Career in Engineering - Is it better now?

Hi people, I am enrolling into Chemical Engineering course in NUS this coming August. Can the chemical engineers here enlighten me on the industry you are working in, the jobs prospect and salary as well? Appreciate your time to answer my queries. Thank you!

Engineering degree can get you to quite alot of field now, if you look at the recuitment criteria at CS or MNC. definitely not including acct related. this is mainly due to engineering course involves alot of critical thinking and innovations. in SG, engineer path will nv lead to any good cause due to it being not valued and respected for its professional status. in sg (out of CS), technicians/ people without academic qualifications were given engineer post hence pulling down its overall value and causing graduates not getting the right pay.

Engineer is a professional field that is widely valued and respected out of sg. i believe the reason behind this failed engineering career was mainly due to sg wanna increase the no. of engineers in the country but did not take into serious consideration of the quality. Those GLC and CS top management handling technology/ engineering were not engineering grads hence failed to realise the importance of producing quality engineers. many infact thought that engineers just need to have the technical skills when in real, engineers need to have both the theoretical and technical.

I am an engineer in GLC now and leaving this engineer field next month to move to management (still dealing with engineering related). At this current state, i wont pursue a full engineer career unless sg start to restructure and filter away those unqualified people. I really hard time working with most of the non-academic engineers due to the diff competency level and knowledge understanding. To clarify, I dont look down on non- graduate engineers but frankly speaking, the technology world now and in the coming years will be more challenging then they thought. If they did not have good fundamental in the first place, how can they fulfill their job? i do admire those people who willing to upgrade themselves so to fulfill the responsibilties of an engineer.

Originally Posted by Path

My situation is quite unique actually.. I'm a new accountancy/finance graduate, and am in first year into my job. It is considered to be a decent job in the market.

However, I'm starting to wonder whether this is for me over the long term.. This is due to:
1) Personality: I somewhat feel that I'm a more "hard/technical/science" person, rather than a "soft/business/fluff" person. I'm not in any of the extreme ends, but slightly more towards the former. This causes a certain fit issue with my existing environment (not sure if it's a job nature, industry or company thing though).
2) Interest: I don't exactly hate what I'm doing.. but it doesn't interest me that much either.
3) Hours: Hours are long; OT daily. --> But from the above, engineering is similar?
4) Pressure: High-pressure, fast-paced environment. Demanding boss.


Just a note, I know that no job is perfect. Just that I want to weigh my options.. It can be a little late for me, but there's like 30 years ahead of me in my career. I don't want to regret only 10 years down the road..

As an accountancy/finance graduate, how is it soft/business/fluff?

The only conclusion i can get is that you got a job different from your majors. Perhaps you somehow went into sales/relationship management instead.

Originally Posted by Path

My situation is quite unique actually.. I'm a new accountancy/finance graduate, and am in first year into my job. It is considered to be a decent job in the market.

However, I'm starting to wonder whether this is for me over the long term.. This is due to:
1) Personality: I somewhat feel that I'm a more "hard/technical/science" person, rather than a "soft/business/fluff" person. I'm not in any of the extreme ends, but slightly more towards the former. This causes a certain fit issue with my existing environment (not sure if it's a job nature, industry or company thing though).
2) Interest: I don't exactly hate what I'm doing.. but it doesn't interest me that much either.
3) Hours: Hours are long; OT daily. --> But from the above, engineering is similar?
4) Pressure: High-pressure, fast-paced environment. Demanding boss.


Just a note, I know that no job is perfect. Just that I want to weigh my options.. It can be a little late for me, but there's like 30 years ahead of me in my career. I don't want to regret only 10 years down the road..

Most engineering folk want to jump to where you are. Rarely hear of anyone going the other way. Long hours, stress could possibly be the same with much less pay and prosects. Throw in occupational hazards if you will. Only when you're inside will you appreciate you current position now. Only good fields to enter within engineering are oil&gas (downstream) and aerospace. Would recommend marine but its in the slumps now. You got 30 years ahead of you, so don't jump into a place of no return.

