According to Elon Musk, we can find new solutions to old problems by creating through first principles, which is an application of breaking down the scientific requirements in solving an issue without comparing or adopting the status quo. From the achievements of Elon Musk, we can extract the immense value in learning how to engineer things and systems. Being a senior engineer is one pathway toward understanding and creating systems.
Daily, a senior engineer is involved in reviewing design plans, communicating with clients on work specifications, maintaining engineering processes, and developing a workable budget. Besides that, they perform research, undertake diagnostic testing, and assist in employee onboarding.
Employers require senior engineers to have a bachelor's degree in engineering or STEM-related field, as well as at least two to three years of relevant work experience. This role earns, on average, $48 per hour and suits individuals who are technically oriented and enjoy problem solving.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $49.51 an hour? That's $102,989 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 12,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many senior 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 math skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 9.4% of senior engineers included python, while 7.3% of resumes included architecture, and 5.4% of resumes included java. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior engineers actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
If you're interested in becoming a senior engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.9% of senior engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 37.8% of senior engineers have master's degrees. Even though most senior engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a senior engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior engineer resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior engineer. In fact, many senior engineer jobs require experience in a role such as engineer. Meanwhile, many senior engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as project engineer or software engineer.