7 Best Online Engineering Courses

If you are interested in engineering courses, you can find many degree programs offering online classes.

Engineering is a vast discipline with a variety of specialties, including mechanical engineering, civil engineer, and electrical engineering.

Being able to study engineering online can give you the opportunity to learn additional skills, get a degree (or a second degree), and start a brand new career.

There are two main ways in which you can get engineering training online:

• College education
• Continuing education

This article will primarily focus on online college education opportunities for engineers. It is therefore primarily written for people who are interested in starting a career in engineering.

However, if you are an existing engineer and perhaps want to take additional courses or get a Master’s degree, you might find some helpful information here.

Here are seven of the top online engineering programs. Of course, if you want to pursue a specific specialty, some engineering schools will be better than others, even if they are not on this particular list.

If you are just looking at affordability, then you have a lot of options to choose from. Some great online engineering programs cost $12,000 per year or less. We listed quite a few affordable options above. 

Some of these schools are online only. Check with their accreditation and your state licensing guidelines to make sure the degree will be applicable for your location and the field you want to work in. 

Here are two more schools you might want to check out: 

Before we continue, you should understand one thing if you are new to the field: Engineering is not one of those disciplines where you can take a few online courses and then put a shingle up on your door to get freelance work. 

The profession of engineering requires a formal college education. 

Rather than watching a few webinars, to take engineering courses online, you will likely need to enroll in a college university. Also, some might offer a few standalone engineering courses you can take as an auditor. 

But most of the time, you will need to be enrolled in a degree program to learn engineering on the Internet. 

Think about it: Would you want someone designing a bridge who had simply gone through a bunch of webinars offered by a shady online huckster? 

Would you want the next NASA rocket to be developed by someone who had never gotten a college degree? 

Engineering is simply one of those professions where you absolutely have to get a formal education. 

Furthermore, you need to be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding and proficiency in engineering. Lives literally hang in the balance. 

Because engineering involves real people’s lives, engineers usually need professional licensing, which depends on the state. Additionally, each state will have its own requirements and possibly an exam you must pass in order to be able to practice engineering. 

You will need a Bachelor’s degree, at minimum, to legally practice engineering in most geographic locations. 

Therefore, you are not likely to find standalone engineering courses offered individual engineering “experts.” Engineering is not one of those disciplines that would easily fit into a “Learn Everything You Need to Know About Engineering in 7 Weeks” type of online course. 

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Once you get your degree in engineering, you will need to keep your skills and knowledge up-to-date through continuing education. 

Furthermore, you can partake in continuing education for engineers online, although the offerings are still somewhat limited. 

The National Society of Professional Engineers offers webinars for continuing education of engineers. 

As a professional engineer, you may want to improve your skills in other areas of business, such as project management, accounting, organization, and general productivity. You can find many online courses and webinars that can help you with these areas of business. 

Taking courses such as these, once you have completed your college education in engineering, is a great way to make yourself a well-rounded professional. 

One avenue you might want to explore in engineering is getting a certification as a project manager. Once in a while, you can find a hybrid course that teaches skills such as project management in an engineering context, such as “Project Management of Engineering Projects: Preparing for Success.” 

There are many different types of engineering and engineering specialties. These include everything from Environmental Engineering to Materials Engineering. You can find a lot of data online about the various salaries you can expect from each engineering field. 

Here are just a few of the engineering specialties you might want to pursue: 

If you love flight, from airplanes to spaceships, then you may want to become an aerospace engineer. Your starting salary may be more than $65,000, and you can earn $100,000 or more per year in this field. 

If you are interested in the intersection of technology and healthcare, then you might enjoy becoming a biomedical engineer. This growing field will probably become more needed in the years to come as demand for medical technologies increases. 

This is a high-paying engineering career where you work in manufacturing and research for chemical companies as well as other general manufacturing companies. 

Civil engineering is all about the infrastructure that makes cities livable. If you are interested in building highways, bridges, airports, and buildings, then you should learn civil engineering. 

Electrical engineers can make a starting salary of more than $57,000. They design and test electrical equipment such as circuit boards. 

Are you good at physics? Then you might be a good mechanical engineer. Mechanical engineers analyze and design mechanical systems, which are important in so many things, from cars to buildings. 

The average annual salary of mining and geological engineers is around $100,000. Manufacturers need raw materials in order to produce goods, and often, these raw materials must be mined and culled from the earth. 

Before putting down any hard-earned money, make sure you have found the right engineering courses and program for your needs. 

Programs are constantly changing, so you will want to do your homework and check with the admissions team of each school to get as much information as possible. 

Here are a few questions to ask: 

Some programs may only be partially online and require some in-person classes. 

Not only should you find out if the school is accredited, but who the accrediting agency is. Anyone can set up a company to “accredit” a school. So, you need to make sure the accrediting organization is one that is reputable. 

Make sure you get clear on what the tuition is as well as what your potential costs might be for books and supplies. 

Just because a school is online, it does not mean that it won’t take up your time. Is the program meant as a full-time program? Or can you take it as a part-time option? Some schools will require you to go through a program according to a specific schedule

Are there career counselors available? Who can you speak with if there is a problem? Is any technical support available for the online class system? 

Just because a course is online, that doesn’t mean you want inexperienced, ineffective teachers. Find out the credentials of some of the professors at the school to gauge its value. 

Will you get a refund or partial refund if you need to drop out of a class for an issue or emergency? What if you need to put the program on pause, can you do that? 

All of these questions are important when assessing online schools 

Finally, more and more colleges and universities are offering degree programs online. 

You can find many good college-level engineering courses and programs through the Internet. This is sure to expand as more schools see the benefits of putting courses online for adult learners and telecommuters. You may also find a school where you can take part of your training online. 

In conclusion, with so many terrific options, you are sure to find a decent online school to help you obtain your engineering degree.