I pursued engineering too, and I love doing certain engineering jobs. But going to work every day IS a drag, and I'm almost never passionate about what I work on for money.
It'd be great if I could work on programming and engineering projects of my own choosing, on things that I think are really interesting. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way.
If your kids are smart enough to engineering but aren't drawn to it, and just want to make money, they should pursue medicine or business or finance instead. If you don't care about engineering work, don't go into this field; there's other fields for people who have no passion for their work, and finance is a really big one in the US. You'll make more money, you won't work in a workplace that's a sausagefest, you'll have a much easier and more fun time in college, and you'll get to live in much better cities when you're working.
I don't know. Financial industry is a big bubble in the US right now.
It has been a great ride for those that lived it. But when the bubble pops people are going to handle pitchforks against anything resembling "financial" on its name. Already happened in the 1930s and a little in 2008.
It'd be great if I could work on programming and engineering projects of my own choosing, on things that I think are really interesting. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way.
If your kids are smart enough to engineering but aren't drawn to it, and just want to make money, they should pursue medicine or business or finance instead. If you don't care about engineering work, don't go into this field; there's other fields for people who have no passion for their work, and finance is a really big one in the US. You'll make more money, you won't work in a workplace that's a sausagefest, you'll have a much easier and more fun time in college, and you'll get to live in much better cities when you're working.