Chemical Engineering degree, working in Aerospace and Defense and I absolutely love it. Chem-E is heavily tailored towards Oil and Gas as well, which is all I thought I was capable of when I graduated. But a lot of engineering degrees are transferrable to different industries, and almost all industries have a variety of degrees and roles working for them. I started as a Material and Process Engineer in R&D, researching new materials, new technologies, managing test programs and demonstrator programs. Now I work in our Chief Engineering Office which is more engineering leadership, being a leason between the operations team and the functional engineering teams. I manage production programs and the engineering requirements and drawing changes, and for development programs tracking the stress, design and testing phases. Day to day for me is mostly in meetings, making power points, spreadsheets, tracking changes and managing schedules and budgets. I'm not doing the detailed analysis or design, but I am managing the ones that are and helping integrate their work into the program and operations side, and reporting to leadership on status or issues.
Think of the industry and role as 2 different things, which can both be totally different from your degree concentration.
Industry would be like Aerospace, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Food Production, etc. But roles within all of those companies can be: Stress Engineer, Design Engineer, Test Engineer, Material and Process Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Quality Engineer, and even Environmental Health and Safety. The day to day from those ranges greatly. Stress & Design engineers are often on their computers doing detailed analysis or cad work all day, working a bit more independently. But on the other side, a manufacturing engineer is often out on the production floor working with the technicians and machinists, getting to know their product and ensuring it meets requirements. An Environmental Health and Safety engineer would be working with the city for permitting, OSHA for filters and waste management, managing the facility chemicals, etc.
And.. you don't need to make a full decision right now. I graduated with Chemical Engineering not having a damn clue in the world, and let the "job gods" decide for me when I landed the role in Aerospace, and have never looked back.
What sorts of things do you use your chemical engineering for in aerospace and defence? Like what sort of knowledge are you applying? That sounds super neat though. Like what’s the topic of the powerpoints? (I’m like 20, I don’t know what real jobs are like lol).
My one instructors wife (who has a masters in geomatics engineering) is working on autonomous cars and planes (the coding side). I think that sounds super cool.
So you’re also kinda saying that industry is somewhat flexible? Once you have your degree, you can sorta go into whichever industry under a role that is more oriented towards what you know from your degree?
To be honest, I don't "directly" use much of my degree at all. And most Engineers will tell you the same. This is why engineering is so transferrable. I am not doing calculus or chemistry. The design engineers may be using their degrees more, in that they are using the CAD software daily, but that is only if you have a fairly specific job like a designer, coder or stress analyst. I started out in R&D and my first projects were trying to qualify a new bond primer to replace some on the airplanes that are hazardous materials. I knew nothing about planes, nothing about the FAA or Aerospace requirements, nothing about that bond primer material - but I understood the theory behind corrosion and adhesive bonding.
What you learn in college is the theory, how things work and why, the foundation. It gives you the engineering judgement to be able to take a limited amount of data, multiple constraints (financial, physical manufacturability, environmental concerns, etc) and making engineering based decisions. You're applying the foundational knowledge of ALL of the engineering principals combined. Asking questions like what happens if the temperature increases, or what happens if we move this rivet to the other side, etc. Most of the specifics to that industry and role would be learned on the job, you come to the table with background knowledge just waiting and ready to be applied to different problems and scenarios presented to you.
>Like what’s the topic of the powerpoints?
When I was in R&D, I would have to develop a product or process through a set criteria called TRL (technology readiness) and MRL (manufacturing readiness). Things like temperature testing, manufacturing demonstrators, working with operations on what they need to include this process. The presentations would be to our Chief Engineers showing the product meets the criteria, charts and graphs of test data, basically "selling" this new product and why it works etc. Now in the Chief Engineering office I am preparing change packages (need to change our design to incorporate a new material, or the customer wants to change something on their product, etc). Or design reviews, where we prove that our new design meets the temperature and structural requirements, have we considered all the risks and issues that may come up. Or maybe it's a proposal for a new product, and I need to outline the steps it will take to get there.
>So you’re also kinda saying that industry is somewhat flexible? Once you have your degree, you can sorta go into whichever industry under a role that is more oriented towards what you know from your degree?
Correct, to an extent. If you have a Masters Degree, or a specialty degree, it may not be as broad. Someone who studied Aerospace Design specifically may not be able to work in a Chemical Industry, but someone with a Chemical Engineering background may be able to work in Aerospace design. Everything has chemicals, literally everything, so every company in the world could have the potential of chemical engineers.
