For all those who thought a degree in engineering can only lead to a life spent between machines of different scales and sizes or creating codes to make those machines work, this post is tailor made for them. Here are listed some of the unconventional careers that engineers can follow, while making good use of their engineering degree.

Engineering is one of the oldest professions in this world, although the roles and responsibilities of a person under this profession have kept evolving along the passage of centuries. Behind the marvels of architecture like the Pyramids of Egypt, the invention of railway locomotives, generation of electricity or the invention of computer, it was engineers who made it all possible. All of these were milestone achievements in their own field and required different kind of expertise and experience, yet they couldn’t have been completed without the technical acumen and aptitude of an engineer. This simply denotes how diversified an engineer’s role can be. However, all of the above cited examples still remind us of mainstream engineering. Here are five engineering professions that you didn’t think existed:

Sound Engineering

Imagine watching a movie such as Star Trek or Jurassic Park without the special sound effects. Would it be any fun? For creating and recreating any sound that you hear, a sound engineer is responsible. Also known as an audio engineer, the role of the professionals is about recording, mixing and reproduction of sound. The more expert and accomplished persons also carry out research and development into inventing new technologies, equipment and techniques. For ensuring a successful career and to engage in research and development, candidates must possess a bachelor’s degree or higher educational qualification in acoustics, physics, and computer science amongst others. The compensations earned as per 2011 BLS data is %56,110. However, with a good educational qualification and appropriate experience the average salary can rise up to $98, 240 per year.

Engineering Management

Most projects require an effective team leader who can bring about a consistency to the team, and the different tasks that are being accomplished as a part of the project. By combining the technical background with lessons in management, one can advance his career to great heights. There are numerous opportunities for engineering managers in different industries. The progression to this profession is two-thronged. One can either pursue a undergraduate or graduate engineering management degree or gain some experience first as engineers before advancing into management positions. The work responsibilities of engineering managers include formulating plans for seeing that projects are successfully completed. The compensations for engineering managers can vary from industry to industry. However, according to BLS data, the average annual mean salary of an experienced individual varies between $75,350 and $166, 400.

Environmental engineering

The deteriorating state of natural environment and the consequential onset of greater natural calamities have led to a lot of research and development into restricting the damage being done by humans. This has given rise to a relatively new discipline going by the name of environmental engineering. As an environmental engineer you would be applying the combined methods of science and engineering to improve the environment and provide the human race with better quality water, air and land. To access better opportunities in this field you should have specialization in ecology, or basic sciences or radiological sciences amongst others.

You might end up working for a dedicated environmental engineering firm, designing, constructing and maintaining waste management systems so that urban and rural areas are kept healthy. There are various designations under which environmental engineers work such as air environmental engineers, maintenance reliability engineer or simply environmental engineer. Owing to the highly specific nature of these professions, the salaries that they get is amongst the best. The average starting salary ranges from $106,000 and can extend to $122,000.

The rapid industrialization has also given the nature a great extent of damage, whose recovery requires special expertise, which is the root cause of the increasing requirement of environmental engineers.

Biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineers is a highly niche profession. What might look as science fiction to you is day to day reality for biomedical engineers. The job responsibility of biomedical engineers is designing prosthetic limbs and artificial organs. Biomedical engineers literally work magic over the most miraculous creation of god; humans. Recreating body parts through tissue regeneration, drug formulation, collecting and analyzing biological data, developing pharmaceuticals among other works are the daily chores of this profession.   The profession essentially lies at the intersection of biology and engineering, and offers ability to crack sustained problems in medicine and health. In order to become a successful biomedical engineer, one needs to have a bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D in biological engineering. The best news for those thinking to choose the profession as their career is the superb salaries, which mostly are above 100,000 (annually). Besides, you will enjoy immense personal satisfaction of serving the mankind. The profession was ranked as the best in CNNMoney/PayScale’s list of great careers.

Mechatronics

Reminds you of the famous Autobots versus Decepticons epic? Well, mechatronics engineering is about that and more. In fact, this one branch combines the skills of all other known engineering branches such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control engineering, telecommunications engineering and computer engineering. One of the most dynamically developing fields of technology and science, mechatronics engineering aims at improving the functionality of technical systems and the creation of new machine concepts or equipment with ‘artificial intelligence’. This diagram from mechatronic.me drives home the whole point about this exciting engineering branch.

As per data provided by recruiter.com, a mechatronics engineer gets an average compensation ranging between $64,000 and $96,000.

So, if you do not want to tread the tried and tested path and try something new in engineering, choose one of the above mentioned options and attain a secure and well paid career.