What Actually Happens When You Get an Online Engineering Degree
I've seen this debate cycle through forums and hiring panels more times than I can count. The short version is that an online engineering degree from an accredited program will get you through the HR filter. The longer version involves understanding what employers actually care about and where the gaps tend to appear. The Reddit threads on this topic usually fall into two camps. People who got hired without issue after completing an ABET-accredited online program, and people who struggled because they picked a regionally accredited but not ABET program. The distinction matters more than most posters acknowledge. ABET is the programmatic accreditation that engineering firms actually look for, especially if you're pursuing PE licensure down the line. From what I've observed in hiring, the online degree itself isn't the problem. The problem shows up when candidates can't demonstrate hands-on competency during technical interviews. I had a candidate once who had a solid online mechanical engineering degree from a state university. He passed the screening interview fine, then we put him on a practical exam to size a pump for a real process flow. He froze on the Net Positive Suction Head calculation because his program had never required a fluid mechanics lab. He could do the theory on paper but hadn't touched instrumentation or seen how theory maps to field conditions.
That's the real unvarnished truth. Online programs vary wildly in how much they force you out of the theoretical comfort zone. Some include virtual labs that are decent. Most don't replace the muscle memory you build from actually wiring up a circuit board or calibrating a sensor. If you're serious about this path, you need to supplement the coursework with personal projects or internship experience that gives you tactile exposure. Here's what most people miss about the accreditation piece. Not all online engineering programs are created equal even within ABET. Some programs outsource core courses to teaching assistants with limited industry experience. Check who's actually writing and grading your technical work. Look at faculty credentials on the department page. If your thermodynamics professor has a PhD but zero industry experience and no publications in applied thermodynamics, that's a signal about the program's priorities. Theory-heavy programs produce test-takers. Applied programs produce engineers. The licensure angle is another area where online programs create confusion. If you're in the United States and eventually want to sit for the FE exam or pursue a PE license, you need to verify that your program meets your state board's requirements. Some states have specific credit hour distributions or lab hour minimums that online programs struggle to satisfy. I've seen candidates spend six months sorting out transcripts after graduation because their program didn't document lab hours properly. Make sure your program keeps detailed records of every hands-on component, even if it's simulated.
There's also the networking question. Online students tend to graduate with smaller professional contacts compared to campus-based peers. This isn't fatal. I've worked with online graduates who built stronger networks through LinkedIn outreach and industry conferences than campus students did through passive exposure. But you have to be intentional about it. Joining ASME or IEEE student sections and attending local chapter meetings will do more for your career than any online discussion board thread ever will. The salary data doesn't show a significant gap between online and on-campus graduates from the same accredited program. What shows up in compensation reports is the school's reputation and your demonstrated skills, not the delivery format. Employers who discriminate against online degrees are usually the ones who also reject self-taught developers or community college transfer students. Those aren't the employers you want working for anyway. If you're considering this route, pick a program with ABET accreditation, verify lab and practicum components are well-documented, reach out to alumni on LinkedIn before enrolling to ask about job placement support, and plan to build a portfolio of applied projects outside the curriculum. The degree gets you in the door. Your ability to solve actual problems keeps you there.
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