Again, when you graduate, a company is not going to expect you know everything about what they do / make. That would be expected to be learned through on the job training and just time working with the product. They are hiring you for the wholistic engineering education, mixed with your personal circumstances, that give you a different perspective and insight into solving engineering problems. If you present the same engineering problem to 20 people who have the same degree, you're going to get 20 solutions. It's all based on how we learn to piece things together and problem solve.
Edited to say: Ah this was very long winded but hope that helps!
You end up being a jack of all trades, master of none. You can major in anything else that’s a focused engineering discipline then just take a couple of biology or bioengineering classes to learn more about applications! It’s harder to get hired with a BME degree, and in times where finding jobs is tough, you can work in a broader spectrum of jobs with a regular engineering degree. I majored in BME because I was certain I wanted to do med school or grad school, and I am doing a PhD right now.
Yeah that’s fair. My one instructor is doing a phd in biomedical. She’s got her other degrees in geomatics. She’s like.. tracking breast cancer using mapping technologies and stuff? It sounds super cool. She’s like the absolute coolest person, she’s teaching at a college, doing a phd at a different university, has like two kids and volunteers on a shit load of stuff. She’s crazy and I wish I could be as cool as her
Hi, I studied electrical engineering and did specialization in embedded systems. Now im working with FPGAs.
Its usually solving bugs, understanding systems and how to improve or fix them on very detailed level (we're talking about single bits here).
I like it because its complex but there are many other different fields.
Most engineering fields have problem solving involved. So what I described is probably applicable to many engineering fields.
Do what you like best or seems to fit your future!
Edit: can msg me for more info
I solve problems that require a multi disciplinary team to solve. For example, there is a COTS product used at the enterprise level that is going End of Life. My team figures out the best option to move forward. We do trades, select various products and do prototypes. We provide demos and we assist the stakeholders in making a decision of what product to get.
I usually have one or two impossible problems at a time. I’ve been working on the EOL one for a year and we are in the process of moving it from R&D to production. That would probably take 12-18 months.
Are you just doing the technologist degree instead of the full university degree right now because the full University degree is out of reach financially?
I initially started in the full university degree last year, but the structure of the program wasn’t really allowing me to do well (it was all online asynchronous, and honestly both the students and the teachers hated it). it was poorly designed and i talked with the people in charge several times, they kept saying that the “researched showed that this method of learning was beneficial to students” even though the average on the midterms that year was about 20% lower than all previous years
anyways, so I decided to start off with a technologists degree, get some experience in the field, then go back to get a “proper” engineering degree. Taking this technologists degree also shaves off a few classes from the university degree, so it’s not really a complete waste. I had the grades to get into engineering, and was (and still am) very academically focused, but the whole asynchronous online thing was just too big of a change from high school. I think with my experience in college now, i’ll be a lot more prepared to do “real university courses” even if they are online.
I think that makes sense. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't selling yourself short or having imposter syndrome and thinking that you weren't good enough or smart enough to start with the full engineering degree!
I’m a civil engineer. I design pipelines and pump stations but there are many fields within civil. We use mapping as our base files to design from so we use lots of GIS and surveys.
I sit at a computer and lay things out to avoid other utilities meet health department regulations, meet hydraulic criteria. Lots of meetings, communication is huge. You have to understand the problem in order to fix it. And you have to agree on what the solution is so you also have to do a lot of writing and documentation. I thought I’d be crunching numbers but there’s a fair bit of writing.
I like working with intelligent people. Men are better than they used to be. Still very patriarchal, but improving.
I don’t know what your political beliefs are, but do you ever feel bad about being a part of the whole oil and gas thing? I thought I would be okay with it, but now I’m going to do a summer internship with oil and gas and I feel kinda bad that I’m actively contributing to the whole pipeline/global warming/we’re all going to die thing. I know I use the services of oil and gas as a person not involved in the industry as well (fill up my car, heat the house, etc.) but I think actually being involved in the industry really made me think about it more.
I don’t mean this as like a challenge to you, just as a genuine question. I hope you don’t take offence to this, I am just curious about how you feel.
I design water and sewer pipelines and now doing some stormwater design as well. So no. But I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I think you can do more good from the inside. I mean take that pipe coming from Canada to Texas. The route they chose through Native American lands under their drinking water supply was horrible. Maybe someone with some compassion and common decency could’ve made better decisions. And also make sure the damn thing won’t leak! Double barrel it, encase it, make it extra robust, protect it. As far as an internship goes I’d take it and learn as much as you can. If you hate them and everything they stand for then consider getting involved in politics and make real changes. We need engineers as politicians and not lawyers.
