Some possible jobs within this career area are:
Depending on your salary goals, you might need to continue your education throughout your engineering career. Commonly offered degree programs include:
- Associate’s Degree
- Bachelor’s Degree
- Master’s Degree
- PhD
Careers in the engineering field are changing along with the world economy. The growth of computers and microprocessors is making software engineers and computer engineers in high demand. However, many of these jobs are growing in countries like China and India. To be successful, you might need to pursue a graduate degree to increase your earning potential and make yourself a more marketable employee. Beyond the global job market, engineers are always in demand. Infrastructure projects designed to boost the economy also boost the job market for civil engineers. Companies need engineers for their research and development projects, and some of the world’s most renowned software and computer companies rely on the creativity of their engineers to remain relevant in today’s fast-paced world.
Most Bachelor’s Degrees for engineering take four years, and some engineers go to college for six years to earn combined Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. A select number of engineers return to school to get their PhD, while other engineers enter the workforce with a two-year Associate’s Degree.
How to Become a Biomedical Engineer
A biomedical engineer combines their knowledge of engineering with their knowledge of medicine and biology to develop procedures and devices for medical use. Biomedical engineers help create prostheses, imaging systems, and artificial organs as well as a vast number of other medical research and design specialties. If this sounds like the perfect job, you might want to become a biomedical engineer.
Getting a Biomedical Education
The first step towards entering a biomedical engineer career is an engineering degree. Many biomedical engineers hold at least a five-year bachelor’s degree, with the fifth year being specialized biomedical training. According to the Department of Labor 45 percent of biomedical engineers hold bachelor degrees, 35 percent hold a master’s degree, and another 20 percent have degrees at the doctorate level.
In your first two years of an engineering program you will typically take courses in physics, chemistry, math, humanities, and social sciences as well as completing your core classes. By the beginning of your third year of college you will need to decide your biomedical engineering career track, which is usually in one of two fields: either medical device innovation, which is the development and design of new medical products, or biomechanics, which focuses on injury prevention and medical disorder treatments.
Biomedical Engineering Salaries
Because of the advances in technology, those in the biomedical engineering career field will be in high demand over the next decade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects employment growth over 70 percent for those who wish to become a biomedical engineer. The median biomedical engineer salary in 2008 was $77,400, and the lowest ten percent earned $47,640. The highest ten percent of biomedical engineer salaries was $121,970 per year.
(Salary data retrieved 6/27/11)
To get the education you need to become a biomedical engineer, find a degree program now!