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I'm an ME, but I ended up as a technical illustrator v vbut, I also had a real engineering job doing 3D stress analysis and yes, you need to pay attention to calc & statics/dynamics to excel at being a proper engineer. I passed the EIT/FE but you need to work around PE's to get the rec letters so I don't know if I'll bother getting my PE, especially since an EIT allows you to work in any state and PEs are state-specific. Oh yeah and I was rarely on the factory floor other than to take measurements, but senior level engineers sometimes got to go out for failure analysis in other countries. Failure analysis is the bomb.
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Oct 2, 2009 16:29
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Just sell out to the man and get over it, sheez. It's not like engineers go to work and club baby seals all day. Unless you're designing some sort of seal clubbing machine, which would be rather difficult because of various factors involving stealth and harsh environments. Seriously, engineering offices are full of all kinds of people. At worst you might have to have a civil conversation about politics. edit: I actually did get the opportunity to apply for one of the munitions factories here in the US and decided not to make bombs, so there's always a choice to say no.
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Oct 16, 2009 19:14
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unkle77 posted:I'm getting a bit desperate, and I was curious about recruiters. Has anyone had any experience with a recruiter? Recruiters make their money on people with 5, 10, 15 years of experience. Who they have followed that long, and know their skillset. The markup for companies on recruiter hires is something like 20-30%. What follows from this is that, yes, you need to find out who the recruiters are for your career path, but don't expect them to get you a first job. Cockmaster posted:Does anyone know anything about the field of robotics and the jobs therein? I got an MS in mechanical engineering, but now it looks as though the job market there is biased towards electronics and programming. I'd nail down what in robotics you want to do. Machine vision? Work flow pathing? My mistake was thinking there was anything in robotics related to basic machine design. The people doing the programming don't need very many people to do the stress analysis. Have you looked into packaging/conveyor design stuff? I see packaging layout jobs pop up pretty regularly if you've got 5 years in the field. Or retail industrial robotics? automationdirect is the company I was told does that kind of thing.
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Jul 20, 2012 20:32
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Finally moving back to engineering. I did tech writing for nearly 5 years, and I thought I was ruint for getting back into to mechanical engineering. Turns out I was, as I'm going to be a process controls engineer. HMI Graphics was my "in" that let me apply 4 of my 5 years of writing. I did all sorts of writing (which make no bones people appreciate, but in general that is a plus-up skill for an engineer, rather than a "We need that guy" kind of skill), but my main focus was P&IDs, PFDs, GAs, etc for training animations. I drew the little vessels and valves and such, then programmed them in flash to interact. Well, it turns out that's what controls engineers do, in addition to setting up the PID loops and laying out control panels. I had no idea. I mean they (we?) have a controls PE exam, so it's an actual career path. I just need that offer letter to come today so I can pee in a cup.
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Aug 27, 2012 14:40
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So, boxorocks, is what you do called System integration in your neck of the woods? Do you do the HMI / graphics portion of the controls too?
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Sep 24, 2012 01:50
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Cool, I just started working with DeltaV. I have been working in flash for ever, so the change integrated graphics tools is pretty jarring. You wouldn't happen to know any technical publications pointing to a push toward a CSS or other modern vector graphics solution in the industry? I figured reliability takes precedent over usability, but I feel like the core tools are straight out of MS word.
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Sep 24, 2012 17:19
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boxorocks posted:There really isn't much of a push with regards to graphics to go anywhere much industry wise. It is purely a case of the end users being happy enough with what they get provided it doesn't look like dogs balls and it shows the information they need. Industrial graphics are even more spartan in terms of looks with a lot of customers having their own colour guides / styles that are based on old high contrast graphics (remember those high contrast windows themes with back blackgrounds and green text ... like that). To be honest, a few as maybe half a dozen people will typically look at an HMI with any level of frequency in a year, a few dozen in its lifetime so looking super swish / updating tools isn't a business driver which is why no one will throw development money at improving existing tools that only you will end up using to create graphics. Yeah, sounds about the same as what the guys at my company told me too. I was hoping a second opinion would point towards something easier to develop in. Maybe one day the manufacturers will invest in the tools to speed up the engineering side. I know I could bang out a pretty complex overview diagram in illustrator really quick using things like proper align tools, shape union, and snaps. It's a whole different ballgame with the HMI tools in the graphics front-end.
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Sep 26, 2012 02:23
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Judging from the number of recruiters with first interviews for me, (and still calling even after I got a sweet job) Tech writing is still hot, but the contacts are Meh. Either no benefits and below average pay, or average to good pay but you need to be on site for 6 - 9 months. Controls engineers are being hired in preparation for infrastructure and large capital projects that companies have been putting off since 08. Depending on your regions industry, that implies design engineers of specific types are also in demand. Another thing to remember is the game changes at 2 & 5 years of experience. So even if you're not doing what you want in your field, you become more mobilewithin your industry at those points.
