German HS graduate needs advice on college majors.
Hey! I would love to have some advice from some mechanical/hardware engineers or managers who work in the tech field.
Currently, I am doing a project management internship and enroll in college soon. I know that I want to work closely ON a technical product project and not in supportive departments like operations or the supply chain. However, I also know that I want to become a manager one day and not a pure engineer.
Now, I am faced with either studying classic mechanical engineering or "economics & engineering" (50% engineering classes incl. ME, EE, CS, and 50% business administration). Both majors are offered at two renowned german universities.
Mechanical engineering:
+ in-depth understanding of engineering and science
+ Qualified to work as an actual engineer
-No management or business studies => Lack of tools for kickstarting a management carrier or own business
O I could specialize in management during my master through across-department master programs. In general, it is easier to catch up with economic fields than with engineering fields. Also, I could specialize in further engineering topics.
economics & engineering:
+ Allrounder who understands both departments and is able to translate in between
+ Opportunities in many fields as you are introduced to a lot of topics
-Not a pure expert in business nor engineering. You only have the fundamentals of both worlds, so you might lack an in-depth understanding of certain topics.
O You are kinda limited in the masters as you are missing many credits in engineering courses. So most often, you have to stick with economics & engineering master programs.
Theoretically, economics & engineering is the perfect major for technical people who want to become project managers in tech companies. You can talk with executives, sales, and marketing while understanding the engineers and their challenges. However, I am afraid that I would not have the required technical knowledge to be able to work on more complex, hardware/product-related projects. Especially if you take a look at the job description at Apple, Tesla, or Space X.
Any opinions on this? You can find the study plans in the pictures
#tech #hardware #engineering #projectmanager #mechanical
comments
I don't have any context on this, but let me look at it from my perspective by replacing hardware with software.
Pure computer science is the way to go, because even if you want to break into a engineering manager role you need to be good at being an IC first and knowing management second, and after that you learn on the job or get a part time mba.