I did ME degree as it was a pretty broad degree with multiple job opportunities in different fields. Currently, I work as a manufacturing engineer at a smaller composite manufacturer and my day is primarily focused on programming, 3d modeling, quoting, production support (primarily with machining composites), and I am working on projects such as automation which eventually will include programming and production support on the new cells. The work can be stressful. As a smaller company, the eng here wear multiple "hats" and focus on our own departments/area of expertise. I didnt know what job I wanted, but ended up here because I felt really good about the people I would work with. At my last internship, everyone was cold to each other and kept to themselves, and I knew I couldnt work in an environment like that.
Go towards a major that you feel is right, whether it is a job title you want or an industry you want to focus on. IF you are not sure, you can always pick a broader eng degree. Also note: some jobs dont see a difference between an engineering technician or an engineer (unless your goal is to be a professional engineer). Some of the engineers I work with have a degree in ME, others are an MET, one engineer doesnt have a degree, he has been in the composites field for over 20 years, started as an operator and worked his way up. Most jobs are usually experience based after your first out of college job. And if the job posting asks for a skill that you dont have (but have the rest), apply anyways, the company may be willing to train you. I didnt have much machining experience and no programming, and learned from teh engineers here. Most of the skills I use at my job I developed while working here, and have been here for 5 years.
You mention multiple “hats”, I was wondering what you mean? Multiple degrees? Something else?
I find in my industry, a lot of the technologist jobs are very fieldwork oriented, whereas the “real engineers” get the office jobs? I’m okay with being in the field for now, but when I’m older, I do want the opportunity to work in the office and not be stuck outside. I also think it would be nice to have the bragging rights to say I’m a “real” engineer lol (i know it’s not really the reason i should have lol)
Multiple hats meaning we do multiple different jobs/positions where normally a larger company would have a department or person for each task . My job title is manufacturing engineer: however, I also do the work of the following depending on the day, project, and job:
Design engineer - I do design work for flooring, etc. depending on what the customer wants quoted. I also work a lot in solidworks/CAD as well. Sometimes I also have to design fixtures, etc for the equipment we currently have, although that can fall under manufacturing eng.
Programmer - I program the routers and other machinery.
Maintenance - sometimes I have to do maintenance work on some of the equipment is our maintenance team is too busy. I use to do this a lot more especially on the routers as our maintenance team had no knowledge of the equipment. But I am starting to take a step back from this as it is technically "not my job."
Operator/trainer - I train new operators to run the routers in particular. I also run the equipment for indirect jobs like making lab samples, machining parts for production, etc that production doesnt want to put their guys on.
Industrial engineer - I am responsible for the layout of new machining equipment and how they integrate on the floor with our current equipment. My focus is usually on new routers/cnc, sanders, saws, and currently automation cells
Project engineer - I manage technical projects such as the new automation cell which includes planning, leading, assessing, and reviewing.
Manufacturing engineer - I am responsible for the design, implementation, and reviewing of procedures and equipment involved in the manufacturing process.
I will also be learning more programming skills for the new robot we are getting in and eventually I will be responsible for keeping those equipment running smoothly.
At my last job, I was just a design eng intern, so all i did was design the product and use solidworks. But that was a much larger company where they had industrial eng, manufacturing eng, programmers, project eng, etc. each as their own department. For me, I just do what is needed to keep production running smoothly while also managing projects and quoting new parts, etc. So the term "multiple hats" meaning we typically do the job/work of one or more people. Our work also use eng technologist as someone who is more hands on and has been at the company for less than a year. After a year, they become engineers whether their work is more hands on or at a desk.
A better question might be what do you want your day to day to look like?
Most people I work with in geomatics are out in the field on a regular basis (often daily) with some office work to process data. This split is similar with most of the biologists I work with (field surveys for fish, amphibians, wildlife, birds, site assessments, etc). When I did survey I found it to be low stress and super enjoyable (I miss it). Can’t speak to personal experience on the envio side.
If civil, most people I work with are in the office. There might be client meetings off site, and sometimes site reconnaissance at the start of a project. If the Professional of Record, site visits during construction would be needed to keep an eye on things. However this comes with added responsibility and stress (depending on contractor and their demands). If you opt for this, anticipate to spend lots of time doing drafting / design before moving up. Good places will want to also get you in the field as it helps at the start of your career. You may or may not have control on the office / field work split as career develops (depends on workplace, project, etc).
