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canoshiz posted:I was in a very similar situation minus the co-op experience over in the Bay Area, CA. I was searching for six months to no avail before finding a crappy production tech position at a chemicals company in the semiconductors industry through a staffing agency. I know, it's a really lovely position to have for a ChemE grad, but it's all about building experience and networking at that point. I was able to find a new job at a proper company through a friend in college after a bit over a year of working that production job. Basically I would say just take any job you can find that's even tangentially related to your field (even if you consider it "below" your level) while applying for "proper" positions. If that ends up not panning out, in about a year all your college buddies will be settled in nicely at their jobs and might know of some openings that can help you out. Thanks for the info. You know its something that I may end up taking up, can't stand unemployment too long and a lab position may be something to get me through even if it means I make a paltry sum. Thanks for some of the ideas for locations. Some of these I'll be checking out will definitely be on the gulf coast. Biotech/alternative energy also seems to be a big think in the Bay area and other places in Cali; I'm just concerned that the cost of living may kill my entry level pay grade. P&G is definitely here and also one of the places I applied for to no avail....we also have Lubrizol, Sherwin-Williams, PPG, Goodyear, etc. which I thought would be a good local with all the possibilities but its been a tough fight. It seems that networking ends up being the key factor no matter what. The person I most recently interviewed with said he would give me recommendations to any of their other facilities across the US if I find something that fits. I also have a prospect with my previous boss and the company he works for now in a rotational program. Unfortunately the selection for that program does not start until Oct/Nov. One last question, how does relocation usually work with some of these companies. I know it probably varies from company to company and job to job but do they typically compensate you and roughly how much? Because say right now I got a job in Houston, there's no way I would have the cash just to pack my things up from Ohio and get a new place to stay without some sort of help.
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Jul 18, 2013 14:33
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mullzor posted:One last question, how does relocation usually work with some of these companies. I know it probably varies from company to company and job to job but do they typically compensate you and roughly how much? Because say right now I got a job in Houston, there's no way I would have the cash just to pack my things up from Ohio and get a new place to stay without some sort of help. They should help you out. I'm a single guy moving cross-country to a startup and they gave me a $5k budget for relocation. I've heard that places like Microsoft when pulling in say a middle management type who's got kids + a house, they pretty much bypass you and pay the company directly. That probably applies to most large companies who have existing relationships with moving firms and are well, large corporations and not a 25 person startup company. IMO moving more than a hour or two with 0 relocation covered/offered would raise a red flag for me. Even moving just a hour away, they could cover a U-Haul or something. e: Oh, and they should definitely hook you up with a realtor.
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Jul 18, 2013 15:37
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movax posted:They should help you out. I'm a single guy moving cross-country to a startup and they gave me a $5k budget for relocation. I've heard that places like Microsoft when pulling in say a middle management type who's got kids + a house, they pretty much bypass you and pay the company directly. That probably applies to most large companies who have existing relationships with moving firms and are well, large corporations and not a 25 person startup company. Gotcha. Awesome advice. I was just interested because the job I recently interview for (in my area) has referred me to several other positions within their company. While I wasn't the candidate they were looking for in that position they said they definitely wanted me within the company somewhere (throughout the US). Most did not mention relocation at all while one positing mentioned "no relocation available". So I'll assume that is the one I should avoid and apply with the ones that would be willing to haul my self out of Ohio. Also considering applying for tech lab jobs in the meantime to make spare cash. If the above opportunity falls through my old boss works for a new place that has a rotation program starting on oct/nov
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Jul 19, 2013 03:36
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I just scheduled an interview with a company that's about 100 miles from where I live. I have never traveled for an interview before so I forgot to ask about mileage reimbursement. My impression is that they should pay me some number of cents/mile for my trip, is that correct? They didn't mention it on the phone so I'm probably going to call the HR person back to ask about it, just wanted to check here to see if someone could tell me how this usually works.
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Jul 19, 2013 03:37
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If they don't pay mileage you just take it as a write off on your taxes.
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Jul 19, 2013 04:08
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I just scheduled an interview with a company that's about 100 miles from where I live. I have never traveled for an interview before so I forgot to ask about mileage reimbursement. My impression is that they should pay me some number of cents/mile for my trip, is that correct? They didn't mention it on the phone so I'm probably going to call the HR person back to ask about it, just wanted to check here to see if someone could tell me how this usually works. Others won't give jack poo poo- in which case the effort you put into attending the interview is looked at as a measure of your dedication; most people are happy at this point just to be getting an interview. If you ask, only ask the HR person, not the hiring official- questions like that can come off as kinda petty, even if it does work out to $100 in gas money. grover fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Jul 19, 2013 |
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Jul 19, 2013 13:46
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KetTarma posted:Jump on LinkedIn and connect with everyone that you did undergrad with. KetTarma posted:Accept every connection. Figure out who can help you. I finally got around to making an account last weekend and spruced everything up and started looking for people from my contact list, people from Facebook, and then looking through their connections and adding people I remember going to school with. After a week I'm at a grand total of… wait for it… 8 connections. Yeah, that's right, less than 10 people I remember going to undergrad with use LinkedIn. I also texted and messaged a few people I talk to and keep in touch with about what they think of LinkedIn. Every single one told me some variation of "it exists but I don't know anybody who uses it." One guy who's on a project manager track at a global corporation (and extremely visible in this industry) told me that none of his managers use LinkedIn to find people. Another guy at another company told me none of his managers give a poo poo what you have on LinkedIn or not, cause all that they care about is what is in their personal system. So yeah. It would seem nobody cares for LinkedIn in my industry. All anecdotal of course.
