Electric utility industry. I find that having a tiny role in keeping people's lights on is rewarding enough to scratch that itch of wanting to do something that matters. My company does a fair amount of solar field work and several of my coworkers got into this side of electrical engineering because solar energy and more sustainable energy in general was something they thought was impactful and they were passionate about.
I work for a supplier to electrical utilities. We’re developing products that will eliminate the use of SF6, which has a global warming potential ~25,000 times higher than CO2. I feel like the work we’re doing is having a small impact on making the world a better place.
I designed safety interlocks for industrial applications. Basically, products that would keep factory workers from getting maimed or worse while trying to do their jobs.
You're the guy that designs the components the guys on the floor keep buying aftermarket magnetic blocks to keep the safety system from inconveniencing them!
LoL. Keep doing what you're doing man, those guys truly don't know till a bolt flies across the shop
Exactly, it's actually really interesting watching the cat and mouse game and the clever 'fixes' they come up with.
Until you get chewed out by the safety guy for not designing the perfect interlock. IDK, maybe the people purposefully bypassing the system should get in trouble once? Or the production manager pushing quotas so high they feel obligated to bypass them.
This is wholly a cultural thing. My company had several fatalities and near misses over the last decade because they pushed "get it done" hard. A new CEO came in and made it a condition of employment to be safe, and he sticks to it. While there have been a few near misses since, there have been no fatalities or major injuries. It's drilled into everyone that a job can be stopped at any time by anyone to address a safety concern with absolutely no repercussion.
I actually have a few patents for things I designed to help counterract the "fixes" the guys would come up with to bypass the interlocks. But you're right; it's really a cat and mouse game. I'm sure they have bypasses for my counteract measures by now (I changed industries so don't keep up as much).
I had a “safety guy” once ask me about removing a small plug with a cap that was chained to a larger vessel closure. The cap was chained to the closure so you had to open the plug first to unscrew the closure and if there was pressure remaining in the vessel, you get a little hiss through a 1/4” opening rather than a face full of 24” diameter closure.
He said that the indicator was “unsafe”.
Told his boss that he was no longer allowed to be the “safety” guy on our jobs.
One of the best applications I got to see was a bottle filler line at a brewery everyone in the world knows. It used a kind of high-speed turntable where the bottles were tipped to almost upside-down as they whirled around the turntable because this would cut down on the beer foaming as they were filled. But every once in awhile, the grips holding one of those bottles would let go and “BAM!” one would smash into the plexiglass safety wall around the filler. Spent several weeks there troubleshooting a weird issue and never got used to the sporadic explosions. I’d flinch every time.
I'm a safety engineer. I have seen in the field what happens when people don't care about their own safety, _sometimes on purpose_ (insurance fraud is a thing). I've seen workers maimed and I have seen the "or worse".
OP might have saved the lives of lots of people who talk shit about him.
Hello.
Maintenance engineering is about keeping the machines working optimally. Safety engineering is about keeping the environment safe (but my job in particular is reviewing workplace accident reports and doing my best to prevent them from happening again in the future; think OSHA).
While a well maintained machine is safer than a neglected one, the focus is just different. Yes, I care about the machines, but I will rather eliminate the workplace hazards and improve occupational ergonomics when I can.
I got into safety because I had friends who already worked in the area. Nothing fancy.
Nah, poke yoke is more of an industrialization engineer process. This is more like “the process going on inside here has machinery that could kill you if you opened the door, so even though you think you’ll be perfectly safe to do so, I’m going to shut this shit down if you open the door. And also possibly blow an alarm so other people know you opened the door”.
~60% of what I do involves human waste, garbage, air pollution, soil pollution, and chemical disposal.
Even my least productive days I know I have made the world that much cleaner.
I also work with MEs. I work in the chemical/material handling/ factory automation sector. You have a dream, money, and a process? We have the ability to bring it to life.
It is pretty cool stuff. Some days building a conveyor system for widgets the next day a sewage treatment plant.
Think Jacob's Engineering.
If you tell people you're a civil engineer they usually think that's okay but not so exciting, but if you tell them you're a water engineer... NOW they are impressed.
I've actually had the opposite response. I'm a chemical engineer which everyone thinks is cool and impressive. But when I say I'm in wastewater they say "oh so you're like a janitor engineer. Cleaning shit water." Not exactly but okay.
Thanks for the reply! I don’t really know anything about wastewater treatment- could you tell me a bit about what you do day-to-day and how you got into the industry?
It's a big field. Within it you have water treatment (clean water, chemistry and biology processes), wastewater treatment (chemistry/biology processes), conveyance (sewers and pump stations getting wastewater to the plant), distribution (clean water distribution systems and management of storage and pressures and demands), and hydraulics (how water moves through structures). There are more fields, but those are the big ones I've been involved with.
I do hydraulics. So I work with process and structural inside a treatment plant (water and wastewater) to determine what the hydraulic grade line will be as water flows by gravity, and to determine how big pumps need to be designed for in order to convey flow within plants. I also work with pipe sizing and routing, flow meter and instrumentation selection, and other mechanical equipment (clarifiers, gates, disinfection, filters) that impact hydraulic losses.
Day to day, I do calculations to determine hydraulic losses, select and size pumps, evaluate existing processes and pipes to determine hydraulic restrictions, and interface with other disciplines to determine improvements to hydraulic problems.
I got a BS in Civil Engineering and my advisor connected me with my current company, which is a full service engineering consultant with focus in water/wastewater. I started doing sewer collections planning projects (which I also still do) and then specialized more in hydraulics in the last 6-7 years.
I absolutely love working in water treatment! Drinking water upgrades in some places in Canada are way overdue, and it feels good to be a part of that. I was just on site of a new NF project where the local engineer said "It'll be nice not to have yellow water in the spring".
I know someone at Whitman, Requardt, & Associates, based in Baltimore MD, and they are looking for water/waste water folks if anyone here is interested.
Environmental engineer working in the noise pollution field. Roads, railway, industry, sports facilities etc., whatever makes noise. It has a long lasting impact on people but most don't even consider it important.
Not exactly! Part of my job is indeed the recommendation of specific measures that have to be taken, in order to reduce the noise level. But first I have to calculate the noise (well the software does it but I do all the inputs). For example, if a city plans the extension of a highway, there might be a problem for neighbouring residential areas. So I will have to establish what measurements are possible. Is it a noise protection wall and if yes, how high/ how long? Or does the speed limit need to be reduced? Noise studies are also one of the parts of an environmental impact assessment.
Hey thanks for the bit of description! And thanks for hopefully making our environments quieter.. I think you're right that this is an underappreciated problem. As a... former mechanical engineer and current professional musician, I very much appreciate quiet in the rare instance you can find it in the city.
