Tell me about being an Engineer!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Tell me about being an Engineer!

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grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

CCKeane posted:

I'm going to slightly disagree with grover - as a mechanical engineer I generally don't have to use calculus level math, although I do use algebra often enough to consider that a vital skill. That said, I think it IS important to be able to identify when calculus could be helpful, and how it may fit into a larger solution, even if the ability to hammer it out isn't as useful.

That's pretty much what I said. Having knowledge of the higher level calculus is extremely important to understanding a lot of different engineering concepts, but actually solving it by hand... not so much.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2013 23:12

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 08:52

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Tide posted:

I would prefer to go aerospace / aeronautical engineering, but there's no schools in my area that offer it.

Crazy? Stupid? Possible?

Going back to school is a great idea, especially if your work will pay for it. Milk the local CC for all the classes you can, too. You just can't beat the education per dollar you get from community colleges. And no, it's never too late to go back to school. You might want to do some practice online and maybe skip some of the algebra and trig and all. It's not so much the money as the time (though it will cost you $$$ too)- you're looking at a year delay to take 2 math classes like that sequentially, and there's a lot of homework involved, too. Lots of stuff online you can do as a refresher; MIT courses you can self-take for free and all. You might find you can jump straight into pre-calc or Calc with a bit of background help.

Aerospace is cool and all, but the job market is very tight; you'd be better able to market yourself with an ME degree and electives in fluid dynamics and other aero-type classes. You might also want to look into online evening classes at schools outside your geographic area. I don't mean bullshit for-profit schools like Strayer or Excelsior (steer clear of those!), but a lot of actual real brick & mortar state schools are offering distance learning. I haven't seen many undergraduate courses offered via distance learning, but I'd be surprised if there weren't a few good schools out there.

I'm not sure what your background is, but if you're a technician and have been working closely with engineers and doing engineering-type work, you may be eligible to sit for the PE exam, which would make you an "engineer" even without the degree.

grover fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Sep 8, 2013

# ¿ Sep 8, 2013 00:39

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Tide posted:

Unfortunately, not a tech (I'm basically logistics and tell the our techs and engineers where to go). For PE, do you mean Process Engineer?

PE = Professional Engineer. It varies a little by state to state, but the general route is engineers graduate from a 4-year accredited engineering school, and take the fundamentals of engineering (FE) exam at which point they become an engineer in training (EIT). After 4-5 years of engineering experience and signed endorsements from 3-5 registered PEs that know the candidate, they can sit for the PE exam, after which they have the privilege of paying state registration fees for the rest of their life. Most states have alternate criteria for people with a lot of experience but less formal schooling. I think in my state you can sit for the exam with 20 years experience and no college at all, but good luck passing it without having any formal education; the PE exams are brutally difficult with very high failure rates.

PE is important in some fields (civil mostly) and completely unimportant in others, like manufacturing. I have a few technician colleagues I keep encouraging to sit for the PE exam so they can legally quality as engineers and get the promotions they deserve. I mentioned it for you, because you may be able to take less than a full bachelors worth of courses, but become an engineer through the PE route. If what you do can't be considered engineering even in the loosest "lol, industrial engineer" sense, then eh.

grover fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Sep 8, 2013

# ¿ Sep 8, 2013 01:08

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

The NSPE is lobbying to have the ability for non-engineering degreed people to sit for the FE to be removed.

May be less the ability to sit for the PE, and moreso removing the requirement to sit for the FE. Virginia permits "experience" candidates to skip the FE completely and go straight to the PE.

I've heard there's also a lobby to try to get it restricted to just engineers with masters degrees, too. Personally, I think it's a knee-jerk reaction of the old fogeys who think there are too many PEs now and want it to be more restricted to increase the value of their own licenses.

grover fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Sep 9, 2013

# ¿ Sep 8, 2013 16:01

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Uncle Jam posted:

Is the PE a thing mostly for Civil or ME? I've never seen it for any job listing I checked out, I don't know anyone who has it where I work now, and none of my friends in Engineering that I know of sat for it.

PE is official state licensing of engineers. It's a big deal in the construction field, where engineers design things like bridges and skyscrapers that are not practical to test and have catastrophic consequences if the design was in error. PE is a lot less of a thing in manufacturing and other fields where products undergo testing.

In my last job, nobody had PE. In my new job, virtually everyone does.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2013 16:07

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

The Experiment posted:

Since we're talking about PEs, I believe one of the requirements is that you need to work under a PE. However, I have never done that even though I am an engineer. If I go up a couple layers of management, I could stretch the definition and say that I am working under a PE, but will anyone accept that?

