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The Chairman posted:I would expect setting up meeting rooms, including providing coffee, to be part of the office administrator's job description. She's more the Cheif's PA. But, at what point is my time more valuable working than putting water in a filter. You could argue that right from the get go, it's better for me to be working than doing that.
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Jun 3, 2015 18:20
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Looking for a few opinions on something: I'm going into my senior year of EE, employed as an intern at a major manufacturing corporation where I may receive a permanent offer. 9 years work experience as a nuclear tech. 7 classes left. Registered for 14 hours next semester. My old electromagnetics professor approached me over email asking if I'd like to register for an "Advanced Topics in EE, Self Study in Electromagnetics" opportunity. He's looking for someone (me) that did well in his class and also is very good at programming to do a bunch of modeling and animation of e-fields and m-fields. My GI bill will pay the class fee and it will go towards improving my GPA but nothing else. I'll also be "seriously helping out" the EE dept by writing some emag modeling programs in MATLAB. He also mentioned something about maybe me helping him redo some homework assignments to incorporate whatever programs I create. I am seriously considering this because my company has an electromagnetics research lab in the area and are always trying to find qualified EEs that focused in emag. One hard requirement for the electrophysics engineer position is multiple courses in the field with experience in modeling. It seems like a cool job that I otherwise would not be qualified for... but it's just one job out of many in the area. PRO: Experience in field, probably a letter of rec from the professor and dept head, resume bullets, will improve GPA. CON: Will take up a bit of time during senior year, will not actually get me closer to graduating, if I drop the class then I will be liable for a ~1300 course fee when the GI bill kicks it back to me. Also no promise of getting a rather awesome job at the end. Should I just suck it up and do it? Or am I overthinking the benefit that it would have for me?
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Jun 3, 2015 22:59
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Sounds like a great opportunity if you can follow through on it. It really comes down to how motivated you are. I'd say go for it, but if you're close to burning out or something you might want to pass.
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Jun 4, 2015 00:00
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KetTarma posted:Looking for a few opinions on something: One thing I've definitely learned about being competitive in the work force is that time is just another parameter to be optimized. Dont be a slave to something you dont like doing, but never let "it will take up too much of my free time" be a barrier. Squeeze everything you can out of life!Who knows, you could have plenty of free time in retirement when this skill brings you into a field that puts you on a career path to retire at 55. Also I dont follow this thread super close but I think i remember you way back moving from a tech into school, so good on ya being near the light!
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Jun 4, 2015 00:56
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You gotta be careful about overloading yourself in your senior year. Your last semester especially should absolutely be about hustling for jobs (working contacts, looking, applying, interviewing, going to professional meetings, etc), not about closing out your classes. That being said, what you're talking about seems exceptional with regards to normal classwork (I'm a civil engineer, working in water/wastewater, so I'm a bit clueless in EE). Exceptional classwork/experience will definitely help in interviews. I wouldn't worry about the cost (don't take it if there's a chance you'll have to drop it), or that it doesn't help you graduate faster (assuming it doesn't move back your graduation date, your actual goal when going to school was presumably to get a job you want). I'd echo Not a Children, I'd do it if you don't think it'll leave you burnt out.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:09
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Making animations of EM stuff in matlab or whatever is a great way to cement your understanding. I did it for fun during the summer for my own curiosity. Its probably less fun when you have a list of demands though. Also, I look back on my senior year and I wish I spent more time socializing, more EC for padding and drinking more beer instead of balls to walls credit hours trying to close out classes. And then it took me a year to find a non lovely job (though this was around the economic poo poo time), so I could have chilled getting more bullet points on my resume by being able to do EC stuff and an easier time getting a non lovely job. That said I totally learned my lesson and did the chill out for my MSc and I enjoyed it much more.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:53
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Do engineering companies keep blacklists? I have a callback and possible interview for a company as a tech/assembler, soldering and working with PCB's. It's a full time job, and I'm a rising senior EE so I'm more than qualified. It looks like I won't be able to afford college next year, so that's why I'm looking for a longer-term job. It pays a decent amount, so I should be able to save enough to afford my final year of college in a year or two, but I'm also looking at my extended family for a cosigner. If I get the job, and a few months down the line, I manage to convince someone to cosign for a loan so that I can complete my final year, how would this affect my reputation? Since the job expects a regular employee, if I end up acquiring funding for my last year and leaving after the summer, would I be put on a blacklist? If so, would it be spread around to other companies, hurting my chances in the future? Globofglob fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jun 4, 2015 |
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Jun 4, 2015 05:28
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A tech position is somewhat specialized, so training costs are going to be their loss if you leave soon after starting. If you have an understanding of what you're doing going in, those costs are lower and they might be willing to let you finish school and come back, but you would need to be upfront about that. I mean if you're out of options, you have to take care of yourself. No one is going to fault you for doing what you have to do. Blacklists aren't formal, but in a smaller field people will talk, just up and leaving will burn someone.