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Jul 19, 2013 19:13
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Boris Galerkin posted:So yeah. It would seem nobody cares for LinkedIn in my industry. Or nobody in your network cares for LinkedIn. 
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Jul 19, 2013 19:43
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I don't know what to tell you. I have about a hundred local industry (electrical, nuclear, or IT) people and a hundred nonlocal industry people. I talked to a recruiter a few days ago that said his #1 source for people is LinkedIn.
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Jul 20, 2013 14:25
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KetTarma posted:I don't know what to tell you. I have about a hundred local industry (electrical, nuclear, or IT) people and a hundred nonlocal industry people. We're not allowed to maintain a profile at LinkedIn and its not allowed as a source for the HR people at my company. We have really good benefits but that plus the no recommendations/references for the next job are the only downside.
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Jul 21, 2013 21:03
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jul 21, 2013 23:33
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Thoguh posted:Your company forbids you from having a LinkedIn profile? That sounds like a really lovely company. I'm surprised that more organizations don't do that. http://front.kinja.com/job-networking-site-linkedin-filled-with-secret-nsa-pro-514057863
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Jul 21, 2013 23:45
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I can understand the security issues with social networking (google "watercooler attack") but anything other than a three letter agency restricting your personal life like that seems goofy.
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Jul 22, 2013 00:11
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Jul 22, 2013 03:14
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Yeah of course a lot of managers at the companies themselves aren't looking for people on LinkedIn. The recruiters that they're basically outsourcing all up front identification and screening sure are though. Every recruiter I know in real life and all of the ones I'm connected to on LinkedIn are insanely active on it. Has anyone started their career in one end of their engineering discipline, and then moved onto something completely different? I'm a manufacturing engineer (mechanical degree) and all of my experience is with hands on labor (assembling vehicles). So I don't deal with any fabrication of parts (bending, welding, laser cutting, etc). I just accepted a job that's 100% fabrication (high heat treat and coating), so I have absolutely no idea what fire I just stepped into. Lucky for me as long as there's a definable process and best tools for the job, I can figure it out. But I'm a little apprehensive - sure I had no experience before I started this job, but at the end of the day it's just people using fancy wrenches to tighten bolts. Very different from brazing and super heat plastic forming...
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Jul 22, 2013 05:07
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Brian Fellows posted:Has anyone started their career in one end of their engineering discipline, and then moved onto something completely different? I'm a manufacturing engineer (mechanical degree) and all of my experience is with hands on labor (assembling vehicles). So I don't deal with any fabrication of parts (bending, welding, laser cutting, etc). I just accepted a job that's 100% fabrication (high heat treat and coating), so I have absolutely no idea what fire I just stepped into. All 3 jobs I've had since I got my engineering degree have been completely different. As long as the new company is willing to train you it shouldn't be problem.
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Jul 22, 2013 08:12
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I get about one recruiter email a week from LinkedIn, including some companies that sound really interesting to work for. I don't even really have anything that I see as particularly outstanding on my profile. Either software test engineers are in really high demand, or LinkedIn just works really well.
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Jul 22, 2013 08:59
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This might sound really dense and I hope it's not offensive, but why do you/software engineers call yourselves software engineers and not programmer?
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Jul 22, 2013 09:48
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Boris Galerkin posted:This might sound really dense and I hope it's not offensive, but why do you/software engineers call yourselves software engineers and not programmer? In other news, man gets offended when someone calls him burger flipper. Replies indignantly "I work at Subway, you fuckwit. We don't even sell burgers. I'm a sandwich engineer!" grover fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 13:23
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And, at least in my area, we distinguish between software engineers and programmers - software engineers being more the people that apply project management to software-intensive projects (who may write little to no code day to day), while programmers are the ones coding to the requirements they've been given. Really we should just call them project managers since nearly everything we do is software-intensive, but tradition. P.D.B. Fishsticks fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 13:31
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:And, at least in my area, we distinguish between software engineers and programmers - software engineers being more the people that apply project management to software-intensive projects (who may write little to no code day to day), while programmers are the ones coding to the requirements they've been given.
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Jul 22, 2013 14:02
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Normally my title is just test engineer, I just add the software part when I talk in a general engineering context to make it obvious that I'm not talking about testing mechanical or chemical stuff. Anyway, software engineering is certainly a controversial title, given that not all software engineers/programmers go through engineering school, and there's no PE exam for software/computer science stuff. However, all of the software engineers/programmers I work with are very much of the same engineering mindset as the other engineers I work with (mechanical, test, industrial, computer, electrical, etc). I've also never met a programmer who actually cares what their title really is. The title of most of the programmers I work with is "firmware engineer", even though some of them are EEs, some CEs, some CSEs, and some just CS.
