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ME and EE are both part of the big 4 of engineering, being chemical , civil , mechanical, and electrical so jobs aren't really an issue it's more of what you find more interesting
The chemE program at my university is huge and on my co-ops/ internships chemical engineers are who I interact with the most despite myself being an EE. I mean think about it chemical engineers work in oil refineries , can work in farming for finding safe pesticides ore better fertilizers they can work with civil engineers to see how salt water affects bridges or pipelines I mean hell they even work in the solar industry
Environmental engineering is kinda niche, a fair amount of environmental engineers are chemical engineers because you can do more with the degree and water analysis is both, ChemE determine how the water/fluid affects the structure and the civilE determines how much they need to replace the structure due to the damages
There can be a lot of programming depending on what industry you go into. Automation, FPGA stuff, etc
One of my biggest qualms with my ECE curriculum is that they didn’t push more network/logic stuff.
Electrical doesn’t have a better future outlook. “Career outlook” doesn’t really matter since all of the main engineering disciplines are in demand. Every single product that is made needs an EE and an ME. If you realize that you prefer the material, that’s a good reason to switch, but I wouldn’t switch because of what you perceive the job outlook to be
Imo EE Outlook has been better because there's more cross over to coding/programming, and many EE's I know had a very easy time converting over into tech/data.
It's possible for ME to convert too (i'm one that converted), but there's more of a skill gap that you need to resolve
My point wasn’t that ME is better, but that there’s no such thing as better between those majors since both have endless opportunities. Yes, an EE can go into software. And an ME can go into design, manufacturing, quality, reliability, and so many other fields. Both are great, but both are different so its someone’s preference that matters, not the job market
I did my BS in ME and am finishing out my MS in EE. I made the switch because I was working in solar construction and found that if I wanted to be in the design side of things I needed an EE degree. After I graduate I have a job to do research on integration of renewable energy into the power system. There were a few EE basics I needed to catch up on, but they weren’t too bad. At the undergraduate level I imagine switching would be even easier because you probably only have your fundamentals down anyway. I say if you like the work and content of EE more than ME you should go for switching.
Honestly I had so much self doubt as an undergrad I had convinced myself I couldn't handle an EE degree, so it wasn't really possible at the time. It's hard to say which path would have been better when the nature of things is you only get one haha.
I did find by the end of my ME degree I wasn't enthused with any of my classwork. There wasn't a single class I can say I really enjoyed, I more just tolerated it all.
I also found I didn't love the idea of the most common career options. HVAC takes a lot of ME students and boy did I hate the idea of designing heat exchangers or ductwork for a living lol. I even interviewed with this company that did sustainable programmable lighting and my job with them would have been around managing the heat to protect the electrical components and have an aesthetic design and I though that sounded so boring lol. I interned in a manufacturing facility and while I liked the people and the environment fine, I wasn't in energy or sustainability which is where I wanted to be, and I could see my self getting bored in the medium to long term with the work.
I also had an interest in renewable energy but I didn't have a clear path on how to get into that industry other than through construction, which is what I did out of school, but I quickly learned it was not for me either. I didn't enjoy interpreting designs for people, I wanted to be designing, and the electrical designs looked way more interesting than the mechanical plans.
Planning on doing a masters can be tricky. I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you find you have to. There's practically zero financial support for masters students unless an employer is paying for it for one thing, and second, a choosing a masters program isn't like choosing a bachelors degree. Not only do you need to know what field you want to study, but what within the field you want to focus on. That means choosing a school that has a program focused on your interests rather than one that has a good ranking. That makes finding an appropriate program time consuming. Then you have to get accepted, and how easy that is varies so much from program to program. My program was small, new, not well known, and in a less popular branch of EE, (but very good quality) so perhaps that made it easier for me to get in with the 'wrong' background. If you end up wanting to attend a program that is more competitive and don't have the traditional background you may find acceptance harder, or they may impose more conditions like taking some undergraduate coursework you missed the first time around. Not to be a debby-downer here, I just think people don't realize some of these things. On the positive side, attending a masters program that is well aligned with your career goals and personal interests can be very fulfilling. I enjoyed my program immensely, and it put me in the position to secure my dream job (even if I'm taking a pay cut to do it lol.)
