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The Timing of First Professional Experience and Engineering Careers: Evidence from Random Assignment

Author

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  • Kevin J. Boudreau
  • Matt Marx

Abstract

Engineering students specialize before experiencing the work they train for. Students were randomly assigned a professional work term six months earlier versus later, with similar total training. Through five years after graduation, earlier exposure raises graduates’ share of years in engineering by 3.6 percentage points and their probability of working only in engineering by 7.1 points. We examine whether earlier practice improves learning, strengthens networks, or informs specialization choices. We find no lasting performance advantage and modestly larger networks. Evidence is clearest for earlier sorting: departures from engineering during training follow exposure, consistent with information arriving while specialization remains reversible.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin J. Boudreau & Matt Marx, 2019. "The Timing of First Professional Experience and Engineering Careers: Evidence from Random Assignment," NBER Working Papers 26013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26013
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie D Cheng, 2023. "What’s another year? The lengthening training and career paths of scientists," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(5), pages 1-11, May.
    2. Stefan Dimitriadis & Rembrand Koning, 2022. "Social Skills Improve Business Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Entrepreneurs in Togo," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(12), pages 8635-8657, December.
    3. Benjamin Niswonger, 2022. "What You See is What You Get: Local Labor Markets and Skill Acquisition," Papers 2209.03892, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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