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Engineers are just as likely to give presentations and coordinate meetings as they are to analyze data and design products. As for pocket protectors, they’ve gone the way of other old-fashioned gadgets like protractors and slide rules. A varied field Most engineers specialize in a single area. The top five engineering fields are electrical and electronic, mechanical, civil, industrial and aerospace. Average starting salaries for engineers range from about $38,000 to $50,000 a year. And engineering salaries increase quickly with experience. For example, in the metro Detroit area, engineers with more than four years of experience can earn $70,000 to $90,000 a year. OCC grad enjoys career in civil engineering After graduating from Oxford High School, Shannon attended Oakland Community College for two years before transferring on to Lawrence Technological University (LTU). She earned her bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from LTU in 1994. She also sat for, and passed, the two examinations — eight hours each — that allow her to use the title of Licensed Professional Engineer. The daughter of a building inspector, Shannon admits to always having had an interest in buildings and construction. And, she found she excelled in math and science in school. A career in engineering seemed a natural to her. As a civil engineer, Shannon focuses on designing a lot of the infrastructure we take for granted in our communities: roads, bridges, drains, water mains, wells and storm sewers. Among the largest and most interesting projects she’s worked on were two with her previous employer — a water quality study conducted with Detroit, which supplies well over 100 communities with water; and a project designing water, storm and sanitary sewers for the new terminal at Metro Airport. Currently her work focuses mainly on municipal engineering. "Today more and more cities and towns are contracting with engineering firms as consultants to work with them on projects to repave roads and sidewalks; install water and sewer mains; and design landscaping," Shannon explains. "This variety means you have to be well-prepared and well-rounded. You need to be a good engineer with strong technical skills. But you also need to understand how to run a business, and you need to have the people skills to work with clients, contractors and community residents," she says. |
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Shannon was fortunate that in her college coursework, she took several management classes as electives. Her firm also offers many opportunities for continuing education. And Shannon remains active with engineering professional societies to keep up with the latest trends and take advantage of additional educational opportunities. Her advice to would be engineers is to take lots of math and science courses and "get some field experience." Her own field experience began with an internship at an engineering firm in her junior year. It had a very positive outcome: a full-time job at graduation. A cultural change It was almost 30 years ago that folk singer Peggy Seeger wrote the song, "I’m Gonna Be an Engineer," about the difficulties facing women who break those old career stereotypes. But Shannon has had mainly positive experiences as a woman in a field still dominated by men. If you’d like to find out more about the engineering profession, here are a few useful Web sites:
For more information about pre-engineering transfer programs at Oakland Community College call 248-341-2346. |
"Engineers should be creative, inquisitive, analytical, and detail oriented. They should be able to work as part of a team and be able to communicate well." |