General

I am not an engineer but my husband is. He has a mechanical engineering degree. His first job was at rolls Royce with cars. He was not there very long before they trained him for nuclear power. He did that for 8 years before switching to a controls engineer person at a steel plant.

Most engineering jobs will train you to their specific needs and desires. And there’s many post grad certifications you can get if you’re struggling to get a specific job. Ex. The ocean job your thinking of,


My husband said his experience was his best selling point to get to where he is. So I’d recommend to start out broad and then to specialize when you know you’ll be at a job site for awhile.

Engineer here. My recommendation is that a ME degree would be much more useful and versatile than an ocean engineering degree. A ME would also help with aviation as well. I started working my first engineering job after college about a year ago, and the job market SUCKS. It's super hard to get a job, and mechanical would give you more options for jobs compared to ocean engineering.

Ocean engineering sounds nice, but my guess is that it's a niche industry and therefore there won't be as many available job compared to an engineering degree. It took me 8 months to get my FIRST interview after applying to a bunch of jobs during that time, and that's how I landed my current job.

The problem with current jobs is that they expect experience for an try level job, which makes it very difficult to start working. I also highly recommend you get at least 6 months of internship experience before graduation, because the job market is a struggle.

I hope this info helps you make a decision

Others have already answered well, but as an engineer with experience in automotive and now energy, a mechanical engineering degree is very versatile and well accepted between industries. Aeronautical engineering is also very broad, however is still quite specialised. I would recommend a bachelord in mechanical and choose some subjects in the areas youre interested in. Try to get short-term work experience in those fields and then, if desired, finish a masters specialising in the field you most enjoy.

Ive been working for 10 years, across continents. You'll find a job, dont worry.

Why are you interested in a degree in mechanical engineering? What do you hope to get from it?

Is it because it's something you think will enjoy immensely?

Or is it because you believe it will leverage a skill or ability you have? It's likely very heavy on math as well as spatial awareness. Are you good at those mechanical puzzles? The kind of thing you might find in souvenir and knick-knack shops?

I get that you don't want to do the work you do forever, I doubt many really do.

However, office-politics and the business world has a way of sucking passion away from you.

Focus on what you're good at, even if you don't necessarily fully enjoy it (but hopefully don't hate either). This makes it easier to perform well to get those raises and promotions.

A job is a means to an end to get you money, so you can have a comfortable life and the ability to do the things you'd rather be doing, for fun and enjoyment, and money is what gets you there.

Sure, money might not buy happiness by itself, but can sure as hell buy avoidance of sadness. No one really wants to constantly think about bills, engaging in mental gymnastics because of this (which can cause immense stress), or spend hours a week attempting to chase the cheapest or most economical deals and sales because that extra $1-10 means the difference between paying a bill, or wondering how you're paying for an car repair, or deciding whether to eat lunch this week or pay the power bill.

I love building things, the pay isn’t terrible depending on where you’re hired

I mean, being an engineer is better pay than her current job.