i have some questions about the career if i choose to go into it someday.
Is a degree from technical school viewed with the same esteem as a state college degree? i’ve thought about technical school instead of state college because its half the price and because the technical school will have classes that are more flexible and workable with a work schedule while the state classes will be less flexible (i.e., no night or weekend classes).
secondly, is an associates degree worth anything in the field? i’ve always preferred the idea of getting an A.S before a B.S. because i have only wasted 1/2 the money if things dont work out. if they do i can always go back and finish the degree.
thirdly, does anyone have any info on medical or pharmaceutical engineering careers? i’d prefer to get involved in genetic or biomedical engineering if possible but i dont know if there are alot of openings for that (im sure there arent many schools for those anyway, only 1 college in my state offers biomedical engineering and it is a state college), and i would probably be better off in a more mainstream engineering field like manufacturing, industrial or electrical.
Take this for what it’s worth but here is my experience working in automotive manufacturing for 15 yrs.
No. An accredited engineering degree is more highly valued than a technical school. This may be perception but I know of noone in my workplace that has a technical school degree that is a product or process or design engineer. Nor have I ever. They have all been 4 yr college degrees or in the process of getting one.
Not unless you only want to be an engineering tech. See above.
Sorry I can’t help you on that. I’m a EE. But currently working as a product/design engineer for rubber automotive applications. And I hate it. I am thinking of taking programming classes to change my career.
Overall, I went from $20,000/yr to over $40,000/yr after I got my degree. I have a lot better chance of finding employment should my employer think I am spending too much time online.
As a graduate of both types of schools, I would have to say no to your first question. I have a Electronics and Computer Eng. Degree from ITT and it does not hold as much esteem as my Electrical Eng Degree from College.
An A.S Degree is pretty much useless nowadays as there are all kinds of B.S Degree holders looking for work. Spend the time and money and commit to getting your Bachelors degree as a minimum.
As a side note if you do decide to go to a tech school be sure that they are accredited and that any credits you aquire are transferable. I wish some one had told me to check on this. :smack: It would have saved a lot of time and expense not having to retake a similar class when I had to transfer to a different school due to a job move.
An AS is not worthless. We hire control techs with AS degrees all the time. They are not engineers, but they are good jobs.
I am an ME who has worked for 12 years in Utility engineering. And I hate it. But they got me locked in with a good salary and a nice boss. I do know several peope who DO like being engineers, but I’m steering my daughters toward something less mind killing. Like being a lumberjack. That’s the life for me. Or a lion tamer. I have my own hat for that.
I noticed you mentioned you were interested in biomedical, well, that’s actually what I am studying right now (senior year.) What state are you living in? For some reason, it seems odd that only one school in the entire state has a biomedical engineering program. As for opening? Well, the economy as a whole is not so good right now, but I would say that the biotech industries are probably doing a little better than the industrial, mechanical, and electrical, if nothing else than because there are so much more of them floatin’ around lookin’ for jobs.