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Useful is important, but not the only criteria when considering a degree. I thoroughly enjoyed and still love the field that my first degree is in, but there never were many jobs and most didn't pay well. So, I returned to college for a degree in another field with lots of opportunities where my first degree was a good foundation. The two related degrees increased employers' interest in me.
My point is don't get a degree just because it will guarantee you a job - even though that's important. Working a job that's boring but reliable is no way to live. Aim for interesting with opportunities.
What is the demand for FPEs? Does each company have dozens of them? Or, Does one company (which may employ 5000 "regular" engineers), need only one FPE? Meaning, How many FPEs does a company need? Like a company nurse, how many nurses does a company need? Is it such a specialized job that it is so competitive that there are only six openings a year in the US?
One thing that I know about is the conversion of about half of the US fleet of nuclear plants from "Appendix R" type fire protection to "NFPA 805" performance based fire protection plans. Cliffs Notes version of this: after the Brown's Ferry fire, NRC issued Appendix R, plants had to demonstrate how they met the requirements, which while based on common sense and best practices at the time, were a bit arbitrary - for example 2 independent wiring trains had to be, I think, 20 feet apart all the way from the control room to the controlled devices. What if you had them 18 feet apart but put some sort of barrier between them, or very strictly controlled combustibles, or what if your plant had 4 of a particular device that most plants only had 3 of, and the 4th one was well-separated so no reasonably possible fire could damage all 4? The point of "performance based" FP regulations is to simply demand that the power plant operators demonstrate an adequate risk mitigation strategy, rather than requiring specific means of managing risk. So if you can demonstrate (via a Probabalistic Risk Assessment) that 18 feet and control of combustibles manages the risk to meet the spec, bada bing bada boom you can do it that way. So the plants can find the most cost-effective way to manage the risk, and/or can get out of various binds they have gotten into where they thought they met Appendix R but later inspections showed they didn't.
Anyway, the demand has been so great that even guys with no particular FPE background or credentials have been working on this (after specific training and under the supervision of the very few FPE's that could be found). I'm not certain why the supply of FPEs got so tight, but I can explain at least one thing causing the demand to go up.
As you know certain engineering diciplines go in and out of favor. Aerospace was all the rage in the early and mid 60's with the space race, but this market crashed after Apollo was done. Kids entering college or at least at the point of having to declare a major have to take their best guess as to what "flavor" of engineer will be in demand 2 years down the road.
Likewise Nuclear had a heyday in the 60's and into the 70's but was moribund for a long time, it's just now getting back into demand. In fact many of the existing nuclear talent is within a few years of or even already eligible for early (55) retirement, some of the "guru" guys I know are up into their 70's, fortunately still as brilliant as they were back in the 50's when they started their careers, but they won't be around forever.
That gets me back to what I posted before - classical "Mainstream" engineering degrees like Mechanical, Electrical, or straight-up science degrees like Physics, Chemistry, Biology are very seldom the #1 demanded degree but they are never out of the hunt either.
I know this has been mentioned before in the past, but what is the best way to become a Construction or Concrete Materials Inspector/Tester?
Is there a demand for those types of jobs?
Do you need a civil engineering degree to get those types of jobs?
A degree in Civil Engineering Technology will do. An Engineering Technology degree is more hands on and practical. Not a lot of emphasis is placed on theory. However, with a traditional engineering degree you can go the technician route or engineer route.
Best way is to get a civil engineering degree or the civil engineering technology degree. Get an internship with a company that does general contracting/construction and/or material testing. Experience is key. If you like being outdoors or being dirty then being an inspector/field technician is good for you.
Engineering is pretty weak these days, but somehow everyone expects it will come back. Construction is as dead as it gets, but you would think eventually they will have to start building again. LEED is useful for government buildings, and the government is about the only one building.
Thank you for clearing that up. I thought any engineering graduate was automatically an EIT not knowing there was a test for that too. Goes to show you learn something new every day.
The US is losing it's lead in non-software related engineering because so few US students entered the field nearly abandoning it to foreign students. With high a high IQ and talent why work hard for 5 to 10 years after college to settle for a measly $120k job when an MBA and job on Wall Street can make you a multi-millionaire before 30?
Seems we have become a nation that knows the cost of everything but values nothing. It is all about making the quick buck it seems. When did we decide the only measurement of success was money?
Around the time when parents, peers, society, and culture teaches us how to be greedy and to have it all. The pressure is on children to get the highest paid job possible - but sometimes those huge multimillion dollar jobs wont last forever... hell, Steve Jobs got fired from his own company... what does that tell you?
I agree with the poster about Mortuary Science-my own daughter had been accepted into a college for it-she went to nursing instead. Let's face it, Baby Boomers are aging and they are a LARGE group-no one gets out of this life for free and someone has to take care of people at the end of their lives. It's a job you'd always be assured of work. It's hard, it's solitary at times and you have to be able to deal with the deceased family members emotions as well as trauma victims-not for the faint at heart. I've a number of friends that are funeral directors and they do quite well.
Engineering is pretty weak these days, but somehow everyone expects it will come back.
No.
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