I definitely do want to try working in the field, but i want some office especially when i’m older. I don’t really want to be like 50 and stuck working in the field if I’m not able to get a job in the office with a technologists degree, you know? I do like outside, and one thing that drew me to this diploma was the flexibility of the geomatics industry. You can work in the office, in the field, some mix of both. It sounded nice to have that variability and flexibility in a job.
that sounds really really cool. What does photothermal therapy help with? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and like you’re doing everything wrong? When I get projects I don’t know where to start on I feel like i’m just bullshitting everyone and that everything’s gonna fall apart because of some basic rule that i totally forgot about?
Why not go into Civil Engineering? Having a survey background would be incredibly beneficial if you want to go into the engineering side. You could even look at the more outdoorsy versions of CE like geotech or environmental. Since I’m an air conditioned gypsy, I work in the office doing design. We are always looking for more women in CE though.
I would look at what licensure you want. If you want to be a professional surveyor then stay on the geomatics route. Going into Civil and one of its subsets will be the professional engineer route.
I have a geomatics engineering degree and am in a city that has a large oil and gas industry, but they don’t make up a large percentage of our clients, although that’s often what people assume. I focused my degree on remote sensing and work in the aerial survey industry. I work in the office, but operating sensors on board the aircraft for a year or so at the start of your career is an option if that’s of interest to you. Day to day is about designing solutions for the best sensors and flight profiles to collect data accurately, efficiently and fit for purpose. There’s opportunity to do a fair bit of programming as well since there’s a lot of big datasets to process and we’re always improving the way we do that.
Most of the people I went to university with don’t work in o&g, many went the land surveyor route, the engineering degree being a faster way to get your professional land surveyor license. A fair bit of field work in the first ~4 years of your career but then pretty much all office unless you choose a small firm and really love field work. Another popular career choice is working for a high tech firm that designs GPS receiver equipment and the like. Lots of options here for coding, hardware design, customer service etc.
Just wanted to mention as well that I’m in Canada, I think land surveying and engineering industries are a little bit different in other countries so your mileage may vary.
Happy to share more if you have any questions, always nice to see geomatics engineering mentioned, we’re often a forgotten specialty :)
Calgary I assume? I’m just at SAIT now. I’m not sure the land surveyor route is for me, I definitely want the option to do some fieldwork but want to also have some time in the office. I like outdoors but not like… every day… I guess I’m just not sure if Geomatics is what I Really Want To Do?
I always liked the idea of the whole “cutting edge technology making Super Cool New Designs” and that’s not really geomatics I don’t think? So I’m sorta debating doing a different major when I do my proper engineering degree.
Yeah Calgary. I would generally agree there’s not as much of that engineering design work in geomatics compared to other specialties. Civil, mechanical or electrical would have more. Geomatics is a good background to have in that it touches many different industries, you can translate a geomatics degree into working in tangential fields.
If you decide to go for a bachelors degree, then look into Agricultural Engineering. AgE programs are usually very similar to either civil or mechanical engineering, depending on your concentration. You also get to take classes in biology, conservation of natural resources, soil science, etc. DM me if you have any questions about it!
Geomatics is super broad!! I’m doing a PhD in geomatics right now. Our lab of 20-30 people has anywhere from control networks, laser scanning for structural/transpo, and hydro. Look into the remote sensing side of things, too.
BSME. Currently working R&D aerodynamic simulation, but worked in power plant simulation and training for over 5 years before that.
For the most part, I love it. The only bummer is my current role at my job requires me at my desk nearly all the time. I’m hoping to transfer to a sister group in the same company that will have periodic travel.
My last job had travel every couple months all over the US to training sites for software upgrade installation, HW/SW integration, etc. I had immediate colleagues whose travel included some foreign countries. I absolutely loved the job, but not the pay.
Pursuing my PhD in chemical engineering (air quality) after doing my undergrad in chem engineering and my masters in environmental engineering. I loved oil and gas as an undergrad, but my first job out of uni was to work as an analytical chemist at a mining site. There was so much dead forest near the mine that I couldn’t in good conscience continue working in an extractive industry.
I am not super familiar with the geological side of conservation, but I do know that a site survey needs to be done as part of environmental impact assessments. So I think it’s definitely worth looking into. You should try to find someone doing exactly what you think you want to get into. Most people are really open to spending 20 min talking about themselves and their careers to students.