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Jun 4, 2015 13:54
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The Chairman posted:What kind of planning? Subdivision layouts? Geometric roadway design? Something else? Dimensional plans of buildings, underground works, roads etc. SubCrid TC posted:This question is way too broad... But probably not, because you won't know how to apply anything in it. Yeah figured, I'll probably just end up using Illustrator or something - just need to knock up some basic layouts.
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Jun 5, 2015 22:33
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scuzzy pumper posted:Dimensional plans of buildings, underground works, roads etc. Any kind of general 2D CAD software would be fine for this -- AutoCAD LT, DraftSight, TurboCAD, maybe QCAD or LibreCAD. I wouldn't use Illustrator if you're trying to make stuff to scale. There's more civil-specific packages like Autodesk Civil 3D or Carlson Civil, but those are very much specialist tools that are way more than you'd need to just plot building footprints and utilities. The Chairman fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jun 6, 2015 |
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Jun 6, 2015 00:28
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Look for jobs you might want, see what software they want you to use, learn that software. I love Solidworks but honestly, no big companies use it and it probably would've been time better spent in NX in the long run.
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Jun 6, 2015 07:35
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CarForumPoster posted:Look for jobs you might want, see what software they want you to use, learn that software. I love Solidworks but honestly, no big companies use it and it probably would've been time better spent in NX in the long run. This. And don't get discouraged just because you can't necessarily procure the software. Take Infowater, which was used at my former work to do water distribution modeling. Purchasing a license for self-education isn't feasible, but if you read about the software, you'll learn it's essentially just EPANET modeling software combined with GIS. EPANET is free and publicly available. When I applied there, they asked me about experience using Infowater, and I pointed out that while I had no Infowater experience, I did have extensive EPANET experience (through school) and that Infowater was built using the EPANET framework.
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Jun 6, 2015 15:55
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I'm a bit stuck right now. I've got a degree in mechanical engineering and took two comp sci classes during undergrad. My internships have been heavily about product design and my hobbies have been a mix of product design (Arduino & 3D printing) and computer programming (Wiring, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and some libraries). I'm also just finishing up two years of work with the Peace Corps designing and constructing water systems. I'd like my next step to be in either product design or programming/web design. I'm trying to design my LinkedIn and portfolio website to represent my interests and experience but the feedback I've got from friends looking at both of them is that I'm spreading myself too thin and it's not clear to people hiring what I want to do. I said I'd try and elaborate on this by using a resume and cover letter specific to which field that specific job is involved in but I'm told that's still not enough. Are there any good solutions besides tailoring my profile and website to specifically one career path? I'd like to leave my options open while applying and make a decision once I have an offer. Edit: Portfolio: http://www.travisbumgarner.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisbumgarner
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Jun 6, 2015 18:33
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huhu posted:I've got a degree in mechanical engineering and took two comp sci classes during undergrad. My internships have been heavily about product design and my hobbies have been a mix of product design (Arduino & 3D printing) and computer programming (Wiring, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and some libraries). As you know, web "programming" and programming arent really similar things. Especially when you have an engineering degree. I don't see how youre going to sell meshing the two, maybe some company has that need but I have not seen it. Your friends are right. The arduino stuff, anything where youre interfacing real world measurements, is the hot area of technology right now and if you enjoy that consider tailoring your linkedin to highlight how you can apply your mechanical engineering skills to that. I might say this over and over but its because people keep needing to hear it. Find jobs, open right now, that you want to do and then explain to that company through your resume, linked in, emails, how you can meet those needs. This is a double benefit to you and the company because the jobs you are finding and doing this for should be jobs that it looks like you can enjoy. You didnt go to school for web design and a few personal websites doesnt really strike me as hugely passionate about it. You went to school for Mech E, you've got some experience in that field, and the booming world of microcontroller based products is calling....or will be once you write a resume and linked in to let it know youre qualified.