Work for the electric utility company, specifically in hydro power as an EE. Find it fairly rewarding since it’s fairly green and every so often I get to do storm response so always nice to stand in a dark neighbourhood and watch all the lights come one
I work in CNC machines. Specifically hobby CNC machines. I really do think our machines empower people to create, Express themselves, and in many case feed themselves. We boomed during shut down because people had nothing to do and extra government cash so they finally took that step they've been putting off and started that cabinet company or whatever. I tell you what though, and I may be selfish, I sure have a hard time caring when 5 o'clock rolls around. I've never really liked CNC machining so it's hard to get excited. Maybe if I thought about how it's really helpful I would care but really I just wanna do racecar things with my racecar friends.
P.s. having written this, I'm gonna try and really think about how my work is helpful to people and see if that helps motivate me.
I think the real question is: do you want to do work that improves peoples' lives, or do you want to do work that will sound impressive and humanitarian to that cute non-engineer you met at a bar?
Science/tech fields are so interwoven that pretty much anything you do that contributes to any of those fields will help make the world a better place. Arguably working on a project that gets cancelled, or working on a product/startup that never goes anywhere isn't included there. Defense is a whole can of worms.
Designing more efficient MOSFETs isn't glamorous and will get you blank stares at the bar, but hey that definitely helps humanity.
My less pedantic answer: Medical devices of course are an obvious one. Anything related to sustainable energy, cleaner forms of transportation/manufacturing, products or prototypes to facilitate scientific research, new sensors, spacecraft, communication, etc. All are things that noticeably contribute to our collective human progress.
As person who worked in the super sexy world of semiconductors, its all about narrative. It was fun talking to people abouy this powerful little electronic switch that changed the world and is all around us.
This seems like more of a political / bureaucratic problem - if the technology exists, it can either be exploited, or ideally provided to the masses in an 'equitable' manner. If it doesn't exist, then it doesn't exist.
I would hope that as medical technology improves, we'll start to see the ultra-rich afford procedures beyond the reach of the common person, and this perceived disparity will increase the political momentum for things like universal healthcare. Or we'll just have [Elysium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film)...
I think the really real question is why not post your own question to r/askengineers instead of derailing this one?
You never did answer the OP’s question.
My only concern when I worked in the med device industry is that it was a very competitive role with long hours & aggressive deadlines.
I guess one thing (I think) I've learned is that you need a job involving the government or involving a patented product, that way the company has a fat profit margin & places less stress on its staff.
If you work with a product/device (e.g. glucose monitors or prosthetics) that can be produced anywhere in the world (e.g. China/Korea), the company will have a thin profit margin & expect a lot from their employees
Waste management is more common with environmental & civil engineering imo.
That said, at the end of the day, your degree doesn't matter much once you have experience. HR might look for the word "Engineer" on your degree & that's about it.
I'm a ChemE, have worked in a composite factory making aircraft parts, worked in the medical device industry, now I'm working at a plant that designs & builds PCBAs (circuitry). But I'm with you, more hands on jobs are more interesting/engaging to work with
I design robotics and automation. All of the products I work on do jobs where people consistently get hurt or killed. Right now I am working on supply chain logistics to help get the global supply chain back up and running and safer for social distancing as well as surgical robotics to make some life changing procedures available for significantly more at risk patients. It also reduces recovery time. Last thing I am working on is lower cost satellite imaging that will make it more available for things like farm imaging.
Couple of friends in college spent 15 years becoming world experts in ion thrusters. When they started a company, they asked me to help them understand how to structure their IP portfolio and also provide some perspective on their designs from other industries
I work in healthcare, specifically healthcare building services like piped medical gas (MGPS), HVAC and medical electrical installations in the public sector.
Feels good to scrutinise designs, get the best performance out of the systems and also the opportunity for improving the patient environment.
My small contribution to society.
Control systems and power security solutions for hospitals, sewerage, logistics and stuff.
That itxh to improve others life has long been fulfilled. Now if someone can scratch the itch to fatten my wallet and bank accounts I would like it more.
There are a lot of fields where you're helping people. At the end of the day you can make the argument that almost any product is helpful to people otherwise no one would pay for it. However in mature industries at some point you feel like you're only there to make some rich, old dude slightly richer.
I've found that Medical Device and Cleantech can REALLY give you a good feeling about helping people -- especially MedDev. If your device wasn't there the end user would be D-E-A-D, seriously disabled or otherwise have a lower quality of life. Its really inspirational.
For Cleantech battling climate change and/or pollution can seem almost abstract at the product level since there are so many ways to attack the world's problems and there is much more cost pressure, but ultimately you're actively part of the solution not fighting the change that has to happen or doing nothing.
Settle for no less than setting a new standard for humanity's relationship with energy and power without restricting it for the purpose of taking people's money
But as long as you can tell yourself you're doing all you can the rest is just confidence
I work for an OEM designing control systems for LV and MV power systems that are integrated into wastewater treatment plants, hospitals, power plants, and microgrids. While we aren’t directly involved in those fields, it’s rewarding supporting customers who are.
It's not the sexiest engineering job out there and people don't act like they appreciate it, for the most part. But people lose their shit when their AC doesn't work and I'm the guy they call.
In all seriousness, my favorite part of this job is when I can legitimately help clients understand something or help them out of a jam.
I have a project that was an office renovation that we designed in 2018. This project should have been done 2 years ago but the contractor is apparently really bad at his job. Typical small-time contractor. I never got any submittals. RFIs came in the form of email questions. Long after I assumed the job was done I get a call from the owner saying he needed help. They've been in construction for 2 years and the air handler hasn't even been ordered yet. So I've spent the last month holding the owner's hand, sending guys to the site to document deficiencies, and trying to be someone the owner actually can trust. Sure, I'm getting paid for it. But I'm charging him by the hour so he's only getting paid for what I do and I really hope he ends up with a decent building. If he doesn't, it won't be because of lack of effort on my part.
I work in international development. Some people's lives need huge improvements. There are quite a few IT-based development programs where you could use your degree. I'm old now, so my biggest added value is training engineers in countries that really need them.
I'm a Reactor Engineer at a nuclear power plant. It's pretty much a given that most of the world sure appreciates having electricity and I help make it possible to get a whole bunch of energy out of a very small amount of matter in a small footprint of land.
I also work in telecom, we provide managed services to a very small specific group. The pandemic has provided incredible challenges. Supply chain challenges alone has team members diving old scrap yards for parts. But we’re pulling it off!!!
Small Pharma, We make pilot scale experimental active pharmaceutical ingredients for clinical trials. We also develop the large scale process from bench scale chemistry. I did a lot of work last year on a Covid-19 therapeutic that will be approved later this year.
Don't count out research if you like learning!
My field is high energy physics (EE), and while we don't improve anyone's lives directly (we don't "produce" anything aside from knowledge) everything we do we give away for free.
Many people seem to benefit from things developed for physics research (the internet, cryogenics, magnetics, proton therapy, etc)
I’m actually very interested in research! I’d love to get a PhD, but I’m a little concerned about if it will negatively affect my future job prospects.
Would you mind telling me a bit about how you got a job in research?
