Was the difficulty of studying engineering worth it?

Is it hard? Yes! Many jobs are, but when you are doing something that you are passionate about then it is always worth it. Some of the most difficult challenges we are presented with in life are also the most rewarding when we accomplish our goals. Many people change roles and focus areas over the course of their careers, they may move to Program Management, People Managers, Marketing… But engineering provides a fantastic foundation for so many other roles. Try an engineering class, if you love it, great! If you don’t, you pivot to something else. Not all of us know exactly what we want to do with our lives at an early age and that is ok. You won’t know if it’s right for you until you try it out.

Absolutely, it was worth it. It gave me the tools to be an asset for my community. And it opened up endless job opportunities and exciting careers. The degree is such a short time period relative to your career. Some classes will be harder than others. However, everything post school has led to fulfilling opportunities and allowing me to have real impact. Regarding how hard it was—there were definitely classes that I struggled and just survived, while there were others that were a breeze for me. But in the end, it was all worth it.

It’s okay to be scared! The important thing is to not let being scared stop you from doing what you want to do. No matter what career path you choose, there will always be difficult moments and obstacles to overcome. So if engineering is what you want to do, then the hard work will be worth it, and the challenges will make it even more meaningful.

For me, the classes I struggled with in school were the ones I just didn’t have any interest in, so it is important to try things early to see what you will be passionate about. If you can, talk to engineers or scientists you know about their jobs, join clubs, and take a variety of different classes to figure out what is the most interesting to you.

You are absolutely right that engineering is fun! And it can be hard work. I found some of my engineering classes were fun and felt easy to me while others felt very difficult and frustrating. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Engineering is about using your brain to solve problems. And the very act of studying engineering opens your brain up to thinking in new ways.

I think we don’t know whether it will be hard or easy or fun or frustrating until we try. And maybe it will be all of the above like it was for me? Good luck and try not to be scared. Every experience we have gives us information. And we can use that information to make decisions or change our direction.

Engineering was a difficult discipline, but it was worth it. Importantly, I had enough time to enjoy my undergraduate college experience. I joined several organizations, served in leadership roles for some of them, attended extra-curricular events, engaged in paid internships every summer, and made lifelong friends. Granted, I observed that there were other majors that had much more free time and much less work to do, but I had enough time to do the things that were important to me.

Post-graduation, I experienced many benefits of engineering undergraduate study including multiple, lucrative full-time job offers and options to attend graduate school free-of-charge while receiving a minimum monthly living stipend (~$2,604/month in 2023 dollars). The benefits have continued to accrue in innumerable ways. Choosing to pursue an engineering degree was one of the best decisions that I have ever made.

Madelaine, I have been practicing mechanical engineering for 35 years. YES, it was hard work to not only get my BSME but also early industry specific engineering mentoring. My particular industry requires approximately 10 years of mentoring after college to become a Senior Engineer. It does require commitment and passion for the work we do. I have found it to be rewarding intellectually as well as financially.

I studied software engineering. It wasn't hard for me because I loved it and was interested in everything that the instructors were teaching us. If you love a subject and are genuinely interested, the difficulty of learning it is more of a challenge than plain hard work. Every achievement brings exhilaration. It has definitely been worth it for me!

As you said, you have time. Now is the time to try classes and clubs that introduce you to different topics that you might be interested in. You'll find out if the difficulty is a challenge that is fun or... not. You may find out that it's not hard at all!

Hi Madeleine. Every bit of it is worth it. When you choose Engineering, you start off with a confidence that you will be adding some technical value to the world in near future. You are going to contribute to your self esteem, to your family’s esteem, your society and your country’s self esteem.

You will soon be taking up different jobs and adding to the count of engineer girls in your country which is still way less compared to the engineer boys. You will help in increasing gender equality in the job market, you will contribute to everyone’s growth including yours. You will do well for yourself in the future, you will be financially independent, and I’m sure you will feel proud of yourself.

So a little hard work you do now, only 4 years of Engineering, and you reap the benefits for at least 50 years!

Studying engineering isn’t easy but if it was easy everyone would do it! It is challenging coursework, however that is what drives us as engineers to continue to grow and solve problems. I personally found that once I got into my specific area of engineering coursework it was easier because it was something I was interested in learning and passionate about. I understood that this was the information I enjoyed learning and could really see myself utilizing in my career. I also don’t think the learning ever ends as an engineer. I am constantly learning new technologies, code updates, materials etc., which is what keeps me growing as an engineer and inspires me to go to work every day.

Of course Engineering is a lot of hard work! But at the same time the effort is less time-consuming than many other disciplines such as chemistry or biology where you have a lot more lab hours. Also there is less to memorize in Engineering. My experience is perhaps outdated because I studied in Italy from 1998 to 2003 however one of the reasons for choosing Chemical Engineering over Organic Chemistry was that not having as many Lab hours enabled me to commute to my home and still play semi-professional volleyball where I had training every evening!

Yes!! Engineering is a highly rewarding career choice! There are so many different careers that you can enter once you have an engineering background. It’s challenging and rewarding!

Yes, engineering is worth it because I get to do a job every day that doesn’t feel like work!