Author: Javeshnev Azua
Contact: Javeshnev.azua@gmail.com
Website: www.missazua.org
Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics Careers
Year after year, students seem to ask the same simple
question:
“What should I do with my life?”
My answer has always held the same philosophical background:
“Whatever you choose to do, ensure
you can do it on a daily basis with interest, pride, and excitement. All jobs
and careers have good days and bad days. However, if most days don’t seem like
work, rather they seem like a hobby, then you probably are in the right field.
The goal to a successful career path is to be in a field where you feel that
you haven’t truly ‘worked’ a day in your life, but have essentially had a blast
doing whatever it is that you have been doing.”
So at the
request of some of my students, I have compiled a list of resources to
determine if you have any interest in pursuing a STEM Career.
In order to be considered a STEM
Career, the career needs to fall under one of the four categories within STEM:
S – Science (includes Medicine/Healthcare)
T- Technology
E- Engineering
M- Mathematics
As long as
you have work within one of those fields that touches on either one or more of
the four major categories of STEM then you qualify under the STEM Career
fields. Interestingly, there is another growing terminology for STEM that
incorporates the prospect of Art, and instead of referring to these careers as
STEM they refer to it as STEAM, which includes the concept of art as part of
the process that is necessary to fulfill the careers purpose.
Common examples of STEM Careers:
-
Physician
-
Nurse
-
Engineers (Chemical, Architectural, Bioengineer,
Mechanical, etc.)
-
Computer Technicians
Not so common examples of STEM Careers:
-
Science Journalist
-
Science Grant Writer
-
Science Graphic Designer
According to the National Governors
Association (2011), STEM education is viewed as one of the most critical
components in education at present, in order to meet the demands of growth in
our nation within the next 20 years. It is projected that in between 2008-2018
there will be more than 2.4 million job openings for STEM workers (Butcher,
2013). According to a report by the US
Department of Commerce, approximately 50% of all STEM positions currently
fall under the mathematics and computer fields, with engineering falling in
second at 32% of the available jobs. Sadly, the physical and life sciences are
only accounting for 13%, and STEM management jobs (ex: human resources,
administration, etc.) account for an actual 9% of the positions.
A lot of students are under the
impression that they should be going into fields that are in the life sciences,
and/or healthcare. This is a misconception, because though many positions are
arising in healthcare/life science fields, the fields that are growing the most
are the mathematics, computer, and engineering categories. They also tend to be
some of the highest paying positions, and many of the positions are being
invented as we speak. No longer do prospective students have to think of just
common career paths, rather they have options to explore a diversity of career
paths within STEM that are in constant development and have an immense growth
potential.
Another interesting fact is the
growth of STEM graduates in other countries excels in comparison to the United
States. According to the National Governors Association (2011), China/Japan are
leading the way with the most graduates in STEM Careers. Therefore, the United
States government is making an attempt to increase STEM initiatives at the
elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels within the nation. It is not
enough that we are competent within the field, rather there is potential for
increasing the numbers of our own graduates within STEM fields. However, France
is leading the way in the amount of Doctorate level (general) science
graduates, and China has the highest Doctorate level engineering graduates
(National Governors Association).
It is prudent to point out, that
because the federal government has a great interest in increasing its number of
STEM graduates within the United States, they are offering a myriad of
opportunities to those that fall under minorities within STEM fields. Women are
one of the largest minorities within the STEM field, there are NOT enough
females in STEM. There is also a great disparity in the category of STEM women
fall under. According to US
Department of Commerce 1 in 7 engineers are actually female. Holy smokes!
That is a very minute number of females being represented within the
engineering field. (Forbes
Magazine wrote a most interesting article on this gender gap within
STEM fields). Yet, we see this disparity in the secondary level, even in our
numbers within physical science courses, there is barely any female
representation, let alone minority females (Hispanic, Asian, Native American,
etc.). So the US government is attempting to encourage females to pursue fields
within STEM, including engineering, but all other STEM careers as well. They
are offering ample scholarship, and grant opportunities to enhance the success
rate of the female and minority populations. None-the-less if you are pursuing
any field in STEM you are going to be earning far more than your average
non-STEM career based field, and you will have far more opportunities to acquire
assistance in your financial aid for post-secondary education.
What to search for in search engines if
interested in STEM?
*Each of the links below, provides a LIST
of careers in those categories*
-
Life Science
-
Behavioral and Social Science
-
Interdisciplinary Science
-
Physical Science
-
Earth & Environmental Science
-
Engineering
-
Math & Computer Science
-
Healthcare & Medicine
-
Human Biology
-
Human Anatomy & Physiology, Health
-
Genomics & Genetics
STEM Career Interest Questionnaires
-
Career Decision-Making System Questionnaire
-
STEM Career Assessments
-
iONFuture (The STEM Career Exploration Game)
-
(Futurize Me Quiz- What is the STEM Career for
me?)
STEM Resource Links
-
What STEM Careers are in demand?
-
Top 10 Cities with STEM Career Openings
-
http://www.napequity.org/professional-development/counselor-training/stem-careers-students/ (Learn about STEM Careers: For students)
Women in STEM Resource Links
References
Butcher, D. (2013). Employment outlook for STEM professionals is
robust- and moving beyond traditional occupations. Retrieved December 3rd, 2013 from http://www.thomasnet.com/journals/career/employment-outlook-for-stem-professionals-is-robust-and-moving-beyond-traditional-occupations/
National Governors
Association (2011). Science, technology,
engineering & math (STEM) education. National
Governors Association. Washington, DC:
Author. Retrieved from http://www.nga.org/cms/stem
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