You spend four to six years earning a degree in mechanical engineering (See Reason #2). Calculus sequences, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, machine design. Then you open the Bureau of Labor Statistics page for your own occupation and read the education requirement: "Mechanical engineers typically need a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or mechanical engineering technology" (BLS, 2025). "Or". Not "and". The federal government's standard occupational reference treats both credentials as valid for the same job title.
Check the other disciplines. The BLS page for electrical engineers says "a bachelor's degree in a related engineering field." No mention of electrical engineering technology. The civil engineers page requires "a bachelor's degree in civil engineering" and expects an FE license. Chemical engineers need "a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering or a related field." None of them list their technology counterpart as an accepted credential for the engineer role. Only yours does. See Reason #13.
The overlap is not just a BLS footnote. A survey of 200 companies conducted by the ASEE Engineering Technology Council found that 67 percent of employers who hire both ME and MET graduates make no significant distinction in roles and responsibilities between them, and 70 percent observed no significant differences in capabilities in similar roles (Land, 2012). The National Academy of Engineering found that one in three employers surveyed could not distinguish between the work performed by engineers and the work performed by engineering technologists (NAE, 2017). Your professional society, ASME, partnered with Autodesk to survey over 300 employers and reported that "engineering degrees are becoming less important and certifications more important to employers" (ASME/Autodesk, 2022). The credential you spent five years earning is not worthless. It is just not differentiated in the eyes of the people who write the requisitions.
The industrial exemption explains why. In manufacturing, where roughly 45 percent of MEs work, state licensing laws exempt in-house engineers from PE stamp requirements. The employer assumes liability, not the individual. That means the one legal mechanism that could create a hard boundary between an ME and an MET performing the same work is structurally turned off in the very setting where most MEs are employed (See Reason #17). Civil engineers do not have this problem. Their PE stamps are legally required for public infrastructure. The exemption does not apply. Their credential has teeth. Yours has a preference.
Look at what both groups actually do each day. The O*NET task profiles for mechanical engineers and mechanical engineering technologists share the same core: reading and interpreting blueprints, testing and evaluating equipment, inspecting for conformance, CAD modeling, preparing technical documents, coordinating with suppliers, analyzing test data, and maintaining records. The tasks that appear only on the ME profile, conducting research, developing new mechanical systems, applying engineering principles to novel problems, are exactly the work that occupies 7 percent of the profession (See Reason #7). The other 84 percent live in the overlap zone, doing work that both credentials were trained to do. See Reason #8.
The wage data shows what indifference looks like when one credential costs less. The median ME earns $102,320. The median MET earns $68,730. But at the 25th percentile, an ME earns $79,160, which is within range of a 90th-percentile MET at $94,720 (BLS, 2023). The bottom quarter of the ME wage distribution is already competing in the same band as the top tier of MET. When two-thirds of employers see no difference in capability and the legal framework does not distinguish between the two credentials in manufacturing, the employer does not need to prefer the cheaper option. They just need to be indifferent. The spreadsheet does the rest.
Nobody told you this when you declared the major. They told you the degree was broad, rigorous, and respected. It is. It is also, in the eyes of the market, interchangeable with a credential that costs less and arrives sooner. You spent the extra years and the extra tuition. The requisition says "or."
References:
ASME/Autodesk. (2022). Future of manufacturing. https://damassets.autodesk.net/content/dam/autodesk/www/pdfs/autodesk-asme-future-of-manufacturing.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023, May). Occupational employment and wage statistics: Mechanical engineers (17-2141). https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes172141.htm
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025). Mechanical engineers. Occupational Outlook Handbook. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/mechanical-engineers.htm
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025). Electrical and electronics engineers. Occupational Outlook Handbook. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/electrical-and-electronics-engineers.htm
Land, R. E. (2012). Engineering technologists are engineers. Journal of Engineering Technology, Spring 2012, 33-39. https://sites.millersville.edu/jwright/S3%202012%20Jet_Article_re_Survey.pdf
National Academy of Engineering. (2017). Engineering technology education in the United States. National Academies Press. https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/23402/chapter/6
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