Ask an Engineer

By far, my largest influencers were my teachers which started with my 1st and 2nd grade teacher who taught me that just because I didn’t like doing something, I should still strive to do it the best I could. She knew I could have better penmanship, but ...

Unfortunately, I don’t have a female who helped me get into my engineering role. I had a great male mentor, though, who taught me things outside of my job to give me a wider picture of infrastructure along the way. He expanded my knowledge by doing so ...

My biggest female influence was definitely my mother. She helped me so much in my career. But it's not in the manner you would think. She only attended school until she was in 8th grade due to her mother dying when she was young. Her two older ...

This is a tough question for those of us who have spent our entire career in engineering related fields. Naturally, there are some areas which I loved more than others. In school, I struggled with thermodynamics but excelled at heat transfer which ...

Engineering is a very broad field so if you study engineering you can choose from a huge variety of jobs which all have pros and cons. I have had some engineering jobs that I didn't enjoy so much and others that I have found very fulfilling! I will never ...

Hello! What a great question. First and foremost, I applaud you for understanding your likes and contemplating career choices while in high school. It will be important in college and class selections.

Secondly, I wanted to answer your question, “have ...

I began my engineering education and career in 1978, so the simple answer is yes. It began in college but only in 1 course which was a terrible experience for me and the subject was difficult on top of that. I was too young to realize that I should have ...

Yes, I've experienced inequality because of my gender several times, unfortunately. To manage through the inequality I joined a non-profit organization which focuses on the empowerment and advocacy of women and allies within my industry. Through this ...

Hi, to be honest early in my career I did face negative comments about my gender when working in a field-based position. Basically, that I didn't know anything and was "just a girl". I was fortunate to have a very supportive male supervisor who advocated ...

If you have a passion for engineering, you should definitely pursue it. Engineering is a field that requires creativity, problem-solving, and resilience, all of which can be strengthened through overcoming challenges. Remember, many successful engineers ...

YES, you can still be an engineer even though you were bullied for wanting to be one. Bullying for having any sort of interest is bound to happen. It can be quite discouraging and I can’t guarantee it changes as you get older but what I can guarantee is ...

This question resonated well with me as I experienced something similar in my path to being an engineer. You are breaking the "expectation" of what girls are supposed to do. You are also very bright and probably many others are envious of your capability.

Hi Evan,

Engineering isn't as scary as some might think. It does require focus and dedication to your studies but it is also cool to solve problems and create new innovative solutions. If you love computer stuff and exploring how things work I would ...

If you enjoy science and math, I don’t see why you should stress about taking chemical engineering as a major!

Engineering, as many other majors, requires hard work, but this doesn’t mean you need to leave your social life behind. Engineering offers a ...

While the curriculum involved in pursuing engineering is rather difficult, I have found that it did not make me any less social. In some cases, it made me more social! In my junior and senior years, I worked more in our engineering building with fellow ...

This is a fair question and I think a lot of people are scared off from majoring in engineering because of this and also fears of the difficulty of engineering classes. First, I would absolutely recommend you pick chemical engineering as a major, since ...

Not every class has to be your best class. You will excel at some topics and not other for may reason such as how the material is taught, whether you have a natural inclination towards that topic, or whatever else you have going on in your life (e.g., if ...

Remember that no one is born knowing everything. In fact, we are born knowing nothing and have to learn. Even people who will say mean things to others, have had to learn things at some point. We all have different paths in our lives, learn at different ...

Great question! I had the same situation.

I also didn’t do well in math in high school, and I was asked to drop a class because I was failing. After some tutoring, I learned my learning capability was different from others. I am an auditory learner. In ...

I became an engineer because I like to think -- a lot -- about a problem. Because I think, I sometimes dream about it too. But I have other interests that I try not to think of work after work hours. I have a creativity gene in me, so I enjoy designing ...

I enjoy the life my engineering career has given me, it’s opened the doors for lots of opportunities. I would say there have been times when my hours are more than others, but I’ve always been able to find balance. I’ve been working now for over 15 ...

I think any profession, including engineering, will require long hours and deep commitment at points during your career. There will be times that you need to make sacrifices to achieve a project goal by a given deadline, but that is true for anything ...

There’s this misconception that engineers are naturally super smart people (the way we’re portrayed in movies as people who can build/fix/code anything definitely doesn’t help), but the truth is that just about anyone passionate about solving problems ...

To be successful as an engineer, you don’t have to be the smartest in your class, but you do have to be one of the most determined. Engineering takes a lot of tenacity to stick with a problem and work through it methodically, even after you deal with ...

Anyone who wants to be an engineer can be one. Do not let others determine your path.

What you can do now is take as many math classes as you can. If you need a tutor, ask your school. Find math games to play, and problem solving type puzzles – even ...

Hi Crystal, 

Yes, you can very well work in the field of agriculture with a degree in Civil and Environmental degree. For example, soil chemistry is  major contributor towards the quality of crops which environmental engineering candidates study. If you ...