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Engineering is a great career choice for anyone, but it’s an especially great choice for girls, and here are just a few reasons why:
It’s fun: Engineering offers lots of opportunities to work on cool and interesting things, in cool and interesting places. Check out this list of Ten ‘Fun and Exciting’ Facts About Engineering from the National Society of Professional Engineers to see what we mean.
It’s not just for boys: Women have been making a difference in the engineering world since engineering was invented. Here are just a few of the many women who have made important contributions to the world of engineering:
Did you know that a woman, Emily Warren Roebling, was instrumental in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge?
Beulah Henry was known as “the lady Edison” in the 1920s and 1930s for the many inventions she patented, including a bobbin-free lockstitch sewing machine, a doll with flexible arms, a vacuum ice cream freezer, a doll with a radio inside, and a typewriter that made multiple copies without carbon paper.
During a winter trip to New York, Mary Andersen came up with the idea for the windshield wiper after seeing a driver leave his front window open so he could clear falling sleet from the windshield.
Lillian Gilbreth, the “mother of modern management,” studied workplace patterns and ergonomics. She was the first female member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and pioneered the field that now known as human factors engineering and ergonomic design.
There are great scholarship opportunities: There are a lot of scholarship opportunities for women interested in studying engineering. For example, last year the Society for Women Engineers (SWE) disbursed about 220 new and renewed scholarships, valued at more than $660,000. You can learn more about SWE scholarships here. For another great great list of scholarships, check out Engineer Girl.
You’ll create cool stuff: As an engineer, you can be the first to try out (or invent!) new products and technologies. Check out this list of 10 Future Inventions Everyone’s Been Waiting For. Maybe you’ll be the one to invent something on this list!
You’ll bring a new perspective to projects and assignments: Studies have show that teams that are more diverse perform better. According to Emma McGuigan, managing director of Accenture’s technology division in the U.K. and Ireland, “You get the best team performance when you have diverse teams and people from different genders and backgrounds. That is when you get the best ideas…Women spend more on tech than men but most technology is designed by men. We would get a better experience if we had more women on the design teams. There would be a better product.” To learn more about how women’s perspectives can benefit design, check out this article from Forbes. And here’s an article from Harvard Business Review about how having more women in a group increases its collective intelligence.
You’ll never be bored: If you’re the type of person who likes to constantly learn new things or work on new projects, engineering is a great choice for you. In addition to getting to work on cool projects in cool fields, engineers also get to collaborate with other professionals like doctors, lawyers, scientists, government officials, artists, musicians, astronauts, and more. And, since engineering is used around the world, there’s a lot of opportunity for travel to fun and exciting places.
You’ll learn skills that you can use in almost any field: Engineering isn’t only about math. It takes skills like teamwork, communication, creative thinking, problem-solving, and critical thinking. These are skills that come in handy no matter where you work or what you do. And, as technology continues to grow, these skills are becoming more and more important, in almost every field. For example, here’s an article from U.S. News &World Report that talks about how non-STEM fields increasingly require STEM skills.
You’ll have flexibility in your career: Engineering concepts and skills are everywhere. That means you’ll have lots of opportunities to find your dream job. Our CS Careers blog has showcased just a few of the cool careers for engineers, like Imagineer, Computer Animation, and Climatologist, just a few of the great choices for engineers.
You can make a difference in the world: One great perk of being an engineer is that you can see how your job makes a difference. From big projects, to small projects, engineers influence people’s lives in profound ways. For example, here’s an article about how engineers are helping poor people in the developing world lift themselves out of poverty. And here’s a quick write up about how biomedical engineers help change peoples’ lives for the better.
Engineer’s have great job prospects: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, the field of engineering is expected to grow by 10 percent in the next ten years. On top of that, engineers typically enjoy better salaries than individuals in other fields. In 2013, the average salary for a new engineer was $62,535.[i] And, in 2011, the average engineer’s salary in 2011 was $99,738.[ii]
[i] National Association of Colleges and Employers, Job Outlook 2013
[ii] From 2011 Engineering Income and Salary Survey, conducted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Image Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ferris.wheel.arp.750pix.jpg
http://www.google.com/patents/US1037762?dq=US+patent+1037762
We Still Dream of Robot Maids (Javier Pierini/Taxi/Getty Images)
http://www.engineeryourlife.org/cms/Careers/Descriptions/2959.aspx
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