1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,832
Enrollment
4,550
A junior engineer is a trained engineering professional who works under the direct supervision of an engineer. The role is usually an entry-level position meant to equip the engineer with the necessary skills and experience to enable him/her to execute his/her /her duties successfully and professionally. Junior engineers are present in all engineering subsections, including civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, etc.
Under the senior engineer's supervision, a junior engineer's duties include developing project drawings, reviewing project plans and budgets, assisting in getting the required approvals, and delivering progress reports. A junior engineer spends half of the time working in the office and half of the time in the field.
A junior engineer typically works 40 hours a week, although you might be required to go beyond this due to the field's time. Also, tight project delivery deadlines might force a junior engineer to work extra hours.
There are certain skills that many junior engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, listening skills and problem-solving skills.
If you're interested in becoming a junior engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 70.3% of junior engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 9.7% of junior engineers have master's degrees. Even though most junior engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a junior engineer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as engineer, progress to a title such as project engineer and then eventually end up with the title project engineering manager.
What Am I Worth?
The role of a junior engineer includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general junior engineer responsibilities:
There are several types of junior engineer, including:
Engineers design and develop new products in a variety of different industries. They might be mechanical or software engineers or create electric machinery, design chemical or geotechnical processes, or help to structure civil or management disciplines. Whatever the case may be, engineers are involved in creating the diverse technologies that facilitate the processes of our lives in different areas. Combining creative thinking with the principles of mathematics and science using a wide range of technical skills, engineers work on the design, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of various products from machines, vehicles, buildings, and roads to software or social processes serving consumers, businesses, and societies.
Engineers are creative thinkers and brilliant problem solvers. They excel at mathematical, scientific, and mechanical analysis. They follow plans and blueprints with a strong focus, yet remain flexible and work well under pressure.
Engineers develop systems for solving various problems as members of a team. They know that a single component is worthless without their counterparts, so they have to be great communicators, as well, to be successful at their job.
A project engineer is responsible for the planning and implementation of a project. In collaboration with the management of the enterprise, they review proposals and come up with project goals. They break down the process and create a viable schedule, and then coordinate and monitor the work.
The project, as such, sounds vague because it depends on the industry they work for. In any case, they go on regular meetings with clients to make sure the the evolution of the work matches their vision. It is their responsibility to carry out the work within the budget or to propose adjustments to it if they see fit.
The project engineer will analyze the performance of their team and present progress reports to stakeholders to make sure everyone is at the top of their game.
Do you love technical work and want to pursue your creative side at the same time? Maybe now's the time to take your sketch pads out of your shoebox and see those designs come to life. If you feel excited, guess you're on track to being a design engineer in the future.
A design engineer sounds fun, if you love research and innovation. I mean, who wouldn't want to see their discoveries and projects come alive, right? Recognition is another thing, but self-accomplishment matters the most. Apart from that, design engineers build their careers around traveling (no, not a vacation, though), interacting with people, and more... more technical duties. They are computer-savvy humans who would throw a fit over a system crash and computer virus (Like, who doesn't?). Their schedules are, well, usually messed-up. They work like regular employees during weekdays but could go over weekends and holidays as their job requires. So if you're planning to have a coffee date with a design engineer, just don't expect too much as they may meet a client in that coffee shop, too.
Generally, this job sounds fun, regardless of the pile of work and deadlines that have to be done. If you're someone who's always up for new things and discoveries, this might be the sign you're waiting for.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active junior engineer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where junior engineers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 7,103 | $87,376 |
2 | Texas | 2,990 | $70,513 |
3 | Virginia | 2,294 | $73,905 |
4 | New York | 1,961 | $72,962 |
5 | Florida | 1,838 | $62,813 |
6 | Illinois | 1,566 | $70,204 |
7 | Massachusetts | 1,514 | $82,677 |
8 | Maryland | 1,493 | $71,819 |
9 | Washington | 1,480 | $89,292 |
10 | Pennsylvania | 1,341 | $67,341 |
11 | Michigan | 1,264 | $71,510 |
12 | North Carolina | 1,263 | $63,551 |
13 | Ohio | 1,243 | $64,889 |
14 | Georgia | 1,167 | $67,296 |
15 | Colorado | 1,122 | $73,226 |
16 | Arizona | 983 | $73,696 |
17 | Minnesota | 911 | $62,365 |
18 | Oregon | 901 | $75,128 |
19 | New Jersey | 890 | $75,524 |
20 | Indiana | 730 | $63,797 |
21 | Utah | 655 | $61,483 |
22 | Alabama | 596 | $67,513 |
23 | Wisconsin | 595 | $60,683 |
24 | Missouri | 570 | $60,985 |
25 | Tennessee | 502 | $67,651 |
26 | Connecticut | 490 | $70,870 |
27 | South Carolina | 440 | $58,693 |
28 | Iowa | 410 | $62,341 |
29 | Kansas | 328 | $60,427 |
30 | Kentucky | 306 | $58,756 |
31 | Louisiana | 262 | $69,613 |
32 | Nevada | 261 | $70,097 |
33 | Oklahoma | 246 | $62,331 |
34 | New Mexico | 243 | $73,305 |
35 | New Hampshire | 243 | $67,445 |
36 | Nebraska | 236 | $63,164 |
37 | Delaware | 230 | $67,450 |
38 | Idaho | 220 | $66,640 |
39 | Arkansas | 219 | $54,683 |
40 | Rhode Island | 158 | $68,219 |
41 | Mississippi | 138 | $57,023 |
42 | Montana | 135 | $59,514 |
43 | Vermont | 126 | $69,952 |
44 | West Virginia | 125 | $79,203 |
45 | Maine | 125 | $74,264 |
46 | Hawaii | 114 | $76,908 |
47 | North Dakota | 110 | $61,026 |
48 | Alaska | 95 | $77,494 |
49 | South Dakota | 88 | $68,586 |
50 | Wyoming | 74 | $57,168 |
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,832
Enrollment
4,550
Atlanta, GA • Private
In-State Tuition
$12,424
Enrollment
15,201
Ithaca, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,188
Enrollment
15,105
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
Baltimore, MD • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,740
Enrollment
5,567
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,465
Enrollment
6,483
Austin, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,610
Enrollment
40,329
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,262
Enrollment
30,079
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.1% of junior engineers listed control systems on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and listening skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Junior Engineer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Junior Engineer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a junior engineer. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Massachusetts, and West Virginia. Junior engineers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $89,292. Whereas in California and Massachusetts, they would average $87,376 and $82,677, respectively. While junior engineers would only make an average of $79,203 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
$89,292
Avg. Salary
2. California
$87,376
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$82,677
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | IBM | $85,847 | $41.27 | 11 |
2 | General Electric | $76,355 | $36.71 | 5 |
3 | Raytheon Technologies | $75,900 | $36.49 | 5 |
4 | Fidessa | $74,990 | $36.05 | 13 |
5 | Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited Inc | $70,998 | $34.13 | 7 |
6 | Modal | $70,994 | $34.13 | 5 |
7 | Elecon Engineering | $70,908 | $34.09 | 5 |
8 | Siemens | $70,734 | $34.01 | 9 |
9 | Punj Lloyd Limited | $70,650 | $33.97 | 5 |
10 | Niagara Bottling | $70,451 | $33.87 | 6 |
You can become a successful junior engineer by planning early. First, decide on which field of engineering is of most interest to you. There are over 30 specialized engineering majors. Not all schools have the same offerings.
It can take 3 to 5 years of college or university to become a junior engineer. Junior engineers are entry-level positions that provide support to their supervisors.
There are many subsets in the field of engineering, and requirements differ for each: