The Various Types Of Engineers

By Carey Bourdier


If you love math and science and also enjoy building and designing, then a career in engineering might be an excellent choice for you. It might interest you to know that when it comes to engineering, there are dozens of job choices, and these groups are divided into four main categories. These categories include mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering and also civil engineering.

Under the umbrella of chemical engineering, there are several different options. Some people concentrate on molecular or biomolecular engineering, in which you are a scientist responsible for creating molecules for various types of medical research. Your work in biotechnology could include identifying the cause of serious diseases and disorders and even creating vaccines or medical treatments to combat those problems. Materials engineers study the structures of many different types of materials, including ceramics, glass, metals, polymers and semiconductors. Another type of chemical engineer is a process engineer, and this person studies subjects such as the production of paper, plastics and petroleum. As these are three products used in just about every industry, the process engineer is often in high demand.

Frequently, you will see a civil engineer out in the field using surveying equipment such as an inclinometer, a theodolite or perhaps a total station. This type of civil engineer is known as a structural engineer when they are concerned with creating safe buildings and other structures such as bridges. Transport engineers are similar but focus on designing roads, highways and rail systems as well as to create better and safer traffic flow. Geotechnical engineers also fall under the civil section, and they deal with engineering underground, such as in mining or building levees and dams.

If you are interested in computers or the properties of electricity, you might consider becoming an electrical engineer. There are four basic categories within the field of electrical engineering, including electronic engineers that primarily deal with circuitry, capacitors, diodes, transistors and resistors. Power engineers are those who design high-voltage systems, transformers and generators. Computer engineers also fall under this category, designing and developing different types of circuitry, hardware and software.

Mechanical engineers are another big group of engineers, and this includes a variety of types of engineers such as vehicle engineers, acoustical engineers and thermal engineers as well as aerospace engineers, which are the engineers that create space vehicles as well as other types of aircraft. Manufacturing engineers are part of this group, and they create everything from tools to large-scale manufacturing equipment.




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