How do you start learning about your career options?
This question has a chicken-and-egg quality to it. Namely, how do you know what to pursue if you don't know what opportunities exist? But then, the number of opportunities is so large that you don't have time to consider things that are not of interest.
So, a pre-cursor to the search for career information is the task of figuring out what you like, and what kind of career appeals to you. That's a life-long task. The more you know yourself, the more comfortable you will feel responding to opportunities.
There are many sources of career information. I suggest that at a minimum you consider these
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is one of the largest professional engineering societies. Students are encouraged to learn about the ASME and consider joining this organization.
The ASME web site has a knowledge base (i.e. a database of reference material) on career development. The current (Spring 2011) format of the knowledge base means that the content is more frequently updated. The new design also has fewer fixed resources, which can make finding information a challenge.
The ASME is a non-profit professional society. There are commercial career information sites such as the Career Toolkits web site that will also be helpful to students seeking career ideas.
The MME faculty have a diverse range of expertise and interests. If you are curious about a particular topic discussed in class, go to your instructor's office during office hours. Faculty are generally happy to talk about career options in their area of expertise.
Many of us know people that we admire and who have interesting jobs. Ask these friends and family members about their careers. How did they get started? What do they like the most about their work? What would they do if they were looking for a new job in a new career area?
Don't limit your questions to engineers. Find out what a good career is like regardless of the profession.
The PSU Career Center has information about local, regional, and national job opportunities. You can register for access to the CareerConnect database of job and internship postings. By monitoring that site you can learn about the kinds of jobs that will be available to you when you graduate.
The internet has many sources of information -- too many really. I use an RSS reader to monitor headlines at major newspapers and some technically oriented web sites. While this is hardly a solution to your immediate desire for career information, the glut of information on the web about technology makes it feasible to track trends and identify opportunities.
Here are some sites that I follow for technology trends, all via RSS or the newer Atom protocol. Seriously, use the feed, Luke. Use the feed.