I’m about to graduate with an engineering degree from a large state school but have found my niche in tutoring. I am VERY successful with my tutoring and making almost as much as I would being an engineer, but have more flexible hours and easy work. So what I’m trying to ask is could I still get an engineering job say 5-10 years later if I had no experience being an engineer right after college or would my degree be obsolete because of the length of time? I obviously plan on keeping up with current engineering software (solidworks, excel, mathlab etc..) so would this atleast get me an entry job or would I be too outdated?
If you try to get into the engineering field 10 years after graduating you would probably have to start out with an entry level position as an engineer because even though what you learned in school doesn’t become outdated, you will miss getting the ten years of experience as a practicing engineer.
When you get your first job as an engineer is when your real education in the field really begins and without that experience you are not really worth more than a new graduate, maybe even a little less.
It is calculated that wages and prices double every ten years, so you could use that as a guide for what you could earn as an engineer in that amount of time.
There is much more to learn as an engineer besides the basics of what we get in school such as Regulartory Codes and Standards, Material Specifications and countless other items that are not taught anywhere.
Without the practicle on-the-job knowledge even keeping up with the technology will leave you way behind.
You will find that companies will only tolerate inexperience in an engineer if they are fresh out of college. After that it is all about experience.
I would suggest you find a way to moonlight at some engineering jobs so your resume will not be blank when it comes to engineering experience. There are many companies that can use an engineer to fill in or do some tasks on a part time basis.