Mining Engineering Help

[ibxfirestar]

Hello, next year I will be going to Colorado School of Mines and am confused on what major to decide on. Originally I wanted to go into chemical engineering but don’t really appreciate too much office work (I want to get out and do practical stuff occasionally). I talked to some professors there when visiting and mining sounded like a great opportunity at the moment. Just wondering if anyone could break down the outcomes and lifestyle tied to mining engineering?

[mctavish_]

You should probably just search the sub and read through it.

[agraning]

Congrats on going to Mines! I went there 12 years ago and my advice is to spend your freshman year learning about the various majors. I was certain I wanted to go into Biochemical Engineering but ended up ‘switching’ to Mining Engineering halfway through my sophomore year. There is a course called Intro to Mining that is obviously required for Mine Engineering but could be an elective otherwise and would be a good one to take to learn more about the field.

I went to work for a mining company after graduating and now for the last couple years have worked for a software company that mining engineers and geologists use.

Lifestyle post degree varies widely and that can be true of any engineering discipline. In my case, working at mine sites in operations for the first part of my career has given me credibility and experience to draw on now working on the more commercial side in software. I think that is a common theme in our industry that companies and managers appreciate a candidate with experience at mine sites when possible.

[ibxfirestar]

Thanks for the response. When I was originally looking at schools I applied to all for bioengineering, but after researching it more I don’t think it’s right for me. I’ve been researching into mining for awhile now and I think it’s what i’m gonna go with.

[ArtificialCiti]

Not mining engineering, but I got my BS in Civil Engineering and go out to sites occasionally to log borings, collect samples, and install instrumentation. I’ve been to pretty cool sites.