I have noticed that quite a few of my female followers are pursuing degrees in STEM subjects, or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. I want to use this post to cheer them on and to encourage my younger followers perhaps still in high school (both female and male) to pursue these subjects, specifically engineering.
While I am happy that I’m more of a humanities person, I sometimes wish I had a better understanding of our physical world; that I was more scientifically literate. If I could try to sway the younger crowd a bit, everyone I know that graduated from college (including colleges no one has ever heard of) with an engineering degree gets paid way more than the rest of us and got a job quickly upon graduating. Ladies, a family member used to hire engineers for their company. They got paid $10k(!) more than their male counterparts right out of school because they had company quotas to fill and competition for talent was fierce.
I have also noticed my engineering friends get to work on more interesting problems than the rest of us. They get to solve problems that actually have an impact on the world. Sorry to say, managing accounts or projecting revenue for the 3rd quarter or auditing a company’s books is not as exciting or very impactful in the grand scheme of things.
It’s very important to do something you like, but if you’re still in high school or just beginning college and have the smarts for engineering, at least give it a chance. Engineers have a bad rep because a lot of them are socially awkward, but as you get older and you start learning about how devices and machines work, you realize how critical they are to humanity. Elon Musk said it best, “An engineer is the closest thing to a magician that exists in the real world.”
I’d also like to plug Khan Academy, which you must visit if you’ve never been. It’s free online instruction videos in every subject imaginable, which has received money from Bill Gates’ foundation and many people say is changing the way we think about teaching. I WISH it existed when I was still in high school and college. It will shine light on subjects you don’t understand.
OK, that’s it. Take it Pete!