When it comes to deciding on a career path, one of the best factors to consider is the industries that are booming. Some industries can become over saturated due to a sudden growth in popularity, and then some can even become completely redundant.

In today’s modern world, it’s clear that the growth and demand lie within the information technology and engineering industries, looking set to remain for the foreseeable future. With ever-changing technology, fast developing companies and a demand for more complex infrastructure, it’s making the engineering industry more diverse than ever before.

Why is there such demand for engineering jobs?

One of the reasons engineering is ever growing, and jobs are becoming so in-demand is due to it spanning a large range of specialisms. Engineering can cover everything from IT and software to civil and petroleum, and the specialist areas don’t look to be closing in anytime soon.

In a nutshell, engineers make anything theory-based turn practical. They are skilled in taking the findings of the physical sciences and turning that information into building something perceptible in today’s modern world. 

Then, you have the design-led engineers. This type of engineering focuses on specialists who work towards designing, building, and maintaining everything from basic infrastructure, like city developments, to highly complex transport systems, such as aircraft.

Below, we’ve put together a list of the engineering career areas that are most in-demand for 2019 and 2020. They also currently hold the greatest salary potential for this year and beyond. Of course, there are many other fields of engineering that are due to relish from growth and opportunity over the next decade or so. But if you want to secure an engineering career in the most booming industry of today, read further:

Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering is one of the longest-running areas of the traditional engineering field which never stops showing growth. It continues to grow due to it covering such a broad variety of subject areas, including working across electric motors, communication systems, and technology, navigation systems, as well as broadcast and media systems. This type of engineering generally involves working across offices and at external businesses, with occasional visits to observe external grounds.

As electric transport and systems become more advanced year on year, this area will likely remain in high demand for the next decade. Recruiters in this industry will value a combination of a bachelor’s degree and hands-on training. Due to the high-risk development’s electrical engineers experience, it tends to be one of the highest paid areas. 

Civil Engineering

As the construction industry continues to grow and rise in activity levels, there is a growing demand for civil engineers.

A civil engineer specializes in the design of buildings, constructions, and structural forms. This can cover everything from bridges, buildings, tunnels, stations, car parks, or railways, to name a few. Due to the constant need for developments across structures, roads, highways, and transportation, this type of engineering looks set to be one of the most in-demand engineering posts around the world. As infrastructure constantly changes and modernizes each year, the skills and knowledge required for civil engineers are continuously changing.

This area of engineering usually requires specialists across two areas – consulting and contracting. A consulting civil engineer is accountable for the communication and negotiations between the contracting engineers and the clients. The contracting engineers are the ones who receive the final plans from the consulting engineer and work on putting the physical developments of the project together.

A degree or master’s degree in civil engineering is a must for a career in this industry. Along with this, strong math and IT skills are essential as well as being able to articulate design ideas. If you are currently within the engineering industry but wish to smarten up your skills to move across to the civil engineering industry, the good news is that you can study this subject area as part of an online masters. It’s now available in many places, such as Michigan Technological University, which allows you to study in your own time from home.

Automotive Engineering

In a world which is increasingly becoming vehicle heavy, automotive engineering is next up as one of the most in-demand engineering industries.

An automotive engineer works on the complete process around design, production, and operation procedures of a wide range of vehicles. From trucks, buses, and cars, to trains, trams, and metro lines, every aspect has to be carefully planned and considered right from the early design stages right through to the final production.

Computing and IT Engineering

Computing and IT engineering have boomed within the past five years, as the world is constantly developing into a computerized and online nation.

The main skills and specialisms for computing and IT engineers include being fully trained to operate all forms of software and hardware design and integration, along with analyzing and designing hardware. It is also the IT engineers’ job to focus on making the future of technology faster, more efficient, and easier for tomorrows generation. 

As technology continues to move at a rapid speed, we’re starting to see computing and IT engineering morphing into cloud computing engineering. This allows you to keep your business ahead in your industry, without having to invest in expensive equipment or get your head around complicated systems. Cloud solutions give you access to the infrastructure equivalent of a large corporate company on a small-business budget, leaving you much better positioned for growth.

For this area of engineering, it is essential to have substantial Computing and IT Engineering qualifications, along with critical thinking, time management skills, and quality control analysis.

Systems Engineering

As our world becomes more reliant on machinery, often predicted to take over many manual jobs, systems engineering has become a growing job sector. This is where skilled engineers co-ordinate teams and control machinery, which can span from aerospace and defense, IT and technology, software development firms, and electronics & communications industries. Many companies and businesses heavily runoff systems, and require systems engineers as a vital part of their team.

This field of engineering focuses on the complexities of how a variety of projects need to be managed and designed. Again, a qualification in Essential Systems Engineering qualifications and skills is needed, usually at degree level. The other skills needed are the ability to be able to stick to strict deadlines, work to tight budgets, and have great team skills.

Considering all the above, the areas showing the fastest growth for 2020 span across IT and software, electrical and civil engineering. However, it has been predicted that there is scope for growth across a few smaller specialty fields of engineering, such as petroleum, nuclear, and biomedical.

Overall, engineers, in general, are no doubt in-demand nationally. You can expect to see fast growth across hiring and education, with more emphasis on online learning, which allows people to study in their spare time.

If you’re looking for higher wages, fast growth and to learn an abundance of in-demand skills, use the above list as a guide for your next step within engineering.