9781422270011

Strong employment prospects. The USDL predicts that employment of computer and information technology professionals in the United States will grow by 15 percent during the next decade. This is much faster than the average for all careers. Career opportunities for those in life, physical, and social science occupations will grow by 7 percent, and employment for engineering professionals will grow by 4 percent. By 2031, the USDL predicts that there will be nearly 873,000 new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics jobs. Rewarding work environment and many career options. A career in science is fulfilling because you get to use both your creative and practical sides to develop new technologies (or improve existing ones), solve problems, and make the world a better place. In the instance of space science and engineering, you get the chance to build spacecraft that will allow humans to travel into space and explore and conduct research, as well as devise and conduct experiments that help us to better understand the universe, improve life on Earth, and make space exploration and tourism safer for humans. There’s a common misconception that science workers spend most of their time in dreary, windowless laboratories or research facilities. While they do spend lots of time in these places, they also spend time in the field, testing, troubleshooting, and trying out their inventions or discoveries. And some scientists who are also astronauts get to travel into space to conduct experiments and other research! Entrepreneurism is another option for scientists and engineers. Some science professionals launch their own businesses, which can be both fun and very rewarding. Job opportunities are available throughout the United States and the world. Science professionals play such an important role in our modern world that there are job openings almost anywhere, although many positions are found in big cities.

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