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Oct 24, 2012 13:35
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I would look into the industry in the area. I'm in the south, so for me, pulp and paper. If you're on the coast, oil & gas. Inland, manufacturing/packaging conveyors. The industry drives controls engineering. This means building or refitting plants/rigs. That drives who's spending/buying. As for employers, look for "system integrator" positions, valve sizing sales engineer positions, design engineer positions within the industry purchasing the valves... Can't think of any more places to look right now. As for systems, look at abb, Rockwell, Emerson/Fischer/Rosemont, Allen Bradley, Honeywell.
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Nov 13, 2012 21:46
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boxorocks posted:This is pretty long winded and I ramble a bit, and I'm probably a bit bitter about the whole thing, so take it with a pinch of salt: BTW, box, I finished my first startup with my controls position. It was pretty cool, and all the up front work really paid off when we got on site. You should try to get a job with a industrial controls firm. We're in the same position as you, except we never get blamed when X construction firm screws up installing X giant bazillion dollar component. Well, not never, we were on the same page as this customer. They had our back. SCADA work could easily translate to working with ABB, Rockwell, Seimens, Emerson, Honeywell, etc. You have to learn their way of doing it anyways, so basic knowledge of SCADA/DCS is all you need.
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Jul 9, 2013 19:18
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I've attended upwards of $15k of training for specialized control systems, so I can understand where they're coming from, but I personally feel like that's a long rear end time to pay for your training. It's one thing to get an MBA or a degree paid for, but I'd try to negotiate on the job training to lower than 2 years. In this job market, it's a huge liability for you if they decide to cut you.
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Dec 6, 2013 06:11
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Don't go tech unless you're sure you will get the skills you need to do your job later. Even then leave as soon as possible. This diversion will cost you years and gain you excellence in skills that go largely unappreciated in engineering. The reason is that it is never more cost effective to hire an engineer when you only need a tech. I am saying this as someone who did 5 years of tech writing because I had to pay the bills and the majority of my skills translated well to controls engineering.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:55
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Exactly, that's why I said the skills acquired are unappreciated. These skills will help you get your job done, but there will be no reward for saving the day. Infact, you will end up doing work outside your scope to clean up messes, earning goodwill, but exposing yourself to greater liability. And then, the root cause is rarely addressed barring missing milestones or something that costs the company money.
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Jun 18, 2014 17:58
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Oodles posted:I need help. I work for a boss who I struggle to respect. He micromanages, overreacts, constantly knee-jerks. He's so out of his depth, it's unreal. I've had to do an appraisal of him, and I have him 3 out of 10 and that was being generous. Don't get me wrong, I don't want his job. There is no help. Ironically, you are the problem, because micromanagement is a management technique (in the corporate opinion). Polish up the resume.
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Jul 14, 2014 02:09
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Popete posted:Looking for some job advice/comfort. Go ahead and apply anyways, The difference between 1.5 years experience and 3 years is minimal. The only ones I've seen mean anything is the 10+ year lifer / I-know-every-possible-thing-that-can-go-wrong openings.
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Jul 17, 2014 14:19
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but, but the errorrrr, save us PID man quick add derivative to predict what the future of the error in resume GPA submissions will be over time based on past changes OH NO THE GPA IS APPROACHING INFINITY WHAT HAVE YOU DONE DERIVATIVE YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL
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Jul 17, 2014 19:00
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I would say straight theory is better for your chances of success doing research, but there is so much politics involved in research I wouldn't discount an actual MBA management track as a way to end up working in the area you want as a project manager. The downside is you probably won't actually be working, you'll be facilitating. Which if you've ever had a good manager means all the world to actually getting things done on a project, but it's not super satisfying. Re: Best field I'd say ME is so varied it almost is an "I'm not dumb" card more than anything. Sure I'd love to be designing tooling and flows, but that poo poo takes place at the plant level, which does not take place where I am. My path ended up in controls, which in some ways makes me wish for more practical CS experience with compiling *NIX stuff, dealing with Windows AD, and ethernet architecture. At the same time, as an ME, I was trained in flows and materials and physical things my non-ME co-workers don't intuit and can lead me to the root of a controls issue faster. It balances out, I'm not saying I'm super-engineer because I did well in ME, but I feel like I have an advantage even outside my specialty of traditional Mechanical things like Statics/Dynamics or fluids.
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Aug 12, 2014 15:06
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In controls, we do a ton of IO cabinet layouts and retrofits, so AutoCAD is the right tool for the job. 3D would be a waste, since the panel shop is going to figure out the best way to bend the sheets anyways.
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Aug 25, 2014 14:33
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Certificates is where I put it.
