This has been an interesting thread - I have two engineering degrees, mechanical undergrad and biomed grad. I work in a highly sought after field, clinical engineering and frankly get paid about average. However, I am an expert enough in my field and efficient enough that I am fairly autonomous. That means I work the hours I want to most of the time.
The comment about the median way to ER is right on - you earn a fairly decent salary early on and if you save early on, you will be able to ER. Contrast with being a doctor - the real money makers have some serious school debts and a long time before they earn the big bucks (4 years undergrad, 4 years medical school, for cardiologist 5 years residency afterwards, cardiovascular surgery 9 years residency, neurosurgery 9 years residency and during residency, they aren't making a whole lot of money and in fact their hourly rate is atrocious and they still have to pay those college, med school bills....).
As for communication skills - I have those, so have been amply rewarded - I'm probably not the engineer who would get a patent, but I'm the one that would be able to explain what that patent would do to the manager....the 'you're blowing smoke up .....' filter.'
As for management - it's weird, I've been asked to become one, but I'm not a very good babysitter of adults - my attitude is there are consequences to decisions and it's not my job to thwart those consequences.....however, I know I am a good project manager and team leader - finish projects on time, on budget and customers happy. So you could look at management in different ways.
As for flexibility of an engineering degree-well, I find it very flexible. I did a stint in international affairs recently (long story) and the PhD political scientist said I was the best analyst he'd seen. I have no social science or political science background or training, however the analytical skilles one is taught in engineering can apply to almost any field. I laughed and told him I better be a good analyst as that is what engineers do. So, I don't believe an engineering degree is a barrier and in many cases an employer would be very happy to hire someone who has an engineering degree-it takes discipline and perserverance to finish one of those. I look at all of the classes I had to take and am amazed at how much knowledge has been added (computer field and information technology alone!) to that for an engineering degree. I did it in 4.5 years 20 years ago - I'm sure it should be 5-6 years now just for an undergrad (grad degree took 2 years, full-time for me).
All in all, I'm glad I picked engineering - the broad understanding of math and science has helped me understand a lot of things professionally and personallY (finance, health, stuff around me in my environment and how it works, etc). I consider it a noble profession - and I respect anyone who has slogged their way through an engineering degree. When many around me were partying like crazy, I had to dig deep for the discipline to study - it has benefited me enormously towards my future goals...and my partying now is so much finer!
(making up for lost time perhaps?)
Deserat