[Path]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Engineering degree can get you to quite alot of field now, if you look at the recuitment criteria at CS or MNC. definitely not including acct related. this is mainly due to engineering course involves alot of critical thinking and innovations. in SG, engineer path will nv lead to any good cause due to it being not valued and respected for its professional status. in sg (out of CS), technicians/ people without academic qualifications were given engineer post hence pulling down its overall value and causing graduates not getting the right pay.

Engineer is a professional field that is widely valued and respected out of sg. i believe the reason behind this failed engineering career was mainly due to sg wanna increase the no. of engineers in the country but did not take into serious consideration of the quality. Those GLC and CS top management handling technology/ engineering were not engineering grads hence failed to realise the importance of producing quality engineers. many infact thought that engineers just need to have the technical skills when in real, engineers need to have both the theoretical and technical.

I am an engineer in GLC now and leaving this engineer field next month to move to management (still dealing with engineering related). At this current state, i wont pursue a full engineer career unless sg start to restructure and filter away those unqualified people. I really hard time working with most of the non-academic engineers due to the diff competency level and knowledge understanding. To clarify, I dont look down on non- graduate engineers but frankly speaking, the technology world now and in the coming years will be more challenging then they thought. If they did not have good fundamental in the first place, how can they fulfill their job? i do admire those people who willing to upgrade themselves so to fulfill the responsibilties of an engineer.

Very insightful. Which area of engineering are you in?

From the information that I gather in this thread, the path of a Specialist Engineer in SG is pretty tough, unless you're in the better fields (e.g. O&G Downstream and Aerospace).

How many years have you been in the job, and are management positions typically difficult to get?

[Path]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

As an accountancy/finance graduate, how is it soft/business/fluff?

The only conclusion i can get is that you got a job different from your majors. Perhaps you somehow went into sales/relationship management instead.

I didn't go into sales/rm.. Regarding that part of my message, I was comparing in terms of the general environment. That is, the environment in Engineering vs the environment in Business. The personalities of the people tend to differ by a bit between the two.

[Path]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Most engineering folk want to jump to where you are. Rarely hear of anyone going the other way. Long hours, stress could possibly be the same with much less pay and prosects. Throw in occupational hazards if you will. Only when you're inside will you appreciate you current position now. Only good fields to enter within engineering are oil&gas (downstream) and aerospace. Would recommend marine but its in the slumps now. You got 30 years ahead of you, so don't jump into a place of no return.

Thanks for providing insights into the other side of the world.

Yes, I was really initially considering it. However, it's a huge consideration due to the need to return to school, salary opportunity costs, etc. Perhaps I should be speaking with more people before I make any decision.

Have you read this? The reality of engineering in Singapore.

hxxp://mothership.sg/2013/10/9-factors-explaining-local-engineers-tough-life-spore/

Anyway, why are you considering engineering? Is there something in engineering that interests you or you're looking for something to run away to, thinking it might be better?

[Path]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Have you read this? The reality of engineering in Singapore.

hxxp://mothership.sg/2013/10/9-factors-explaining-local-engineers-tough-life-spore/

Anyway, why are you considering engineering? Is there something in engineering that interests you or you're looking for something to run away to, thinking it might be better?

A mixture of both. I had the dilemma between engineering or accountancy/finance several years back, but chose accountancy/finance due to the seemingly better future. The subject was pretty interesting during uni, and hence I continued with it all the way.

However, a year upon graduation and into the workforce, I've been facing many issues, including interest, motivation, fit and performance. These issues caused me to think whether I'm in the right industry/career, and whether I would probably be a better fit and also perform better in engineering.

In Sg:
- On an overall basis, accounting/finance has higher pay/prospects/environment.
- However, some areas of engineering is not bad. For example, aerospace engineering.

But the environment now isn't very good for all.