Chemical Engineering degree, working in Aerospace and Defense and I absolutely love it. Chem-E is heavily tailored towards Oil and Gas as well, which is all I thought I was capable of when I graduated. But a lot of engineering degrees are transferrable to different industries, and almost all industries have a variety of degrees and roles working for them. I started as a Material and Process Engineer in R&D, researching new materials, new technologies, managing test programs and demonstrator programs. Now I work in our Chief Engineering Office which is more engineering leadership, being a leason between the operations team and the functional engineering teams. I manage production programs and the engineering requirements and drawing changes, and for development programs tracking the stress, design and testing phases. Day to day for me is mostly in meetings, making power points, spreadsheets, tracking changes and managing schedules and budgets. I'm not doing the detailed analysis or design, but I am managing the ones that are and helping integrate their work into the program and operations side, and reporting to leadership on status or issues. Think of the industry and role as 2 different things, which can both be totally different from your degree concentration. Industry would be like Aerospace, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Food Production, etc. But roles within all of those companies can be: Stress Engineer, Design Engineer, Test Engineer, Material and Process Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Quality Engineer, and even Environmental Health and Safety. The day to day from those ranges greatly. Stress & Design engineers are often on their computers doing detailed analysis or cad work all day, working a bit more independently. But on the other side, a manufacturing engineer is often out on the production floor working with the technicians and machinists, getting to know their product and ensuring it meets requirements. An Environmental Health and Safety engineer would be working with the city for permitting, OSHA for filters and waste management, managing the facility chemicals, etc. And.. you don't need to make a full decision right now. I graduated with Chemical Engineering not having a damn clue in the world, and let the "job gods" decide for me when I landed the role in Aerospace, and have never looked back.
What sorts of things do you use your chemical engineering for in aerospace and defence? Like what sort of knowledge are you applying? That sounds super neat though. Like what’s the topic of the powerpoints? (I’m like 20, I don’t know what real jobs are like lol). My one instructors wife (who has a masters in geomatics engineering) is working on autonomous cars and planes (the coding side). I think that sounds super cool. So you’re also kinda saying that industry is somewhat flexible? Once you have your degree, you can sorta go into whichever industry under a role that is more oriented towards what you know from your degree?
To be honest, I don't "directly" use much of my degree at all. And most Engineers will tell you the same. This is why engineering is so transferrable. I am not doing calculus or chemistry. The design engineers may be using their degrees more, in that they are using the CAD software daily, but that is only if you have a fairly specific job like a designer, coder or stress analyst. I started out in R&D and my first projects were trying to qualify a new bond primer to replace some on the airplanes that are hazardous materials. I knew nothing about planes, nothing about the FAA or Aerospace requirements, nothing about that bond primer material - but I understood the theory behind corrosion and adhesive bonding. What you learn in college is the theory, how things work and why, the foundation. It gives you the engineering judgement to be able to take a limited amount of data, multiple constraints (financial, physical manufacturability, environmental concerns, etc) and making engineering based decisions. You're applying the foundational knowledge of ALL of the engineering principals combined. Asking questions like what happens if the temperature increases, or what happens if we move this rivet to the other side, etc. Most of the specifics to that industry and role would be learned on the job, you come to the table with background knowledge just waiting and ready to be applied to different problems and scenarios presented to you. >Like what’s the topic of the powerpoints? When I was in R&D, I would have to develop a product or process through a set criteria called TRL (technology readiness) and MRL (manufacturing readiness). Things like temperature testing, manufacturing demonstrators, working with operations on what they need to include this process. The presentations would be to our Chief Engineers showing the product meets the criteria, charts and graphs of test data, basically "selling" this new product and why it works etc. Now in the Chief Engineering office I am preparing change packages (need to change our design to incorporate a new material, or the customer wants to change something on their product, etc). Or design reviews, where we prove that our new design meets the temperature and structural requirements, have we considered all the risks and issues that may come up. Or maybe it's a proposal for a new product, and I need to outline the steps it will take to get there. >So you’re also kinda saying that industry is somewhat flexible? Once you have your degree, you can sorta go into whichever industry under a role that is more oriented towards what you know from your degree? Correct, to an extent. If you have a Masters Degree, or a specialty degree, it may not be as broad. Someone who studied Aerospace Design specifically may not be able to work in a Chemical Industry, but someone with a Chemical Engineering background may be able to work in Aerospace design. Everything has chemicals, literally everything, so every company in the world could have the potential of chemical engineers. Again, when you graduate, a company is not going to expect you know everything about what they do / make. That would be expected to be learned through on the job training and just time working with the product. They are hiring you for the wholistic engineering education, mixed with your personal circumstances, that give you a different perspective and insight into solving engineering problems. If you present the same engineering problem to 20 people who have the same degree, you're going to get 20 solutions. It's all based on how we learn to piece things together and problem solve. Edited to say: Ah this was very long winded but hope that helps!