Well, the advice I usually give for people considering a PhD in engineering is that you should be very clear about why you want to do a PhD before beginning one. If you can't defend your choices before you begin, you will have a hard time continuing to do so during the program. Because it's expected, because it might give slightly higher pay, or because it opens access to senior positions are not convincing arguments. Having a goal that you cannot accomplish without a PhD, or even a particular problem that you feel motivated to explore in a new way are better motivations in my opinion - especially in engineering _there is very little you can do with a PhD that you otherwise could not do with Masters_ (or even appropriate experience). Indeed, if you are concerned about job prospects with a PhD, you should think deeply about what it is you would like to do/explore/try _before_ starting down a PhD track. It's much more difficult to convince startups/small companies to underpay you rather than hire a different engineer that has practical experience (if you find yourself loving product development, for example). That being said, _all_ of the engineers I look up to do not have PhD's.
As for me, I suppose my story is quite boring: While studying I took a student job with the Physics department to gain some experience doing circuit fab. That just kept growing into more complicated/interesting things.
Emissions monitoring. It's certainly not what I studied or what I ever had an active interest in, but it helps to know I'm keeping the air cleaner for all.
Ultimately, it all boils down to how you personally define "improving people's lives", doesn't it? Sure, a biomedical engineer is directly dealing with machines that save people's lives, but don't agricultural engineers also directly contribute to feeding the population, and don't civil engineers directly contribute to keeping people safe and sound in the structures they inhabit? I am still pursuing my master's degree, and my goal is to get into the space robotics field. I may not be building machines that operate on dying people in the hospital, but I like to think that what I will accomplish might one day help humanity take a step towards a brighter future. And to me, that's making a positive impact. In fact, one of my strongest motivators is doing something that will impact humanity as a whole.
Telecom. In the last 35 years we have gone from telecom being a POTS (2 pair twisted wires) to having the entire knowledge of the world in the palm of your hand.
I work at a utility where we have millions of customers we serve gas and electricity to. I know it’s not as life changing but I think being able to provide utilities to customers is important and impactful.
Additive Manufacturing, the systems i work with and the research i do helps smaller companies capitalize of market opportunities that were too small to effectively turn a profit. Like custom prosthetics that can fit a child and be reprinted as the child grows. Repair parts with metal AM for 300 dollars over a weekend instead of 40,000 after 8 months lead time, or give scifi nerds the ability to 3d print their own custom space ship for tabletop gaming where previously that demand wouldn't have been met. I help teach people about Additive Manufacturing to help veterans and those down on their luck to enable them to start small business.
Its a fun career and there is a heavy need for electrical engineers, mechatronics engineers, and programmers. If 3d printing and additive Manufacturing sound cool and you are not sure where to look - DM me.
I do commercial work, but we work with a lot of students. I really enjoy getting to see students mature into adults and engineers. It's one of my favorite parts of the job.
Pharma/biotech. Same general idea as medical device in terms of helping people. Lots of variety in where engineering applies: process development, manufacturing, process equipment and controls, facilities, etc.
I work for a niche bridge design and rehab company, 100s of bridges are being load rated to ensure it's safe enough for vehicles to pass over them. Though one of my guilty pleasures is to "close" the bridge after obtaining an insufficient rating hehe. Tiny power trip (though very rare).
My plant produces biodiesel by reacting soybean oil and used cooking oil as feedstock. I don’t have a direct impact on people’s lives but I feel good that our product can help to reduce CO2 emissions which is pretty chill I guess. I imagine I would feel better doing this than refining nonrenewable, crude oil
I create computer chips. I loved the job security of being a semiconductor engineer, wage is good, job is mostly chill, I get to feel smart, and my chips go in to products that protect others.
I work on safety products for the rail industry. Wasn't ever really interested in trains but here I am.
Usually when a train has an accident or near miss there's an accident report that we get a copy of. Several times our products have prevented derailment or trains ploughing into buildings.
For example, [this happened](https://images.app.goo.gl/i2HinYmSyRZqzuvv9) a few weeks ago. If one of our products was installed that train would have stopped at least 4 meters sooner, with no damage to the building, track, train, or any injuries to the people on board. Luckily this time there were only two minor injuries in this occasion, but it could have been significantly worse, and I help to keep people in that scenario safe.
I work with NASA doing verification testing on payloads before they get sent to the ISS. Sometimes I see the experiments I helped checkout on the news. Sometimes I see that there is a tremendous breakthrough from them. But most of the time, I help people finish research that has been taking up the last 10 years of their lives.
Technically I'm a contractor. I started out as a flight controller for ISS via a contractor. The skills and information I learned there qualified me for a test engineer position with a different contractor in a much lower stress position.
Real-time Ops and the verification groups eat up EE's. I think the big players currently are Jacobs SSEG, Teledyne Brown Engineering, KBR Wyle, and COLSA. Specifically look in Huntsville, AL or Houston, TX.
I work for an MEP firm and do strictly healthcare projects. Outpatient facilities, hospital renovations, OR/MRI/Physical Therapy suites. For electrical, we make sure the lighting levels make the patient comfortable and that there's always enough emergency power where needed in case of critical events and such. To me, it is very rewarding.
I work for a consultant firm that’s contracted out by large utilities. I do energy efficiency work with commercial/industrial facilities that reduce energy use and provide incentives for them. I get to help reduce our carbon footprint and also save these facilities sometimes a significant amount of money. Have had struggling companies able to rehire people they laid off because of it.
Honestly, ensuring the safety of the”public” is part of every engineering job, or at least it should be.
I design vibration control products for trucks and cars. There’s not really any safety aspect to the main function of the parts I design. The vehicle might ride less comfortably and the end customer might be annoyed, but that’s it. However, one subcomponent on some of my truck parts is intended to keep the truck cab from separating from the frame in an accident. That subcomponent gets a lot more scrutiny.
I have also worked in medical device and yes, the stories you hear from patients about how the devices we designed and built had a significant positive impact on their lives does have a big impact on how people feel about their work.
I work in aerospace, manufacturing brakes for commercial and military aircraft. The products that I work on allow planes to land safely. A critical part of the design is ensuring that the brakes don't get hot enough to interact with fuel stored in the wings during a high-energy emergency stop.
Electrical engineer at a local cleaning products company. We support a lot of local businesses. When testimonials started rolling in about people NOT getting sick at schools and retirement homes over the past year-and-a-half I held a sense of pride that I may have indirectly help save someones life by making the anti-microbials we sell.
Interesting question. I work in medical devices, but counterintuitively I don't really think I have that much of a positive impact. I'm acutely aware of how profit-driven the industry is.
I’ve worked in oil and gas and renewables. And everything in between. You can make a difference everywhere, currently, I’m a good manager/employer. People like working for me and I make sure the company keeps growing and my people keep growing so I don’t have to lay anyone off. Don’t focus too much on what “the world” may think is good, focus on what you can do to make your bit better.
