Cameron Bates
Pre-AP English I – 5
November 4, 2014
Even though I am only a freshman in highschool I have been thinking of the type of job I want to have when I graduate high school and move to college. The types of jobs I wanted were jobs that involved animals, computers, or any type of electrical devices. For these reasons I have selected these jobs: electrical engineer, veterinarian, and computer hardware engineer.
After examining these possible career choices based on salary, versatility, abilities needed, the colleges, and the drawbacks of the jobs. I chose computer hardware engineer because I have always been interested with how the computer parts worked together and what their purpose was for the computer.
| Electrical Engineer | Computer Hardware Engineer | Veterinarian | |
| Salary – Earning Potential | $89,630 | $100,920 | $84,460 |
| Flexibility – Versatility | 5 ½ hours a day on average | 5 ½ hours a day on average | 10 hours a day on average |
| Abilities Needed | Maths, Communication, and Problem Solving | Creativity, Being Able To Work With Others, and
Interpersonal Skills |
Good With Animals, Observant, and Good With Communication |
| Colleges That Offer This Field of Work | Texas A&M, Stanford, and UCLA | Texas A&M, Stanford and UCLA | Cornell, Colorado State, Ohio State, and Pennsylvania |
| Drawbacks of the Job | Have to live in a big city and work for a big company that may not have many job openings | Can get repetitive and boring after about 7 or 8 years | Is an 8-6 job. Won’t get to see family as much |
Source: http://www.bls.gov/k12/content/students/careers/career-exploration.htm. October 20, 2014
By examining the chart above and considering the income with the versatility I have removed being a veterinarian because it has the lowest pay of $84,460 with the most working hours of ten hours. Also the college choices for a veterinarian are not the prime colleges I would like to attend. Even though I am extremely fond of animals, I would enjoy having more time with my family.
With electrical engineering the salary of $89,630 with the amount of hours of 5 and ½ and the colleges, Texas A&M or UCLA, are amazing. The downside is that I would have to work for a big company with few prime jobs available and I would have to work in a big city because there are not many engineering firms in small cities around where I would like to live. Also I would have to know literally all the math subjects: Geometry, Algebra, Calculus, and Trigonometry.
With the increased salary and the interest in computers I have chosen computer hardware engineering.
The first reason in my choice of hardware engineering is the salary which is $100,920. I would enjoy the fact in having money to pay bills and have extra for fun and food. I want my family to have a comfortable life, not one of stress of not having enough money.
The only cons to being a computer hardware engineer is that it would get really repetitive. The only way not to make it repetitive would be to find a way to make it somehow fun which would be easy because I get to work with a team. I have played sports all my life so making this fun would be extremely easy because I like having a team.
All three careers I have looked at involve either animals, computers, or any type of technological device. Being a vet would put me around all different types of animals and I have loved animals since the first one I cared for. Engineering allows me to use my hands and learn how different things work, but computer hardware engineering allows me to help others with their computer problems and I would learn what all the parts are for and how to fix them if needed. This is why computer hardware engineering is the career I chose.