The past few years have seen the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – also known as drones – skyrocket across industry and society. Previously reserved for the military, we now see them providing footage at sporting events and concerts, and for films and advertisements as well as being used for delivery by retail giants like Amazon. They now find application in agriculture for monitoring of crops and animal herds, and in search and rescue for locating missing persons.

With the arrival of automated teller machines in the 1970s, the number of bank tellers in America has more than doubled. There are many other examples that automation can do the opposite of “stealing” human jobs. The new phenomenon actually can grow hand in hand with more openings for people in the labour market.

The "Internet of things" (IoT) is becoming an increasingly hot topic of conversation both in the workplace and outside of it. It's a concept that not only has the potential to impact how we live but also how we work and communicate.

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Environmental engineers are finding themselves busier these days with a global focus on building sustainable industries and decreasing pollution. Their work focuses on minimizing the harmful effects of society on nature and human health. To do so – environmental engineers require a solid educational foundation from top graduate schools for environmental or environmental health engineering.

Master's degree programs in civil engineering are an exciting opportunity for students to further their engineering education through hands-on research and traditional classroom instruction. There are many higher education institutions that offer civil engineering programs with several areas of concentration. All civil engineering students graduate with a solid understanding of complex mathematical, scientific, and architectural disciplines, which gives them a wide range of career options.

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Orto Botanico dell'Università di Pisa, Photo Credit: Daderot, Wikipedia.

These universities produce some of the best engineering talent in the world. And engineers trained in the most sought-after fields can command among the highest salaries of all college graduates in the country. But with over 40 different types of engineering careers in 5 different sub disciplines, it can be daunting for fresh graduates to navigate the vast variety of career options.

Electrical engineering is the field that deals with the research and application of electricity, electromagnetism and electronics. It is highly lucrative as all people rely on products in their everyday life that require the expertise of electrical engineers to function (and even exist).

As global travel increases and commercial space travel closely approaches, the next big thing in the field of science is aerospace engineering – a field that holds great potential for career development and exciting opportunities.

Every year, there are various conferences that focus on relevant topics in the field of the engineering sciences that are attended by thousands of professionals.  Discussions and presentations on IT technologies, performance challenges, new regulation and frameworks, platforms, software developments and career development techniques attract engineers across all fields. Given time and budget constraints, it is important to plan ahead on which events are worth visiting.

Navigating a career in engineering and figuring out how to get ahead can be daunting, especially if you're trying to do it alone. No matter how successful you are, you'll get where you want to go faster with a little help from an informed source, and that’s exactly what a mentor does.  A mentor can help you set reasonable goals and achieve them, avoid career mistakes, and navigate social politics or bureaucracy.

Engineering graduates fresh out of school would be wise to do some research on which companies offer the best working conditions and career advancement prospects.