Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What is your career? SURVEY
- Thread starter Apple!Freak
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Video Editor / Compositor. I dont use mac at work right now, I use Quantel Editbox & Adobe Premiere. Use FCP @ home. Hoping to get FCP at work soon. 
Just a personal comment, I think the career in IT or Engineering differs quite a lot unless you are talking about computer engineering. There are quite a number of fields that engineers work in such as electricial engineering, chemical engineering, environmental so on. However, IT deals mostly in Information which is based mostly on computers, technology so on. Perhaps, we can be more specific on that engineering term and put it as computer engineering.
wrc fan said:
Yeah!?
I decided to put in a vote for what I get paid for the most. Since my freelance work has only earned me a few dollars here and there, I had to omit that
I have to say here that the poll is too limited, my job hits on 2 of the things listed and since our company is small there are more. One would be publishing, two would be marketing, one not listed is management, but above all else it is Sales. Sales is the most important part of any company.
As stated above, it would be nice to seperate the fields a little more, especially IT/Engineering as it has the most hits and I would be curious to see how many are IT and how many Engineering. Of course you could take this on forever as there are probably 5-8 major Engineering fields, and at least 30+ within ME alone!
That said, I put IT/Engineering....but its a strange mix for me personally.
Student 6 months a year, full-time Bio-medical Engineer for a global company 6 months a year. 5 year school/work program that I'm getting done in nearly 4 (go me). A pain to move all the time, but I love it.
That said, I put IT/Engineering....but its a strange mix for me personally.
Student 6 months a year, full-time Bio-medical Engineer for a global company 6 months a year. 5 year school/work program that I'm getting done in nearly 4 (go me
). A pain to move all the time, but I love it.
angelneo said:
a couple of years ago i wanted to expand my computer repair business and go for a computer science degree but i found the classes to be more related to software and programming...but then i discovered a computer engineering program (corrrespondence master's degree, uc santa cruz) and it related somewhat more to my job but still not a perfect match
the working computer engineers i know in the field actually have degrees in electrical or electronic engineering and the westtech job fair seems to want those more traditional, and vigorous, engineers to design computers and peripherals
the computer engineering program has some hardware engineering, some programming, and at best is a mixture of a few disciplines without getting caught up in the vicious upper math, physics, and chemistry classes that fill out the schedule of the traditional engineers
many years ago when i was first in college, there was a niche degree for computer engineers at my school called engineering technology and it avoided the hard math and sciences to focus more on the practical day to day work of a technician and many a graduate ended up in silicon valley
today, one does not have to know as much about the inner workings to be a computer technician with a bs degree but a certificate (mcp, cna, ccna, mcsa, mcse) or associate's degree usually fulfils many of the IT industry's requirements for technicians and systems engineers
on the poll, it would be too crazy to cut up the IT/engineering field into sub categories because then you would have to do that to everything else and in no time, you can have two hundered poll choices...artist-fine, artist-commercial, artist-musician/composer, artist-performance, artistic director....medical-dentist, medical doctor, medical nurse, etc etc
angelneo said:
Computer Engineering is really a part of Electrical Engineering. It's a field of embedded systems, chip design, network design, machine intelligence, etc. IT really has nothing to do with it. So overall, it's really Electrical Engineering with a slant toward computers. Engineers design and build. When I think IT I always think business.
efoto said:
my friend who has his phd in computer science from stanford and his ms in computer engineering from mit (and teaches software engineering) has told me that those two schools still do not officially accept software engineering as a degree in engineering
but he considers himself a real engineer, he he, because he got his bs in electrical engineering and did da math, baby
Im currently a Technology Project Manager with the largest Service Provider in these parts. I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Electronic Systems Engineering with a Minor in Computer Science. I have my ITIL, CCNA, PMP and P.Eng. Certifications.
Outside of work though, I do pretty much the opposite of IT/Engineering work. For instance, I perform with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, (played in an orchestra for 7 years when I was 12-19 years old, good to get back into it!) I also used to compose music (not anymore) - music is still one of my passions. Also, I enjoy writing (currently finishing a screenplay), and I also belong to an agency and do modeling and acting when I have the time. Also, I am big into health and fitness, so I go to the gym frequently and keep active. I also am an avid world traveler, and love backpacking all over the world its the only way to travel! For me, traveling has really opened my eyes on the rest of the world and helped me become a better person just experiencing the people, the culture, the history, the adventure I couldnt imagine never going anywhere in my life, theres so much to experience out there!
For me, life is about balance, so to offset the logical/analytical side of my mind which I use all day at work, I like to engage the other half of my brain in creative endeavors on the other side of the spectrum, so to speak. So, in general, I try and have a variety of things going on in my life thats what its all about, after all, and what keep things interesting you have to enjoy life and make the most of it. As I like to say, the path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom.