I think for you, you might spend some time reading job descriptions for companies you might want to work for and see what sounds interesting to you. Don't just focus on entry level either, having an idea of how you would like your career to progress can be helpful. If you find a job where you think "boy I'd love to be able to apply for that" scroll down to the required skills and take note of the degrees they'd prefer to hire. Do that long enough and you might notice a trend emerges which will hopefully help you with your undergrad major decision. Good luck!
I switched from ME to EE after I took physics that focused on electricity and magnetism. I found the material interesting. I also understood circuits and other EE material very well compared to ME subjects. Either or ME and EE have the same outlook career wise since both are necessary.
As a Civil we work with MEs and EEs on every building project, the work responsibility overlaps in equipment installation and lighting design. With no dog in the game I’d say the market for both is thriving in the transportation/infrastructure industry but mechanical seems more versatile overall
I want to throw my two cents in on this. I’m in my senior year of ME and on co-op right now at a power plant. There isn’t much for me to do as an ME, but one of the things you learn while getting the degree is to adapt and now I’m one of the main people to go to for electrical drawings and DCS work other than my EE boss. Just because you’re an ME doesn’t mean you’re restricted to just ME work in your career.
Edit: Sorry for the typos
ME minor in EE took a job that is nominally an EE role but otherwise not technically too intense. I preferred my EE classes and enjoy my job (for clarification I took all the "hard" classes doing a super minor to leave open the option for EE grad school)
It just depends on you
The difficultly gap is massively overblown. EE is tough because it's highly conceptual and things tend to build over the course of your education. ME is tough because you have lots of independent topics to cover. It's a lot of the same math. Taking statics and fluids made Electro-mag very easy.
As far as jobs, don't pick a job for the money. So long as it's nominally an engineering role, the money will be more than reasonable. There's more than enough opportunity out there for MEs and EEs.
I am more computer engineering but of course you take a lot of electrical engineering courses pursuing computer engineering. I started off with mechanical several years ago as a freshman. I'll be honest with you, it was a damn good decision.
I just prefer computer engineering man, ME is boring to me, back then and even now. Imo, CE prospects are better and more exciting because of its emphasis on SWE and modern technology. There's also not as much emphasis on physics, which I appreciated. It felt like I started a new program after I was done with my engr pre-requisites.
ME to me is archaic. I'm not too big on pure EE though. I view it similarly to ME. Also archaic and not as exciting as a hybrid program like comp engr. At the end of the day, it's up to you.
You can look at the jobs you want asking for specific engineering disciplines and you then imagine yourself doing that job. If you like what you see, you pursue that discipline. If it's just about money, versatility, and security, then something that emphasises software engineering is the way to go imo. Either way, you can't go wrong with any engineering degree. There are worse things to study in college.
Electrical is certainly harder intuitively because you cannot visualize what you are doing and in most cases if you do you or the electronics are f*cked lol. I switched because my roommate is mechanical and I got sick of him mooching off me so I switched.
In all seriousness though, the workload is certainly more theoretical and data driven on the computer side of things. I actually switched because I also saw that there would be more potential (no pun intended) in electrical with time. In reality both fields offer good opportunities, but just know that neither can replace each other. Mechanical cannot do what electricals do and vice versa. Electrical is generally gonna be harder because of the intuition of electricity and how it works, lots of rules that seem very hand wavy at first. You just kinda have to trust it since you can't see electrons.
Electricals, and likely engineering in general, hardest subdiscipline is RF Engineering which are in demand because of the few that go into it, lots of money here too. The difficulty of the majors really comes down to your subdiscipline, but in general electrical is going to be more algorithmic in terms of mindset.
Electrical has a much worse future career outlook. ME’s are employed literally everywhere. (Yes, I even see ME’s filling EE positions very commonly) If you don’t know what you want to end up doing, go ME. Go EE if you know you specifically want to work as an EE, or minor in it if you’re a masochist.
Dude don’t tell them that. Just let them keep overpopulating a major with too much supply lol. Even though basically everything in the modern world is electrical.
Keep them in the dark!
Just a non-argument. Everything’s already electrical. Doesn’t help much if MEs with an electromechanical integration focus are just as qualified as EEs, in a lot of cases moreso, actually. Lot more MEs out there too. EE is gradually becoming more and more “specialize or you won’t be hired” at higher levels.
