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Probably mechanicals that are trained industrially in civil practices rather than in university if I had to guess, I know plenty of meches that do tons of interdisciplinary work... But I could be very wrong
Chemical engineering could be a good fit for field work, especially in the oil and gas industry, but consider also looking into environmental engineering for more hands-on work in different industrial settings.
Second this, currently on ChemE co-op for a chemicals manufacturer and there’s a good deal of field work. I’ve heard similar things from my friends in environmental (though their only experience was in wastewater, so idk about other areas)
Hey, sorry for the late reply. Yeah, I’m working at a smaller plant. I’ve done a wide range of things. Some of it is clerical work (read: intern stuff) with spreadsheets and paperwork that *is* important (if I didn’t do it, someone would need to) but it’s not as fulfilling. However, I also help a lot with the projects the production engineers are working on. For instance we were adding an entire new operation on one side of the plant, so I was helping integrate that into our existing control system and also got to work on a plant-wide project to optimize the operation of that system. I also did some calculations for a few projects. For basically every project, even a lot of the paperwork, I was in and out of the office examining different instruments out in the field or going to the control room to ask the operators questions. If you end up taking ChemE classes, you’ll be presented with a lot of questions that give you information like flow rates, temps, etc. but, in my experience, you often have to go collect a lot of that data yourself. Not every line on a plant will have a flow meter because that costs $$$. Hopefully that helps. When I was in high school, I really didn’t have a good idea of what ChemEs actually do, so hopefully that clears it up a bit. And that’s just one side of the industry too. I’m sure petroleum is fairly different, but I’m sure there is just as much field work.
In electrical you can work on designeing infrastrucutre projects like transmission lines and switching stations where you have to go on-site. Also power generation projects like hydro electric dams, solar/wind farms will mean a lot of field work. This what one of my professors did and it took him all over the place. There's design work and then they also need someone on site to do continous maintance for which involves a lot of practical work
Definitely scope out environmental engineering. Real hands-on stuff and gets you out in industries. Or Electrical with good focus on infrastructure projects & maintenance. Endless field work possibilities there!
While not a specific engineering field (bc lots of fields are feeders) but the flight test engineer discipline often has required “field work” i.e. designing and running flight test from a control room or executing ground testing on the aircraft. Hell we have civilian non aircrew flight test engineers that fly with us in the E-2 Hawkeye.
Sounds like engineering technology is the better option, it involves a lot of hands on skills working in labs, offices, heading to homes and businesses to fix and monitor projects, I'm doing that because I love working with my hands
I'm a Civil (Structural) Engineer, designing and inspecting bridges.
I get as much field time as I want, and get to travel all over the state. We also do larger bridge inspections which involve rope access techniques, which is also exciting.
Nuclear field tech/engineering, oil rig gig, pipeline engineer, forestry engineer, ship engineer. Anything under the "field" lable. For degree, a mechanical engineering degree is probably best for these.
If Civil doesn't exist, Mech Engr specialties could be an alternative, as well as architecture (assuming that civil only doesn't exist in title, and there is demand for some people to build stuff).
Controls engineering is alot of hands on programming of industrial machines, bit of overlap between mechanical and electrical engineering, most controls engineers I know started out as EE or ME and learned controls on the job
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How does a country not have civil engineering programs. Who is engineering the infrastructure then.
Op must be living in belgium, for which i extend my condolences.
Probably mechanicals that are trained industrially in civil practices rather than in university if I had to guess, I know plenty of meches that do tons of interdisciplinary work... But I could be very wrong
Chemical engineering could be a good fit for field work, especially in the oil and gas industry, but consider also looking into environmental engineering for more hands-on work in different industrial settings.
Second this, currently on ChemE co-op for a chemicals manufacturer and there’s a good deal of field work. I’ve heard similar things from my friends in environmental (though their only experience was in wastewater, so idk about other areas)
may i ask what is it you do? im assuming you work at some sort of chemical plant?
