If you are looking into this page, you may or may not know what the job outlook, or future availability, is for mechanical engineering. Well, some websites say the outlook is good, some say the outlook is average, and some say the outlook is low. It really depends on the parameters they, the reporting company, use to determine a job outlook. Since I am a believer in planning for the worst, we will be using the information from an agency that predicts job growth to be low. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth in mechanical engineering is expected to rise 4 percent over the next decade. This will be lower than the national average. In turn, this means the job market has a potential to be more competitive. This is all more reason, to make sure your communication skills, such as writing, are at their peak. Also, as you are working to obtain education, make sure you are spending more time paying attention to your work, and less time paying attention to extra curricular activities. Competition means companies will look for the best candidates; and a potential employer would be happy to pick an honors graduate over someone who just squeaked by in the engineering department.

For the full information page from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, click here. This page has a lot of information on mechanical engineering, including pay statistics, background requirements, which I will cover later, and employment numbers.