I am honored to have been so instructed and humbled to be around so many brilliant purveyors of their respective disciplines.

That said, from my experience, I found the nuke boys….cause they were all male back then…were the ones who operated in a whole other atmosphere. We didn’t have any Aeros at our school but the next group of top talent were the EEs and ChemEs. The ME crowd also has my respect; thermo was the e class I really struggled in. 😩

As an EE, thermodynamics was fun. I didn't like Statics and Dynamics. It's just tedious vector mathematics that you can only solve manually for very small systems. Most of the time you would just use ANSYS.

As a ChemE, Thermo was probably my favorite. But I joke now that I have PTSD from the non-stop studying in college and for pretty average grades. Then went to law school where I graduated 5th in the class and never missed any sleep.

Thermo fun. Interesting. I think somebody has a sense of humor

[Anonymous]

My sister-in-law at an undergraduate nuclear engineering degree from Michigan. I never knew it was considered that hard.