In school, most problems have a single, correct answer. When you get into the engineering work world, virtually all problems will be open-ended. You will be required to devise a solution and persuade others that your solution is the best one. These are skills that will be valuable throughout your life and not only when you are solving engineering problems. Just about everything that engineers do benefits society.
Engineers develop transportation systems that help people and products move about easily.
Engineers design the buildings that we live and work in, the systems that deliver our water and electricity, the machinery that produces our food, and the medical equipment that keeps us healthy. Depending upon your value system, you may not view all things that engineers do as benefiting people. For example, engineers design military equipment like missiles, tanks, bombs, artillery, and fighter airplanes. Engineers are also involved in the production of pesticides, cigarettes, liquor, fluorocarbons, and asbestos. As an engineer, however, you can choose to work on projects that clearly benefit society, such as cleaning up the environment, developing prosthetic aids for disabled persons, developing clean and efficient transportation systems, finding new sources of energy, alleviating the world's hunger problems, and increasing the standard of living in underdeveloped countries.