Recently, I was contacted by a freelance writer hoping to guest post on my blog. Her article was essentially a long list of reasons why electrical engineering is a great career for students to consider.
The writer provided several great reasons for students to consider electrical engineering, including these:
- Electrical engineering can be an excellent part of an interdisciplinary career that also includes chemical, civil, petroleum, mechanical, software, or biomedical engineering.
- Electrical engineering can be applied to work that involves signal processing, control systems, robotics, microelectronics, and more.
- Electrical engineering pays well, and career prospects in electrical engineering are good. (Just take a look at this excellent information page that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides on the subject of electrical engineering.)
I refused to publish the article, and here’s why.
My reply to this writer said:
“Kendra, it’s clear that you have worked very hard on this article about electrical engineering, but I’m sorry; I cannot accept it for use on my blog.
In everything I write, I stand firmly against pushing kids to specific career goals unless three specific psychometric assessments indicate that the child would be naturally good at (and love!) that career. Before students choose a career, I want them to have clear data about their individual personality type and interests, and about their top 5 strengths based on Gallup research.
I talk about this in chapter 13 of the book I wrote, and I go into detail on exactly how parents can access these assessments (and figure all this out) in the second class session parents take inside my TRIBE Membership. (Get info and see enthusiastic parent testimonials about my TRIBE Membership here.)
Kendra, I’m sorry—I can’t publish anything encouraging students toward one certain career. What if the parent reading the article has a child who is a born artist, and that child will be miserable and a failure as an electrical engineer? Thank you for your effort here. I hope you can get it published somewhere else.”
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News and World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com.
This article was updated on October 4th, 2024. No part of it was written using AI.