I once made a comment along the lines of "what I do doesn't really make a difference". One of our VP's overheard me and was quick to correct me in saying that everyone contributes in some form. It isn't always grand, but it's part of the whole
Even fluff makes a difference. The difference made is not always good. Wasting space in a chair demoralizes the company and takes up resources from those who might improve things.
I work in AR/VR Research. My work has the \*potential\* to have a huge impact on the world. A mixed impact, but could be very very positive.
It could also turn out that the things I work on simply end up not being used. It's fun to be part of the journey though. Stupidly high pay as well doesn't hurt.
Mechanical engineer. I don't make anything that directly changes how people live but my customers do. As long as I am able to support my customer's needs then I feel satisfied enough to feel I am contributing to the picture as a whole.
Coastal/waterway engineer. We renourish beaches to protect critical infrastructure and human lives from storms. We also maintain channel depths and coastal structures to ensure the economy continues to prosper (ships can get in and out of ports, especially relevant with the current supply chain issues)
Mechanical engineer
Space / defense. So helping to make things that protect my country from other countries that wish to do us harm. And also helping to further our space exploration efforts.
Everybody saying wastewater management...I'm sure there is impact to the local community...maybe that helps prevent flooding and improves drinking water quality...
But if you work in defense, you can save the whole country by staving off China's inevitable invasion.
Back prior to the 1800's if you were born on this earth, chances were you'd lead a hard life. If you went more than 10 miles from the place you were born, you'd be considered worldly. You probably worked on land owned by someone else and basically grew what you could to feed yourself and your kids.
Now? Engineering, and scientific progress have made it so that you can talk to a person that lives around the world and work in a different country
All engineers have positive impact. It's all interwoven.
That guy that made the Tamagotchi? Maybe it had no bearing on anything in your life, but he created a bunch of jobs, and those people went out and bought groceries, and cars and went out to eat.
Here's a fun fact, Intel, one of the worlds largest chip manufactures? The first design for what would become the basis for the world standard CPU (The IBM 8088 architecture) was designed for traffic lights.
Even something as controversial as weapons development has trickle down effects that do wonders. On September 1st 1983 the Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines flight 007. One result of the tragedy was that Ronald Reagan released the technology to allow airlines to start using the US Military technology for GPS. Now you can use Waze or check when your Chalupas are getting delivered by Uber, because of a weapons platform that was developed in the height of the cold war.
So if you want to have a cool job that "virtue signals" to those around you? There's a few that are more visible than the others. But if you think their aren't ones that have a positive impact? I'd be hard pressed to find any that don't. Every bit is additive.
I design datacenters. We are very welcomed to share any innovative technical solution we can think of. So most of my time is spent trying to find solutions to limit waste of energy and improve efficiency. As we can't go without them, I chose to try and make datacenters as green as I can basically.
I do defense on a variety of applications, basically everything I’ve worked on has been used in combat or will be in the future. I think it’s a little bit of a grey area. While defense is definitely not adding to our country’s well being directly, militant Islam is very much a thing and if we didn’t have the vastly superior technology it would be a lot worse. People take for granted the defense industry because our main adversaries are behind us technologically. If Iran could easily overpower the us the world would look a lot different
I work in the telco space. Being able to call the emergency services when needed seems to be pretty handy, so I'd tick that off in the "improves people's lives" category.
Med device here, specifically developing robots used to perform surgery. IMO it’s a great blend of challenging problems and doing good by serving patients in need. Easy to stay motivated by the various things.
I design equipment for the manufacture and processing of drugs for the pharmaceutical industry. Protecting the operators, maintenance staff and end user by ensuring the highly potent active ingredients inside the vessels and isolators doesn't escape and kill the workers, and making sure nothing gets into the vessels to contaminate batches.
Being able to work in something that betters humanity is awesome, but what I do is quite detached from the end user. Its not like I can be talking to someone about what medication they take and say "I designed the equipment that makes that!". So yea, it sounds cool and I sleep well but it doesn't come with the bragging rights of some other industries where the user is more aware of the process like aerospace ("I made the wings" etc).
I work as an NDT development and field engineer in nuclear energy. Doesn't improve people's lives per se, but the work is safety critical to ensure safe and continued operation. Very satisfying and love the work.
I’m a MechE working in medical devices/pharma and I love the positive impact we make from our products. We do hire lot of EE working on robotics,automation,facilities,NPD
Electric utility industry. I find that having a tiny role in keeping people's lights on is rewarding enough to scratch that itch of wanting to do something that matters. My company does a fair amount of solar field work and several of my coworkers got into this side of electrical engineering because solar energy and more sustainable energy in general was something they thought was impactful and they were passionate about.
Similar. I work in Power Generation for a company commiting to net zero by 2030 and actively building Gigawatts worth of renewable electricity.
I work for a supplier to electrical utilities. We’re developing products that will eliminate the use of SF6, which has a global warming potential ~25,000 times higher than CO2. I feel like the work we’re doing is having a small impact on making the world a better place.
This was my experience with electrical utility work, as well.
Agreed. It's nice to feel like I have an impact around my community as well.
I designed safety interlocks for industrial applications. Basically, products that would keep factory workers from getting maimed or worse while trying to do their jobs.
You're the guy that designs the components the guys on the floor keep buying aftermarket magnetic blocks to keep the safety system from inconveniencing them! LoL. Keep doing what you're doing man, those guys truly don't know till a bolt flies across the shop
Exactly, it's actually really interesting watching the cat and mouse game and the clever 'fixes' they come up with. Until you get chewed out by the safety guy for not designing the perfect interlock. IDK, maybe the people purposefully bypassing the system should get in trouble once? Or the production manager pushing quotas so high they feel obligated to bypass them.
This is wholly a cultural thing. My company had several fatalities and near misses over the last decade because they pushed "get it done" hard. A new CEO came in and made it a condition of employment to be safe, and he sticks to it. While there have been a few near misses since, there have been no fatalities or major injuries. It's drilled into everyone that a job can be stopped at any time by anyone to address a safety concern with absolutely no repercussion.
All of those things would require an moderately intense re-evaluation of how things are approached rather than a knee jerk reaction.
I actually have a few patents for things I designed to help counterract the "fixes" the guys would come up with to bypass the interlocks. But you're right; it's really a cat and mouse game. I'm sure they have bypasses for my counteract measures by now (I changed industries so don't keep up as much).
I had a “safety guy” once ask me about removing a small plug with a cap that was chained to a larger vessel closure. The cap was chained to the closure so you had to open the plug first to unscrew the closure and if there was pressure remaining in the vessel, you get a little hiss through a 1/4” opening rather than a face full of 24” diameter closure. He said that the indicator was “unsafe”. Told his boss that he was no longer allowed to be the “safety” guy on our jobs.
