What I Did with My Degree: Mechanical Engineering

In 1970, I was a naive young college student who thought that upon graduation I would be getting a job as a mechanical engineer at an aircraft manufacturer, doing research and development on landing gear. I had a few student loans and I had been working for $2.25 an hour, so the salary of my first engineering job of $11,000 seemed huge. Though I had a letter in May telling me I was hired, when I later received my Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), I learned the job was no longer available. Corporate restructuring, they said. That was my welcome to corporate America!