has anyone been in engineering

Streamline2010 · Jan 17, 2012

Yes. Me. I worked in engineering and technology, then tried nursing. After working in the straightforward and predominantly no nonsense male world of engineering, the women's world of nursing is 180 degrees from "my" world. Nursing is NOTHING like engineering. Nursing is just "extended motherhood," pure and simple. It's mother and care for and coddle and nurture and serve, serve, serve, whomever comes down the pike. An entirely different skill set is needed for nursing vs. engineering. A RN almost has to be an extrovert and a people-pleaser, and has to willingly accept a permanent subordinate role, because the medical field is preoccupied with maintaining the pecking order and the status duo, where the physicians rule and the nurses and techs serve.

If you are a matter-of-fact person, don't want to be "always on," don't want petty women's drama and personality conflicts and much ad about trivia, then go into engineering. You will be a respected member of the team, so long as you keep your child-rearing and motherhood issues to yourself and tales of your family life condensed to no more than a 5-minure executive summary.

Engineers are professionals, regardless of gender. In nursing, you can be every bit as hardworking and knowledgeable and competent as a physician, but you are still everyone's mommy and servant. You work for professionals. Another important consideration is that male engineers make much better spouses than doctors do, and an engineer husband is more likely to share in the grubby childrearing tasks and will know how to iron, or take his shirts to the cleaners himself, or make his own dinner, or take charge of the household for week or two while YOU go out of town or out of the country for a business trip, and he won't usually whine about having to do the woman's work while you're gone. Equal outside the home; equal inside the home.

All of healthcare has been a pink collar ghetto for women since 'way back, and it's really not evolved much since the arrival of men in the non-physician roles. Be just another used and taken-for-granted choregirl in healthcare, or become an engineer and be a professional.

As personality types, engineers share more traits with physicians than with nurses. INTJ might make a great engineer. Not a nurse. Careers for INTJ Personality Types ENFJ might make a nurse. Careers for ENFJ Personality Types

I didn't paint a very flattering picture. But I feel that the two professions, and the role of women within them, are night and day different. If you strongly believe that women are meant to do more than produce children, clean up after the family, and serve in the subordinate role, then maybe look more at engineering.

Nolander · Jan 17, 2012

For the record, I'm a guy haha. And I was generally just wondering the job prospects for both careers, salaries, work environment, variety etc. I don't really wanna be sitting in a cubicle all day typing on a calculator, or drawing gears in autoCAD all day as an engineer. Nor do I want to have people **** on me figuratively and literally all the time as a nurse.

rafiki121 · Jan 17, 2012

So I cant decide between nursing and engineering. Both have qualities about the job that are attractive to me, and both have things not so attractive. Has anyone pursued engineering before nursing or vice versa. I realize this is a nursing forums but surely some people here know some engineers or may have studied it before nursing

Hey there im 26 and i studied mechanical engineering back in college. i dropped out after 3 2.5 yrs when i got a job as a CNC programmer and a cad drawer. Basically i sit in my cubicle 10 hrs a day doing work on my comp. After 4 years i realized i dont want to be in front of a cubicle all day. My eyes gets tired and what do i do when i go home? More tv and computer. So thats when i decided to pursue a nursing degree. im currently taking my pre reqs this semester. Its a big change and it probably wont be as laid back as the job i have now but i just cant stand sitting here all day.

leenak · Jan 17, 2012

Not quite engineering but I've worked with a lot of engineers and I went into computer science. The part I hate about my job is sitting in an office all day long. I know a civil engineer (pretty sure that is what he is) has a somewhat interesting job in that he helps design buildings and spends time overseeing the buildings being built. The bad part of his job is his commute can vary greatly as he has to go to where the work is. So for 9 months, he might have a 15 minute commute while the next 9 months, he has a 2 hour commute.

Nolander · Jan 18, 2012

Not quite engineering but I've worked with a lot of engineers and I went into computer science. The part I hate about my job is sitting in an office all day long. I know a civil engineer (pretty sure that is what he is) has a somewhat interesting job in that he helps design buildings and spends time overseeing the buildings being built. The bad part of his job is his commute can vary greatly as he has to go to where the work is. So for 9 months, he might have a 15 minute commute while the next 9 months, he has a 2 hour commute.

did they enjoy their jobs?

leenak · Jan 18, 2012

My husband actually has an engineering degree but the field was so crowded, he wasn't actually able to get a job. (He went into a different field though, similar to mine) The engineers who I knew who were engineers seemed to enjoy their jobs but they liked to keep to themselves, holed away in an office/cubicle staring at a computer screen.

umbdude, MSN, APRN · Jan 18, 2012

Hey Nolander-

Not engineering here either but have worked with many folks with engineering/technology background (finance here).

I would say that if you are very good at high-level math/science, are very interested in those subjects, and can't end the day without solving 50 tough math/science problems (ok maybe I'm exaggerating), then engineering seems like a better fit for now. But if you've always had a strong desire to do something that would help the needy, heal the sick, serve people from all walks of life (including mentally ill and/or addicts), then nursing is probably better.

From a pay & job availability standpoint, engineering is probably better if you have a decent undergrad with strong GPA. I've heard that many engineers get tired of their jobs after a while, but most probably are content with their jobs. The engineers/computer science folks I know do tend to be pretty no-nonsense and critically logical. I wouldn't say that they're introverted or anything; nor do I think you have to be an extravert to be a nurse. Any professions need effective communications...they just communicate differently.

eagle78 · Jan 18, 2012

I was going to pursue an electrical engineering degree when I worked for AT&T only because they would pay for the degree. I got through all the math but had trouble with the physics. It was calculus based physics. Any way, my problem was I could not focus on the material. It was so, cold....

What I also discovered is that some engineering fields are more marketable than others. The electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering fields are more in demand. I was also told that electrical had a great crossover ability, ie easier to get a job in one of the other fields. I do not know how true that is though.

But for my purposes, I could not see myself just working in a cube all day either. Electrical definately would have probably tied me to my desk, or at least to the computer be it at home or in the office. I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer with one of the big three auto companies. She likes it, but she is sort of a loner who keeps to herself. She is sweet as can be though. She makes good money, I would say possibly 6 figures but she has been in the field for >20 years.

Nolander · Jan 18, 2012

Do they really work in cubicles all day? Wouldnt they have some kind of on-sight work so they can actually see what they are developing/troubleshooting?

leenak · Jan 18, 2012

Well what kind of engineering are you looking into? It would depend on your job and what you are developing as well as your role within the job. An electrical engineer is different than a civil engineer. The lead engineer is different than the worker bee engineer. Having said that, many of the engineers I've worked with are working on a product that exists 3000 miles away from them. They work with engineers on the site but they themselves never go to the site.