picking engineering as a profession

[dean]

Until I came to nanaplaza.com, I had never known any engineers. As far as I know, no one in my high school graduating class became an engineer andin college, I majored in History, so I wouldn't have met any there. From what I have heard since being on this board, if you want to get a good job in Thailand,be either an engineer or an IT specialist. While not choosing a profession for my 15 year old Thai step son, I want him to have a decent paying job if he decides to move back to Thailand after finishing college. From what I've read about the profession, most engineers were told by high school counselors that they were good in science and math and should consider engineering. My step son is average in both at best. For those engineers out there, why did you choose that profession and is there an engineering job out there for average students?

[HeartThais]

Engineering is a really bad choice for people who don't have a true affinity for math. Even really good math students have a difficult time keeping up with university level engineering classes.

 

I have a friend who dropped out of an engineering program due to the difficulty with math and became a biochemist. He's doing quite well now working for pharma but was quite poor for a while during his phd and postdoc stuff. So maybe that's something you could look into.

 

I'd steer him towards finance.

 

[dean]

Unless he gets scholarship/grants to go to school after college graduation, MBA's, master degrees and PHD's are not in the realm of possibility. In looking at U.S. firms doing business in Thailand, GE Capitol/financial has a large stake there. If he does go the route of a business degree, I'd still prefer that he worked for a U.S. firm and get assigned to Thailand. I'd think that would pay far more than having a business degree and going to work directly for a Thai company. Right now, he's taking mainly math and english (ELL) courses until he knows enough English to take courses that require an extensive amount of reading/writing of English.

[cavanami]

The US companies, like GE, have been getting away from hiring US personnel to work overseas, too costly. I worked for GE for twenty years as an engineer but I worked overseas extensively, as they were still doing their overseas using US personnel.

If GE (or the like) were to hire your stepson, who is a Thai citizen, they most likely would pay him Thai wages as an engineer. If he had a MBA or better, along with an engineering degree, he may land a highly paid job in management.

Management is where the BIG money is today.

 

There are millions of engineers pouring out of India and China and many other countries, tough for a US engineer to compete in an overseas market. A US citizen/engineer could make well into the six figures (in my day). Now the companies hire locals in the low five figures. YMMV.

Maybe the oil patch is an option for Thai engineers?

[Mekong]

For those engineers out there, why did you choose that profession ?

 

I didn't the profession chose me. My strong subjects at high school were Maths, Physics and Chemistry so after leaving school serving an apprenticeship was the next natural progression. It runs in the family my father was an engineer so were both of my grandfathers, but then again so were most males in Trafford Park area where my family is from.

 

Nearly 30 years later I now work in a well paid management / consultancy position, but its not always been the case. There have been (and still are) many sacrifices along the way namely working in remote locations away from home / family for long durations at a time, but its the fact that I was prepared to make such sacrifices that enabled me to be in the position I am today. The only way to make real money in the field is to follow the big projects all over the planet and chase the petro-dollar, if a 9-5 office job being at home everyday is more to your liking there are better fields than engineering to make money in.

 

I don't really know what I would have done if I had not got into the game, but I doubt I would have got to have seen as much of the world that I have or be able to have lived in Thailand for so long if I had chosen another profession.

 

[dean]

The one reason that I thought that it would be an advantage for my step son is that he would not need to get a work permit in Thailand and would speak English (and obviously Thai). I do keep telling him to work harder in school (His nickname is "lazy," not a good sign) or be prepared for a 200-300 baht per day job. Mekong, that is what I found, just looking on the internet for a couple of hours. There are lots of engineers whose parents wee engineers and whose children become engineers. I went to a catholic grade school and a jesuit H.S. and I never heard engineering mentioned to anyone as a career (obviously not to me with average math scores). A lot can change in 7 years. My step son is starting to make friends and, of the 3 step-kids, only the 12 year old would like to go back to Thailand for a vacation (maybe next summer). Fortunately, she is a straight A student and likes math. What I need to do is talk my wife out of the idea that the 19 eyar old should get a nursing degree. She doesn't like Math and science and if she moves back to Thailand (an even proposition), I can't imagine that Thai nurses make much of a salary. Bisiness would be good for her, since she can speak Thai, Chinese and, eventually, English.

[dean]

I figured that engineering would require a relatively high degree of proficiency in both math and science but I never compared it to the difficulty in getting an M.D. or some advanced degrees in science. I figured only the programs at schools like MIT would be ball busters. Three years oto graduation is still a long time but I doubt that my step son will make a gigantic leap in that time in his studies.

[cavanami]

Then urge him to go into management.

No need to struggle thru the engineering courses.

 

Management pays the most and may be a good fit for the lad.

[The_Munchmaster]

What type of engineering did you have in mind?

 

Agricultural Engineering

Architectural Engineering

Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering

Ceramic Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Computer Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Fire Protection Engineering

Industrial Engineering

Manufacturing Engineering

Mechanic Engineering

Metallurgy and Materials Engineering

Mineral and Mining Engineering

Nuclear Engineering

Ocean Engineering

Transportation Engineering

 

[dean]

MM, you didn't list the one field of engineering that I'm most interested in:automotive engineering. I can't imagine a more interesting, wide open, high paying job for the future! Do you have any contacts in that field?