Broadly speaking, Egyptian engineers – whether civil, electronics and communications, mechanical, electrical and electronics, computer science or any sub-engineering specializations – have three options: a relevant or unrelated job, a further specialized Master’s degree in Egypt or abroad, and a management-related degree in Egypt or abroad.
For engineers who are not ready to delve into the job market yet, many look either to completely leave engineering or jump into a management-related degree known as a Master’s in International Business (MIB) or International Management (MIM).
For others who passionately seek to research, develop, discover, invent and innovate, these young engineers typically pursue a specialized field of Master’s and some likely purse a Ph.D soon after or after a few years of research-based work experience.
Internationally, there are some options that are not available in Egypt and the table below shows all the various degrees one can pursue outside Egypt after their five-year engineering degree.
Master’s of Engineering Management (MEM)
The MEM is the perfect blend of honing the engineering skills and business acumen needed to develop innovative solutions to complex, technology-related business problems. This degree aims to create technical leaders who create, invent and innovate technologies that are global, yet customized to be applicable locally.
This degree is most beneficial to young engineers who would like a career in industrial management, high-technology management, research and development management and/or become a global technology entrepreneur. An internship is mandatory for this course in the final semester.
The difference between a specialized MS and an MEM is the provision of technical, customer-based thinking and business perspective for the technological industry. And the difference between an MBA and MEM is that an MBA doesn’t solely focus on technology-based organizations, which is at the core of an MEM.
For the past 108 years, the CEO of Toyota has been a Production Engineer, not technically-skilled or a business leader alone, but a combination of both.
Some top companies that recruit MEMs are: Apple, DuPont, ExxonMobil, Ford, Goldman Sachs, Google, IBM, Kraft Foods, Lockheed Martin, McKinsey Consulting, Microsoft, Phillips, Shell, Siemens, Boeing, Walt Disney and The World Bank.
Some of the job roles MEMs assume after their degree are: Automation Engineers, Business Analysts, Financial Analsyts, Forensic Analysts, IT Managers, Product Engineers, Risk Management Consultant, Product Strategy Analyst, Stress Analyst Engineers and the likes.
Some of the top schools that offer this program are: Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve University, MIT, Northwestern University and Brown.
Master’s of Financial Engineering (MFE)
The MFE hones financial engineering skills of candidates looking for careers in banking, securities, financial management, consulting or quantitative analysts in corporate treasury and the financial departments of general manufacturing and service companies.
The MFE is ideal for candidates passionate about finance, economics, statistics, mathematics, quantitative, engineering and/or computer science.
The one-year MFE is broken down into three semesters whereby in the first semester, candidates learn various tools of trade and their usage in modeling financial markets and instruments. The second semester helps you major in various concentrations, such as finance and economics, risk management, derivatives, asset management, computational finance, trading systems and the likes. The last semester gives candidates the opportunity to pursue an internship in the above-mentioned related fields.
The difference between the MFE and an MBA is that an MBA can be a two-year program in many cases, but the MFE is largely a one-year program with the exception of a few who have a 1.5-year or a two-year program.
The combination of skills obtained by MFE graduates, such as understanding complex financial structures, financial modeling tabulation and derivations and financial computational proficiencies, are rather difficult to find in all MBA graduates or specialized MS graduates.
MFE candidates get job opportunities in industries such as: Airlines, Commercial Banks, Energy, Investment Banks, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds, Brokerage, Commodity Trading, Risk Management and the likes. Some companies include: Axis X Trading, Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs, Deutcshe Bank, Morgan Stanley, PWC, CITI Global Markets, Credit Suisse, Blackrock, McKinsey, Bank of America, E&Y and the likes.
The designations MFE assume in these companies are: Traders, Analysts, Equities Structuring Managers, Fixed Income Analyst, Global Market Analysts, Quantitative Research Analysts, Financial Software Developers and the likes. The average salary an MFE is looking at post graduation is $87000.
Some top universities offering the MFE are: Columbia, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, Stanford, University of Chicago, Baruch College, Nanyang Technological University and the likes.
Since global recruiters are hiring MFEs with handsome salaries, the MFE has attracted a large number of candidates globally. In 2013, MIT alone received 1,583 applications for 127 seats that were available, while in 2009, the pilot class was just 27 students.
Specialized MS
If a candidate would like to simply advance his technical skills in a particular engineering field, he/she can look at a Master’s in that field. An MS degree intricately teaches you focused and concentrated technical know-how in a particular field.
An MS can be taught or based on research and, accordingly, it can be used to accelerate your career by obtaining a job or pursuing a research-based role or Ph.D. An MS is used as competitive edge against others who might have only achieved a Bachelor’s degree in the same or similar field.
Some specializations that are becoming increasingly popular to pursue under Mechanical Engineering are: Energy & the Environment, Micro/Nano Technology, Robotics, Thermal Fluids, Solid Mechanics, Vibrations & Materials, Biomanufacturing, Ergonomics and the likes. Under Civil Engineering you can look to pursue, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulics & Water Resources Engineering and the likes.
Under Electronics and Communications, some rather innovative MS degrees that can be pursued are: AI & Neural Networks, Remote Sensing & Space Systems and Semiconductor Devices.
Some top institutions that offer the most competitive MS programs are: MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan Ann-Arbor, California Tech and the likes.
Master’s of International Business (MIB) or Master’s of International Management (MIM)
Candidates who wish to hone their management skills, whether it be to later apply to Engineering-based organizations or not, can look at an MIM or an MIB. The MIM/MIB aims at helping students gain knowledge about the business aspect of each department in an organization, such as: marketing, operations, human resources, business development, strategy, finance, accounts and the likes.
Many programs also provide soft-skill training of leadership and teamwork parallel to the course, so as to make young managers job-ready in the management field. MIM/MIB students have the opportunity to specialize in concentrations of their choice and a few programs offer internships as part of the curriculum.
An MIM/MIB can work in the management aspect of any and every industry and usually will take on an Associate or Assistant role in Marketing, Finance, Operations, HR and the likes.
Some of the top universities offering this program are: Duke, St. Gallen, LBS, HEC Paris, ESSEC, ESCP, WHU Beisheim, CEMS, ESADE, RSM and the likes.
If you are an Egyptian Engineer looking to study abroad, the choices are many. However, all of them come with the opportunity to receive a world-class education in state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories from renowned professors as well as interact with global peers.
Along with this, candidates will be exposed to interning and working in global organizations, increasing their technical and business acuity hands-on, hence making it a brilliant option to explore.
If studying abroad has been one of your options, you will probably be interested in attending the QS World MBA Tour, where QS is bringing world-class universities from different part of the world to Cairo so you can speak with them face-to-face and choose the right program for you. Learn more about it here.
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss QS World MBA Tour Coming to Cairo and Dubai.