Best Engineering Jobs for Salary and Growth
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Published on: 24 January 2022
Last Updated on: 07 November 2024
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If you are considering getting a degree in engineering or are already qualified in this field, there are various different engineering disciplines and sectors to consider when looking for the best engineering jobs.
When choosing your specific engineering career path, there are various insights that you may find useful to help you determine which engineering jobs are the best to pursue based on figures such as average salaries and growth projections.
Some career options within the field of engineering offer greater job stability due to high demand, higher than average salaries, and better future growth.
What Is Engineering?
Engineering is a career field that applies technological and scientific principles to invent, design, build, and use systems, machines, structures, and more to help people achieve practical goals or solve problems.
These things may now be classed as technology; however, the best engineering jobs involve much more than the modern technology that we know today, such as computers, smartphones, and other electronics.
Engineering is a huge field with needs in almost every industry imaginable. It might be the right career choice for you if you enjoy the idea of working in a field where you can design and invent new things to help solve everyday problems.
15 Differnt Enginnerining Department
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the engineering field is expected to experience a job growth rate of around 4% by 2028, which is close to the 5% national average growth rate for all career fields.
As of May 2018, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the annual salary for engineering careers at just over $80k annually, which is over twice the median annual wage for all careers at almost $39k per year.
If you are interested in the best engineering jobs but are not sure which engineering job to aim for, keep reading to find out more about the top engineering career options for growth rate and average salary.
1. Engineering Manager
Engineering managers are tasked with planning, directing, and coordinating all activities of an engineering company or team.
Their duties involve: identifying technical goals; making detailed plans for a new project, process, and design developments; identifying needs for staff, training and development; proposing new project budgets; hiring and supervising employees; leading projects in research and development; checking work accuracy; ensuring that the appropriate methods for conducting work by teams are used; and coordinating work with managers and employees.
Despite having the best engineering jobs outlook of just 3%, which is a little slower than average, engineering managers do earn a generous average salary of just over $125k per year. A master’s in engineering management from Kettering University will help you prepare for this career path.
2. Hardware Engineer
A computer hardware engineer and researcher are involved in designs and developments, and tests computer systems and their parts, including memory devices, computer processors and circuit boards, routers, and networks.
Duties in this role include designing new computer hardware, creating computer equipment schematics, testing computer hardware designs, military simulation, analyzing test results, making necessary modifications, updating existing computer equipment, and overseeing the computer hardware manufacturing process.
The best engineering jobs growth outlook is at around six percent, and hardware engineers earn an average salary of almost $106k per year.
3. Aeronautical Engineer
Aeronautical engineers are tasked with directing and coordinating the design, manufacture, and testing of spacecraft, aircraft, satellites, and missiles.
Along with this, their duties involve assessing proposals for financial and technical feasibility, making sure that all designs are compliant with various environmental regulations and rules, and creating and testing prototypes of their designs to ensure that they function correctly.
They also work on the development of acceptance criteria and quality standards and are responsible for inspecting damaged or malfunctioning products to identify the issue and come up with solutions for the best engineering jobs.
4. Chemical Engineer
Chemical engineers work in a role that combines principles of chemistry, math, biology, and physics to solve problems that arise during the production and use of chemicals, drugs, fuel, food, and other projects.
They work on researching, designing, and developing new processes and equipment to manufacture, plan, and test production methods.
They will also design and develop processes using controlled chemical processes, designing the layout of equipment, establishing safety procedures for working with hazardous chemicals, ensuring that environmental and safety regulations are complied with, directing facility operations, and estimating production costs.
The projected job growth is in line with the average, and chemical engineers earn an average salary of over $90k per year. SHould you be interested in studying chemistry, you can inquire about chemistry tuition O level.
5. Mechanical Engineer
Mechanical engineers use principles of energy, force, and motion to design, develop, build, and test thermal sensors, mechanical devices, and mechanical processes.
Their duties include drafting blueprints, designing effective tools, building, and testing prototypes, analyzing test results, investigating equipment failures, diagnosing problems, recommending solutions, testing theories to find effective and functional ways to use procedures or products, improving mechanical technologies, and overseeing the design manufacturing process.
Mechanical engineers earn over $87k per year, and the current job growth projections are average for the best engineering jobs.
6. Civil Engineering Technician
With an average salary of over $62k per year and job growth projections that are in line with the national average, civil engineering technicians work to assist civil engineers in the planning, designing, and building of infrastructure projects for industrial, commercial, residential, and land development projects for the best engineering jobs in the civil department.
The duties in this role include determining a structure’s size by reading and reviewing project plans or drawings, testing preconstruction field conditions, observing contractor work on-site to identify any problems with designs, testing construction materials, and testing soil samples.
Other responsibilities of a civil engineering technician include developing cost estimates and plans for the construction of operating facilities and systems; ensuring compliance with design specifications and necessary codes; preparing and maintenance of project files, reports, and records; and documenting activities and data involved in the project.
7. Cartographer
A best engineering jobs growth outlook of 15%, which is much higher than average, makes a cartography career an ideal option for those wanting a secure work future.
Earning an average of over $64k per year, cartographers are tasked with researching, collecting, measuring, interpreting, manipulating, retrieving, and storing geographic data from reports, ground surveys, remote sensing systems, aerial photographs, and satellite images.