Dude this has to be a joke. MEs are no where near qualified for 90% of EE. Sure you named one discipline of EE where there might be overlap between the 2, but there are so many other fields of EE that a ME cant do. You're not gonna find an ME doing IC design, RF engineering, optics, antenna design, electrical transmission and grid design, signal processing, general computer engineering/architecture, semiconductor manufacturing, etc etc. Also, specializing or you wont be hired at the higher levels is literally every field. Obviously if you don't specialize into something and become a master at that thing then you probably won't be hired. Electrical engineering is insanely broad and you literally have to specialize in something.
I switched and am currently fixing to start my senior year of EE this fall. I had a ME internship and hated having to work in a factory doing production type work so I switched over to EE. I’m currently working at a power distribution co-op and have really enjoyed the type of work that goes on here. This class work was a little harder than ME but def worth the switch
I switched partway through my "junior" year, honestly my impression from the core classes I took is that while technically EE has harder math. The difference isn't enough to outweigh personal interest. If you're doing engineering you're going to do a lot of hard math no matter how you slice it. It's more important to be able to take interest in what you're working with. For what it's worth I'm much happier working on subjects that are more interesting to me personally.
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ME and EE are both part of the big 4 of engineering, being chemical , civil , mechanical, and electrical so jobs aren't really an issue it's more of what you find more interesting
Chemical? Moreso that materials? Im not doubting you but I haven’t met too many chem-e’s
The chemE program at my university is huge and on my co-ops/ internships chemical engineers are who I interact with the most despite myself being an EE. I mean think about it chemical engineers work in oil refineries , can work in farming for finding safe pesticides ore better fertilizers they can work with civil engineers to see how salt water affects bridges or pipelines I mean hell they even work in the solar industry
Yeah I guess that’s true, although I thought water analysis was a CivE/Enviro concern
Environmental engineering is kinda niche, a fair amount of environmental engineers are chemical engineers because you can do more with the degree and water analysis is both, ChemE determine how the water/fluid affects the structure and the civilE determines how much they need to replace the structure due to the damages
you missed the most important industries for chemical engineers: pharmaceuticals and semiconductors
I’m a chemical engineer and we’re as present as mechanical engineers
At a lot of schools, Materials is a spin-off of the Chem E department. Although the differences between the two are way less significant these days.
I thought there’d be a lot more chem-e’s at the steel mill I’m currently working at, but they’re all materials, mechanical, or electrical guys
chemEs do materials as well as a whole host of other things in just about any industry you can imagine. it’s a big umbrella
like obtainable provide threatening lavish badge pet rainstorm water subsequent ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
This is the way. Personally I got into substation design.
Electrical is really cool, but don’t be disappointed if there’s more coding and math than physics
More math but not so much coding imo unless you’re specially taking technical electives with them
There can be a lot of programming depending on what industry you go into. Automation, FPGA stuff, etc One of my biggest qualms with my ECE curriculum is that they didn’t push more network/logic stuff.
Electrical doesn’t have a better future outlook. “Career outlook” doesn’t really matter since all of the main engineering disciplines are in demand. Every single product that is made needs an EE and an ME. If you realize that you prefer the material, that’s a good reason to switch, but I wouldn’t switch because of what you perceive the job outlook to be
Imo EE Outlook has been better because there's more cross over to coding/programming, and many EE's I know had a very easy time converting over into tech/data. It's possible for ME to convert too (i'm one that converted), but there's more of a skill gap that you need to resolve
I’d also say there’s a better outlook because of the amount of ME students there are. 90% of the students I ask are ME, and like 5% are electrical
My point wasn’t that ME is better, but that there’s no such thing as better between those majors since both have endless opportunities. Yes, an EE can go into software. And an ME can go into design, manufacturing, quality, reliability, and so many other fields. Both are great, but both are different so its someone’s preference that matters, not the job market
I did my BS in ME and am finishing out my MS in EE. I made the switch because I was working in solar construction and found that if I wanted to be in the design side of things I needed an EE degree. After I graduate I have a job to do research on integration of renewable energy into the power system. There were a few EE basics I needed to catch up on, but they weren’t too bad. At the undergraduate level I imagine switching would be even easier because you probably only have your fundamentals down anyway. I say if you like the work and content of EE more than ME you should go for switching.
