 Is an architectural engineering major or architectural engineering degree worth it? That's what we're going to be talking about today. Is it going to be worth going $40,000 in student loan debt and spending four years of your time grinding away studying? And the way to answer that question is to first ask what exactly is architectural engineering? Well, architectural engineering is going to focus on the construction of buildings with a focus on the technological aspects. It's very similar to architecture with more of a focus on the structural aspects. And there's also a lot of similarities between architectural engineering and structural engineering. And depending on the program you go to, there's going to be more or less differences. So for instance, with structural engineering, you might focus on designing bridges and skyscrapers, buildings that really have to be sturdy. Whereas with architectural engineering, you'll focus more on the design of the inner part of the building and maybe even focus on what happens after the building is built. But the truth is with both of these different types of degrees, you'll likely be going into the same career paths and competing for a lot of the same jobs. Now with these videos, I like to consider four important aspects that you should consider with any major. And those are going to be salary, satisfaction, demand, and then x factors. Now, when it comes to salary, you can expect to make around $62,000 a year starting out and $98,000 in mid-career pay. You can compare this to a really good one and a bad one. And you'll see that it's above average, but not that impressive when you compare it to a lot of other engineering degrees. However, generally speaking, of course, everybody's different. I usually recommend going for a career where you can make at least 70 to $80,000 a year, just because studies have shown that that is going to maximize your happiness. Now one career path you might go down is becoming an architectural or engineering manager, and they make around $144,000 a year or $69 an hour. Another one you might end up going down is becoming a construction manager, and they make $95,000 a year or $45 an hour. So as you can see, they all pay really well. And when you look at engineering degrees over a lifetime over their entire career, you see that they make more than any other type of major. So according to the latest US census, they make around 3.5 million over a lifetime versus all other degrees and all other types of careers making around 2.4. So engineering degrees in general make a good amount of money. And there's usually quite a few different options for you. So for instance, if you want to make a ton of money, you can go in more of a leadership direction and become a manager. They always make more. Or if you're someone who wants more of a chill type nine to five job, you want to enjoy the rest of your life, you can go for more of a chill job and make a little bit less. But overall, I'm going to give this one a score of nine out of 10 when it comes to salary. Next, we are going to be talking about satisfaction. And this is a very important one. But it's also extremely subjective. And by that, I mean, it could be different for everyone. For one person, this could be a 10 out of 10, maybe buildings, you just absolutely love them. I mean, you can just study architecture all day long. And for another person, it might be a one out of 10, it would bore you to death. However, with this one, I like to focus on two things. And the first one is going to be meaning or how much you think your career positively impacts the world. And with architectural engineering, you can see that it has a meaning score of 58%. You can compare that to a really high meaning score and a really low one. And you'll see that it's a little bit above average. If you go to a specific career, like construction manager, for instance, you'll see that it's around 58%, which again, a little bit above average. And if you look at the job satisfaction, it's 74%, which is well above average if you compare it to a really good one and a really bad one. So it doesn't really pop off the page, you know, the meaning score is just decent, slightly above average. But at the same time, it's not horrible either. Now, when you look at the percentage of people who regret getting their college degree, engineering also scores really well. So they're the third least regretted type of major, only about 15% of people regret it. And the main reason is because the best jobs require advanced degrees. So as long as you watch my videos and you do your research and you make sure that you're not getting into a career where you're going to have to get a master's or a doctorate, you should be okay. Now I will say here, it's extremely subjective. Like I said, it depends on all sorts of different factors, the company you work for, the career you're in, the industry you're in, etc, are all going to have an effect on your happiness or your job satisfaction. However, with that being said, I am going to give this one a 7.5 out of 10. Next, we're going to be talking about demand. And this is basically how much demand is going to be out there on the market for somebody who has the skill set that this particular major teaches. Now, if you look at architectural and engineering manager, there's 198,000 jobs right now, and it's growing at 3%, which is average, meaning over the next 10 years, 5100 new jobs will be created. If you look at construction manager, there's 476,000 jobs, and it's growing at 8%, which is much faster than average. However, I will say that this is a relatively new and rare degree. So there aren't that many people out there that you would specifically call an architectural engineer. There's architects, and then there's engineers, but there's not that many architectural engineers. And this is a relatively rare degree. And so most of the people who become architectural engineers are basically just going to be consultants. Now, when you look up architectural engineering degree on something like monster.com, you'll see that