I read emails all the time where people say, there's just too much that they're interested in and honestly
It's a really good problem to have
Subscribers often leave me long lists of all these sectors and projects such as satellites, space travel, renewable energy
Robotics, theoretical physics, and plenty more that they want to work on. Some people even know of multiple
Futuristic technologies that they would love to help make and just can't pinpoint where to start
Let me just say when there's three fields that look appealing to you or ten
I understand where you're coming from and you're not alone
I honestly had the same issues years ago of liking too many things and not being able to narrow it down
So now how do you pick just one thing you should study? Well, let's find out
First of all, there's good news: bachelor's programs are generally broad
You'll not be majoring in the manufacturing process of solar cells
You do chemical engineering or mechanical or physics or whatever and build a foundation
needed to further learn and gain expertise in lots of potential specific areas later on like for example
the manufacturing process of solar cells
So trust me when I say if you at least have an idea for what career you want to get into and pick a major
That points you in that direction
you will very likely be able to achieve that career goal or even multiple if there's various sectors you want to get into
I mean you can list like 10 career goals right now and it's possible that a single major or maybe two will point you in the
Direction of all of them. It's not a guarantee, but it could be the case
also especially in the beginning a lot of entry-level jobs save
Requirements: Bachelor's degree in endless like three or four majors
you need to do some research of course and narrow in on your goals because for example
There's a big difference between civil engineering and electrical engineering
But if, say you're interested in the structural design of just anything whether it be a bridge of building, etc
You might choose civil engineering as a major but later down the road. You might find you're more interested in aircrafts and spacecrafts
Well, if we do a Google search for like entry-level aircraft structural engineer or whatever, after some searching you'll see on
Requirements they list several majors such as aerospace
Mechanical or hey civil engineering. If you landed that job and worked for several years, you're now in the aerospace sector
You won't be seen as that much different than a mechanical or aerospace engineer
who's been in the same job as you for the same amount of time because now all of you have the same training
And if you ever did want a big switch like to spacecraft propulsion
Well that might require going back to school and would be a big transition
But hey, you're working at the company now
The managers know you and if you express an interest in a career shift, if they like you it's much more likely that everything
Will go your way and I could say similar things about plenty of other majors
The next thing to ask yourself is do you actually want a career in some certain field or would you be happy learning it
kind of on the side just for fun, or maybe to supplement your career
Like are you trying to work as a researcher for Google or do you just want to learn how to program to give you more
Valuable skills or maybe for making an app or website?
Do you want to make drones for General Atomics or are you wanting to make small ones at home/start a business around them?
If you legitimately want a career, especially one of those STEM fields, then in a majority of cases
You're just gonna need a degree in a related field, as most of those companies require one
Now you could let's say start with a bachelor's in physics and then go on to do a masters or PhD and math or engineering
You can start in one engineering discipline and then do a master's in a different one
Like my friend who started as an electrical engineer and then did a master's in mechanical engineering right after
Or you could start in engineering and then go on to do medical school
You don't need to dive headfirst into the perfect major but it should all eventually lead you toward your specific end goal
However, if you just want to make some do-it-yourself projects at home
Or you want to begin that startup or you need some foundational knowledge or you just want to learn some quantum physics
Then consider getting a minor if you're already in school anyway
Or maybe learn this stuff on your own in the most efficient way you can.
When it comes to self teaching two of the easiest topics
I can think of for this audience are math and program. Now I'm not saying they're easy to learn like they involve no effort
I'm just saying there are countless resources out there and all you really need is a computer or a pencil and paper
Compare that to like learning how to weld from home
The preparation will be a little bit different but there are also cheap ways to learn on your own as well
for example
I worked with someone who's in their 30s, works a full-time job, and just finished a five-month math class on tensors and manifolds
Yes, that's a very advanced class, way beyond what most of us will ever take
But he took it because he has a bachelor's degree in pure mathematics
So he had the background and he just wanted to learn more. He may get a PhD later
He said but for now, he just wanted to learn
And before that class, he took a machining class again just for fun. And this was all done at a community college
So it didn't even cost that much
You see if you want to learn something on the side like you want to build quad copters in your garage
Or you want to build something for your startup
There are plenty of ways to do it that don't require a degree or any high level of expertise
So just cause you didn't major in this or that, that's super related to what you want to do
It doesn't stop you from continuous learning
Now, if you really really cannot decide on a major
Maybe try to avoid the more specialized ones at least for engineering which is a large majority of this audience
Examples of those would be like aerospace engineering or biomedical engineering. You want to stay more towards the broad disciplines like chemical, mechanical
or electrical, the name of few.
the reason is because if you pick like mechanical engineering and then decide two years in, that you instead want to do aerospace,
The transition to that is super easy because both those majors take like the same classes their first two years
This is kind of like the happy medium between not knowing what you want to study and not going in undeclared
Then another positive aspect of all this, is you can dive into a variety of sectors and then make a more informed decision later
Again, if you pick mechanical engineering, you can find internships or clubs in robotics, aeronautics, biomedical equipment, petroleum and so on
Since fields like these are often multidisciplinary,
You will begin to see what the electrical engineers, the aerospace engineers, the chemical engineers, and more, are working on
You'll be surrounded by other people; all different areas of expertise and it may start to be more obvious
What is right for you. One thing to consider doing is write down as many career goals as you possibly can
Write down 10, 20 or whatever, 30 of the top careers, job positions, or projects
You'd like to be a part of
After doing that, narrow it down to let's say your top five, and of those five pick your top three
Those three should be your main focus and you should tailor your education to point you in that direction
The other two of the five, if possible, can be something you do on the side or is the college minor, if you have time
You can keep updating this list year after year, but for now just do what you can
Yes, you will need to pick something and if you have many interests
That's okay, pick something that will point you in the direction of those top three, two, or one. Then once you're in a related job position
You'll start to gain expertise in that field
Which was a goal of yours
Then if you'd like, you can spend your free time learning about other parts of the company or another
Sector or you could do a project at home and so on
don't think of it as: ''oh, there's so many things out there I want to do, how will I ever accomplish it?''
just focus on one or two things at a time
Like dive into some project for a few weeks that's outside of your acquired classes
Or really focus on your career for a few years and gain those skills
Then think about diversifying more as you go if that's what you want. It's very hard to predict how you'll feel in a few years
You should also realize the more time you spend learning a range of topics, the less of an expert you'll become in each
so again
If you treat some of these like a hobby there's a lot you can do, if you want to discover the next breakthrough and renewable
Energy, that's where your focus needs to be. I know this video won't help
You know whether one major is right or wrong for you as that's what plenty of the other videos on the channel are for
But I hope it makes it so that when you do make a decision
You're more confident that you're at least heading in the right direction. And I'm gonna end that video there
I'm finally writing the scripts for a new physics major video and an engineering vs. Physics video
So for anyone who wants more info on that, it's coming very soon
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