When you put a team of scientists together, there is always one person who has to manage them. This is the person who not only must direct said team, which sometimes is like herding a team of cats, but also explain what progress the team is making...to people who don't understand science at all. This person is called the engineering manager.
Engineering managers are senior personnel not only elevated because of their experience but also due to proven executive skills. They have not only proven their expertise in their engineering specialty, but have taken the extra time to go back to school to earn a Masters, even a Ph.D.
As intimated before, this is a position that isn't earned just by education, but through merit. On the average, the manager not only has his or her Bachelor's degree in their engineering specialty, but usually has put in five or more years working for one company or another. Most managerial candidates are usually handpicked by a company for their exceptional leadership and communications skills as well as years of service. Even with this, the promotion doesn't happen overnight.
What oft-times happens is the company will sponsor their candidate at an online college, where the employee will not actually be taking many courses in their engineering specialty. Instead, they will more than likely study for the GMAT exam and after passing take either an MBA or Masters in Engineering Management course load. These courses focus more on accounting, auditing and business, creating reports and marketing and personnel management.
The reason many managerial candidates choose online schools is simple enough. The companies want them to also learn their rules and regulations on the job while getting their degree. It also allows them to maintain their steady paychecks, stay on top of their specialty and take their courses from the comfort of their homes. Those who seek getting the degree outside of the corporate structure there is also financial aid available such as the Lifetime Learning Credit and SMART grants.
There is an extremely wide range when it comes to salary, generally ranging from $75,000 to $150,000 a year plus benefits. This is due to a number of reasons, among them the industry worked in, the location and the engineer's level of experience. On the average though, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median range between $110,000 to $135,000 a year.
The Bureau projects growth in the field to be slow to average. While they expect some growth due to overall growth in the U.S. population, the federal agency says the main reason for job vacancies will be experienced managers retiring, leaving the field or being promoted higher up in their place of employment.
The simple truth is though that most scientific work is done by committee, literally teams of scientists, engineers and technicians teaming their efforts to achieve a common goal. As long as such work is done this way, there has to be someone who has to lead the team. So there will always be engineering managers.
The simple truth is though that most scientific work is done by committee, literally teams of scientists, engineers and technicians teaming their efforts to achieve a common goal. As long as such work is done this way, there has to be someone who has to lead the team. So there will always be engineering managers. You could get all of your qualifications through online school. It will allow you to do things such as recieving an online systems analysis degree.
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