r/ChemicalEngineering • u/MistakeSea6886 • Sep 21 '23

Salary What’s the most profitable career path?

I’m a freshmen Engineering major that is taking gen Ed’s. I am thinking of switching to chemical engineering next year. I really like ChE but but want to pick a profitable career path, which is why I’m on the fence between it and Computer science. I did research and found that petroleum engineering is very profitable, and ChE can pick it pretty quickly. However with the way the world is going(more green energy), are renewable energy jobs such as nuclear power plants going to experience a boom in demand and become more profitable?

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u/karlnite Sep 22 '23

Go into Computer Engineering, get your money. Honestly if you want to earn money, have you considered finance?

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u/MistakeSea6886 Sep 22 '23

I have, but I like engineering

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u/karlnite Sep 22 '23 edited Sep 22 '23

What do you like about engineering? Making mundane solutions to niche problems then trying to sell the rights to it before someone else invents or designs something that does the same. Like just chase first to market advantage? Or would you rather be an “Engineer” that talks people up to make sales? Would you like to oversell yourself, always be in over your head, and arrogantly act confident to get moved or promoted before the floor falls out, throw your colleges under the bus and shift blame? Those are your basic options to get rich as an engineer. Or be the smartest and best, like real natural top 1% shit, then you’re golden and can be awkward and unlikable, and still make money.

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u/MistakeSea6886 Sep 23 '23

Yeah, I’m not a genius lol, but enjoy making things. Tbh I’m not all too passionate about anything, and can really do whatever it takes. One of the big things holding me back from petroleum is I don’t think my family would like the idea.