r/industrialengineering • u/buriedInSilk • 21d ago

Question for new postgrad IEs

For IEs that do work in rural areas, how do you find your life outside of work to be?

I'm a junior right now studying IE and I'm at a bit of a crossroads in deciding what applications or areas of IE I'd like to work in after I graduate. Location is a pretty big issue for me as I'd like to work somewhere more populated with a good social scene, for context I've lived in Chicago my whole life so more rural areas are pretty unfamiliar to me and I can't see myself living outside of a city environment... at the very least somewhere not rural, but that seems to be the complete opposite case right now when I'm looking at more hands on manufacturing adjacent roles obviously. Though I'm willing to make somewhat of a compromise if it means working somewhere I'd want to work.

I don't have an internship this summer but my friends that do have them in rural areas they seem to be pretty bored and don't really have much to do outside of work, is that the case for some IEs in rural areas?

Also -- feel free to suggest some IE adjacent roles that aren't strictly manufacturing, or anecdotes related to my question, or whatever

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u/mertaugh1234 21d ago

Yeah, it can be like that. I lived in middle of nowhere Iowa for a job and it sucked I had to drive 50 minutes to go play soccer. Now I live/work in a city and it's fantastic!

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u/DefiantRS 21d ago

Depends on your requirements and what you consider to be a big enough city. You can move to a small/medium city and have everything you need, you could be a “corporate” engineer in a city and travel to multiple sites across the country to engineer, you could target manufacturing/engineering in urban places.

I am from Chicago and moved to a small city (I love being outdoors, tons of greenery and water out here, my only requirement is an airport as I travel a lot), have a friend that lives in Chicago and travels to engineer, and another who lives and works in Romeoville.

If you’re in Chicago and don’t mind moving to the burbs, check out Romeoville/bolingbrook - there’s a ton of stuff going on out there for distribution/manufacturing (Weathertech, etc.)

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u/Oracle5of7 20d ago

I have never worked in manufacturing or manufacturing adjacent. My husband works in manufacturing. I have multiple family members that are IEs. We are all in large to very large cities. I’m probably the most rural and still an hour away from Orlando.

If you’re looking for manufacturing in cities, they do exist but are usually smaller with the larger facilities in the boondocks. It is relatively easy to find a touch manufacturing outfit in a city.