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What to choose: business or electrical/computer engineering?

I am a 20-year-old female and my biggest regret in life is not applying to engineering school. What should I do to maximize the rest of my life?

  • [Note: for everyone who's just telling me to go to engineering school and/or self-study, please read the last 3 paragraphs] Firstly, let's make it clear that this is not a pity plea. I've got a pretty good career path in front of me. I could have made much poorer choices in life. This isn't about digging myself out of a ditch, but more about the concern that I may die having achieved 30% of what my life could have been. Business school is mostly fluff and I can't help but think that every hour I spent in marketing class listening to words about nothing could have been spent learning fluid dynamics or something useful. Even finance only exists within a functional social framework (gravity still applies on Mars, CAPM doesn't). I'm doing a math minor and taking a Java class right now just to keep my brain from atrophying in all my mandatory finance/econ classes, which are all just applied math and psychology anyway. I sit on airplanes and see engineers working inside Bombardier hangars or I read things like this (http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/hyperloop_alpha3.pdf) and feel that sheer "awesome, fuckyeaaaah" which no finance professor has ever been able to pull out of me. I think Elon Musk is 100x more admirable than any CEO of a bulge bracket investment bank. (Granted, Buffett's pretty cool but I don't know what his secret is so I will assume I won't be able to emulate his success). Yes, I recognize that an efficient and well-functioning financial system is critical to the economy, but the (1 + g) that we plug into our DCFs doesn't just come out of a textbook - that g comes from people who build things. I'm going to graduate in one year and I don't think I have the base of physics/chemistry/math classes required for a Master's program in engineering, and I sure as hell don't want to do undergrad again and be 4 years older than everyone around me. I could always self-teach for the knowledge, but unlike banking where nobody cares what you studied in undergrad as long as you can think worth a damn, I doubt any engineering company would hire me without a degree. Also, I feel an obligation to work for the next few years to repay my parents' investment in me, and to save enough money to cover tuition if I do choose to go back to school (I don't like the stress of borrowing against your own future). But I feel like the older I get, the farther I fall behind. You always see engineers or programmers breaking into finance or business, but never the other way around - and there must be a good reason for that. I normally live life with no regrets, but I can't help but feel like I missed out on a gold mine of knowledge and hard skills (as in I-can-tell-you-where-this-rocket-will-land-with-much-more-precision-than-anyone-can-ever-value-a-company) when I opted for business school instead. What should I do?

  • Answer:

    Do you want to engineer things? or do you want to do engineering? Let me explain the distinction: WHen you look at engineers, do you like it that they are building/designing things that are useful? Or do you like it that they are doing a lot of mental work?It is the end result that is attractive to you, or the process? If it's the process that you are attracted to, the unfortunately, you have to learn the fundamentals behind the process. If you have an aptitude for programming, you might be able to contribute to an open source application as a hobby. If you are more interested in the end result; if you dream about building things that are useful, there are many ways a smart person with a technical bent of mind can "Engineer" things. For example, you could join a software development company as a Product Manager. This allows you to be ain a position where you can define what the product will be, without actually getting into the nitty-gritty of building the product. You don;t hear about people from finance/business break into programming because for the most part, they don't need to. People from a business background who can "get" programmers, go straight to being in a position where they are able to influence the direction of the company/product. Being a programmer is really a shit job in the long run. You do everything, but you don't have real control. You are a grunt, even if you grow to become like a Development Manager/Architect. The real decisions are made by people with business acumen.

Jayesh Lalwani at Quora Visit the source

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When you make plans, you need to feel young.  It is difficult to feel young because you're always the oldest you've ever been.  But if you feel young, you will feel comfortable & patient enough to make a long-term plan and you will accomplish more than if you only think in the short-term.  You are ridiculously young now.  If you don't go back to engineering school, you may continue to have this regret.  You may even feel bitter toward your parents for being obstacles--being the reasons you weren't able to go back to engineering school.    & btw, what Buffett has done is very straight forward.  You're plenty smart enough to make a lot of money in finance if your heart is in it.  But you're absolutely right also that you'd add more value to society in something STEM.  I think that what you should do is tell this to your parents & then do your engineering degree.  You are so young now & you need to feel young when you make plans.  Quora is filled with "___ is not too late" threads.  "20 is not too late" seems comical.

Idan Solon

Apply to engineering school.  You're still young and probably won't have a better opp to do so later in life.  Good luck.

Dave Moffatt

Go study engineering.

Chel Pablo

I feel like somebody just poured my heart out.Everything, every single word, all your thoughts on finance and economics and science. I used to think I am some crazy regretter.The worst thing about my case is that in India, I am no more eligible to apply for any engineering college. It is allowed only for two consecutive years after 12th standard.I was this Physics maniac, who just couldn’t decide well. Too many factors played in and I ended up with Economics(Hons). I hate every single day of life.I thought I will rather go back and study Physics instead of engineering. But it is just not feasible. I do not have the guts to face first year all over again.The financial constraints which made me rethink my engineering decision then, are of course more in play if I decide to waste three more years and the truth is without Master’s there would be no point of Physics.I am 21, just graduated. I asked the same question when I was 20 last year on Quora, not so descriptive.Even I keep thinking of doing Engineering from somewhere else, some years later. Saving money and stuff..but sometimes I feel what if it all washes away. What if I am not able to this, how will spend my life not happy with what I am doing?If you find any answers worthwhile, do let me know.For the time being, I am preparing for my Master’s in Economics(!). ( No other option)

Aakriti Srivastava

Have you considered Industrial Engineering? It's a multi disciplinary field that appreciates business experience, if you find the right advisor then you might just be able to get into an IE grad program!

Jocelyn Dunn

What's your premise? Regret "Applying to engineering school" - Then apply to one. I mean that literally. Regret "Studying in Engineering school" - As referred to the content that is taught in an engineering school. Well, you can learn it right now..eh? Regret "Going to an Engineering school" - As in the experience etc. - Well, the hostel and other experiences are pretty much the same everywhere. There you go, problem solved.

Hector Monzalez

Question clearly states don't tell me to go to engineering school lol. Regardless of the answers above, being an engineer and coding are two different things. You mention java and html. Often times many engineering schools don't offer any coding classes for their students. To be a recognized programmer one can teach himself or herself the language. Having business knowledge can be potentially helpful if you wish to code for a big firm who are into algorithmic trading or hft (high frequency trading).

Anurag Mynam

The guys at Tesla are great engineers or lakhs become engineer in India every year. If you are in India then you have to prepare for at least one year to get in some good college after dropping out from current program. If you can do that then I suggest you to leave the course now only. Other options are to become a financial engineer or data scientist. Your current knowledge and degree will help in that course. you can get a masters degree in mathematical finance or related degree. You can get employment in an engineering firm after that. Even engineers take this route.Dont go by the cool quotient of the course. You are a bit too young to the see the practical outcome of a management degree. Even Hyperloop will require strategy, marketing, finance, operations professionals.

Ajay Kumar

If you really want to get an  engineering degree go and do it. I read everything you wrote and those are just excuses. There are lots of people who work and go to school and even have kids. They make it work because they want it. Don't expect to have a social life though. You can't have everything, you have to give up something. 4 years from now are you gonna regret you didn't do anything to get your dream?

Che Bolsk

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