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Aug 27, 2014 16:23
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Xeom posted:So apparently I am getting flown out for a in person interview. Try to be yourself and don't get too caught up trying to like the job. You need to know if you're a good fit for them and vice versa. Alastor_the_Stylish posted:We're horribly backed up at the engineering department due to our salesmen deciding to visit all of their biggest accounts and bring in big projects in the same week. I thought this was how it always worked? Vaporware fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Oct 8, 2014 |
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Oct 8, 2014 23:11
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Sometimes I imagine a life in sales and what chain of events would lead me to selling a project that is not 100% known to work. Basically I would starve as a salesman.
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Oct 13, 2014 03:54
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My company has a sabbatical policy, and I believe my previous company would hold your job if you simply asked them to, but I don't remember if that guarantee was good for a whole year.
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Nov 16, 2014 23:08
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I'm on the DCS side of things, but I'm validating a Pharma configuration. Yay regulated industries!
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Feb 5, 2015 21:10
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There is a certain baseline knowledge that will translate between platforms, but I've heard as to implementation that Switchgear/IEC61850GOOSE PLCs are night-and-day vs manufacturing DCS / PLCs.
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Feb 6, 2015 19:11
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Really, you need to base your salary expectations on their market, not the average salary. If their sales are high-margin you'll be able to ask for more. If they are low-margin, high volume, then you need to put more effort into finding out where your value lies. Are you freeing up a high-value employee to do more important things? Ok, then where is your advancement path? How much training are they going to pay for per year? etc.
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Mar 6, 2015 17:53
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Sounds a bit like a field engineer/install engineer? Health: 100% health coverage is absolutely a 20-30k+ benefit. I had it 8 years ago and it was 25k out of the company's pocket. go ahead and get every test and physical you can stomach while you have the coverage. Do you snore? Tell your GP, get a sleep study. Chronic Allergies? Get tested for allergens until you find the culprit. You're the 1er%, ride it into the ground. PTO: I work at a company with take as much as you want PTO, but in reality you are going to be scheduled for projects as much as possible, so you're not going to be taking more than anyone else normally does. I personally can ask for just about any day off without approval, I just tell the manager I'll be off and make sure the work is done. OT: You'll probably be asked for more 12 hr days than you like, but whatever. Just don't be down with the "oh 55 hours a week is normal" when you specced your salary on a 40hr week basis. If you're going to be working 50-60/week ask for pay in line with hours put in. Did you get a travel estimate? If they said 40% it's going to be 40% or more. 80% is full travel field engineer and I hope you have a favorite hotel chain (hint marriott doesn't have rural locations)
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Apr 10, 2015 12:36
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Xeom posted:So I'm coming up on my fifth month as a working "engineer". Officially my title is process engineer, but I do near 0% engineering. I support several plants at my company, and most days I just feel like a yes man. I'm here just to prove things that are already known and obvious. Engineering here has 0 say over anything. The plants decide what they'd like to implement, and they just poo poo on anything we say which they don't like. A bunch of git'er done bullshit. I got flack (and still do) for leaving my first job after 14 months. I hate to say it's a character building exercise, but stick around and use your position to learn about the industry. You will be discriminated against if you leave after 6 months. The thing is, process engineering sucks for flexibility and proactive problem-solving. Your job is to keep things steady-state and be reactive. Just do your time and use it as a stepping stone. We (Controls Engineering consulting) hire a lot of process engineers who have done their time and they ALL have stories. See if you can get into startup support, it is the most "engineering" experience you will get in process outside of designing the plants. Crazyweasel posted:I'm sure there are a lot of articles on the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and Gen Y/Millenials but I'm lazy and want to talk about myself a bit so i'll phrase it as a question to you all. It's a risk-rewards payoff. You can hop into startup culture and ride the wave, but you're risking your career's ramp-up time. You aren't going to hit your stride in a big company without doing your time. The big shops aren't going to be early-adopters, so let the other guys get the credit for working out the kinks. If your company isn't adapting, take your career somewhere else. Vaporware fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Apr 24, 2015 |
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Apr 24, 2015 13:45
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ChipNDip posted:Has anybody ever turned down relocation money/signing bonus to prevent this situation? Between this post and the long saga of Sundae over in the Why I Hate Corporate Thread, I'd really rather not be trapped like that at any potential job that I was offered. On the surface, it seems like any company would be happy to give you less money, but I wonder if they'd treat you like a flight risk right from the get go. Depends on the amount of money. The assumption is that for a first job you won't have the resources to move by yourself. You can write it off as "gambling losses", 
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Apr 24, 2015 14:41
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I tried finding data on mass balances for coal plants years ago for creating low-accuracy simulations and that's internal-design-team-only knowledge. It's not like you can't work it out based on fuel inputs and published efficiencies, but it's not a day or two effort. Easier to rough it in it for appearances and qualify that it was a generalized simulation.