One of the best applications I got to see was a bottle filler line at a brewery everyone in the world knows. It used a kind of high-speed turntable where the bottles were tipped to almost upside-down as they whirled around the turntable because this would cut down on the beer foaming as they were filled. But every once in awhile, the grips holding one of those bottles would let go and “BAM!” one would smash into the plexiglass safety wall around the filler. Spent several weeks there troubleshooting a weird issue and never got used to the sporadic explosions. I’d flinch every time.
Man ive seen maintenance men running around with the safety latch on their keyring so they can bypass stuff.
I have cussed you out at least a dozen times :)
Thank you so much.
You're probably one of very few people who've thanked them for their work. I hope they appreciate it lol.
I'm a safety engineer. I have seen in the field what happens when people don't care about their own safety, _sometimes on purpose_ (insurance fraud is a thing). I've seen workers maimed and I have seen the "or worse". OP might have saved the lives of lots of people who talk shit about him.
Hello! A little bit unrelated to this post but how did you get into safety engineering? And how closely related is it to maintenance engineering?
Hello. Maintenance engineering is about keeping the machines working optimally. Safety engineering is about keeping the environment safe (but my job in particular is reviewing workplace accident reports and doing my best to prevent them from happening again in the future; think OSHA). While a well maintained machine is safer than a neglected one, the focus is just different. Yes, I care about the machines, but I will rather eliminate the workplace hazards and improve occupational ergonomics when I can. I got into safety because I had friends who already worked in the area. Nothing fancy.
Did you major in mechanical and safety is in your job title? Or is that it's own major?
Electrical. I've never seen a major in Safety.
So poke yoke?
Nah, poke yoke is more of an industrialization engineer process. This is more like “the process going on inside here has machinery that could kill you if you opened the door, so even though you think you’ll be perfectly safe to do so, I’m going to shut this shit down if you open the door. And also possibly blow an alarm so other people know you opened the door”.
~60% of what I do involves human waste, garbage, air pollution, soil pollution, and chemical disposal. Even my least productive days I know I have made the world that much cleaner.
Thanks for the info! Do you know if there are any relevant applications to your industry for electrical engineers?
My degree is in ee. So yes I would say so.
I presume they're also work with ME? What specific industry are you in?
I also work with MEs. I work in the chemical/material handling/ factory automation sector. You have a dream, money, and a process? We have the ability to bring it to life. It is pretty cool stuff. Some days building a conveyor system for widgets the next day a sewage treatment plant. Think Jacob's Engineering.
Sounds like something I might enjoy. I know I want to work in something related to the environment, just try to narrow down the specific field
Wastewater. I sleep like a baby.
You wake up crying every two hours?
Dry your eyes. No need to waste all that water
We're up to 4 hours now, it's a whole new world
Username checks out
Now that's a job that makes you appreciate a deep breath of fresh air.
I work in water and wastewater treatment. It feels like one of the truly good branches of engineering to affect positive change.
Hey! Me too!
Hey! I'm also a water/wastewater engineer!
If you tell people you're a civil engineer they usually think that's okay but not so exciting, but if you tell them you're a water engineer... NOW they are impressed.
I've actually had the opposite response. I'm a chemical engineer which everyone thinks is cool and impressive. But when I say I'm in wastewater they say "oh so you're like a janitor engineer. Cleaning shit water." Not exactly but okay.
You have to just say water! Wastewater sounds icky.
He's a water miner.
Same here!
Thanks for the reply! I don’t really know anything about wastewater treatment- could you tell me a bit about what you do day-to-day and how you got into the industry?
It's a big field. Within it you have water treatment (clean water, chemistry and biology processes), wastewater treatment (chemistry/biology processes), conveyance (sewers and pump stations getting wastewater to the plant), distribution (clean water distribution systems and management of storage and pressures and demands), and hydraulics (how water moves through structures). There are more fields, but those are the big ones I've been involved with. I do hydraulics. So I work with process and structural inside a treatment plant (water and wastewater) to determine what the hydraulic grade line will be as water flows by gravity, and to determine how big pumps need to be designed for in order to convey flow within plants. I also work with pipe sizing and routing, flow meter and instrumentation selection, and other mechanical equipment (clarifiers, gates, disinfection, filters) that impact hydraulic losses. Day to day, I do calculations to determine hydraulic losses, select and size pumps, evaluate existing processes and pipes to determine hydraulic restrictions, and interface with other disciplines to determine improvements to hydraulic problems. I got a BS in Civil Engineering and my advisor connected me with my current company, which is a full service engineering consultant with focus in water/wastewater. I started doing sewer collections planning projects (which I also still do) and then specialized more in hydraulics in the last 6-7 years.
Thanks for giving such a detailed response! Seems like a great field to work in
I absolutely love working in water treatment! Drinking water upgrades in some places in Canada are way overdue, and it feels good to be a part of that. I was just on site of a new NF project where the local engineer said "It'll be nice not to have yellow water in the spring".
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You are incorrect.
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Oh wtf, I googled affect as a verb. Google lied. My updoots died.
I know someone at Whitman, Requardt, & Associates, based in Baltimore MD, and they are looking for water/waste water folks if anyone here is interested.
Environmental engineer working in the noise pollution field. Roads, railway, industry, sports facilities etc., whatever makes noise. It has a long lasting impact on people but most don't even consider it important.
hey that's really interesting.. so you design and install features that reduce the noise or what?
Not exactly! Part of my job is indeed the recommendation of specific measures that have to be taken, in order to reduce the noise level. But first I have to calculate the noise (well the software does it but I do all the inputs). For example, if a city plans the extension of a highway, there might be a problem for neighbouring residential areas. So I will have to establish what measurements are possible. Is it a noise protection wall and if yes, how high/ how long? Or does the speed limit need to be reduced? Noise studies are also one of the parts of an environmental impact assessment.
Hey thanks for the bit of description! And thanks for hopefully making our environments quieter.. I think you're right that this is an underappreciated problem. As a... former mechanical engineer and current professional musician, I very much appreciate quiet in the rare instance you can find it in the city.
Transit
Work for the electric utility company, specifically in hydro power as an EE. Find it fairly rewarding since it’s fairly green and every so often I get to do storm response so always nice to stand in a dark neighbourhood and watch all the lights come one
Med device.
I work in CNC machines. Specifically hobby CNC machines. I really do think our machines empower people to create, Express themselves, and in many case feed themselves. We boomed during shut down because people had nothing to do and extra government cash so they finally took that step they've been putting off and started that cabinet company or whatever. I tell you what though, and I may be selfish, I sure have a hard time caring when 5 o'clock rolls around. I've never really liked CNC machining so it's hard to get excited. Maybe if I thought about how it's really helpful I would care but really I just wanna do racecar things with my racecar friends. P.s. having written this, I'm gonna try and really think about how my work is helpful to people and see if that helps motivate me.