around 9500 jobs pop up. Now you can compare that to computer science, which is a great one in anthropology where there's not much demand. And you'll see that it's somewhere in the middle. However, this is not a very well established degree. And just because of the fact that a lot of business owners and hiring managers aren't going to know exactly what you do, they're probably going to give precedence to some more common degrees that learn skills that might not even be as good as the skills you've learned, but they're just more familiar with hopefully that changes in the near future. But at this point, a lot of the time, they're probably just going to hire somebody that they're much more familiar with to do the same types of jobs. So overall for demand, I'm going to give this one a score of 7.5 out of 10. Next, we're going to be talking about x factors. And this is anything that's important that I didn't already go over. So like I mentioned before, when it comes to engineering, you're going to make around 3.5 million over a lifetime, which is the best by far. And that's a really good sign, but it gets even better because there's something magical about engineering related degrees. Even if you go into a career that has nothing to do with engineering, like an artist, for instance, you're still going to make around 3 million over a lifetime. And that's higher than any other type of degree out there. Same if you go into community service and legal, you'll make 3.2 million over a lifetime. So there's something magical about engineering degrees where even if you don't become an engineer, you're still going to make really good money. And I think that has a lot of different things that go into it, but it's well respected for one. And it does teach you really important practical problem solving skills. But on top of that, people who go into engineering tend to be really smart. So there's probably a little bit of correlation and causation, but whatever caused it, you can't deny the fact that engineering is a very well respected degree. And a lot of the time people will end up just hiring engineers because they know what they're getting. They're getting somebody who's really smart and hardworking, or at least that's what they think. Now, when it comes to skills, zip recruiter has a skills index. And of course, architectural engineering wasn't on there because it's so rare, but civil engineering is somewhat similar and it scored 61 out of 100. You can compare that to a really good one like software engineering is 88 out of 100 or one that's not so good like industrial sewing at eight out of 100. And you see that it's definitely coming out on the higher side. Now another thing is very important to talk about is automation and engineering degrees are pretty much some of the most automation proof types of majors that you can go for. I'm not going to get too much into the details. But as an engineer, a lot of the time, you're going to be on site, you're going to be touching things, you're going to be helping people with things, you're going to be communicating with all kinds of different people within the company. And so for instance, architectural engineering manager has about a 1.7% chance of being automated construction manager is 7% chance that is very, very low. And when it comes to automation and outsourcing as well, I don't think you have too much to worry about when it comes to engineering degrees, even if that career for whatever reason was automated or outsourced, the skills that you learn are going to be easily applicable to all kinds of other careers out there. And one thing that's also amazing about engineering degrees is they tend to make great entrepreneurs and that's why engineering majors create the most millionaires and billionaires. Engineering is basically just practical problem solving. And that's kind of what entrepreneurship is as well. Now another thing you should consider here, and I don't want to scare you or anything, but engineering degrees tend to be very difficult and architectural engineering is one of the most difficult ones. So keep that in mind. I don't want to scare you by any means, sometimes being difficult is a good thing, but it also does have a very high dropout rate. But overall, when it comes to x factors, I'm going to give this one a score of 8.5 out of 10. So when you add everything up and divide by four, you're going to get a score of 8.125 out of 10. And that is excellent. Of course, this is extremely subjective. It depends on the person. For one person, it might be the greatest degree ever. And for another, it might be the definition of hell. So one thing that I have to assume with this video, this is an assumption that I make, is that you are going to do your due diligence and make sure that you research, contact people who are in the careers that you're trying to go for and ask them if you should get the degree and ask them other relevant questions. However, if you've done your research, you know what you're getting yourself into, this one can be really good. If you're not 100% sure what you're doing or you're kind of know what you want to go for, maybe you should consider getting a civil engineering degree or maybe a mechanical engineering degree and then just take extra classes. This isn't one of the more flexible degrees and it's also not that well known. And so there are some downsides to that. If you want help doing research on degrees and you don't want to wait for one of my videos to come out, check out my college degree ranker down in the description below in my Patreon. I created it to make your research as easy as possible. And right now it's on version 1.1. I'm waiting until all the craziness in the world is over with hopefully. And then I'm going to create version two, which will be even better. If you haven't done it already, go ahead and gently tap the like button, hit the subscribe button, ring the notification bell and comment down below any thoughts, comments, criticisms, et cetera that you have on the video. 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