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Apr 28, 2015 12:34
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The thing that I think of is a mechanical speed governor, you know a little flywheel that disengages when it starts spinning too fast. Like they have on windmills. You could also just add a rotameter with a piece of tape and a angry note saying "DON'T GO ABOVE THIS LINE, DUMMY" seniorservice posted:So assuming $70k has been determined as the base for an ME going into a consulting firm coming right out of school (and the bare minimum), what would should a level Engineer II ask for? Had a phone interview today that seemed to go really well and need to know what I can negotiate up to if I get a job offer. Your best bet is to find out your expected billable rate and work from there. If they're billing you out at $170, and you're making $X, then you can figure out what they expect to make on your time. Vaporware fucked around with this message at 14:05 on May 21, 2015 |
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May 21, 2015 14:03
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seniorservice posted:How would I find that out without asking them? My company's rate sheet for non-discounted engineering hours all the way from drafter to project manager is included in a normal quote. It's not exactly a huge secret here, but I don't know what industry you're talking about. You would need to ask, or find some sort of estimate. I just did a search and apparently this is some sort of touchy question? I don't know. I feel like it shows interest in making sure the company can pay it's bills and profit even though it pays the rate you feel is fair. If I was making $14/hr and being billed at $200 I wouldn't be happy if/when I found out (unless that overhead is paying for a jetpack or something oh man). Feel it out as part of the salary negotiation. I don't feel like being informed when you negotiate salary is some sort of knock against you. Billable rates are core to the business.
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May 22, 2015 14:07
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Definitely, you can easily underestimate benefits if you're not looking at what they are worth. And sometimes magic gets thrown into the mix and produce performance bonuses and at that point you might as well just guess a number that makes you feel good.
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May 22, 2015 19:49
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Boris Galerkin posted:Alright, I'll stick to doing it myself and posting excerpts here for feedback if this thread doesn't mind that. I think the understanding is that you're working on a team, rather than the expectation that you did all of this by yourself. Save the clarification of "What was your role" for the interview, just list "developed method for blah" and leave it there. If you don't have a copy of the NDA to review, just be general. "made significant reductions in cocurrent eddy generation, resulting in modeled cooling efficiency gains."
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Jun 2, 2015 17:32
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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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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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Yeah, Visio is great. I used it extensively and as long as you don't get too complicated you can do a lot. The rabbit hole is quite deep, though, you can get caught up in trying to get things to work the way you want. If you're a VBA wizard you can make your own shapes that scale properly and such, but I wouldn't bet my paycheck on that being a marketable skill.
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Jul 27, 2015 14:37
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Globofglob posted:Would a class on Microprocessors and Computer Organization be useful for an EE, or is that sort of thing only useful for CEs? The class description is: I am not an EE, but having had programming beaten into my thick neanderthal ME brain, this course makes the wacky things that go wrong make more sense than they would have without it. That is assuming it roughly corresponds to what I have taken. I've heard from CS/CE guys I know that that kind of study really helps if you're going to end up coding C or other close to the hardware languages.
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Aug 31, 2015 12:44
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Software guys list cancelled projects because it's still work experience. Unless you were the guy in charge of the go/no go decision it's not personal.
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Nov 3, 2015 16:32
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I've been idle for a couple months before, but mostly when I was just out of school. When I've been in this situation it's because the managers are bottlenecked. Because they didn't have enough people when they needed them, now everyone is so busy they can't even use the people that they hired to make people less busy! My recommendation is to find someone just as new as yourself and just start doing something, or find someone that isn't 120% busy so you can get them to show you anything at all. Just bother people until you find something you can do all day without going crazy.
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Nov 11, 2015 14:20
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rockamiclikeavandal posted:Thanks for all the info. Seems pretty straightforward, like a lot b of excel engineering. Does that sound right? Do you guys enjoy the job at all or do the people you know seem to enjoy it? shame on an IGA posted:How's a guy go about getting into something like this? Every time I look up at the ceiling in the factory I work in I want to cry and then murder someone, especially the time one of the 120 breakers feeding my work station blew and my efforts to trace the conduit back to the panel went around a 300' loop with no junctions. RE: MEP engineering It is high volume, low investment engineering at the entry level. As the junior engineer, you will probably have to get sucked into local code compliance and calling building inspectors. Things like strip mall renovations and such, veering off into mixed use and apartment design. If you want to get in, learn Revit. Guaranteed callbacks if you aren't completely incompetent. Honestly I found it mind-numbing. But, assuming you master the basics there are interesting twists you can take to achieve LEED and other Energy compliance statuses.
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Feb 19, 2016 19:05
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