Question: Does being an engineer open lots of doors for you?

Marcus Johns answered on 20 Jun 2014:

Engineering can be a way to ensure that a number of doors are open to you, especially when it comes to career prospects. Doing a degree in engineering doesn’t mean that you have to go into an engineering job. The wide skill set that you gain from doing an engineering degree means that employers from other sectors, such as banking or corporate management, would also consider hiring you.

Personally, I think coming from an engineering background in my field means that I approach things slightly differently to other researchers in that I’m always thinking about how the idea or process could be applied on a commercial scale, which gives me an advantage over those from a scientific background who’ve never considered this before. This could lead to more doors opening for me in the future.

Being an engineer doesn’t necessarily mean that doors will open for you automatically – you still need to put effort into finding the doors and not expect things to just fall into place – but it can help!