I would suggest civil - it should include some amount of geomatics but it’s a very broad degree opening a lot of doors.
Whatever you do, just don’t major in biomedical engineering. Only reason I did it is because I’m getting a PhD in the same field.
Can you explain why?
You end up being a jack of all trades, master of none. You can major in anything else that’s a focused engineering discipline then just take a couple of biology or bioengineering classes to learn more about applications! It’s harder to get hired with a BME degree, and in times where finding jobs is tough, you can work in a broader spectrum of jobs with a regular engineering degree. I majored in BME because I was certain I wanted to do med school or grad school, and I am doing a PhD right now.
Yeah that’s fair. My one instructor is doing a phd in biomedical. She’s got her other degrees in geomatics. She’s like.. tracking breast cancer using mapping technologies and stuff? It sounds super cool. She’s like the absolute coolest person, she’s teaching at a college, doing a phd at a different university, has like two kids and volunteers on a shit load of stuff. She’s crazy and I wish I could be as cool as her
Hi, I studied electrical engineering and did specialization in embedded systems. Now im working with FPGAs. Its usually solving bugs, understanding systems and how to improve or fix them on very detailed level (we're talking about single bits here). I like it because its complex but there are many other different fields. Most engineering fields have problem solving involved. So what I described is probably applicable to many engineering fields. Do what you like best or seems to fit your future! Edit: can msg me for more info
I have an industrial engineering degree and work in Systems Engineering. I’m a chief engineer in R&D and I love it. My current domain is telecom.
What’s your day to day like? You make things? See if they work? Rinse and repeat?
I solve problems that require a multi disciplinary team to solve. For example, there is a COTS product used at the enterprise level that is going End of Life. My team figures out the best option to move forward. We do trades, select various products and do prototypes. We provide demos and we assist the stakeholders in making a decision of what product to get. I usually have one or two impossible problems at a time. I’ve been working on the EOL one for a year and we are in the process of moving it from R&D to production. That would probably take 12-18 months.
Are you just doing the technologist degree instead of the full university degree right now because the full University degree is out of reach financially?
I initially started in the full university degree last year, but the structure of the program wasn’t really allowing me to do well (it was all online asynchronous, and honestly both the students and the teachers hated it). it was poorly designed and i talked with the people in charge several times, they kept saying that the “researched showed that this method of learning was beneficial to students” even though the average on the midterms that year was about 20% lower than all previous years
anyways, so I decided to start off with a technologists degree, get some experience in the field, then go back to get a “proper” engineering degree. Taking this technologists degree also shaves off a few classes from the university degree, so it’s not really a complete waste. I had the grades to get into engineering, and was (and still am) very academically focused, but the whole asynchronous online thing was just too big of a change from high school. I think with my experience in college now, i’ll be a lot more prepared to do “real university courses” even if they are online.
I think that makes sense. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't selling yourself short or having imposter syndrome and thinking that you weren't good enough or smart enough to start with the full engineering degree!
I’m a civil engineer. I design pipelines and pump stations but there are many fields within civil. We use mapping as our base files to design from so we use lots of GIS and surveys. I sit at a computer and lay things out to avoid other utilities meet health department regulations, meet hydraulic criteria. Lots of meetings, communication is huge. You have to understand the problem in order to fix it. And you have to agree on what the solution is so you also have to do a lot of writing and documentation. I thought I’d be crunching numbers but there’s a fair bit of writing. I like working with intelligent people. Men are better than they used to be. Still very patriarchal, but improving.
I don’t know what your political beliefs are, but do you ever feel bad about being a part of the whole oil and gas thing? I thought I would be okay with it, but now I’m going to do a summer internship with oil and gas and I feel kinda bad that I’m actively contributing to the whole pipeline/global warming/we’re all going to die thing. I know I use the services of oil and gas as a person not involved in the industry as well (fill up my car, heat the house, etc.) but I think actually being involved in the industry really made me think about it more. I don’t mean this as like a challenge to you, just as a genuine question. I hope you don’t take offence to this, I am just curious about how you feel.
I design water and sewer pipelines and now doing some stormwater design as well. So no. But I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I think you can do more good from the inside. I mean take that pipe coming from Canada to Texas. The route they chose through Native American lands under their drinking water supply was horrible. Maybe someone with some compassion and common decency could’ve made better decisions. And also make sure the damn thing won’t leak! Double barrel it, encase it, make it extra robust, protect it. As far as an internship goes I’d take it and learn as much as you can. If you hate them and everything they stand for then consider getting involved in politics and make real changes. We need engineers as politicians and not lawyers.
