Homeschooling provides some amazing opportunities to provide our children with knowledge and opportunities to learn about and experience job opportunities as we prepare them to be self-sufficient adults. We have the freedom to tailor our children’s education with their interests, especially throughout high school. This, then, can dovetail into career options.
Our first goal is to help them figure out not only who God made them to be but also what God created them to do. Our second goal is to help them discover how their skills and talents and passions can all mesh together into an occupation that they love.
As we continue this series that covers different careers, let these posts provide assistance as you and your child think through options. The exploratory questions and suggestions we cover here will, hopefully, guide you through innumerable opportunities of discovery.
In this post, we’re covering engineering. If you think your child has any interest in the field of engineering or if you want to expose them to the various options of an engineering career, here are some ideas and questions that might be helpful to you and your child.
Possible Jobs
- Engineer: The very first career option in engineering is an engineer, a person who invents, analyzes, and builds various structures and systems using much science and math. It’s not quite as obvious as it seems, though, since there are so many different areas of engineering. Most engineers earn at least a four-year college degree; technicians may have a two-year degree. The following are just a few jobs for engineers.
- Civil Engineer: Civil engineers are responsible for designing, building, and maintaining systems such as roads, bridges, and airports.
- Mechanical Engineer: A mechanical engineer will evaluate thermal (heat) and mechanical (machine) devices as they build and repair as well as improve current designs.
- Electrical Engineer: Electrical engineers work with devices such as power generators and motors as they design, develop, and manage the manufacturing of electrical equipment.
- Chemical Engineer: Chemical engineers work in the production of fuel, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals as they design and troubleshoot processes in addition to ensuring the quality of the product.
- Biomedical Engineer: Biomedical engineers design devices such as machinery used in the practice of medicine, artificial limbs, and implantable devices, evaluating the safety of the equipment as well as working to improve the quality of patient care.
- Software Engineer: A software engineer analyzes data to develop and implement software systems.
- Engineering Technician: Technicians assist engineers as they design, create, implement, and test designs. They might analyze and record data or assess the costs of production.
- Technical Writer: A technical writer will write and maintain technical documents, including user documentation and software. Knowledge of engineering is essential as they are responsible for creating reports and other written material.
- Engineering Manager: Many engineers move into management positions where they oversee teams of engineers, train new employees, and ensure projects are completed.
- Engineering Professor: Working in colleges and universities, engineering professors teach classes to students and are often involved in research. This position typically requires a doctoral degree.
What Can You Do With an Engineering Degree? (With 17 Jobs) | Indeed.com
Skills or Interests Needed
- Analytical + creative skills. Engineers need to be able to look at a situation, analyze it, and create a solution or make innovative changes. Creativity also has its place when many answers are possible.
- Flexibility. Engineers must be able to adapt their thinking or approach when unforeseen challenges arise.
- Observation skills. Minor details can be crucial in a process. Engineers need to be able to see all the minutiae.
- Proficiency in math. Higher-level math like calculus and trigonometry are an integral part of the complex formulas that engineers use in their work. Engineers need to understand these principles in order to be able to troubleshoot.
- Communication skills. Communication is necessary at nearly every part of an engineer’s job, particularly using technical language.
20 Traits or Skills of Successful Engineers | Indeed.com
How to Encourage a Curious Child
- As you begin exploring the engineering career field, one of the most effective methods to gather information is to find people to talk to in your homeschool community or church. This could be turned into a vocation paper for a school project. Is there an engineer, a technician, or an engineering student within your circles? With their consent, make an appointment for your student to conduct an interview. Questions could be prepared ahead of time and include inquiries such as what is your education, what do you like/not like about your job, and what are three characteristics needed to do your job.
- Reading and videos. Explore the engineering field via good books such as these.
Engineering for Teens: A Beginner’s Book for Aspiring Engineers: McCauley PhD, Pamela: 9781647396534
Instant Engineering (Instant Knowledge): Levy, Joel: 9781645170549: Amazon.com: Books
This video provides a very thorough and visual run-through of the various fields within engineering.
- Job shadowing. Spending a day observing someone in your child’s chosen career can be a terrific way to see, up close and personal, what the job entails. Then, have your student write a reflective essay about the experience.
Engineering can be a challenging yet fulfilling career choice. It’s a big decision, so explore the possibility and pray for and with your child as he seeks to discover what God has in store for him.