Just look around for a few seconds and you can tell that the things around you are the “brain children” of engineers. Almost everything is directly or indirectly an engineering product. Consequently, the number of engineering jobs has risen exponentially in the last 50 years.

At its worst in September 2009, the unemployment rate for engineers reached 6.4 percent, versus nearly 10 percent for all occupations. By the middle of last year, it had dropped to less than 2 percent. According to a report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, of the top 10 undergraduate majors with the highest median salaries, eight were in engineering. From electrical and computer engineering, to environmental and biomedical engineering, an engineering degree offers a wide range of career possibilities. But the majority of today’s college graduates will have more than one career during their work life, and engineering can provide a strong foundation for almost any one of them.

Experts project demand for engineers will only continue to climb over the coming decades, especially as the public and private sectors contend with the challenges of a surging global population and dwindling resources. Job prospects for engineers "are really good, especially for young ones," says Lawrence Jacobson, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers in Alexandria, Va. He and other industry watchers see demand across the board, especially in electrical, biomedical, aerospace, computer, automotive, environmental, mechanical, and petroleum engineering. For more information on careers in engineering, click here to access the On the Job website.

Choosing the “right” major in college is a very important decision – one that ultimately affects a student’s career. The College of Engineering at Georgia Tech offers an enriching environment for students to explore the real-world applications of an engineering degree. For more information, visit the College of Engineering website www.coe.gatech.edu.