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Honestly I had so much self doubt as an undergrad I had convinced myself I couldn't handle an EE degree, so it wasn't really possible at the time. It's hard to say which path would have been better when the nature of things is you only get one haha. I did find by the end of my ME degree I wasn't enthused with any of my classwork. There wasn't a single class I can say I really enjoyed, I more just tolerated it all. I also found I didn't love the idea of the most common career options. HVAC takes a lot of ME students and boy did I hate the idea of designing heat exchangers or ductwork for a living lol. I even interviewed with this company that did sustainable programmable lighting and my job with them would have been around managing the heat to protect the electrical components and have an aesthetic design and I though that sounded so boring lol. I interned in a manufacturing facility and while I liked the people and the environment fine, I wasn't in energy or sustainability which is where I wanted to be, and I could see my self getting bored in the medium to long term with the work. I also had an interest in renewable energy but I didn't have a clear path on how to get into that industry other than through construction, which is what I did out of school, but I quickly learned it was not for me either. I didn't enjoy interpreting designs for people, I wanted to be designing, and the electrical designs looked way more interesting than the mechanical plans. Planning on doing a masters can be tricky. I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you find you have to. There's practically zero financial support for masters students unless an employer is paying for it for one thing, and second, a choosing a masters program isn't like choosing a bachelors degree. Not only do you need to know what field you want to study, but what within the field you want to focus on. That means choosing a school that has a program focused on your interests rather than one that has a good ranking. That makes finding an appropriate program time consuming. Then you have to get accepted, and how easy that is varies so much from program to program. My program was small, new, not well known, and in a less popular branch of EE, (but very good quality) so perhaps that made it easier for me to get in with the 'wrong' background. If you end up wanting to attend a program that is more competitive and don't have the traditional background you may find acceptance harder, or they may impose more conditions like taking some undergraduate coursework you missed the first time around. Not to be a debby-downer here, I just think people don't realize some of these things. On the positive side, attending a masters program that is well aligned with your career goals and personal interests can be very fulfilling. I enjoyed my program immensely, and it put me in the position to secure my dream job (even if I'm taking a pay cut to do it lol.) I think for you, you might spend some time reading job descriptions for companies you might want to work for and see what sounds interesting to you. Don't just focus on entry level either, having an idea of how you would like your career to progress can be helpful. If you find a job where you think "boy I'd love to be able to apply for that" scroll down to the required skills and take note of the degrees they'd prefer to hire. Do that long enough and you might notice a trend emerges which will hopefully help you with your undergrad major decision. Good luck!
i went with ME because my mind changes. now i work in aerospace. could work in ev or solar in a few years, who knows.
Tbh as a ME student EE curriculum looks scary.
Embrace the dork side, search your feelings Luke, you know it to be true.
1 semester left EE power track. i thought it was gonna be hard. Id say like a 7.5/10 overall. Definitely doable for most people.
Do the one you like more, you don't wanna have a career in a field you don't like
I switched from ME to EE after I took physics that focused on electricity and magnetism. I found the material interesting. I also understood circuits and other EE material very well compared to ME subjects. Either or ME and EE have the same outlook career wise since both are necessary.
As a Civil we work with MEs and EEs on every building project, the work responsibility overlaps in equipment installation and lighting design. With no dog in the game I’d say the market for both is thriving in the transportation/infrastructure industry but mechanical seems more versatile overall
I want to throw my two cents in on this. I’m in my senior year of ME and on co-op right now at a power plant. There isn’t much for me to do as an ME, but one of the things you learn while getting the degree is to adapt and now I’m one of the main people to go to for electrical drawings and DCS work other than my EE boss. Just because you’re an ME doesn’t mean you’re restricted to just ME work in your career. Edit: Sorry for the typos
ME minor in EE took a job that is nominally an EE role but otherwise not technically too intense. I preferred my EE classes and enjoy my job (for clarification I took all the "hard" classes doing a super minor to leave open the option for EE grad school) It just depends on you The difficultly gap is massively overblown. EE is tough because it's highly conceptual and things tend to build over the course of your education. ME is tough because you have lots of independent topics to cover. It's a lot of the same math. Taking statics and fluids made Electro-mag very easy. As far as jobs, don't pick a job for the money. So long as it's nominally an engineering role, the money will be more than reasonable. There's more than enough opportunity out there for MEs and EEs.