Unless your state does it differently, you don't need to work for a PE, you just need to be able find enough PEs that know you and your work well enough to vouch for you professionally. Your supervisors don't need to be a PE, but do need to attest that your experience is actual engineering experience.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2013 00:37

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Pander posted:

I'm a nuke, and a lot of my friends are in training to be reactor operators. Most of them have to live in podunky areas (nuke plants tend not to be near major metropolitan centers), work random shifts (nights and afternoons every so often), and take on an awful lot of knowledge quickly.

The first two points are why I'm not working at a nuke plant directly, although I do some contract work at them frequently.

What might be even worse than that is a working nuke plant overhaul/refuelling where now only do you work in nowhere podunk towns, but you do so at different nowhere podunk towns states away from home. And, what, probably for months at a time on each, on around-the-clock shifts with brutal hours? Is it any less sucky on the engineering side?

grover fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Sep 21, 2013

# ¿ Sep 21, 2013 16:09

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

Went to a career fair yesterday and accidentally got myself interviewed on the spot by a major multinational corporation

The catch? You've just been hired by a bond villain and will die a horrible yet utterly forgettable death.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 23:03

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Prefect Six posted:

Late to the PE talk, but I'm an EE with a PE in the Power industry. As someone who worked his butt off for 5 years in college and 4 years after college to get those letters after my name, I strongly dislike people with no actual degree or background in engineering being called engineers. "Sales engineers" who aren't engineers is stupid and I personally think degrades to some extent the prestige of our profession.

The title of "Engineer" is something that, I think, is and should be held in the highest regard, especially PE's who are beholden to protect the public (read: public safety) above all else.

We're one of the few remaining professions where a huge emphasis is put on ethics; even intro college courses discuss/teach ethics.

PEs represent! Civils have it worst for the PE exam; see those poor bastards with loving handtrucks full of books. I think I had 5 or 6 with me for electrical. While the FE exam tests knowledge, the PE exam tests how well you know how to use your references. I found that most of the questions had a trivial solution and you really didn't need as much time as they gave. So if your solution is going to involve 20 minutes of hard crunching, you're probably doing it wrong and should skip it and come back later if you have time. I ended up finishing up the afternoon in like 2 hours and was able to spend the next 2 hours checking my work and a full hour working on one question that was utterly frustrating me because I knew how to do it but my answer wasn't listed. Still think they hosed that particular problem up.

The way I see it, we're all hacks, though. You ain't a real engineer unless you're driving a train. :colbert:

grover fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Oct 11, 2013

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 15:04

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

The PE exam is specialized for each discipline, with relevant questions to your field. If you sit for the PE in for computer engineering, you're not going to be answering questions about the reactance of high voltage utility lines.

The Experiment posted:

I couldn't care less. For instance, nobody other than a sanitary engineer takes the term "sanitary engineer" seriously. Everyone knows that means "janitor" much to the chagrin of sanitary engineers.

Sanitation engineers who actually design and build sewage treatment plants and the like might, though, because everyone things they're janitors.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2013 16:10

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

spwrozek posted:

You can take whatever you want. The key is that once you pass you agree to only work in an area of competency and not stamp anything otherwise. It doesn't matter because your stamp just says registered PE. This may be different in different states.

This does vary by state. Some states require you to pass the PE multiple times to practice in multiple disciplines. For example, california requires multiple exams be passed in progression for civil engineers. Others make no differentiation- if you're an electromechanical engineer, competent in multiple areas, and pass the mechanical PE, you can practice electrical, too. This is one (of many) reasons why state reciprocity of engineering licenses are not universal.

Engineers are generally expected to know what specific areas they're competent in, and only stamp those areas, regardless of what the exam says. There's a lot of ethics and trust.

grover fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Oct 14, 2013

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 01:25

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

2nding this. The coursework is going to be very similar between the two, and virtually identical for the first two years; you don't have to decide quite yet. You can pick one if you have to declare, but you can change to the other at any time if you want.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2013 10:55

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Now the hard part: the wait!

# ¿ Oct 26, 2013 21:12

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

Just accepted an offer for a paid summer EE internship with a major aerospace company that's about 15 minutes down the road from me.

woo! Sucks to have to wait that long, though.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2013 00:43

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

I guess my experience is a bit different since most defense contractors in my area are all related to crypto/satellite stuff/CYBERWARFIGHTERhooyah. Almost everything at SPAWAR seems to require secret if not TS/SCI.

