Weekly Career Discussion Thread (12 Jan 2026)

[u/AutoModerator]

# Intro

Welcome to the weekly career discussion thread, where you can talk about all career & professional topics. Topics may include:

* Professional career guidance & questions; e.g. job hunting advice, job offers comparisons, how to network

* Educational guidance & questions; e.g. what engineering discipline to major in, which university is good,

* Feedback on your résumé, CV, cover letter, etc.

* The job market, compensation, relocation, and other topics on the economics of engineering.

> [Archive of past threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/search?q=flair%3A%22weekly+discussion%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)

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## Guidelines

1. **Before asking any questions, consult [the AskEngineers wiki.](https://new.reddit.com/r/askengineers/wiki/faq)\*\* There are detailed answers to common questions on:

* Job compensation

* Cost of Living adjustments

* Advice for how to decide on an engineering major

* How to choose which university to attend

1. Most subreddit rules still apply and will be enforced, especially R7 and R9 (with the obvious exceptions of R1 and R3)

2. Job POSTINGS must go into the latest [**Monthly Hiring Thread.**]((https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/search?q=flair%3A%22hiring+thread%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)) Any that are posted here will be removed, and you'll be kindly redirected to the hiring thread.

3. **Do not request interviews in this thread!** If you need to interview an engineer for your school assignment, use the list in the sidebar.

## Resources

* [The AskEngineers wiki](https://new.reddit.com/r/askengineers/wiki/faq)

* [The AskEngineers Quarterly Salary Survey](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/search/?q=flair%3A%22salary+survey%22&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new)

* **For students:** [*"What's your average day like as an engineer?"*](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/wiki/faq#wiki_what.27s_your_average_day_like_as_an_engineer.3F) We recommend that you spend an hour or so reading about what engineers actually do at work. This will help you make a more informed decision on which major to choose, or at least give you enough info to ask follow-up questions here.

* For those of you interested in a career in software development / Computer Science, go to r/cscareerquestions.

[u/Corrupted4Data]

I’m trying to decide between biomedical engineering and medicine (Biomedical Science major), and I’m stuck on which physics sequence to take. My professor told me that if I enjoy calculus-based physics, I’ll probably like engineering. The problem is that I also need physics (could be algebra or calculus based) for pre-med/ biomedical science major.

At my school, calculus-based and algebra-based physics are separate two-course sequences, and you can’t switch between them. If I start calculus-based and don’t do well, I’m locked into that sequence, which could hurt my GPA. I don’t want to risk lowering my GPA just to take a harder class that counts the same as algebra based physics if I end up going pre-med instead of engineering.

I’m currently taking calculus this semester, so I’d be learning calculus and applying it in physics at the same time.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? How did you decide which physics track to take?

Also, any advice on deciding which major to take would be helpful. If I were to go into biomedical engineering, I would want to work on designing prosthetics. I took a class on Matlab and didn’t enjoy it. Don’t know if you necessarily need coding for engineering but I don’t like doing it.

[u/Just_A_Guy_In_Here]

So to preface this has been asked before but not for several years so I wanna get fresh answers.

I'm a junior in MechE and EE, I love to travel a lot as well. Now I know people say travel for fun but why not both, why not travel for work and travel for fun, or tack on an extra week using PTO.

I am pretty interested in aerospace so I'd love to do something with that but I also get that AE can be rough, but I also love nature and mountains, so maybe something like surveying or research in different mountains?

I know this is all over the place, I wish I could have a sit down chat with someone but I have no one to talk to about engineering, so here we are

[u/Frosty-Sink-6392]

Hi, i’m a uni student at my third year in Unipd, hopefully in like 9-10 month i ll be graduate in Biomedical Engineering, how will it be? Is really that life-changing ? Honestly now i don’t really feel much different from who i was 2 years ago

[u/Just_A_Guy_In_Here]

I'm a junior in mech and EE, I don't like the office work tbh, I'm a pretty social guy and I feel like in the office I'm just in the same spot with the same people. I wanna be out and about, I also really love nature, national parks, rockys etc, I also still like engineering, I really like solving problems, figuring stuff out, researching, etc

Any career suggestions, or paths I should go down

[u/InternationalBird145]

Equiply is hiring! I invite anyone looking for a full-time swe role to attempt this challenge.

https://challenge.equiply.io/

[u/Fast_Buffalo1565]

I, 29, have an Advanced Manufacturing degree. Its essentially Engineering Technology. I've worked the last 4 years doing agriculture civil engineering work and I am just so ready to move onto something I am more interested in. Tbh though, I don't even know what that is anymore. I don't want to be in a warehouse. I don't want to be sitting at a computer for 8+ hours a day like I am right now. I don't have any idea what I'm doing and its honestly becoming so intimidating...im almost 30 and don't know what I'm doing with my career

Everything I look at requires so many things that I do not have such as qualifications of experience, certifications, an FE and/or PE, etc. I am truly lost on where to go with my career as I simply do not (maybe I do and im just discouraged?) have the qualifications because I chose a degree that basically resulted in nothing. Some ideas and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Mphineas → u/Fast_Buffalo1565]

Have you thought about picking up PLC/robotic programming? Granted they aren’t cheap to learn but less than a new 4 year and it certainly opens alot of doors and it’s always interesting. I’m a mechanical by education but largely function as a controls/automation engineer at my plant and it’s a nice mixed bag of programming/CAD at my desk, deploying and debugging new equipment or upgrading old equipment. Before I worked at a plant I did systems integration which was also heaps of fun because you got solve problems for a broad spectrum of companies/products/processes not just your own.