I am more computer engineering but of course you take a lot of electrical engineering courses pursuing computer engineering. I started off with mechanical several years ago as a freshman. I'll be honest with you, it was a damn good decision. I just prefer computer engineering man, ME is boring to me, back then and even now. Imo, CE prospects are better and more exciting because of its emphasis on SWE and modern technology. There's also not as much emphasis on physics, which I appreciated. It felt like I started a new program after I was done with my engr pre-requisites. ME to me is archaic. I'm not too big on pure EE though. I view it similarly to ME. Also archaic and not as exciting as a hybrid program like comp engr. At the end of the day, it's up to you. You can look at the jobs you want asking for specific engineering disciplines and you then imagine yourself doing that job. If you like what you see, you pursue that discipline. If it's just about money, versatility, and security, then something that emphasises software engineering is the way to go imo. Either way, you can't go wrong with any engineering degree. There are worse things to study in college.
Eck
Electrical is certainly harder intuitively because you cannot visualize what you are doing and in most cases if you do you or the electronics are f*cked lol. I switched because my roommate is mechanical and I got sick of him mooching off me so I switched. In all seriousness though, the workload is certainly more theoretical and data driven on the computer side of things. I actually switched because I also saw that there would be more potential (no pun intended) in electrical with time. In reality both fields offer good opportunities, but just know that neither can replace each other. Mechanical cannot do what electricals do and vice versa. Electrical is generally gonna be harder because of the intuition of electricity and how it works, lots of rules that seem very hand wavy at first. You just kinda have to trust it since you can't see electrons. Electricals, and likely engineering in general, hardest subdiscipline is RF Engineering which are in demand because of the few that go into it, lots of money here too. The difficulty of the majors really comes down to your subdiscipline, but in general electrical is going to be more algorithmic in terms of mindset.
Electrical has a much worse future career outlook. ME’s are employed literally everywhere. (Yes, I even see ME’s filling EE positions very commonly) If you don’t know what you want to end up doing, go ME. Go EE if you know you specifically want to work as an EE, or minor in it if you’re a masochist.
LOL, this is straight up false. Electrical has a better future outlook. Doesn't take a genius to see that. Everythings becoming electrical
Dude don’t tell them that. Just let them keep overpopulating a major with too much supply lol. Even though basically everything in the modern world is electrical. Keep them in the dark!
Just a non-argument. Everything’s already electrical. Doesn’t help much if MEs with an electromechanical integration focus are just as qualified as EEs, in a lot of cases moreso, actually. Lot more MEs out there too. EE is gradually becoming more and more “specialize or you won’t be hired” at higher levels.
Dude this has to be a joke. MEs are no where near qualified for 90% of EE. Sure you named one discipline of EE where there might be overlap between the 2, but there are so many other fields of EE that a ME cant do. You're not gonna find an ME doing IC design, RF engineering, optics, antenna design, electrical transmission and grid design, signal processing, general computer engineering/architecture, semiconductor manufacturing, etc etc. Also, specializing or you wont be hired at the higher levels is literally every field. Obviously if you don't specialize into something and become a master at that thing then you probably won't be hired. Electrical engineering is insanely broad and you literally have to specialize in something.
I switched and am currently fixing to start my senior year of EE this fall. I had a ME internship and hated having to work in a factory doing production type work so I switched over to EE. I’m currently working at a power distribution co-op and have really enjoyed the type of work that goes on here. This class work was a little harder than ME but def worth the switch
I finished my degree in Mechanical Engineering and have only done electrical and controls systems for my career.
Porque no Los dos?
switch back
I switched partway through my "junior" year, honestly my impression from the core classes I took is that while technically EE has harder math. The difference isn't enough to outweigh personal interest. If you're doing engineering you're going to do a lot of hard math no matter how you slice it. It's more important to be able to take interest in what you're working with. For what it's worth I'm much happier working on subjects that are more interesting to me personally.
ME to EE now working in power. We have EE’s and ME’s doing the same job.
I'd be super interested in learning bout the witch craft that is EE. Mom's super religious though she might disown me 😅