Engineering Specializations
Engineers typically specialize in one of 17 areas:

• Aerospace engineers – These individuals specialize in the design, test, and manufacture of aircraft, spacecraft, and missiles. They may develop new technologies or they may specialize in a certain type of product.
• Agricultural engineers – These individuals use their engineering expertise in improving plant crops and other agricultural products. This sometimes means designing new machinery or equipment or new processes.
• Biomedical engineers – Combining the disciplines of medicine and engineering, these individuals create procedures and devices that meet medical problems. They may specialize in developing prosthetic devices, medical information systems, or procedures like MRIs. devices and procedures that solve medical and health-related problems by combining their knowledge of biology and medicine with engineering principles and practices.
• Chemical engineers – These individuals use principles of chemistry to solve problems involving the production or use of chemicals and other products. They may work in healthcare, business, or biotechnology. Their expertise is needed in scores of industries from paper and food to clothing and energy.
• Civil engineers – This is the oldest of engineering disciplines. Easily the most in-demand type of engineer, civil engineers design and oversee the building of tunnels, bridges, roads, buildings, water supply and sewage systems, and airports. Construction costs, government regulations, and environmental hazards are a major consideration for these individuals.
• Computer hardware engineers – Specializing in the development of computer hardware and software, these individuals are usually involved in design, testing, and manufacturing of every component used in today’s computers.
• Electrical engineers – At the center of the development and manufacture of electrical equipment, these engineers may work with motors, lighting and wiring, or communications systems. They are also involved in the design of electrical systems for aircraft and automobiles.
• Electronics engineers (except computer) – Every electronic gadget you see at the store was designed, developed, and tested by an electronics engineer. They specialize in areas such as signal processing, communications, control systems, and aviation electronics.
• Environmental engineers – These individuals are at the forefront of environmental disasters and “green” strategies to make companies more eco-friendly. They apply the principles of biology and chemistry to overcome environmental problems such as water and air pollution, energy over-consumption, waste disposal, and public health issues.
• Health and safety engineers – These engineers use their knowledge of systems engineering, chemistry, and human performance to keep people and property safe. They are often in charge of identifying potential hazards, recommending appropriate measures, and developing procedures to reduce the further risk.
• Industrial engineers – These individuals are tasked with finding the most effective ways to use their resources to create products and services. Using systems analysis, financial planning, and cost analysis, they optimize production processes to create the maximize number of products made per dollar, while maintaining standards of safety, quality, and professionalism.
• Marine engineers – Involved in the design, construction, and maintenance of ships, boats, other seagoing vessels, and their related equipment, marine engineers can be charged with building anything from a sailboat to an aircraft carrier. Propulsion, hull stability, steering, and other ship systems are their key concern.
• Materials engineers – These engineers create the materials used to produce other products, working with metals, ceramics, plastics, semiconductors, and composites to create new materials that meet certain mechanical, electrical, and chemical requirements. They create and study materials at the atomic level, specializing usually in one kind of material.
• Mechanical engineers – Specializing in tools, engines, and other mechanical devices, these engineers cover a broad range of disciplines. They may work on power-producing machines (like generators, internal combustion engines, and turbines) and power-using tools (like refrigeration, machine tools, industrial production equipment, and manufacturing robots).
• Mining and geological engineers – Among the highest paid of all engineers, these individuals find, extract, and prepare coal, metals, and minerals for use by manufacturing industries and utilities. They may design mines, appraise new ore deposits, or development new mining equipment. It is common for one of these engineers to specialize in one type of ore.
• Nuclear engineers – These individuals develop the processes and technology that make nuclear power possible. From the monitoring of nuclear power plants to the handling and disposal of nuclear fuel, nuclear engineers are at the forefront of developing this plentiful and safe source of energy.
• Petroleum engineers – Among the highest paid of all engineers, these individuals are in charge of the extraction and refinement of petroleum resources. They design equipment and processes to achieve the maximum profitable recovery of oil and gas. Because only a small proportion of oil and gas in a reservoir flows out under natural forces, petroleum engineers develop and use various enhanced recovery methods.

Education of Engineers
Engineers typically start their careers by earning a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree. This usually takes 3 to 5 years to complete in the U.S. Requirements for the degree vary from country to country. Depending on the awarding institution, it may also be called a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Engineering Science, Bachelor of Science in Engineering, and Bachelor of Applied Science. It is also not uncommon for science, math, physics, and computer science majors to go into engineering careers.
In these degree programs, students are typically asked to focus in one of the above mentioned areas. Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus are to be expected, as are biology, chemistry, and physics Computer programming or computer applications coursework may also be required.

Engineering Licensing
By becoming licensed, engineers position themselves for maximum career advancement, as a professional engineer (PE) license indicates competency, professionalism, achievement, trustworthiness, and future potential. In addition, a PE license usually brings higher salary and more job opportunities. Companies often help their employees become licensed.
Consider these other benefits of licensure:

• Only licensed engineers may work as consultants or private practitioners.
• Only licensed engineers may put in order, present, sign and seal engineering plans and drawings to a public authority for approval.
• In some states, only licensed engineers may teach.
• Some higher level government engineering jobs can only be filled by licensed engineers.
• Only a licensed engineer may use the title “engineer” to the public.

Although the requirements for licensure vary by state, most include graduating from an accredited college or university, gaining 4 years of experience in the field of engineering, and passing the required written exams.
Once you graduate, you must begin the licensing process by gaining the Engineers in Training (EIT) certificate, the pre-license certificate. In some states, this certificate is known as the Engineer Intern (EI).
The EIT signifies that you have completed the engineering degree requirements and have passed the Fundamental of Engineering Exam (FE Exam). In order to gain an EIT certification, the degree requirements must be met as well as a successful score on the FE exam. After that, the candidate will have to pay a small fee (between $10 and $100) depending on the state to gain licensure.

Engineering's Salary Expectations

 With such a large range of possibilities for employment, engineers as a whole have excellent salaries. There is some variance in different categories of engineering as to salary expectations. Engineers have some of the highest starting salaries of any bachelors degree offered at colleges and universities. In 2009, the average starting salaries for engineers with a bachelor's degree in the United States varied between $52,000 for a civil engineer and $83,000 at the top for petroleum (chemical engineer). Other engineering fields have varying starting salaries between these two amounts according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Job Outlook for Engineering in United States

Again, due to the huge variety of jobs available in the field of engineering, there is great variance in the job prospects of this field. For the most part, the field of engineering is expected to have a good job growth over the next decade with new jobs being created and also a need to fill current positions are engineers age and retire. Some fields like biomedical engineering could see job growth over 20 percent and 18 percent for petroleum engineers according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. It is important for engineers in all fields to keep up on their certifications and degrees, so if layoffs occurp; they are prepared with the latest skills in their field to find a new job quickly.