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Jul 22, 2013 14:14
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grover posted:But but but they ENGINEER software! I agree with you, btw. Programming is a great field, too; but call it programming. One other telling sign: IEEE refuses to use the term "engineer" in any certifications or descriptions related to "software engineering". I'm not aware of any state that grants professional engineering licenses in software engineering, either. Was originally a catch-phrase coined in the 60s by managers who didn't really understand software yet, but I think it's more a university marketing term at this point. Sounds good, though, doesn't it? That's just IEEE being toolbags. And PEs are for people the build targets. I did ME undergrad, CompE for my masters, and now I'm a embedded software engineer. It's all the same poo poo. I think if you're just making web apps or something there isn't a whole ton of engineering going on, but if you're developing a system with multiple components and limitations, it's the exact same type of thinking.
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Jul 22, 2013 17:43
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Boris Galerkin posted:This might sound really dense and I hope it's not offensive, but why do you/software engineers call yourselves software engineers and not programmer? Although in casual conversation, software engineer, software developer, programmer, and coder are all basically interchangeable to me.
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Jul 22, 2013 19:00
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Thoguh posted:Your company forbids you from having a LinkedIn profile? That sounds like a really lovely company. Hey, like I said I'll take not having one over benefits that I haven't had anyone else match yet V  V
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Jul 23, 2013 00:15
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How would they even know if you have a LinkedIn profile?
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Jul 23, 2013 00:19
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So what is the act of "engineering", anyway?
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Jul 23, 2013 00:21
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Safe and Secure! posted:So what is the act of "engineering", anyway? As far as I can tell, it's a combination of swearing, yelling incoherently at inanimate objects, and being grumpy. Wrenches and math may or may not be involved.
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Jul 23, 2013 01:04
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You eat requirements documents and poo poo out specifications.
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Jul 23, 2013 05:34
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I wanted to share this with everyone. Background: It is almost midnight and I have been doing vector calculus for most of the day and just switched to doing my physics lab report. Just a minute ago, I did multiple triple integrals using polar coordinates to calculate the volume of an object for my lab report. It was only later that I realized that I could have also used Volume = pi*r^2*h a few times instead because that is how normal human beings calculate the volume of a cylinder. what is happening to me
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Jul 23, 2013 05:50
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KetTarma posted:I wanted to share this with everyone. the transformation it begins 
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Jul 23, 2013 06:09
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But how do you know that's the equation? Memorize process, derive everything erryday
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Jul 23, 2013 12:49
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KetTarma posted:I wanted to share this with everyone. It's all part of the natural life cycle of the engineer. Don't fret- soon enough you'll graduate to just google searching simple equations you can't remember like normal people do. Remember: no matter how unique you think your situation is, someone else has long ago done the hard math already and distilled it to plug n chug algebra. Trying to do it yourself is just adding more places to make a mistake. A lot of engineering is not about doing precise calculations, but in knowing which approximation to use where. grover fucked around with this message at 15:18 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 15:14
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On the other hand, all of the really cool problems out there are nonlinear PDEs anyway, so...
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Jul 24, 2013 04:12
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I've noticed a pattern in my interviews. If at the end of the interview I managed to come off as a complete idiot, if it was so bad that I'm thankful I won't hear back from them because I came off so poorly that I'm now embarrassed to speak to the person I interviewed with, I will almost certainly get a call back. If I feel like I aced it, I'm totally qualified and found the perfect job for me, I get a polite rejection.
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Jul 25, 2013 02:40
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single-mode fiber posted:On the other hand, all of the really cool problems out there are nonlinear PDEs anyway, so... Don't forget stochastic PDEs -- that's where the real money is.
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Jul 26, 2013 18:33
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KernelSlanders posted:Don't forget stochastic PDEs -- that's where the real money is. I thought the math ended once I graduated. 
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Jul 26, 2013 19:54
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I've been thinking I need to improve my knowledge of statistics and data analysis. Any recommendations on textbooks or online programs?
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Aug 1, 2013 16:57
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What for? I have found it is easiest to pick up on statistics with a good applied stats course/book. When I took Econometrics basically nothing sank in because it was all statistical theory, but when I took Applied Multivariate Statistics (applied to meteorological data, mostly) it was much easier to remember everything. The book for that class was Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences and it covers a TON of ground, although it is missing the latest and greatest in computational statistics. For that you'll probably want to check out some of the open MIT courses or a MOOC if that's your style.
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Aug 1, 2013 18:07
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From what the old timers have told me, software makes all our lives easier but has reduced the "prestigiousness" of engineering from olden times. We could design and fabricate large, impressive pieces of hardware for a series of technical scenarios. Utlizing multi-disciplines, millions of dollars and acres of land. It would be quite an impressive feat. Or we could just hire some unkempt, pony tail and balding programmer, possibly without a degree, to write a simulation with Nth sigma accuracy. Modify his code for future use as necessary. CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Aug 4, 2013 |
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Aug 4, 2013 00:33
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