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Jun 6, 2015 20:00
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huhu posted:Edit: And your website too. Remove or confine to being a small minority of space anything that isn't in the field you're actually going to work. -Product design -Real programming -Microcontrollers -Stuff employers say they want
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Jun 6, 2015 20:06
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CarForumPoster posted:As you know, web "programming" and programming arent really similar things. Especially when you have an engineering degree. I don't see how youre going to sell meshing the two, maybe some company has that need but I have not seen it. Your friends are right.
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Jun 6, 2015 20:54
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Pick something. Be the best at it. Don't pursue both. You only have a degree and meaningful experience in one it seems.
CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Jun 8, 2015 |
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Jun 8, 2015 04:44
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Heliosicle fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Apr 8, 2023 |
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Jun 12, 2015 14:46
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I have an ex-coworker who emigrated from the Washington DC area to The Netherlands for his PhD in EE. He seems to really like it there, for what it's worth.
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Jun 12, 2015 14:57
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Has anyone worked for crown castle? Seems like a pretty great place to be, just discovered them recently and they are in the industry and field I want to work in.
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Jun 12, 2015 17:44
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Heliosicle posted:I just finished an MEng in Electrical and Electronic engineering, I've had a couple of offers from places I did placements at but I'd really prefer to go into more academic things at this point. I did my degree and masters in the UK but would like to go somewhere in Europe for a PhD. Do people in the thread have experience of engineering PhD's around Europe? Specifically electrical/electronic I guess. Is your heart set on research? Just asking as I had a friend that went and did a PhD and after the 3 or 4 years however long it was, she came back to where we lived and worked in the oil industry.
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Jun 17, 2015 07:52
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Heliosicle posted:I just finished an MEng in Electrical and Electronic engineering, I've had a couple of offers from places I did placements at but I'd really prefer to go into more academic things at this point. I did my degree and masters in the UK but would like to go somewhere in Europe for a PhD. Do people in the thread have experience of engineering PhD's around Europe? Specifically electrical/electronic I guess. We are very well paid compared to grad students in almost all other fields and locations. It is also usual here to switch schools after getting your MSc/MEng so switching now would be considered normal.
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Jun 17, 2015 13:23
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Just want to add that Germany has an awesome school to industry pedigree for engineering M and PhD. Of cousins you'd be working in Germany then. But still the schools there are really good and present heavily everywhere.
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Jun 17, 2015 18:09
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I'm a recent graduating electrical engineer that just got hired on as an automation engineer. However, I find myself behind a desk just monitoring machines for 8 hours a day where 90% of the time I'm doing nothing at all. The other 10% of the time I'm just dealing with network issues communicating with the automatic machines. My question is, am I wasting my time here? The pay isn't so bad I think for an entry level job at $65k in Long Beach, CA area. But I feel like I'm learning very little of what I feel like is a niche skill. Is there other work out there that will find my skills useful? Should I start looking for a better job now?
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Jun 20, 2015 16:12
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If you feel unfulfilled then ask yourself what advancement is available from your current role. If that seems appealing and would be worth the slog, then consider it. But if your gut is telling you you're wasting your time, it's probably worth listening to. Regardless, it can't hurt to look around.
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Jun 20, 2015 19:51
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bengk posted:I'm a recent graduating electrical engineer that just got hired on as an automation engineer. However, I find myself behind a desk just monitoring machines for 8 hours a day where 90% of the time I'm doing nothing at all. The other 10% of the time I'm just dealing with network issues communicating with the automatic machines. My question is, am I wasting my time here? The pay isn't so bad I think for an entry level job at $65k in Long Beach, CA area. But I feel like I'm learning very little of what I feel like is a niche skill. Is there other work out there that will find my skills useful? Should I start looking for a better job now? Find out when the next outage is, and what will be worked on. Ask to help with that project. You're not going to be doing ANY invasive work while the plant is making money. They might be giving you bored time to just become familiar with the process and how "normal" looks.
