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January 30, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR KATHLEEN RICHARME
IN TX
I would agree that engineering is a hard field to study, but
so are most of
the SET fields. Engineering involves a lot of math and problem-solving
skills. It is very rewarding, though. You are very highly
respected among
your collegues. It is certainly not something everyone can
do, but I feel
you will come to enjoy it very much once you get past the
initial hard
spots. I, personally, love to know that something my mind
came up with is
in production as I designed it. You may not receive the publicity
that you
would from other careers; I have found engineers to be the
brains behind
the scenes in most applications. It is certainly a field of
study that you
can apply to every-day situations. Another benefit is that
engineers
typically have a higher salary than other professions. I was
intimidated
at first because of the challenges I faced as a young, female
engineer, but
my collegues are very helpful any time I have a design question
and they do
not treat me with any less respect for being female. In fact,
you probably
receive more attention because female engineers (especially
those in
Mechanical Engineering) are very rare. Not a day goes by,
though, that I
am not happy to be an engineer.
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A: FROM MENTOR KRIS MOODY
IN NH
Engineering is considered by many to be a hard field to study.
But it is
relative, like anything else. When I went to college, my roommate
and I
both began in the Engineering program together. During our
first semester
I found our Chemistry class to be extremely hard, and she
found our
Introduction to Engineering to be extremely hard. In the long
run, I
majored in Engineering, and she majored in Chemistry. I think
we find the
thing that makes us happy. Even though something seems hard
at first, that
isn't always a bad thing. It might mean that you are really
learning
something new, and it can give you a great sense of accomplishment.
I know
that after my first engineering class, I never looked at a
bridge the same
way again. It made me excited to look at a structure and think
about the
mathematical reasons why it worked! It had become easy for
me. But when I
tried to tell my friends, in my excitement to share, they
thought it
sounded too hard and complicated. I had another roommate who
studied art
history. For exams, she had to memorize hundreds and hundreds
of
paintings. They would flash slides of paintings and the students
had to
quickly write down the name of the painting, the style, the
artist and the
date it was painted. I thought this sounded really hard! I
would much
rather be learning engineering! I had other friends who had
to read
hundreds of pages in their text books every night. I like
to read, but all
that reading sounded really hard to me! I would much rather
be working out
equations and solving interesting problems! And now, after
graduating from
engineering school, I can apply what I've learned and keep
on learning by
the new things I do in my job, while friends in other professions
have to
keep going back to school, or taking continuing education,
or being tested
or certified continually. I feel that my career has given
me a foundation
in what I like to do, and I have been able to continue to
learn and grow
while doing what I like to do. I'm glad I get to continue
this learning
while I'm working, and I'm glad I get to go home at night
and not think too
much about work until the next day. I think it's a great life
every way
you look at it.
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