Actual government jobs never require you to have a clearance, only be eligible to get one. Secret is supposedly pretty cheap for contractors to pay for and not that big of a deal.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2013 03:49

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Penn State has a list of Gen Eds that all students have to take- covered econ, writing, speech, math, science, etc. They've changed the structure of the requirements slightly since I graduated, but I had to take (IIRC) 2 art-type and 2 history-type classes. We had a list of specific classes that qualified that we had to pick from.

spwrozek posted:

My 4000 and 5000 structural steel classes had all take home exams. My finals took 18 and 22 hours of actual work to complete and I was using mathcad with all my equations stored so I just had to sort them around. It was actually really fun though.

My last take-home exam was 40-some pages of calculations and charts. Working on another take-home exam now, and it's shaping up about the same. I pity the TAs that have to grade this poo poo.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2013 04:19

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

As an engineer, you'll probably be making too much money to be able to even get a tax deduction, but ypu CAN deduct a home equity loan, so do that if you can.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2013 23:50

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Incidentally, I discovered you can use the 30-day free trial of minitab indefinitely, provided you never close it or reboot your computer...

# ¿ Nov 26, 2013 03:19

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

And yeah, that's a pretty normal sounding retention incentive to coax people into staying. I signed a 3-year retention agreement in exchange for my employer paying off my student loans. Worst case, if I didn't stay, I'd have to pay them back myself, which I would have had to anyhow. In your case it's a little different- find out how much money they're talking, and you can factor that in on what you do down the road; may be worth it to pay back $10k in <whatever> if you bail on them for a way better job.

DBZFIGHTERS posted:

I am interested in taking the Fundamental Engineering exam, but I only have a science degree rather than an engineering degree.

I plan on taking it in Michigan, where you are not required to have engineering background to take the exam.

However, I am not sure where to start in my preparation. My goal is to take the exam sometime next May/June, giving myself approximately 6 months to study for it.

Should I enroll in a prep course? If so, what is a good one? I currently live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Alternatively, if 6 months of self-study is sufficient to pass the FE, which company's material would you guys recommend?

6 months of self-study should be more than enough; the FE is a challenging exam just from the breadth involved, but it's not really THAT hard of an exam, and the pass rate is pretty good for people who prepare for it.

You might want to consider taking the general test, since you're going to have to study for the general AM session anyhow- taking the electrical portion will mean having to study additional subjects, too.

The best study guide IMHO are NCEES practice exams, as they're the most realistic. Most of the practice problems from the other companies are much more difficult than you'll see on the real test. Use the NCEES practice exams sparingly, though, as they're the only real tool you'll have to gauge whether you're ready or not.

grover fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Dec 6, 2013

# ¿ Dec 6, 2013 01:14

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Oil! posted:

I just got the results back today. I passed and am now a Professional Engineer, but have no idea what to do with my licence.

Congrats!!!! Now you get to 1. buy a stamp and a seal, 2. add some letters after your name, 3. ... and 4. profit! I've found my PE mostly just costs me money, though. You'll get to pay the state lots of money every year or so, and get to pay out for continuing education credits, and so on.

It should make you eligible for some really kick-rear end jobs now, though. Working for the government, they just want me to have a PE license; I don't actually have to use it. I don't even know where my stamp and seal are anymore.

grover fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Dec 6, 2013

# ¿ Dec 6, 2013 16:25

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

spwrozek posted:

I am a PE in the state of Colorado! Wooo!

Congrats!!!!

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 02:24

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

My understanding is that "software engineer" is supposed to show a higher level of scope than a normal computer programmer while not showing as high of level of scope as a "software architect." Neither title carries any legal weight nor have any requirements, to the best of my knowledge. I know I've seen plenty of "network engineer" postings that just require a highschool diploma.

I still say you ain't an engineer if you ain't driving a train :colbert:

# ¿ Dec 12, 2013 03:17

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

60 semester hours left now that today is over. Whew.

Halfway already?

I just reached the halfway point of my masters, woohoo! Still waiting for one of my profs to get off his rear end and grade my final project, but I'm pretty sure I did really well on it.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2013 04:07

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

SeaBass posted:

Don't be a fool, stay in school. The real world sucks balls.

I'd gladly trade a year of six figure salary for another year of ~~college~~ partying. Ah, youth!

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 00:57

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Something like this. Tongue in cheek as possible. Yeah, everyone will know you were a bartender, but it can still sound pretty relevant if you spin it right.

Bartending Engineer November 2006-December 2012
Happy Friendly Brewing Company, London, England
-Managed fluids acquisition and distribution processes for 8 product lines. Performed complex chemical mixing process, developed new chemical compositions based on customer requests. Something something sales and marketing, and leadership of product distribution team.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2014 16:28

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Oil! posted:

I would be really careful about putting it tongue in cheek like that because there are engineers that take engineering very seriously. It could also run afoul of the law (seriously, in Texas it is illegal to represent yourself as an engineer without a PE license or the protection of working for an approved engineering company).