They use the data that they collect to create and update thematic charts and maps for a range of different purposes, including education, design, social, and environmental reasons.
These maps are used in the decision-making process for urban and regional planning and zoning and are used for business decisions that involve engineering, marketing, environment, and geology.
8. Industrial Engineer
Another engineering career role that is growing at a faster rate than other jobs is industrial engineering, with a job growth outlook of eight percent.
Industrial engineers are tasked with the evaluation of production processes for products and services, finding ways to improve the systems by eliminating waste and improving efficiency by integrating workers, machines, materials, energy, and information in the best engineering jobs of this department.
An industrial engineer is responsible for evaluating production schedules, process flow, and engineering specifications along with developing systems for management control and methods to maximize efficiency in product manufacturing, service delivery, and the design and implementation of quality control procedures. The average salary is just over $75k per year.
9. Aerospace Engineering Technician
The role of an aerospace engineering technician involves assisting aeronautical engineers by maintaining and operating the equipment that they use to test, develop, product, and sustain new spacecraft and aircraft.
The main responsibilities of the role involve building and maintaining aircraft system test facilities, creating and installing parts and systems to use when testing equipment, calibrating and operating computer systems, making sure that tests are conducted safely, presenting test findings and implications to aeronautical engineers, installing aircraft and spacecraft instruments, and monitoring systems for quality assurance.
The role has a job growth outlook in line with the average at four percent and an average yearly salary of over $62k.
10. Environmental Engineer
Another type of best engineering job, and the career with a job growth outlook that is in line with the average, is environmental engineering. These engineers research and develop various methods of improving and protecting the environment.
The role combines engineering principles with principles of biology, soil science, and chemistry to develop solutions to environmental issues like oil spills, environmental remediation, pollution, wastewater management, and ozone depletion.
Other duties include obtaining permits for designs, monitoring and inspecting facility operations for compliance with regulations, and overseeing construction. Environmental engineers earn an average salary of over $80k per year.
11. Safety Engineer
A safety engineer is responsible for combining engineering principles with current policies in health and safety, industrial processes, and regulations to develop design systems and procedures to protect people from injury or illness and protect property from damage as the result of machinery, chemicals, software, and more.
Their responsibilities include reviewing plans and specifications to ensure that machinery and equipment are compliant with safety requirements and that products and buildings are compliant with health and safety regulations; evaluating industrial control mechanism effectiveness; installing safety devices on machines; reviewing safety programs for employees; and inspecting machines, equipment, and facilities to identify any potential dangers and make recommendations.
The best engineering jobs outlooks are 5%, and the average salary is just over $85k yearly.
12. Agricultural Engineer
Earning an average salary of just over $80k per year and enjoying a job growth outlook that is in line with the average at 5%, agricultural engineers design, develop, test, and oversee a range of systems, machines, equipment, and structures involved with agriculture and farming.
For best engineering jobs, the roles and responsibilities include designing components and equipment for agricultural machinery, conducting tests, designing and overseeing manufacturing and food-processing plant operations, designing structures for housing animals or processing crops, and directing the construction of rural electric power distribution systems.
13. Marine Engineer
With the best engineering jobs growth outlook that is faster than the average at nine percent, and a generous average salary of over $78k per year, a career as a marine engineer is interesting with work that involves designing, building, inspecting, and maintaining the internal systems of water vehicles such as ships, sailboats, submarines, aircraft carriers, and tankers.
Marine engineers are responsible for systems that control the power of these vehicles, such as heating, cooling, steering, hydraulics, and ventilation, which are all necessary for correct functioning. Marine engineers tend to work along with naval architects, professionals who are responsible for designing and building the structure and form of these vehicles.
14. Biomedical Engineer
Biomedical engineers work in a role that combines the principles of engineering with the principles of medical science and biology to design and develop equipment, devices, software, and computer systems for the healthcare industry.
The best engineering jobs and roles include evaluating, maintaining, installing, and repairing biomedical equipment along with training professionals in the medical industry on their use.
They are also tasked with preparing technical reports, writing research papers, and reporting their findings to their colleagues, other scientists, the healthcare industry, and the general public.
Biomedical engineers earn an average annual salary of just over $74k, and the job growth outlook is currently around average, at 4%.
15. Civil Engineer
With an average salary of over $83k per year and a job growth outlook as fast as the average at six percent, a civil engineer is tasked with the designing, development, building, and overseeing of infrastructure systems and projects.
They will often work for the government in a role where they are responsible for designing and developing city and town infrastructure, including buildings, tunnels, roads, airports, bridges, dams, and more.
The best engineering jobs responsibilities include assessing the needs of an area, designing constructions that function safely and productively, preparing cost estimates, obtaining necessary permits, and making sure that all designs are compliant with regulations.
Conclusion:
If you enjoy solving technical problems and are good at math and science, you might be considering working as an engineer. While these are some of the most in-demand and highly paid best engineering jobs in the specific field right now, there are many others to choose from, with hundreds of disciplines and sub-disciplines.
No matter which engineering job is the right fit for you, working in this field gives you the chance to be creative, learn new skills, and help to shape the future of the world.
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