Quick answer: Working tradespeople can earn ABET-accredited engineering degrees through online and hybrid programs built for adults with jobs. Trade experience can count toward transfer credit and can help in hiring, and each major discipline maps onto specific trades. Programs, the careers this degree opens, and what they pay are covered below.
Before you request information anywhere, confirm ABET accreditation for the specific program and ask how labs and part-time pacing are handled for working students. With that filter set, compare online engineering programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering Engineering Degrees
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
ABET accreditation. Non-negotiable if you ever want the PE license; every state board requires an ABET degree or makes non-ABET paths much longer.
How labs are handled. Good online engineering programs use regional lab intensives, local proctoring, or simulation packages; ask before you commit.
Credit for what you already know. Many programs award transfer credit for military training, apprenticeship coursework, and prior college; a strong evaluation can cut a year off the degree.
Part-time pacing that matches shift work. The standard working-adult load is 2 courses per term, finishing in 5 to 6 years; accelerated options exist.
The FE exam pipeline. Programs that build Fundamentals of Engineering exam prep into senior year can position you for the EIT credential at graduation.
The Licence, and Whether You Need It
Engineering licensure is a long state process and it is worth being clear about who it applies to.
The sequence is an ABET-accredited degree, the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering examination, a period of experience under a licensed engineer, then the Principles and Practice examination for the PE.
Not every engineering job requires it. It matters most where drawings are stamped for public safety - civil and structural work in particular - and matters least in manufacturing, product design and much of industry.
But the accreditation has to be in place from the start. ABET accreditation is what makes you eligible to sit the examinations, and it is not something that can be added retrospectively to a degree you already hold. That makes it the first thing to check before enrolling, whether or not you currently intend to license.
Confirm current requirements with your state board of professional engineers rather than relying on a national summary.
Before you shortlist schools, it also helps to be precise about which engineering discipline your trade actually feeds.
The Four Disciplines That Take Trade Experience Directly
The site publishes a bridge guide for each of these because they are the routes people actually take, not the ones that look tidy on paper.
Electrician to engineer into electrical engineering: 198,750 jobs at a median $120,630, the highest-paid of the four (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Nobody arrives understanding circuits, code and load calculations the way a licensed electrician does.
HVAC technician to mechanical engineer: 296,810 mechanical engineers at $104,110, projected to change by 9.1 percent through 2034. Thermodynamics and fluid behaviour stop being abstractions when you have commissioned the systems.
Welder to welding engineer into materials engineering, where metallurgy and process knowledge earned at the hood is exactly what the coursework formalises.
Machinist to industrial engineer: 365,740 industrial engineers at $102,440 and the fastest growth of the four at 11.0 percent. Process improvement is what a good machinist already does informally.
Carpenter to civil engineer into the largest and most geographically spread discipline: 367,840 civil engineers at $100,840, with a published wage in 375 metros.
The Mathematics, Said Plainly
This is the family where the entry barrier is a real one rather than a formality, and it is worth saying before anyone enrols.
Every engineering degree runs a calculus sequence, differential equations, physics and usually linear algebra. That sequence is what people who leave engineering programmes leave over - not the engineering content, which trade experience makes unusually intuitive.
Two things make it survivable. Start the mathematics before the engineering. Community college calculus, taken slowly while still working, transfers into almost every programme and is far cheaper than discovering the gap mid-degree. Expect the sequence to set the pace. Each course is a prerequisite for the next, so it cannot be compressed the way electives can, and that is why part-time engineering degrees commonly run six years or more.
If the mathematics is the obstacle rather than the interest, engineering technology is the honest alternative rather than a consolation. It is applied, it is shorter, it stays closer to the equipment, and electrical and electronic engineering technologists earn a median $78,190 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The ceiling is lower than engineering’s and the work is nearer to what you already do.
What These Careers Pay
Where These Degrees Are Worth Most Locally
Engineering employment is not evenly spread, and the discipline changes the geography.
Civil is the most distributed - 375 metros carry a published wage - because infrastructure and commercial construction happen everywhere. It is also the discipline most tied to the local public works pipeline.
Industrial follows manufacturing and logistics, so it concentrates where plants and distribution networks are.
Electrical and mechanical track both industry and the data centre and energy buildout, which has moved employment into metros that had little of it a decade ago.
The state and metro pages beneath this one carry the local wage and employment figures for each, and the spread between states is frequently wider than the gap between two disciplines nationally.
Why Employers Want Trade-Experienced Engineers
Engineers who have bent conduit, brazed lines, or run a lathe design things that can actually be built and fixed. EPC firms, utilities, and manufacturers say so in their job postings; datacenter and grid buildout hiring has only sharpened it. See the full list of trade careers that require a 4-year degree for where each discipline leads.
Cost, Time and the Honest Trade-Off
An engineering bachelor’s is the longest undergraduate commitment on this site, and the reason to be blunt about that is the same reason the disciplines above are worth it.
Four years full time, commonly six or more part time while working a trade. The mathematics sequence sets the pace and cannot be compressed. Against that, electrical engineers earn a median $120,630 and mechanical engineers $104,110, well above the licensed trades that feed them - each trade’s own page carries its figure (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Three things genuinely shorten it. Community college transfer for the mathematics and general education, which almost every programme accepts. Prior coursework from apprenticeship related instruction or military training, which is worth raising with admissions even though what any individual school does with it is that school’s decision. And choosing engineering technology instead where the applied route fits the goal.
What does not shorten it is enthusiasm for the subject. Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll. Individual outcomes may vary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I really earn an engineering degree online while working a trade?
Yes. ABET-accredited online and hybrid engineering programs exist in electrical, mechanical, civil, industrial, and environmental disciplines, designed for working adults with lab components handled through intensives or local arrangements.
Does trade experience count for anything in engineering school?
It can shorten the degree through transfer credit for apprenticeship and military training, and it consistently helps in hiring: employers value engineers who understand how the work is physically done.
Which engineering discipline has the widest job market?
Civil engineering, at 367,840 jobs with a published wage in 375 metro areas - the widest geographic coverage of any engineering occupation (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Industrial engineering is close behind at 365,740 and is the fastest growing of the four at a projected 11.0 percent change through 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Engineering or engineering technology?
Engineering is the design-and-analysis degree and is what the PE licence route assumes. Engineering technology is the applied version, closer to the equipment, and electrical and electronic engineering technologists earn a median $78,190 against $120,630 for electrical engineers (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The technology route is shorter and more directly continuous with a trade; the engineering route has the higher ceiling.
How long does this take part time?
An engineering bachelor's is normally four years full time and commonly six or more part time while working. The mathematics sequence is the pacing item, not the engineering coursework, and it is where most people who stop end up stopping.
Do I need the PE license?
Only for roles that seal drawings or hold responsible charge, but the ABET degree plus the FE exam keeps that door open. Industry design and manufacturing roles generally do not require the PE.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