Yeah, you want to make a dull job sound good, but don't want to falsely represent it. Might be better to characterize it as "Production Technician" or something along those lines

grover fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jan 3, 2014

# ¿ Jan 3, 2014 19:16

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

KetTarma posted:

Alternatively, they think he's keyword gaming their HR software and/or misrepresenting his experience.

The way computer culling goes for these position, every resume they see was intentionally gamed for their HR software, or the resume wouldn't have made it far enough to be reviewed by a human.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2014 13:06

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Thatim posted:

Thanks for the replies!

I am from The Netherlands where pretty much everyone gets a Masters degree. The salaries and the job prospect sounds great in America, but do companies want overseas people? And do you happen to know if the jobmarket is the same in Europe?

Anyways, thanks again!

Are your bachelors 3 year degrees? And masters 1 year? In the US, bachelor degree takes 4 years, and masters take 1-2 on top of that. Most engineers in the US just have bachelor degrees. Is a European masters equivalent to a US bachelors or are there differences beyond the terminology for the # of years it takes?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 21:46

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

I know they vary wildly, and that terminology means different things in different countries, but I don't know what those differences are, and wikipedia is not very useful in explaining them. That's why I'm trying to understand this better.

Thatim posted:

Well, its a bit more complex then that.
We do got a 3 year Bachelor system, but that is because the part of highschool (we got different kinds) that lets you go to universities is 6 years. Our Masters take 1 year for, except Research Masters and engineering Masters which take 2 years.

But a bachelors degree here is the same as one in America, academicly speaking. I am able to apply for a master in the US for example. But because almost everyone gets there Masters here (because its cheap, 1800 euro a year for tuition fees), you are expected to have one even applying for jobs.

What age do most students in the Netherlands graduate high school?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 23:13

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Noctone posted:

Thanks for telling us things we already knew and that have already been explained as not applicable to this situation.

Are you being an rear end on purpose? This stuff isn't common knowledge, or we wouldn't be asking questions about it. If you're an expert, please share what you know.

Most US Engineers go through this, or something similar. How's it compare to the Netherlands and other European countries?

code:

AGE      GRADE LEVEL/SCHOOL
1-4      Preschool for some; often nothing at all
5-6      Kindergarten
6-7      1, Elementary school
7-8      2, Elementary school
8-9      3, Elementary school
9-10     4, Elementary school
10-11    5, Elementary school
11-12    6, Middle School / Jr. High School
12-13    7, Middle School / Jr. High School
13-14    8, Middle School / Jr. High School
14-15    9, High School
15-16    10, High School
16-17    11, High School
17-18    12, High School with AP College Courses.  High School Diploma awarded
18-19    Freshman, College: basic science/math classes, some general studies electives
19-20    Sophomore, College: more advanced general science/math classes, some general studies electives
20-21    Junior, University: engineering specific specific classes, some general stuff
21-22    Senior, University: discipline specific class.  Bachelors Diploma awarded
22-24    Grad Student (1-2 years): Masters Degree
25+      PhD Student

grover fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Jan 13, 2014

# ¿ Jan 13, 2014 00:38

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

movax posted:

Looking to hear some experiences from people who have worked on getting their masters while working full-time. Amount of effort, how long does it take, does your work-life balance become essentially non-existent, how do you pick 'concentrations', etc.

I'd be doing an MS in EE, not sure of the concentration yet; I've taken a lot of grad coursework in power electronics / power systems but honestly I've grown bored of it. Was thinking signals or maybe even something like VLSI/process stuff, though the latter is probably better suited when you are a full-time masters student and can get to the lab on a regular basis.

I'm working on an Masters in Engineering Management, in a program with a local state university that caters to working professionals. The classes are all at night, typically 1 night a week. I'm taking two classes a semester, which is a challenging workload on top of my full-time job, but isn't overwhelming; I still have time to do my most favorite hobbies, but it definitely cuts into my free time. I'm doing the MS option, which includes a thesis, and likely continuing on for a PhD in Systems Engineering; most students in my program opt for the M.EM which is thesis-free, and involves more electives and a capstone.

Specific workload has varied from class-to-class. I had some that I'd average maybe 4 hours a typical week doing homework and others I'd average 12. When big projects are due, it has sucked up entire weeks worth of weekends and evenings.

grover fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jan 13, 2014

# ¿ Jan 13, 2014 01:08

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Thoguh posted:

What are you thinking about doing for the PhD? I've got my Masters in Systems and would love to take some more classes to get more into the theory behind it. But I have no idea what I'd do for research and a dissertation.