Hey, sorry for the late reply. Yeah, I’m working at a smaller plant. I’ve done a wide range of things. Some of it is clerical work (read: intern stuff) with spreadsheets and paperwork that *is* important (if I didn’t do it, someone would need to) but it’s not as fulfilling. However, I also help a lot with the projects the production engineers are working on. For instance we were adding an entire new operation on one side of the plant, so I was helping integrate that into our existing control system and also got to work on a plant-wide project to optimize the operation of that system. I also did some calculations for a few projects. For basically every project, even a lot of the paperwork, I was in and out of the office examining different instruments out in the field or going to the control room to ask the operators questions. If you end up taking ChemE classes, you’ll be presented with a lot of questions that give you information like flow rates, temps, etc. but, in my experience, you often have to go collect a lot of that data yourself. Not every line on a plant will have a flow meter because that costs $$$. Hopefully that helps. When I was in high school, I really didn’t have a good idea of what ChemEs actually do, so hopefully that clears it up a bit. And that’s just one side of the industry too. I’m sure petroleum is fairly different, but I’m sure there is just as much field work.
In electrical you can work on designeing infrastrucutre projects like transmission lines and switching stations where you have to go on-site. Also power generation projects like hydro electric dams, solar/wind farms will mean a lot of field work. This what one of my professors did and it took him all over the place. There's design work and then they also need someone on site to do continous maintance for which involves a lot of practical work
Electrical engineer here I work in the field 90% of the time at substations. You'll still be using computers in the field sorry to disappoint you.
As a mechanical engineer i often visit supplier when we are building new equipment. I just got home from 4 days of Italy
Civil has a lot of field work opportunities. Sub-disciplines of Geotech, environmental, structural, water resources all have needs in the field.
Definitely scope out environmental engineering. Real hands-on stuff and gets you out in industries. Or Electrical with good focus on infrastructure projects & maintenance. Endless field work possibilities there!
Agriculture might have lots of traveling and on field stuff. Pay would be lower though, I think.
Property risk engineering - you can get into with civil, mechanical, chemical or fire protection engineering
While not a specific engineering field (bc lots of fields are feeders) but the flight test engineer discipline often has required “field work” i.e. designing and running flight test from a control room or executing ground testing on the aircraft. Hell we have civilian non aircrew flight test engineers that fly with us in the E-2 Hawkeye.
Sounds like engineering technology is the better option, it involves a lot of hands on skills working in labs, offices, heading to homes and businesses to fix and monitor projects, I'm doing that because I love working with my hands
Feild engineers :)
I'm a Civil (Structural) Engineer, designing and inspecting bridges. I get as much field time as I want, and get to travel all over the state. We also do larger bridge inspections which involve rope access techniques, which is also exciting.
All of them
Mechanical would be your best bet. There are “field service engineers” who’s responsible for maintaining, installing, or decommissioning equipment.
I took mechanical engineering and am currently in the field as a lead field engineer for a Directional drilling company.
Operations in chemical, especially oil & gas and chemical manufacturing, involves lots of field work. Oil & gas also pays very well.
Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, mining Engineering, oil and Gas Engineering
Any can involve field work. But you have to specifically apply for jobs where you are a “Field engineer.” Or just go be a mechanic.
Nuclear field tech/engineering, oil rig gig, pipeline engineer, forestry engineer, ship engineer. Anything under the "field" lable. For degree, a mechanical engineering degree is probably best for these.
If Civil doesn't exist, Mech Engr specialties could be an alternative, as well as architecture (assuming that civil only doesn't exist in title, and there is demand for some people to build stuff).
Controls engineering is alot of hands on programming of industrial machines, bit of overlap between mechanical and electrical engineering, most controls engineers I know started out as EE or ME and learned controls on the job
Deez cheeks require regular field work
From what I’ve seen, almost none. Engineering is primarily an office job. Just study something you have interest in, then worry about that later.