Is mechanical engineering useless? (solved)
We hear a lot of people saying that mechanical engineering is useless. is that right?
what makes people think that mechanical engineering is useless?
why did some other major put down mechanical engineering?
In this article, we’re going to respond to all theses 3 questions justifying our response by statistics and critical numbers. So keep reading to know more about this subject.
Is mechanical engineering useless?
According to BLS, the Employment of mechanical engineers is projected to grow 7 percent from 2020 to 2030, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
The median salary that mechanical engineers have is $90,160 which is higher than the average household wage in the US by 40%. So mechanical engineering has a stable and comfortable financial situation in their career.
Today we have 300,000 mechanical engineering in the US, each year 21,000 job opportunity is offered each new year. So it is hard to say that mechanical engineering is useless.
Many people say that mechanical engineering is useless because they compare it to software engineering jobs.
But the good news is the median mechanical engineering salary has increased by 22% during these 5 years.
Mechanical engineering market position
if we make a comparison between software engineering and mechanical engineering we find that:
- the median salary for mechanical engineering is $90,000
- the median salary for software engineering is $100,000
So is useful to follow a major that you may not love for an additional $10,000 a year which is exactly $833 a month of a difference.
On another side, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of mechanical engineers is projected to grow by 9% in 2026. On the other hand, most students today are majoring in software fields.
So in many cases companies struggle to find or hire good mechanical engineers in the market, on average it takes 62 days to find or hire a good mechanical engineer.
The number proves that mechanical engineering job is claiming again and recuperating it real position due to the robotic implementation in many industries
Some people think that mechanical engineering is going to die which is impossible even if we live in the AI generation. Because still do not have the ability to replace human positions in the mechanical field.
So any product that is around you is designed by a mechanical engineer. Mechanical engineering is everywhere but we don’t give so much credit because today the trend is software engineering.
But in the next paragraph, we will dig deeper and discover what are the reasons that make people think mechanical engineering is useless?
Why do some people think that mechanical engineering is useless?
There are several reasons that make people think that mechanical engineering is useless but the frequent ones are:
- AI movies
- Unemployment
- studying useless subjects in a college
- they compare to other majors
- getting a degree is useless
- working in dirty environments
AI movies
A lot of students have watched Hollywood and AI movies talking about how artificial intelligence is threatening humans’ jobs. Also how AI will replace humans in many fields including mechanical engineering.
But most of them don’t know or forget that the mechanical engineering field requires to have a practical tests and research. So humans need to run mechanical engineering tests to feed machine learning of data that need to operate.
So still far from this thinking, today mechanical engineers use AI as a tool to help facilitate some operational tasks not to replace humans in jobs.
Unemployment
Many students or people think that mechanical engineering is not a demanded job which is wrong.
In America, the employment rate is 6.1% overall, while for mechanical engineers, the number doesn’t exceed 3%. Mechanical engineering is a field that still has an interesting demand in the US market.
This could be different in other worlds countries, but Americans should not worry about this subject in the future.
studying some useless subject in a college
Some students get mad at studying some subjects that don’t have any relation to mechanical engineering such as:
- history
- fitness and help
- sociology
while some others think that electronics and economics should not be included in this field. While there are other sides they should focus on instead, like going deeper in mathematics and other science fields.
Compare to other jobs
Most people today are fascinated by how software engineering jobs are exploding and doing well. As a result, make them think other engineering jobs are useless compared to what software engineering is offering today.
This is true because with only 2 years of experience you can earn more than $100 000 as a software engineer. This option is not findable in mechanical engineering or any other engineering.
This field is exploding, software engineering jobs are growing by 22% which 3 times bigger than mechanical engineering.
So most students prefer to go and choose computer science or IT to have more earning possibilities. As a result, making them think that mechanical engineering is useless.
you can read this article: 10 reasons why software engineers are overpaid
getting a degree is useless
The other thing which is a killer point, is people think twice before deciding to have $100 000 of debt for an engineering degree like mechanical engineering.
It’s hard to see your colleagues spending just 6 months and getting directly hired afterward. In addition, they spend only a tithe of what you should spend in a college.
The average tuition that software Bootcamp engineers spend is $13,000. But if he decided to go on the other side which is college he should spend $100,000 and 4 years of his life.
Many people consider that like a scam, where people spend years of their life repaying their college loans.
For instance, Barack Obama finishes his college loans after the age of 40 which is not good at all.
Work in dirty environments
While others may be sitting in a clean environment like an AC room, most times mechanical engineers have to go to workshops and work harder in the humid places with a spanner in one hand and a hammer in the other.
Many people don’t like the handwork and make their hands dirty. So for this reason they choose other majors that keep their clothes clean overall.
Don’t love their field
Many people consider mechanical engineering useless because they don’t love this profession.
The reason is they have made the wrong decision, many students pick the wrong decision and choose a career for money. Because when students study in a college they always hear that engineers are making a lot of money and have a comfortable job than other specialties.
Parents contribute to this issue a lot, by pressuring their kids to choose a career just for money but forget about the happiness of their kids. As a result, we find people making $100,000 a year but feel miserable every day going to work.
Why do Electrical engineers say a Mechanical Engineering degree is useless?
There are 5 frequent thought or visions that makes electrical engineering think that mechanical engineering is useless.
1 – they think mechanical engineering is easy
Some electrical engineers think that mechanical engineering is a job that everyone can do, it is easy and clear. But this is completely wrong. Because mechanical engineering is not:
- designing only pieces
- putting a hole models
- pr gathering bricks
The logic that most of these kinds of electrical engineers think, is mechanical is seeable and touchable. While the electrical domain requires or needs to follow mysterious electric problems that don’t make sound or smell.
Mechanical engineering is a job that studies a lot of physics and aspects of materials. But most electrical engineers don’t know that this is not the problem.
But the problem is to judge mechanical engineering as a useless branch without knowing anything about it.
2 – Oversubscribed
Many students or people think that mechanical engineers’ jobs are oversubscribed which is wrong.
Mechanical engineering is expected to grow by 9% during the next 10 years.
Today companies are struggling to find qualified mechanical engineering occupations. In addition, mechanical engineering is a field that is very required in robotics, the future industry.
In addition, mechanical engineers have the ability to integrate easily or work in other industries because they have already built the resistance in a college.
3 – Everything’s connected” in electrical
They think that any machine requires electricity to run by, so they see mechanical components as useless without electricity this is a video of how some electrical engineering think about mechanical engineering.
4 – It requires physical power
Electrical engineers are putting dowing mechanical engineers because they get dirty and put a lot of physical effort. While electricals use only diagrams and wires to find solutions.
Someone looks at them like people where is hard to differentiate them from technicals. Because they spend a lot of time handling dirty things in workshops.
5 – Ignorance
Electrical engineers think that mechanical engineers spend their time connecting linkages and making drawings but they don’t know what is:
- respect for tolerance
- six sigma
- martial properties
- stress analysis
- CFD
- EFM
- manufacturing methods
- thermodynamics
theses kinds of electrical engineers look at the superficially and don’t know what is inside. But the question that could respond to tall these issues is.
What would companies pay $90,000 for mechanical engineers who do nothing than drawing in CAD?
you could read this article: CAD has completely replaced hand sketching? (solved)
Conclusion
Mechanical engineering is a domain like any other engineering domain, the question is each generation lives a trend and the trend of today is computer science and IT domain.
But who knows what is going to happen tomorrow, majority of people valorize a major based only on money and ignore a lot of aspects.
But in general mechanical engineering is ranking in a respectable position, you could watch this video to see the highest and most down engineering field in the US.
