Why there’s never been a better time to become an engineer

As new research reveals that a fifth of the world's billionaires studied engineering, and that some of the biggest multinational companies are tempting America's brightest graduates, there's never been a better time to become an engineer.

Good news for any prospective engineers, your chosen career path is one that's paved with gold if recent research is to believe. Because engineering is the most common degree among the world's top earners – and we're talking billionaires here!

Engineering job opportunities

New research, reported by the Daily Mail, has shown that more than a fifth of the 100 richest people studied engineering. That amounts to twice as many than the next most lucrative choice, which is business, and makes engineering graduates the richest among their wealthy peers.

Among the world's super-rich graduates, engineers amass an average wealth of £17.3billion. That compares favourably with the £16.1billion for those without a degree and £15.1billion for finance graduates.

If British students weren't already swayed by those impressive figures then findings from the education charity, Sutton Trust, might just seal the deal. Because they claim that engineers can earn as much as 55 per cent – a whopping £8,000 – more than design and creative arts graduates within six months of leaving university.

This all bodes well for the Government's drive to fill the skills gap by attracting more talented young people to take up STEM subjects and ultimately pursue a career in engineering.

The best engineering employers

Over in the US, a recent Forbes article shared the results of a Universum survey that polled nearly 82,000 undergraduates at 366 universities nationwide, including more than 11,500 engineering majors. Students were asked to identify companies that they would most like to work for, out of a designated list of 230 employers.

The top three employers were, perhaps unsurprisingly, all household giants. Aerospace experts, Boeing, dropped from the number one spot down into third, as search engine supremos, Google, leaped up into second and NASA took one giant leap to claim the top spot for the most coveted engineering employer.

Some new faces joined this year's ranking. Among them were Elon Musk’s electronic vehicle company, Tesla, whose growing popularity saw them accelerate into fourth. While advanced rocket and spacecraft manufacturers, SpaceX, were propelled into fifth place. Samsung and Union Pacific were some of the other notable new entries.

Universum's figures also showed that engineering undergraduates account for a massive 67 per cent of students that complete summer internships with potential employers. All of which leads us to believe that there really can't be many career options that can rival engineering for its impressive salary and career prospects.

The future's bright, the future's engineering!

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