by Howard Berkhoff
Every Engineering student enters college with dreams of designing the next space shuttle or inventing the next generation of video entertainment. Young men and women enter the nation's engineering programs intending to utilize their engineering degree in an engineering or research role. Stereotypical engineers live in a 4 x 4 cubicle, wear white shirts with ties, and work 8-5. Following Dilbert's model, engineers run a rigid schedule, with little flexibility or conflict in their work environments.
At least this is the picture I thought I was headed to when I first headed off to college. All I wanted to do was design the next Dodge Viper. Put me in front of a CAD station and you'll get the prototype for the next best selling car. However, as I started to plow through my years in school, I learned that there are so many other opportunities for engineers outside the traditional realm of engineering careers. Thanks to my diligent involvement with ASME, I met dozens of graduated Mechanical Engineers who never stepped into a cubicle, never once took performed an engineering equation, and never touched a CAD based program.
What these highly motivated and creative engineers did included the following: Marketing Director for Ingersoll-Rand, Sales Manager for General Electric Medical Systems, Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch, or simply started their own businesses. Many engineers enter Business School to obtain an MBA, and then cross careers into a business or financial related field.
Every one of the individuals I met opened my eyes to non-traditional careers for engineers. Many of these opportunities were very appealing. After lengthy research and discussions, I elected to follow the path of sales. Currently, I am the District Sales Manager of the Detroit Metropolitan Area for the Ingersoll-Rand Productivity Solutions division. Combining my engineering degree with a mix of elective entrepreneurial and business classes for engineers, I found it very easy to turn my education into a career selling complex assembly and material handling systems to the Big Three automotive companies.
Life as a sales representative is similar to owning your business. I enjoy the freedom to set my own schedule and to develop new business by whatever means I find to be successful. As a "people person", I thrive on constant contact with customers. I am constantly in manufacturing plants, visiting customers, and working to solve their problems, while spending minimal time in an office atmosphere. However, I attribute most my ability to be successful to the excellent engineering education I received. An engineering degree teaches both technical expertise and problem solving efficiently and effectively.
The same goes for marketing. Many marketing managers have little or no technical | 