My masters thesis involves gathering existing data, analyzing it, and developing recommendations. My PhD dissertation will be an experiment implementing those recommendations. Which, frankly, I was going to do regardless.

My PhD program has an acceptance rate of about 10% (which I assume is on the easy side for PhD programs? I really have no idea), but my adviser seems pretty confident I'll be accepted. The biggest thing is that I'm not looking research funding.

Movax: I picked my concentration by brainstorming a list of topics that interested me that I thought might make good thesis material, and that tied back into my job so I could justify spending time (and resources) at work on it. I sat on it for a couple months, but every time I had an idea, I'd jot it down. I ended up with about 20 ideas, narrowed it down to 3, and sought out a professor at my school whose research interests aligned with those topics. All worked out rather well.

grover fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jan 15, 2014

# ¿ Jan 15, 2014 01:10

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

spwrozek posted:

I think a smaller school is better as well. Largest class was physics with 120 kids. All my civil classes were 12-25 kids. Really could get good attention. I also did cc in the summer so humanities classes were 80% cheaper.

Honors classes will get you this, too. Small classes, better instructors, good study groups, and they grade easier, too. The best kept secret is that you don't even necessarily even need to be an honor student to take them at a lot of schools.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 16:25

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Not a Children posted:

Does anybody have advice for someone who wants to take the EIT exam outside of school? I graduated about a year and a half ago, and recently switched jobs to one that will put me on the path to a PE. Obviously, that'll come a lot faster if I pass the EIT, but being out of school for a while, my math/physics aptitude has dropped off a little. I graduated with a BSEE, so I'd be taking the Electrical and Computer CBT exam (second lowest first-time pass rate, whoo!). What are some good resources for playing catch up?

As a kind of corollary to that, is there any way I should prepare over the next few years for taking the PE that will make it easier? I've been slowly plodding my way through the NEC, but I feel like there's more to it than that.

I took the FE exam 8 years after graduating college. I picked up a review book and an NCEES sample test and just went at it for about 6 months leading up to the test. In retrospect, I overprepared; this is a pass/fail test, and I just slaughtered it. Since I already had the prerequisite engineering experience, I took the PE 6 months after that; modified my study habits in the hopes of wasting less time over-studying, but passed that with a very wide margin, too. (My state reported actual number scores for both tests that year, so I know just how well I did.)

My advice:
1) Get a copy of the FE reference manual that will be supplied during the test and an approved calculator. Use these exclusively. Use them for work. Get comfortable. Get a 2nd identical calculator, too; one at work and one at home and bring both to the exam in case one fails or breaks (it happens).

2) The NCEES sample tests are the best most accurate self-tests you can get for this, but they're limited in the # of questions. Don't start with them, end with them; use them as a tool to know where you're prepared, and where you may need to spend your final few weeks of effort. The other study books seem to have questions that are WAY more difficult than the actual FE exam will have, and are thus a great training tool. Go through some of them and see where you're strong and where you're weak. Concentrate studying on your weakest areas. Skim and brush up on the parts you know how to do, but don't waste a lot of time on them. Don't worry about how long it takes to do the 3rd party study guide problems; on the real test, every question has a trivial answer that only takes a few seconds to find if you know how to solve it.

3) When you think you're ready, take the NCEES sample test. Time yourself. If your solution for a problem will take 20 minutes to solve, you're doing it the wrong way- skip it and come back. Chances are, you'll finish with plenty of time to go back and slough through the questions you weren't so comfortable with.

4) Consider just taking the general test if you find you'll need to do a lot of studying for the EE specific test. You'll need to study up for the general test in the AM anyhow, and honestly, if you know enough to do well in the morning, you'll do just as well in the afternoon.

grover fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jan 18, 2014

# ¿ Jan 18, 2014 14:44

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 08:52

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

YF19pilot posted:

Trying to grow my LinkedIn connections at the moment. I guess this is the real trick, finding the right person. I'll admit, my network of people I know is probably mediocre, but I've had a few people with the "right" connections. They just never want to do anything but tell me to apply online. I suppose half of networking is hoping the people you're networking with someone who knows what it means to network.

I've found a lot of networking is simply... working. The more people you interact with professionally, the more they get to know you and your talents. I've gotten several calls out of the blue from people I worked with in the past trying to hire me for positions I never even applied for. Great for higher level jobs, but a big catch-22 for entry level...

# ¿ Jan 18, 2014 17:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Tell me about being an Engineer!

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