In order to cultivate the talents acquired in the fourth industrial revolution, developed countries' government are actively engaged in the campaigns encouraging K-12 students to participate in the maker movement. Maker education is regarded as one possible solution based on high tech in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and it is spreading widely along with STEM education. In South Korea, STEAM education was actively conducted nationwide, and since 2017, STEAM and maker education have been linked showing mutual development. However, compared to STEAM education linked to the curriculum, comparison and activity-based research on maker education for teenagers is still insufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to suggest implications for STEAM education and maker education by analyzing the motivation of Korean youth to participate in maker activities. The subjects of this study are high school students who participated in maker education programs in student community for the first time in Korea. In this study, students were classified into engineering-related career group and non-engineering-related career groups based on their career intentions, and the motivation and understanding of participation in maker activities were compared. As a result of the study, male students participated more in maker education community activities than female students, and the engineering-related career group had a higher intention to participate in games, outdoor activities, IT equipment, digital production, and electrical/electronic production activities than the non-engineering-related career group. In addition, in the fields of handicraft/art, home baking, installing, and horticultural agriculture, there was no difference in the intention of participate in the engineering-related career group and the non-engineering-related career group. It was found that the engineering-related career group believed that there was a strong relationship between the maker education community activity, career exploration and future career choice, while the non-engineering-related career group believed that the relationship is less strong. It was also found that the engineering-related career group was participating more actively in the maker activity than the other group.