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Jun 20, 2015 21:31
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bengk posted:I'm a recent graduating electrical engineer that just got hired on as an automation engineer. However, I find myself behind a desk just monitoring machines for 8 hours a day where 90% of the time I'm doing nothing at all. The other 10% of the time I'm just dealing with network issues communicating with the automatic machines. My question is, am I wasting my time here? The pay isn't so bad I think for an entry level job at $65k in Long Beach, CA area. But I feel like I'm learning very little of what I feel like is a niche skill. Is there other work out there that will find my skills useful? Should I start looking for a better job now? I cant answer your questions as I am not an EE but something to consider: At most large companies, it is common to make moves that may be considered "lateral". In fact the management track people tend to be those people who make lateral moves to several different areas. If youre not at a large company this opportunity may not be out there or it may require switching to another job.
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Jun 21, 2015 07:16
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Oodles posted:Is your heart set on research? Just asking as I had a friend that went and did a PhD and after the 3 or 4 years however long it was, she came back to where we lived and worked in the oil industry. It's what I'd like to end up doing yeah. tonberrytoby posted:I am doing my Doctorate of Engineering in EE(Microwaves) in Germany. Cool! What was the application process like for you - did you stay at the same university?
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Jun 21, 2015 14:08
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bengk posted:I'm a recent graduating electrical engineer that just got hired on as an automation engineer. However, I find myself behind a desk just monitoring machines for 8 hours a day where 90% of the time I'm doing nothing at all. The other 10% of the time I'm just dealing with network issues communicating with the automatic machines. My question is, am I wasting my time here? The pay isn't so bad I think for an entry level job at $65k in Long Beach, CA area. But I feel like I'm learning very little of what I feel like is a niche skill. Is there other work out there that will find my skills useful? Should I start looking for a better job now? Automation engineer/test development is a good way to learn programming skills and also get some more hands-on hardware knowledge. I know in the bay area it has a good amount of opening especially for medical device companies. The more low hanging fruit is seeing if there are other internal openings in the company, instead of monitoring all the production machines see if there's a chance to get involved on the programming or hardware design side.
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Jun 21, 2015 21:12
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Wow! Thanks for all of the useful advice. Unfortunately, them being a foreign company means most of the development/design work is done in said country. Which is actually another reason why I'm starting become hesitant on staying. I'll try and ask my supervisor what the plan is for me. I hope asking that won't put in a bad position, but I'm really starting to wonder what's going to me happen down the line.
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Jun 22, 2015 03:58
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Heliosicle posted:Cool! What was the application process like for you - did you stay at the same university?
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Jun 22, 2015 10:35
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bengk posted:Wow! Thanks for all of the useful advice. Unfortunately, them being a foreign company means most of the development/design work is done in said country. Which is actually another reason why I'm starting become hesitant on staying. I'll try and ask my supervisor what the plan is for me. I hope asking that won't put in a bad position, but I'm really starting to wonder what's going to me happen down the line. Well another bit of advice is things get easier once you get over the 1-2 year fresh out bump, finding positions does get easier. It's a catch-22 companies want to hire people with prior experience but you sometimes need a low level position to pass the experience tollgate. I'd check out other companies in the area first since you probably picked up some useful skills like programming or test equipment design from the entry level job. The main check I use for determine whether or not to stick in a current positions is to ask yourself if you are learning new skills/dealing with new challenges. If not then it's best to start looking for something new.
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Jun 23, 2015 04:04
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etalian posted:It's a catch-22 companies want to hire people with prior experience but you sometimes need a low level position to pass the experience tollgate. I agree with this though, FWIW I found a company hiring and made the jump with just 1 year out of college and ~3 years in college experience.
