Is engineering still worth studying in North America? Or is it a lost cause?

Question

With the new globalized economy, outsourcing, offshoring and all the new immigrants from China and India who are trained engineers that are leaving their countries, is it still worth majoring in engineering here in America?

I'm about to begin my studies in this field but I can't help but think that by the time I'm out, the market will be saturated with immigrant engineers from China and India which will depress wages in the profession and that most companies will be simply offshoring andoutsourcing the bulk of their engineering work.

Am I right or am I wrong?

Answer 1

What you say *may* be slightly true for the commercial sector (consumer electronics), but it is definitely not true for the defense/aerospace sector.  Few, if any, of these foreign nationals will ever get the required security clearances to work on most government/military programs.

Right now, my company is desperate to hire several electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing engineers.

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Answer 2

I don't think it's quite as bad as you make it out to be.

You may find yourself going to their country to get things working.

It also depends on you major.  Manufacturing Engineering may not be such a good idea if you want to stay in the US.

I think Chemical would still be good, but it turns out we need Nuclear Engineers.

I think Areva has a co op education program to get more Nuclear Engineers.

Answer 3

Huge market for engineers and will be for a long long time.

Answer 4

Many of these engineers from other countries will find it difficult to get work as a government contractor because they are not a US citizen. The Government is at a shortage of engineers...so the prospect is great now!

Answer 5

Wrong, most companies in America will only hire licensed engineer's, many of the immigrants are unwilling to put up the extra time to study for these exams (As are many American's as well) as they have been out of school too long. If you get your license, you should be fine. Immigrant engineer's can only be brought in if a company can prove that they have tried hiring nationally first and cannot find anyone to fill the position. The government has already stated that there will not be enough engineer's graduating for the next 15 year so expect more immigrants. You are in a good position with baby boomer's starting to retire.

Answer 6

The company I was working for would not let engineers even discuss the design of a (steel part for jet) with anyone that was not a US citizen due to the regulations to prevent transferring our knowledge to other countries.

We all had to go through training.

There are plenty of engineering jobs here.