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Originally Posted by XaulZan11
Could you provide a reference that shows Engineers have the most valuable degree? One disadvantage is engineering degrees is that you are trained for the job you are hired for, but your job may not be a job 20 years from now nor will you want to be doing the same job your entire life. I don't know the exact statistic but the average person changes careers like 5 times in their life. I'm a fan of liberal arts education that includes a strong math and science basis. I would rather learn how to think like an engineer, writer, psychologist, biologist than learn how to do a specific job that may not be around in 20 years.
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I have two degrees in mechanical engineering and I write software for a living. Granted, it's software that controls mechanical systems, but the point is that you don't have to be pigeon-holed.
Five years after graduating, very few engineers do exactly what they studied in college. Most companies find the value in an engineering degree to be more about the problem solving. Most engineers get hired into a job that is so specialized that what they learned in college is just the background material to what they're going to learn on the job about the product they'll be helping to design.
I've now been through enough turmoil through the recession to know that it's more about having a problem solving process and mindset than it is about the mechanics of solving fluid dynamics problems (or substitute whatever engineering class you want). JVN's paper about applying an engineering process to problem solving is really what people look for in engineers. An engineering degree teaches you (hopefully) to have the ability to solve complex problems. The actual problem that you'll be solving doesn't matter as much as most outsiders think.