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Jun 24, 2015 02:52
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Z4xgH43E6Q2iUaezO9ck 9FzXVjQr7PcQoMsiyUg7 gAfyxpsi7f725ZNdWzWe rhkrdSFYQu5M86QgeeX2 Dzftqh0YgW74BVsqVgNO bVtfWgF47nz9ktiukF2V fMXbv7bdqRDEN8Ytz6sE eE3BzVc9HFXwemb2UsSf LvSPjLuuHHuYKmewxb85 kRbwHWRIPKUSLzq47s1D Plasmafountain fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Feb 27, 2023 |
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Jun 24, 2015 16:33
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Can anyone in here possibly comment on the validity of getting an MSc? Is it worth the time/effort for the potential pay bump, or is it generally better to just get the work experience and let that speak for you on your resume? I'm considering trying to do a master's program abroad, but it's a rather large commitment to go from working full time and making $65k to slumming it on grad school money and my savings account, so I wanted to try and do some research and get some opinions from others before diving in too deeply.
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Jun 24, 2015 19:15
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Only do it if A) academia is your calling or B) someone else is paying for it. The former doesn't seem to be the case, and the latter is up to what the admissions committee says. Will your current employer supplement your education? Honestly, the best compromise is to take night classes, especially if your employer is willing to shoulder some of the cost. More education is definitely a good thing, but the opportunity cost in terms of monetary compensation and professional experience isn't worth ditching a job in the hopes of getting a pay bump later. That aside, the salary bump from an MSc is in the neighborhood of ~$10k in most engineering, unless you go into a very specialized field of some sort. Might be higher for computer-related stuff. Not overwhelming unless you're fairly early in your career.
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Jun 24, 2015 19:32
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You can still work full time and take day classes for MSc if your company is cool with it. That was my method. If you take night classes at some fly by night yeah you're going to get a crappy pay bump. A MSc in eng from a good university in the field is worth a lot of money. It's hard to understate this. Not only the pay, but the quality of projects you work on increases substantially, and you get independence in design decisions if that sort of thing bugs you. It was hard, but it was one of the best decisions in my life. What country are you thinking about studying in?
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Jun 24, 2015 19:51
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Yeah, my company would absolutely subsidize some of the costs and allow me to do a master's via night school, but it isn't really worth it to me because they don't really offer enough on the tuition bills and the area I'm in has really lackluster universities as far as engineering departments go. I can say with almost 100% certainty that they would not pay for me to study out of country, and even if they normally would, it wouldn't fly in this current market (oil and gas company). I would also be pretty eager to "ditch this job" for the MSc and pay bump if the opportunity presented itself because I'm not very fond of this industry and have been looking for a different job pretty much since I started anyways. I agree that it's really only worth it if the cost is being paid for you, which is why I am looking abroad. From some of the info I have seen, it seems that Germany and one or two Scandinavian countries do free tuition regardless of citizenship, and then on top of that, those countries that do charge tuition seem to have a substantially lower cost for EU citizens. While I don't have any of my citizenship stuff currently active, I do have dual citizenship I could probably fall back on which might even negate the need for a student visa while also netting me that cheap tuition. Regardless of how that works out, I would pretty much only be looking for programs that are similar to the U.S. that are fully funded for full-time students. That being said, I'm not entirely sure where I want to study at, as this is an idea I've only recently started mulling over. I have a bachelors in aero and another bachelors in mech, so whichever programs I can find in either of those fields that would accept me and allow me to do all this at a relatively low cost would probably drive my final decision.
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Jun 24, 2015 20:20
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If you can get into a good school, I wouldn't limit yourself to trying to find someone to pay for it. The loans for MSc aren't that much and if its a good school you won't have an issue with paying them off almost right away.
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Jun 24, 2015 23:07
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Uncle Jam posted:If you can get into a good school, I wouldn't limit yourself to trying to find someone to pay for it. The loans for MSc aren't that much and if its a good school you won't have an issue with paying them off almost right away. While probably true, I'd also like to remain debt free and avoid loans to pay for tuition. I might need some to cover living expenses as it is... If I have to go the route of a student visa you aren't really allowed to work or earn money. Your day to day living expenses pretty much have to be coming from a source outside the country of study. What a super wonky way of doing things.
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Jun 24, 2015 23:31
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