Background and Education
Before you begin to look for a job in operations engineering, of course you will need the proper education. For most of these jobs, you will need at least a bachelor's degree in engineering. However, in some careers, you can begin with a two-year associate's degree in a field such as engineering technology and work your way up. As you continue to go to school, you can eventually earn your bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field and move into operations management.
Getting an operations job in the engineering field will require that you have an engineering degree in your particular sector of expertise such as aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, or civil engineering.
However, for any type of engineering degree, you will need a bachelor's degree in your particular engineering specialty and in some cases you will also need a graduate degree. If you work directly with the public, you may have to be licensed based on your particular state's requirements. In addition, you will also need to keep up with technology changes, advances in the field, and so on. Because of this, your education will need to continue throughout your career and does not stop once you finish school.
Within your engineering program in school, you will also need courses in mathematics and the physical and life sciences. Oftentimes, you will also be required to take courses in general engineering, design, or both. You will also need to be versed in computers if the field you work in relies on them extensively.
Other Operations Skills
As an operations engineer, you will also need to be good at working with people and you will need to have good communication skills. In general, you will be working with groups of people and may be supervising and providing feedback to people who are working under you. Because of this, you are also going to need to be diplomatic and you will need to be able to remain calm in the event of stressful situations. Because of this, taking courses in psychology, the social sciences, or humanities may also help you if you are eventually going to move into managerial positions. In fact, some engineering degrees require this.
Besides your standard engineering education, you may also need specific training in engineering technology if the work you do is going to focus on design and production rather than scientific or theoretical knowledge. This may not get you a job as a full-fledged engineer, but it can be a bridge between getting a job as an engineering technician and that of a full-fledged engineer.
To get operations engineering jobs, you will need to be very strong in mathematics, including advanced math like geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. You also need to have a solid science background including courses in physics, chemistry, and biology, and courses in the social sciences and humanities.
Licensing
As a full-fledged engineer, you will need to be licensed as a professional engineer (PE). To get your license, you will need to have graduated from an accredited engineering program, have four years of relevant work experience, and have successfully passed a state exam. If you have just graduated from college, you can begin licensure by taking the examination in two stages. You can take the first part, fundamentals, upon graduating. After you have suitable work experience, you can take the second part of the exam (after at least four years).
Other Skills
In addition to being able to work with people, you will also need to be creative and to think out of the box; you will need to be curious, analytical, and focused on details. You should be able to work well with others as part of a team and be able to communicate well through both writing and speaking. This is especially important since engineers are increasingly becoming required to work with those who are not engineers.
Outlook
Depending on the sector you work in, some engineering jobs are going to have greater demand, while others will slow down. For example, pollution prevention is becoming a greater focus than pollution cleanup is, because the intent is to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Therefore, engineering jobs dealing with prevention are going to be much more plentiful than those that focus on cleanup. Other sectors of the job market are undergoing similar changes.
Getting the Job
Once you have enough experience to become an operations engineer (meaning that you are in charge of operations and are usually supervising other people) you may simply be able to move up within your own company to supervise others. Alternatively, of course, you can work with a recruiter or search for jobs online in your particular area of expertise to find appropriate employment. With the proper experience and skill set, those who are very experienced engineers should have no trouble finding operations engineering jobs.
