The forum on LetsRun.com in July, 2010 featured a query by a member who was interested in going back to school for an engineering degree.

He or she first offers some personal background: "I'm 26 and graduated with a degree in business back in 2007, but a part of me always regrets not majoring in an engineering discipline. I've always like Math/Science, but I definitely took the easy way out back when I was in college, and did the have fun/party thing. I have an OK job now (pays decent and have job security), but I just don't find the work very interesting."

This member voices a common complaint. Though necessary, many jobs simply aren't that fulfilling. He or she apparently experiences this lack of fulfillment quite acutely, because he or she goes on to ask, "So ... How realistic do you think it is to go back to school for an engineering degree?"

Happily, the poster received some sound advice from other members. The original poster made a point, however, to mention that due to time constraints and other limitations, he or she decided that distance learning promised the best route to an engineering degree, should that option indeed be available. He or she was looking, then, into the online degree programs in engineering at ITT Tech and University of Phoenix.

Do you consider yourself in the same boat as the LetsRun.com forum poster? Do you also feel that your career prospects have hit a wall in your current occupation? If so, then you can consider yourself a prime candidate for going back to school, whether for an engineering degree or a degree in some other subject.

Elsewhere at DegreesOnline.net are listed the top ten degrees worth going back to school for. Of those ten degrees, five are engineering degrees of one kind or another. Sizzling hot these days are degrees in petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, astronuatical engineering, electrical engineering, and mining and mineral engineering.

You can see that you have a momentous decision before you. Going back to school for an engineering degree is no small task. The going can be tough, and your progress sometimes doubtful; degree programs in engineering - of any variety - are notoriously rigorous. But the potential rewards are tremdous, as well. At the end of your academic journey, you'll not only have a highly sought-after degree in hand, you'll also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you took a chance and prevailed against all challenges and obstacles. When it comes to a solid structure for a lucrative and rewarding career, a degree in engineering is certainly worth going back to school for!

PHOTO CREDIT: Meathead Movers