A civil engineer is a designer that may be involved in projects that range from bridges to tunnels to sewage systems. The civil engineer may be in charge of an entire construction project and may be the engineer overseeing projects for an entire city. He may be employed by the local government. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, civil engineers had an average starting salary of $52,048 per year in 2009.
Chemical engineers take the discoveries made by chemists and use them in practical applications. For example, if a chemist creates a new agricultural fertilizer, the chemical engineer might design a way to mass-produce the fertilizer for public use. Chemical engineers can be found working in all sorts of business fields, including chemical plants, fuel production, aerospace, food production and many other businesses, according to the Princeton Review website. The salary for this type of job varies widely based on the particular industry in which the engineer is employed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics website lists the average annual salary of a chemical engineer at $88,280, as of 2009.
Electrical and electronics engineers have a hand in the design and improvement of many of the things you use every day. You computer, cell phone, car and the robots that manufacturing plants use to build some of these items are all worked on by an electrical or electronics engineer. Electrical or electronics engineers specialize in designing electronic circuitry and solving problems when electronics do not work the way they are intended. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, the average annual salary of electrical engineers was $86,250 in 2009.
If you consider it a machine, then odds are a mechanical engineer designed it. Everything from an airplane or car engine to an artificial heart is the work of a mechanical engineer at some point along the way. Mechanical engineers often specialize in a specific field of mechanics, such as automotive design, robotics or manufacturing, according to the Michigan Tech website. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, mechanical engineers have an average annual salary of $80,580 in 2009.
While there are generally more workers who specialize in the above fields of engineering, there are many other types of engineers who have bachelor's degrees in engineering. Among these specialties are aerospace engineers, agricultural engineers, biomedical engineers, industrial engineers, marine engineers, nuclear engineers and petroleum engineers.