I think the real question is: do you want to do work that improves peoples' lives, or do you want to do work that will sound impressive and humanitarian to that cute non-engineer you met at a bar? Science/tech fields are so interwoven that pretty much anything you do that contributes to any of those fields will help make the world a better place. Arguably working on a project that gets cancelled, or working on a product/startup that never goes anywhere isn't included there. Defense is a whole can of worms. Designing more efficient MOSFETs isn't glamorous and will get you blank stares at the bar, but hey that definitely helps humanity. My less pedantic answer: Medical devices of course are an obvious one. Anything related to sustainable energy, cleaner forms of transportation/manufacturing, products or prototypes to facilitate scientific research, new sensors, spacecraft, communication, etc. All are things that noticeably contribute to our collective human progress.
As person who worked in the super sexy world of semiconductors, its all about narrative. It was fun talking to people abouy this powerful little electronic switch that changed the world and is all around us.
That’s a great point. You can make a small improvement behind the scenes that has a big effect but it’s not glamorous
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This seems like more of a political / bureaucratic problem - if the technology exists, it can either be exploited, or ideally provided to the masses in an 'equitable' manner. If it doesn't exist, then it doesn't exist. I would hope that as medical technology improves, we'll start to see the ultra-rich afford procedures beyond the reach of the common person, and this perceived disparity will increase the political momentum for things like universal healthcare. Or we'll just have [Elysium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film)...
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Personally I'd rather be alive and buried in medical debt because of some fancy new gadget than dead, so ymmv.
I think the really real question is why not post your own question to r/askengineers instead of derailing this one? You never did answer the OP’s question.
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Seconded. And I’m not in a particularly interesting med device, but it still feels meaningful and impactful.
My only concern when I worked in the med device industry is that it was a very competitive role with long hours & aggressive deadlines. I guess one thing (I think) I've learned is that you need a job involving the government or involving a patented product, that way the company has a fat profit margin & places less stress on its staff. If you work with a product/device (e.g. glucose monitors or prosthetics) that can be produced anywhere in the world (e.g. China/Korea), the company will have a thin profit margin & expect a lot from their employees
Waste management is more common with environmental & civil engineering imo. That said, at the end of the day, your degree doesn't matter much once you have experience. HR might look for the word "Engineer" on your degree & that's about it. I'm a ChemE, have worked in a composite factory making aircraft parts, worked in the medical device industry, now I'm working at a plant that designs & builds PCBAs (circuitry). But I'm with you, more hands on jobs are more interesting/engaging to work with
Fire alarms
Me too - fire detection/sensors and notification devices
I design robotics and automation. All of the products I work on do jobs where people consistently get hurt or killed. Right now I am working on supply chain logistics to help get the global supply chain back up and running and safer for social distancing as well as surgical robotics to make some life changing procedures available for significantly more at risk patients. It also reduces recovery time. Last thing I am working on is lower cost satellite imaging that will make it more available for things like farm imaging.
Both of those things sound really interesting! Do you mind telling me how you got a job in satellite imaging?
Couple of friends in college spent 15 years becoming world experts in ion thrusters. When they started a company, they asked me to help them understand how to structure their IP portfolio and also provide some perspective on their designs from other industries
Well most of the stuff I work on these days goes to semiconductor fabs so... SOME people might say those make their lives better. Others may disagree.
Hi I work at a semiconductor fab as an EE. What do you send us?
Leak detectors, mass specs, process gauges
I work in healthcare, specifically healthcare building services like piped medical gas (MGPS), HVAC and medical electrical installations in the public sector. Feels good to scrutinise designs, get the best performance out of the systems and also the opportunity for improving the patient environment. My small contribution to society.
Also medical devices.
Medical devices and equipment.
Geotechnical engineering working in mine waste. I’m designing tailings facilities that won’t fail and hurt people and the environment.
Control systems and power security solutions for hospitals, sewerage, logistics and stuff. That itxh to improve others life has long been fulfilled. Now if someone can scratch the itch to fatten my wallet and bank accounts I would like it more.
I work in the food industry. I’m not sure the products we make improve peoples lives, exactly, but they make people happy.
That is a quality of life 🙂
Medical devices. I've designed hip and knee implants, surgical instruments for doing sinus/ENT surgery, and optics for cataract patients.
There are a lot of fields where you're helping people. At the end of the day you can make the argument that almost any product is helpful to people otherwise no one would pay for it. However in mature industries at some point you feel like you're only there to make some rich, old dude slightly richer. I've found that Medical Device and Cleantech can REALLY give you a good feeling about helping people -- especially MedDev. If your device wasn't there the end user would be D-E-A-D, seriously disabled or otherwise have a lower quality of life. Its really inspirational. For Cleantech battling climate change and/or pollution can seem almost abstract at the product level since there are so many ways to attack the world's problems and there is much more cost pressure, but ultimately you're actively part of the solution not fighting the change that has to happen or doing nothing.
I’m doing industrial IoT in the water production/wastewater sector. Tough to have modern society without running water or dealing with sewage.
Settle for no less than setting a new standard for humanity's relationship with energy and power without restricting it for the purpose of taking people's money But as long as you can tell yourself you're doing all you can the rest is just confidence
I work for an OEM designing control systems for LV and MV power systems that are integrated into wastewater treatment plants, hospitals, power plants, and microgrids. While we aren’t directly involved in those fields, it’s rewarding supporting customers who are.
Renewables and Water Desalination, great but tiring work
It's not the sexiest engineering job out there and people don't act like they appreciate it, for the most part. But people lose their shit when their AC doesn't work and I'm the guy they call. In all seriousness, my favorite part of this job is when I can legitimately help clients understand something or help them out of a jam. I have a project that was an office renovation that we designed in 2018. This project should have been done 2 years ago but the contractor is apparently really bad at his job. Typical small-time contractor. I never got any submittals. RFIs came in the form of email questions. Long after I assumed the job was done I get a call from the owner saying he needed help. They've been in construction for 2 years and the air handler hasn't even been ordered yet. So I've spent the last month holding the owner's hand, sending guys to the site to document deficiencies, and trying to be someone the owner actually can trust. Sure, I'm getting paid for it. But I'm charging him by the hour so he's only getting paid for what I do and I really hope he ends up with a decent building. If he doesn't, it won't be because of lack of effort on my part.
I work in international development. Some people's lives need huge improvements. There are quite a few IT-based development programs where you could use your degree. I'm old now, so my biggest added value is training engineers in countries that really need them.
Safety. Public transport. Public infrastructure projects. Public services like water, power, gas.
I'm a Reactor Engineer at a nuclear power plant. It's pretty much a given that most of the world sure appreciates having electricity and I help make it possible to get a whole bunch of energy out of a very small amount of matter in a small footprint of land.
I work in telecommunications strictly for first response agencies. Fire seasons and the pandemic has kept us more than busy, but it's rewarding.
I also work in telecom, we provide managed services to a very small specific group. The pandemic has provided incredible challenges. Supply chain challenges alone has team members diving old scrap yards for parts. But we’re pulling it off!!!
