Is engineering really that great for us?

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On all the job ads for engineers I read, muct possess great communication skills, outgoing, must have good social skills. What's the deal with this?

I am thinking about going into medicine instead and becomming a doctor, at least they don't have trouble finding jobs.

I think the engineering job market has changed and employers are taking more interest in soft skills rather than technical prowess.

Something you could consider is becoming a clinical engineer / technician. In the UK the NHS employ these people to service and calibrate medical equipment used in hospitals. Jobs are advertised at http://www.jobs.nhs.uk Enter in terms like electronic, technician, or technologist.

Another possibility is a lab technician at a college or university.

Most jobs list that as requirements if they have enough space in the ad to put it there.

I notice that job advertisements don't mention being a quiet achiever yet without these people, we would have few of the medical and technological innovations that we now do.

Also, social skills matter in medicine, no matter how employable you are.

You do have to be able to communicate clearly to the non-engineers what you are doing in a way they can understand. A sales engineer has to be an outgoing NT but other types do not. I don't find the type of communication that is required at my job to be too difficult. It really depends upon the job itself. Unless you live in China or India I really don't recommend engineering as a career for someone just starting out.

I agree with TheMachine1....almost everybody that places up a job posting will require "strong social skills" or "strong communication skills"....maybe that's why I fail at interviews? (on the rare occasion I do get one).

But these days engineering (especially Civil) is in huge huge demand. I bet they'll hire you even if you are socially awkward.

What careers would you recommend for someone with AS who is good at math or science? What about pharmacy or biochemistry related careers?

Mad scientist?

I am looking into the field of a Medical Lab Technician.

If you are really passionate about math it could be good.

In my experience, engineering has decreasingly focused on technical achievement and innovation, and increasingly on the 'business' and 'market' side, with emphasis on those soft skills someone mentioned. Lots of meetings (ugh), office politics (ugh). You might enjoy the math and science, but there's the possibility of being run ragged by all the interactions and commotion.

For math I'd say Economics (which is what I'm majoring in).

Well, echonomy requires a lot of social skills, doesn't it?

And why isn't engineering a good option for someone who's just starting out?

I would also like more advice about which careers are good for aspies who like math and physics(not general science). Are there only the options of becoming a mathematician or a physicist then?

In the US all of the real engineering work is being done in China and India because of the cheap labor. What engineering jobs remain are just not open to a rookie. There are so many unemployed, experienced engineers out there that will work for entry level wages. When that is the situation a company has no reason to hire someone just starting out.

I guess it would depend on the kind of economics you're doing. There's a book called Freakonomics that's written by a guy who's won a ton of awards for being an insanely talented economist. I forget his name... but he's referred to in the book blurb as a "rogue economist"... he may very well be undiagnosed AS. He's an economist and has zero interest in money or "the economy" as relates to money... He spends all his time looking for interesting data sets he can apply regression tests to so he can figure out things that... mostly have no practical application. Like in the book one of the things he talks about is the amount of falsification of personal info in internet dating sites -- how it is that people on those sites are on average taller, fitter and blonder than the average person (which means they're lying basically). I believe he now teaches economics at a university.



Jet propulsion labs... anything at NASA... robotics(?)... those may or may not actually be "physicist" jobs... although you may have to be amazingly talented (valedictorian from an ivy-league school with a triple-major?) plus lucky to even get the interview for a lot of them if Metal Man's comments about market saturation are accurate. Don't take anyone's word for it though -- research the jobs that are available here, look at the salaries they're offering and the requirements they're asking for and decide based on that whether you think you can hold out long enough to luck on to the job you want in that field.

Internship on MythBusters?