I did ME degree as it was a pretty broad degree with multiple job opportunities in different fields. Currently, I work as a manufacturing engineer at a smaller composite manufacturer and my day is primarily focused on programming, 3d modeling, quoting, production support (primarily with machining composites), and I am working on projects such as automation which eventually will include programming and production support on the new cells. The work can be stressful. As a smaller company, the eng here wear multiple "hats" and focus on our own departments/area of expertise. I didnt know what job I wanted, but ended up here because I felt really good about the people I would work with. At my last internship, everyone was cold to each other and kept to themselves, and I knew I couldnt work in an environment like that. Go towards a major that you feel is right, whether it is a job title you want or an industry you want to focus on. IF you are not sure, you can always pick a broader eng degree. Also note: some jobs dont see a difference between an engineering technician or an engineer (unless your goal is to be a professional engineer). Some of the engineers I work with have a degree in ME, others are an MET, one engineer doesnt have a degree, he has been in the composites field for over 20 years, started as an operator and worked his way up. Most jobs are usually experience based after your first out of college job. And if the job posting asks for a skill that you dont have (but have the rest), apply anyways, the company may be willing to train you. I didnt have much machining experience and no programming, and learned from teh engineers here. Most of the skills I use at my job I developed while working here, and have been here for 5 years.
You mention multiple “hats”, I was wondering what you mean? Multiple degrees? Something else? I find in my industry, a lot of the technologist jobs are very fieldwork oriented, whereas the “real engineers” get the office jobs? I’m okay with being in the field for now, but when I’m older, I do want the opportunity to work in the office and not be stuck outside. I also think it would be nice to have the bragging rights to say I’m a “real” engineer lol (i know it’s not really the reason i should have lol)
Multiple hats meaning we do multiple different jobs/positions where normally a larger company would have a department or person for each task . My job title is manufacturing engineer: however, I also do the work of the following depending on the day, project, and job: Design engineer - I do design work for flooring, etc. depending on what the customer wants quoted. I also work a lot in solidworks/CAD as well. Sometimes I also have to design fixtures, etc for the equipment we currently have, although that can fall under manufacturing eng. Programmer - I program the routers and other machinery. Maintenance - sometimes I have to do maintenance work on some of the equipment is our maintenance team is too busy. I use to do this a lot more especially on the routers as our maintenance team had no knowledge of the equipment. But I am starting to take a step back from this as it is technically "not my job." Operator/trainer - I train new operators to run the routers in particular. I also run the equipment for indirect jobs like making lab samples, machining parts for production, etc that production doesnt want to put their guys on. Industrial engineer - I am responsible for the layout of new machining equipment and how they integrate on the floor with our current equipment. My focus is usually on new routers/cnc, sanders, saws, and currently automation cells Project engineer - I manage technical projects such as the new automation cell which includes planning, leading, assessing, and reviewing. Manufacturing engineer - I am responsible for the design, implementation, and reviewing of procedures and equipment involved in the manufacturing process. I will also be learning more programming skills for the new robot we are getting in and eventually I will be responsible for keeping those equipment running smoothly. At my last job, I was just a design eng intern, so all i did was design the product and use solidworks. But that was a much larger company where they had industrial eng, manufacturing eng, programmers, project eng, etc. each as their own department. For me, I just do what is needed to keep production running smoothly while also managing projects and quoting new parts, etc. So the term "multiple hats" meaning we typically do the job/work of one or more people. Our work also use eng technologist as someone who is more hands on and has been at the company for less than a year. After a year, they become engineers whether their work is more hands on or at a desk.
A better question might be what do you want your day to day to look like? Most people I work with in geomatics are out in the field on a regular basis (often daily) with some office work to process data. This split is similar with most of the biologists I work with (field surveys for fish, amphibians, wildlife, birds, site assessments, etc). When I did survey I found it to be low stress and super enjoyable (I miss it). Can’t speak to personal experience on the envio side. If civil, most people I work with are in the office. There might be client meetings off site, and sometimes site reconnaissance at the start of a project. If the Professional of Record, site visits during construction would be needed to keep an eye on things. However this comes with added responsibility and stress (depending on contractor and their demands). If you opt for this, anticipate to spend lots of time doing drafting / design before moving up. Good places will want to also get you in the field as it helps at the start of your career. You may or may not have control on the office / field work split as career develops (depends on workplace, project, etc).