Outside of work though, I do pretty much the opposite of IT/Engineering work. For instance, I perform with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, (played in an orchestra for 7 years when I was 12-19 years old, good to get back into it!) I also used to compose music (not anymore
) - music is still one of my passions. Also, I enjoy writing (currently finishing a screenplay), and I also belong to an agency and do modeling and acting when I have the time. Also, I am big into health and fitness, so I go to the gym frequently and keep active. I also am an avid world traveler, and love backpacking all over the world its the only way to travel! For me, traveling has really opened my eyes on the rest of the world and helped me become a better person just experiencing the people, the culture, the history, the adventure I couldnt imagine never going anywhere in my life, theres so much to experience out there!For me, life is about balance, so to offset the logical/analytical side of my mind which I use all day at work, I like to engage the other half of my brain in creative endeavors on the other side of the spectrum, so to speak. So, in general, I try and have a variety of things going on in my life thats what its all about, after all, and what keep things interesting you have to enjoy life and make the most of it. As I like to say, the path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom.
jefhatfield said:
But there are already some things that seem to be seperated into finer groups than IT/Engineer. It doesn't really matter, but seeing as IT/Eng has the most responses I think it would be interesting to see how many of them fall into which more-closely-specified field.
jefhatfield said:
I can attest to the 'da math' as you put it, its a real pain the ars, especially having worked in industry and seeing that 94% of the people have either forgotten everything I am currently learning, or if they do remember they don't use it. Great, I'm so glad I'm bending over and paying thousands for something I will likely forget and never use. Engineering is the best
~Shard~ said:
So how does one go about joining an 'agency', and is it only for the naturally beautiful or do they count the potentially Photoshop-beautiful in their searches? I, sadly, watched an episode or two of 'Americas Next Top Model' of which not all the potentials were hotties to begin with.
There is still hope for me, I just know it. This body was meant to be shown off
efoto said:I can attest to the 'da math' as you put it, its a real pain the ars, especially having worked in industry and seeing that 94% of the people have either forgotten everything I am currently learning, or if they do remember they don't use it. Great, I'm so glad I'm bending over and paying thousands for something I will likely forget and never use. Engineering is the best
i guess the ee and el's like to claim their superiority to engineering tech majors and computer engineering majors because they went through the traditional theory part and the others didn't (as much)
but what i found interesting during the height of the dot.com was that the so called "lower" technicians with just a high school diploma or associate's degree with micrsosoft or cisco certifications made more than the traditional engineers with bs degrees (visual basic magazine, annual industry salary suveys)
when it comes down to it, the person with the skills that match for profit businesses (not government or non profit), are the ones who make the bulk of the money in this world, and are the ones who get paid the best...a large crane operator with a high school diploma or a cocktail waitress is likely to make a lot more than a marine biologist with a master's degree
evil, evil capitalism
Nonprofit management (I have an MPA from NYU) - currently I'm building a pottery portfolio to apply for an MFA in ceramics.
Basically, I'll never make any money.
Basically, I'll never make any money.
jefhatfield said:
I guess claim as you want, its all just funny to me. I am sure there are people who take more math (math majors to name one) but at my school we are only two courses away from minoring in Mathematics without even wanting to
We have to take Calc I-III, Diff Eq, Numerical Methods and Matrices, Probability Statistics, and one elective. If I were okay with staying another half year, I would throw on two more math classes and have my minor.jethatfield said:but what i found interesting during the height of the dot.com was that the so called "lower" technicians with just a high school diploma or associate's degree with micrsosoft or cisco certifications made more than the traditional engineers with bs degrees (visual basic magazine, annual industry salary suveys)
when it comes down to it, the person with the skills that match for profit businesses (not government or non profit), are the ones who make the bulk of the money in this world, and are the ones who get paid the best...a large crane operator with a high school diploma or a cocktail waitress is likely to make a lot more than a marine biologist with a master's degree
evil, evil capitalism
The real joy is once you start yourself in a given career path only to realize that the career field is over-flooded with semi-skilled to skilled workers who will ultimately be your competition come graduation. The job markets flows like the waves in the Bramuda Triangle (or was that the still spot
), so eventually every job that is 'full' now will be in demand again sometime.In computer engineering and programming, software stuff, etc (sorry, not to offend but I don't know the degrees/areas), it seems that certificates do mean more than actual degrees to some extent. My school's CE and CS programs are not accredited, however friends of mine said it doesn't even matter because the job market doesn't require accreditation in those fields.
And another thing, whats with being able to get a masters in an unrelated field to your undergrad? If it is complimentary or something, sure, but there are a ton of people who study one thing only to master in a completely unrelated field. I thought a masters was an advancement of one's learnings in their undergrad studies....