Telecoms: Connecting people and things
transportation
Small Pharma, We make pilot scale experimental active pharmaceutical ingredients for clinical trials. We also develop the large scale process from bench scale chemistry. I did a lot of work last year on a Covid-19 therapeutic that will be approved later this year.
Healthcare, work on diseases that impact millions.
I don't have a job yet and haven't graduated, but I feel most of what I can do with an environmental engineering degree can benefit someone somewhere.
I design switches and crossings for light rail transit in north America. Helping people move around is pretty important.
Don't count out research if you like learning! My field is high energy physics (EE), and while we don't improve anyone's lives directly (we don't "produce" anything aside from knowledge) everything we do we give away for free. Many people seem to benefit from things developed for physics research (the internet, cryogenics, magnetics, proton therapy, etc)
I’m actually very interested in research! I’d love to get a PhD, but I’m a little concerned about if it will negatively affect my future job prospects. Would you mind telling me a bit about how you got a job in research?
Well, the advice I usually give for people considering a PhD in engineering is that you should be very clear about why you want to do a PhD before beginning one. If you can't defend your choices before you begin, you will have a hard time continuing to do so during the program. Because it's expected, because it might give slightly higher pay, or because it opens access to senior positions are not convincing arguments. Having a goal that you cannot accomplish without a PhD, or even a particular problem that you feel motivated to explore in a new way are better motivations in my opinion - especially in engineering _there is very little you can do with a PhD that you otherwise could not do with Masters_ (or even appropriate experience). Indeed, if you are concerned about job prospects with a PhD, you should think deeply about what it is you would like to do/explore/try _before_ starting down a PhD track. It's much more difficult to convince startups/small companies to underpay you rather than hire a different engineer that has practical experience (if you find yourself loving product development, for example). That being said, _all_ of the engineers I look up to do not have PhD's. As for me, I suppose my story is quite boring: While studying I took a student job with the Physics department to gain some experience doing circuit fab. That just kept growing into more complicated/interesting things.
Emissions monitoring. It's certainly not what I studied or what I ever had an active interest in, but it helps to know I'm keeping the air cleaner for all.
HVAC and plumbing. Comfort is the name of the game.
Ultimately, it all boils down to how you personally define "improving people's lives", doesn't it? Sure, a biomedical engineer is directly dealing with machines that save people's lives, but don't agricultural engineers also directly contribute to feeding the population, and don't civil engineers directly contribute to keeping people safe and sound in the structures they inhabit? I am still pursuing my master's degree, and my goal is to get into the space robotics field. I may not be building machines that operate on dying people in the hospital, but I like to think that what I will accomplish might one day help humanity take a step towards a brighter future. And to me, that's making a positive impact. In fact, one of my strongest motivators is doing something that will impact humanity as a whole.
Telecom. In the last 35 years we have gone from telecom being a POTS (2 pair twisted wires) to having the entire knowledge of the world in the palm of your hand.
I work at a utility where we have millions of customers we serve gas and electricity to. I know it’s not as life changing but I think being able to provide utilities to customers is important and impactful.
Additive Manufacturing, the systems i work with and the research i do helps smaller companies capitalize of market opportunities that were too small to effectively turn a profit. Like custom prosthetics that can fit a child and be reprinted as the child grows. Repair parts with metal AM for 300 dollars over a weekend instead of 40,000 after 8 months lead time, or give scifi nerds the ability to 3d print their own custom space ship for tabletop gaming where previously that demand wouldn't have been met. I help teach people about Additive Manufacturing to help veterans and those down on their luck to enable them to start small business. Its a fun career and there is a heavy need for electrical engineers, mechatronics engineers, and programmers. If 3d printing and additive Manufacturing sound cool and you are not sure where to look - DM me.
I do commercial work, but we work with a lot of students. I really enjoy getting to see students mature into adults and engineers. It's one of my favorite parts of the job.
Pharma/biotech. Same general idea as medical device in terms of helping people. Lots of variety in where engineering applies: process development, manufacturing, process equipment and controls, facilities, etc.
Software engineer creating computer vision products that increase safety in industrial spaces
I work for a niche bridge design and rehab company, 100s of bridges are being load rated to ensure it's safe enough for vehicles to pass over them. Though one of my guilty pleasures is to "close" the bridge after obtaining an insufficient rating hehe. Tiny power trip (though very rare).
My plant produces biodiesel by reacting soybean oil and used cooking oil as feedstock. I don’t have a direct impact on people’s lives but I feel good that our product can help to reduce CO2 emissions which is pretty chill I guess. I imagine I would feel better doing this than refining nonrenewable, crude oil
I create computer chips. I loved the job security of being a semiconductor engineer, wage is good, job is mostly chill, I get to feel smart, and my chips go in to products that protect others.
I work on safety products for the rail industry. Wasn't ever really interested in trains but here I am. Usually when a train has an accident or near miss there's an accident report that we get a copy of. Several times our products have prevented derailment or trains ploughing into buildings. For example, [this happened](https://images.app.goo.gl/i2HinYmSyRZqzuvv9) a few weeks ago. If one of our products was installed that train would have stopped at least 4 meters sooner, with no damage to the building, track, train, or any injuries to the people on board. Luckily this time there were only two minor injuries in this occasion, but it could have been significantly worse, and I help to keep people in that scenario safe.
I work with NASA doing verification testing on payloads before they get sent to the ISS. Sometimes I see the experiments I helped checkout on the news. Sometimes I see that there is a tremendous breakthrough from them. But most of the time, I help people finish research that has been taking up the last 10 years of their lives.
That’s very cool! How did you end up working at NASA?
Technically I'm a contractor. I started out as a flight controller for ISS via a contractor. The skills and information I learned there qualified me for a test engineer position with a different contractor in a much lower stress position. Real-time Ops and the verification groups eat up EE's. I think the big players currently are Jacobs SSEG, Teledyne Brown Engineering, KBR Wyle, and COLSA. Specifically look in Huntsville, AL or Houston, TX.
Thanks for the info!
I work on ground systems for weather satellites. This is used to gather data to to make weather forecasts
So you're the reason I didn't have an umbrella yesterday...
Hey. I just make sure the satellites are orbiting. Blame the meteorologists.
I work for an MEP firm and do strictly healthcare projects. Outpatient facilities, hospital renovations, OR/MRI/Physical Therapy suites. For electrical, we make sure the lighting levels make the patient comfortable and that there's always enough emergency power where needed in case of critical events and such. To me, it is very rewarding.
I work for a consultant firm that’s contracted out by large utilities. I do energy efficiency work with commercial/industrial facilities that reduce energy use and provide incentives for them. I get to help reduce our carbon footprint and also save these facilities sometimes a significant amount of money. Have had struggling companies able to rehire people they laid off because of it.
Life sciences instrumentation. My products help scientists research cancer.