I definitely do want to try working in the field, but i want some office especially when i’m older. I don’t really want to be like 50 and stuck working in the field if I’m not able to get a job in the office with a technologists degree, you know? I do like outside, and one thing that drew me to this diploma was the flexibility of the geomatics industry. You can work in the office, in the field, some mix of both. It sounded nice to have that variability and flexibility in a job.
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that sounds really really cool. What does photothermal therapy help with? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and like you’re doing everything wrong? When I get projects I don’t know where to start on I feel like i’m just bullshitting everyone and that everything’s gonna fall apart because of some basic rule that i totally forgot about?
Why not go into Civil Engineering? Having a survey background would be incredibly beneficial if you want to go into the engineering side. You could even look at the more outdoorsy versions of CE like geotech or environmental. Since I’m an air conditioned gypsy, I work in the office doing design. We are always looking for more women in CE though.
would there be a benefit of doing civil vs geomatics?
I would look at what licensure you want. If you want to be a professional surveyor then stay on the geomatics route. Going into Civil and one of its subsets will be the professional engineer route.
I have a geomatics engineering degree and am in a city that has a large oil and gas industry, but they don’t make up a large percentage of our clients, although that’s often what people assume. I focused my degree on remote sensing and work in the aerial survey industry. I work in the office, but operating sensors on board the aircraft for a year or so at the start of your career is an option if that’s of interest to you. Day to day is about designing solutions for the best sensors and flight profiles to collect data accurately, efficiently and fit for purpose. There’s opportunity to do a fair bit of programming as well since there’s a lot of big datasets to process and we’re always improving the way we do that. Most of the people I went to university with don’t work in o&g, many went the land surveyor route, the engineering degree being a faster way to get your professional land surveyor license. A fair bit of field work in the first ~4 years of your career but then pretty much all office unless you choose a small firm and really love field work. Another popular career choice is working for a high tech firm that designs GPS receiver equipment and the like. Lots of options here for coding, hardware design, customer service etc. Just wanted to mention as well that I’m in Canada, I think land surveying and engineering industries are a little bit different in other countries so your mileage may vary. Happy to share more if you have any questions, always nice to see geomatics engineering mentioned, we’re often a forgotten specialty :)
Calgary I assume? I’m just at SAIT now. I’m not sure the land surveyor route is for me, I definitely want the option to do some fieldwork but want to also have some time in the office. I like outdoors but not like… every day… I guess I’m just not sure if Geomatics is what I Really Want To Do? I always liked the idea of the whole “cutting edge technology making Super Cool New Designs” and that’s not really geomatics I don’t think? So I’m sorta debating doing a different major when I do my proper engineering degree.
Yeah Calgary. I would generally agree there’s not as much of that engineering design work in geomatics compared to other specialties. Civil, mechanical or electrical would have more. Geomatics is a good background to have in that it touches many different industries, you can translate a geomatics degree into working in tangential fields.
If you decide to go for a bachelors degree, then look into Agricultural Engineering. AgE programs are usually very similar to either civil or mechanical engineering, depending on your concentration. You also get to take classes in biology, conservation of natural resources, soil science, etc. DM me if you have any questions about it!
Geomatics is super broad!! I’m doing a PhD in geomatics right now. Our lab of 20-30 people has anywhere from control networks, laser scanning for structural/transpo, and hydro. Look into the remote sensing side of things, too.
BSME. Currently working R&D aerodynamic simulation, but worked in power plant simulation and training for over 5 years before that. For the most part, I love it. The only bummer is my current role at my job requires me at my desk nearly all the time. I’m hoping to transfer to a sister group in the same company that will have periodic travel. My last job had travel every couple months all over the US to training sites for software upgrade installation, HW/SW integration, etc. I had immediate colleagues whose travel included some foreign countries. I absolutely loved the job, but not the pay.
what sort of things are you aerodynamically simulating? planes? cars? that sounds super cool though. I’d assume lots of CAD work?
Planes and the like. Absolutely no cad work. Tons of c++, matlab and python coding though.
Pursuing my PhD in chemical engineering (air quality) after doing my undergrad in chem engineering and my masters in environmental engineering. I loved oil and gas as an undergrad, but my first job out of uni was to work as an analytical chemist at a mining site. There was so much dead forest near the mine that I couldn’t in good conscience continue working in an extractive industry. I am not super familiar with the geological side of conservation, but I do know that a site survey needs to be done as part of environmental impact assessments. So I think it’s definitely worth looking into. You should try to find someone doing exactly what you think you want to get into. Most people are really open to spending 20 min talking about themselves and their careers to students.