Discover 102 opportunities in engineering

Most buildings around the world – residential, commercial or industrial – use a lot of energy during their lifetime, whether for lighting, heating, ventilation systems or plugged-in devices. In fact, buildings use about 40% of global energy, 25% of global water, 40% of global resources, and they emit approximately one third of greenhouse gases.

Reading magazines is a great way to stay up to date with industry trends within your specific field - key if you are keen to advance in your engineering career . Magazines offer a centralised accumulation of all relevant and current information, with most magazines offering archives stretching back for years where you can find past issues. There are many different types of engineering magazines, with some geared towards entertainment, while others are more focused on detailed engineering topics.  This article offers an overview of engineering-related magazines for some of the main branches of engineering, including mechanical, civil, chemical, and electrical engineering. The magazines mentioned below are aimed at engineering students and professionals.

The Canadian aerospace industry plays a big part of the Canadian economy. In 2018, the industry contributed over $25 billion to GDP and was responsible for 213,000 jobs. Until the pandemic hit, those numbers had increased year on year. The country’s aeronautical companies cover a broad spectrum of opportunities for engineers, including structural design and assembly, space systems manufacturing, avionics, and numerous opportunities in maintenance, repair, and overhaul. Below are ten of the top companies in Canada to consider when pursuing  a career in aeronautical engineering.

Civil engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the design and construction of buildings, roads, bridges, and other large-scale structures. It is an established profession that has existed since the establishment of the first permanent human settlements. Within the civil engineering profession, there are many subdisciplines to specialise in, including:

Electrical engineers design and test all types of electrical devices, including simple handheld electronics, complex communication systems, power generation plants, and electrical grids. They can also work in a factory, where they may oversee the manufacturing of consumer electronics and other electrical equipment. If you are interested in working as an electrical engineer in Canada, you must first complete an undergraduate degree. After graduating from the program, you can apply to work as an electrical engineer-in-training at one of Canada’s many electrical engineering companies. Once the engineering experience prerequisite is met, you will be able to use the Professional Engineer (P. Eng) title, which allows you to fully practice as an electrical engineer in Canada.

Mechanical engineering students study the forces and thermal environment encountered by a product and its parts so they can come up with the best designs and manufacturing processes of a product. Most importantly, an in-depth understanding of objects and systems in motion are required, which makes mechanical engineering a broad and diverse discipline of engineering. While it can be difficult in the current climate to move to a new city or country in order to pursue your studies, many universities, including some of those on our list, offer distance-learning online degrees. You don’t have to leave wherever you're holed up and, most importantly, you can stay safe!

The modern world is a product of human endeavour, our species’ ability to envisage, design, and to construct. Engineers have always been at the forefront of this process, and today, more than any other time in history, we are living in a world of outstanding innovators. These figures have provided humanity with some invaluable advancements, and are now beacons of success, inspiring the minds of tomorrow. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest names.

Many graduates in computer engineering dream of working for one of the top 5 largest tech companies in the world. With offices in every major city across the globe, it doesn’t matter where you currently live, there is bound to be an opportunity to join one of these tech giants – provided you are good enough of course! Although some may opt for a smaller startup or mid-level business, in truth even at the larger corporate companies there are many benefits to accrue, from flexible working hours and great health benefits to a relaxed, fun atmosphere in the office.

Long gone are the days when women were believed to have no place in the workforce. In the United States today, women make up 49% of the college-educated workforce. However, despite this encouraging number, careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) remain severely lacking when it comes to females in the field. Let’s break down why that is, and how it can change.

The world’s population is growing – and ageing. This means that more people are getting sick, and new ailments are constantly popping up. The pressure, thus, to keep developing and manufacturing the pharmaceuticals that people need to stay healthy is constantly building. And who exactly is shouldering that burden? Pharmaceutical engineers.

Smart or intelligent materials are described as materials that can achieve a controlled, predictable, variation in one or more of their properties as a direct response to an external stimuli and/or a change in their environment. The external changes can be fluctuations in temperature, light, pressure, magnetic or electrical fields, surrounding moisture, or chemicals. Not all smart materials are the same. Some can change their properties due to more than one of the external stimuli at the same time, and some materials offer greater adaptability due to certain external changes than others. However, a common theme is that the changes are reversible, which make these kinds of materials particularly useful.

As we collectively learn the lessons from our handling of a global pandemic, there is an increasing awareness of the need to be prepared for the big issues our planet faces through the 2020s. In particular, what can engineers do to combat some of the known challenges that we will face?