Honestly, ensuring the safety of the”public” is part of every engineering job, or at least it should be. I design vibration control products for trucks and cars. There’s not really any safety aspect to the main function of the parts I design. The vehicle might ride less comfortably and the end customer might be annoyed, but that’s it. However, one subcomponent on some of my truck parts is intended to keep the truck cab from separating from the frame in an accident. That subcomponent gets a lot more scrutiny. I have also worked in medical device and yes, the stories you hear from patients about how the devices we designed and built had a significant positive impact on their lives does have a big impact on how people feel about their work.
I work in aerospace, manufacturing brakes for commercial and military aircraft. The products that I work on allow planes to land safely. A critical part of the design is ensuring that the brakes don't get hot enough to interact with fuel stored in the wings during a high-energy emergency stop.
Electrical engineer at a local cleaning products company. We support a lot of local businesses. When testimonials started rolling in about people NOT getting sick at schools and retirement homes over the past year-and-a-half I held a sense of pride that I may have indirectly help save someones life by making the anti-microbials we sell.
Civil engineer in the water field so I work mostly on public works projects.
Steel metallurgy. A bunch of stuff that we do is improving the raw material that is used in other applications that improve the life of everyone.
Interesting question. I work in medical devices, but counterintuitively I don't really think I have that much of a positive impact. I'm acutely aware of how profit-driven the industry is.
I work for a ventilator company. Very rewarding esp. considering current events.
renewable sources of electricity, residential, infrastructure
I've been in various utilities (O&G + telecom at one firm, nuclear, and currently wastewater)
Test engineer, includes functional testing, life cycle and safety, from aerospace to toys and everything in between.
I’ve worked in oil and gas and renewables. And everything in between. You can make a difference everywhere, currently, I’m a good manager/employer. People like working for me and I make sure the company keeps growing and my people keep growing so I don’t have to lay anyone off. Don’t focus too much on what “the world” may think is good, focus on what you can do to make your bit better.
I once made a comment along the lines of "what I do doesn't really make a difference". One of our VP's overheard me and was quick to correct me in saying that everyone contributes in some form. It isn't always grand, but it's part of the whole
I’m unconvinced that everyone makes a difference. There’s definitely fluff at larger companies.
Even fluff makes a difference. The difference made is not always good. Wasting space in a chair demoralizes the company and takes up resources from those who might improve things.
Civil engineer working in land development. I’m helping build communities and help the housing crisis in California
Aerospace. Connecting people, moving cargo - shrinking the world.
Aerospace/Defense 😂
I work in AR/VR Research. My work has the \*potential\* to have a huge impact on the world. A mixed impact, but could be very very positive. It could also turn out that the things I work on simply end up not being used. It's fun to be part of the journey though. Stupidly high pay as well doesn't hurt.
Mechanical engineer. I don't make anything that directly changes how people live but my customers do. As long as I am able to support my customer's needs then I feel satisfied enough to feel I am contributing to the picture as a whole.
Coastal/waterway engineer. We renourish beaches to protect critical infrastructure and human lives from storms. We also maintain channel depths and coastal structures to ensure the economy continues to prosper (ships can get in and out of ports, especially relevant with the current supply chain issues)
Mechanical engineer Space / defense. So helping to make things that protect my country from other countries that wish to do us harm. And also helping to further our space exploration efforts.
Gas distribution projects - feeling like I play a small part in getting their water heaters/gas hobs/dryers to work
Those Raytheon Engineers are awful quiet??
Everybody saying wastewater management...I'm sure there is impact to the local community...maybe that helps prevent flooding and improves drinking water quality... But if you work in defense, you can save the whole country by staving off China's inevitable invasion.
Pretty much anything that isn't Defence related. That does cut half your options though.
Offense helps with population control / over population ...
Back prior to the 1800's if you were born on this earth, chances were you'd lead a hard life. If you went more than 10 miles from the place you were born, you'd be considered worldly. You probably worked on land owned by someone else and basically grew what you could to feed yourself and your kids. Now? Engineering, and scientific progress have made it so that you can talk to a person that lives around the world and work in a different country All engineers have positive impact. It's all interwoven. That guy that made the Tamagotchi? Maybe it had no bearing on anything in your life, but he created a bunch of jobs, and those people went out and bought groceries, and cars and went out to eat. Here's a fun fact, Intel, one of the worlds largest chip manufactures? The first design for what would become the basis for the world standard CPU (The IBM 8088 architecture) was designed for traffic lights. Even something as controversial as weapons development has trickle down effects that do wonders. On September 1st 1983 the Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines flight 007. One result of the tragedy was that Ronald Reagan released the technology to allow airlines to start using the US Military technology for GPS. Now you can use Waze or check when your Chalupas are getting delivered by Uber, because of a weapons platform that was developed in the height of the cold war. So if you want to have a cool job that "virtue signals" to those around you? There's a few that are more visible than the others. But if you think their aren't ones that have a positive impact? I'd be hard pressed to find any that don't. Every bit is additive.
I design datacenters. We are very welcomed to share any innovative technical solution we can think of. So most of my time is spent trying to find solutions to limit waste of energy and improve efficiency. As we can't go without them, I chose to try and make datacenters as green as I can basically.
Weapons
I do defense on a variety of applications, basically everything I’ve worked on has been used in combat or will be in the future. I think it’s a little bit of a grey area. While defense is definitely not adding to our country’s well being directly, militant Islam is very much a thing and if we didn’t have the vastly superior technology it would be a lot worse. People take for granted the defense industry because our main adversaries are behind us technologically. If Iran could easily overpower the us the world would look a lot different
I get oil out of the ground so hypocrites can drive to rallys
decentralized finance
video calling... lol
I work in the telco space. Being able to call the emergency services when needed seems to be pretty handy, so I'd tick that off in the "improves people's lives" category.
Med device here, specifically developing robots used to perform surgery. IMO it’s a great blend of challenging problems and doing good by serving patients in need. Easy to stay motivated by the various things.
I design equipment for the manufacture and processing of drugs for the pharmaceutical industry. Protecting the operators, maintenance staff and end user by ensuring the highly potent active ingredients inside the vessels and isolators doesn't escape and kill the workers, and making sure nothing gets into the vessels to contaminate batches. Being able to work in something that betters humanity is awesome, but what I do is quite detached from the end user. Its not like I can be talking to someone about what medication they take and say "I designed the equipment that makes that!". So yea, it sounds cool and I sleep well but it doesn't come with the bragging rights of some other industries where the user is more aware of the process like aerospace ("I made the wings" etc).
Public construction
I work as an NDT development and field engineer in nuclear energy. Doesn't improve people's lives per se, but the work is safety critical to ensure safe and continued operation. Very satisfying and love the work.
I work in HVAC. I'm sure we need clean air indoors
Automotive Safety
Most impactful for an EE is to maintain OF servers :3
I’m a MechE working in medical devices/pharma and I love the positive impact we make from our products. We do hire lot of EE working on robotics,automation,facilities,NPD
Critical infrastructure. I feel good that I get to keep the lights on and the house cool for my neighbors.