So I am debating on whether or not to choose engineering or nursing as my major. I have done much much research on both professions, I have also shadowed a nurse that I know during her job to get an idea of what nursing is about. I have interest in both engineering and nursing, those are the only two things that I would want to go to college for (aside from maybe political science, but I wont go there:lol2:). I believe I am competent enough for either path, I am fairly good and both enjoy math, and love science and philosophy/theories. So my general question is, have any of you or anyone that you know had a career in nursing that went to engineering, or vice versa? How about have any of you studied engineering and went to nursing, or vice versa. If you were an engineer or a nurse and changed, what made you? I realize that this forum is mainly towards nursing (there really isn't any engineering forums like this one, and if there are I would love to visit it), but do you enjoy your work. I figured if I wanted to be a nurse I would want to work in critical care or ER, mainly because I'm a guy and feel that as more "manly" (corny, I know), and if I was to choose engineering I would most likely choose mechanical engineering. Thank you for your responses.
Also I'd like to make a note of some of my far-future, personal goals I have for myself. I would like sometime in the future to get into politics, so my general question is being on a nursing forum, how easy is it for nurses to get into politics and can they find success in that detestable area of human ventures ?
No regrets so far. The things that really drew me away from engineering as it comes down to it is that I'm honestly not that good at math and probably would both dislike and have a hard time juggling the math heavy course load, as is the nature of engineering school. I like science, but not math heavy science, and fortunately nursing has adequate science with only a handful of math that must be known to practice. No real plans to pursue engineering in the future, most likely I'll stay in some type of healthcare setting while looking into advanced practice nursing in some form or another.
I was an engineer prior to going to nursing school. I chose engineering because of high demand for them 20 years ago. Then, my company had a massive layoff. I went back to school for nursing back in 2009. I was told there was a high demand for nurses. Haha. Not in my area. Now engineers are the hot demand. So like I've said before it comes in epps and flows. The money was a lot better in engineering. So was the hours and believe it or not health insurance.
My father is an engineer and many of our family friends are engineers. I also went on a date with an engineer who works for an American company which probably makes your smartphone *hint hint*. hours depend on the type of engineering and the company. They are often overworked, up to 80 hours a week. My dad told me that there are companies which provide your child daycare, meals, and chauffeur you to and from work. However, my friend's husband works at a company where it's like a 9-5 job usually. As an engineer, you might need to work at home as well. Engineering is often viewed as stable, but it is not as stable as everyone thinks. Many engineers have been laid off in the past.
Lastly, not to be sexist, but engineering is a male dominated field, even though there are many more women these days than in the past. One question I would ask myself if I were a woman going into engineering is, would I be comfortable working in an environment that is male-dominated. As a male going into nursing I would ask, would I be comfortable working in an environment that is female-dominated?
Biomedical engineer here... I'm looking into nursing because I need to move during my day and I really liked biology and the healthcare electives I took in college. I hated the endless math classes and never used any of it on the job. It was also cubicle work and some days I thought I was coming out of my skin sitting there confined to a desk for hours. Human contact consisted of meetings of ticking off boxes in a project management program. The industry thinks you're not really an engineer and you're paid much less than other disciplines. All graduates are pouring into the same 5-6 companies across the US too. The corporate team culture means that some companies will schedule team building social things on the weekends or after hours and can't require it, but require it. People's impression is its medical and high paid. My B.Sc.Eng didn't even require human anatomy. Only do engineering if you don't mind sitting all day and talking about math with nerds. The pay is about the same. A large portion of grads go straight to masters, PhD or professional routes like MD, DDS, DPT, etc... It's a great stepping stone degree, but not a career and certainly not much to do with medical.
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TinaSteena15
4 Posts
Amazing! From my perspective, you just went from an undecided undergrad to a practicing RN in a matter of days!
Do you have any regrets about choosing nursing? Any plans to persue engineering in the future or are you totally happy with nursing?
Thanks!