Career Advice for New Grad

[splatapus]

This type of career advice thread probably gets posted several times a month. I'm sorry I'm posting another one, but I hope your insight can help me in my search.

Who I am:
4th year Electrical Engineering undergraduate in Canada. I've done a co-op placement as RF hardware verifier with a large multinational telecom company. Also did a placement as software developer in a cell-phone company. With these 2 co-ops, I have worked in the telecommunications field for 20 months.

Currently I'm looking for new grad jobs. I have an offer in hand with a telecommunications company (involved in fiber optic backbone of network) as a software developer. The role will give me experience with real time operating systems, and embedded software development in C. I think it is a good step for an EE into the world of embedded software development.

What's my problem:
I don't know if I will enjoy the work that I will be doing as a software developer. I know know, how do you know if you don't try it? Problem is I already have experience with telecom for 20 months! I know about the ups and downs, the big spurs of growths, then layoffs. In addition I'm not sure if I like sitting in front of a computer for 8-9 hours a day staring at code.

I firmly believe you could only do well at something you like. Can only fake it for so long before you burn out and toss in the towel. So I'm wondering if anyone else went through this phase of being lost, and how did you find your way? You knew you were going into something you may not enjoy, but changing paths is very hard. How to deal with this? How did you find opportunities outside of the conventional path?

 

[JedClampett]

If you're going in with a negative attitude, you've lost the battle.
Keep looking, at least until you find something you're neutral on.

 

[allgoodnamestaken]

You can always try it and look for another job if you find yourself hating it, or if you find the office culture stifling, etc.

It's way easier to look for a job when you're employed than when you aren't. Try this place out, see if it works for you, and if it doesn't jump ship when you find something better. You're at the beginning of your career - if you leave after 6 months and have no gap in employment history you should be just fine.

 

[oldestguy]

Enjoying work type is a nice goal, but what about the work place? Are you under a supervisor who is really good at helping you along or one who makes you wish for another work place? I'd check out the general work environment also. There have been many who post here because of their negative work place situation, not the type of work.

 

[spongebob007]

It's a job, not a life sentence. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you don't like it, you will have the luxury of earning a paycheck while looking for another job. I also think it is much easier to find a job when you are working as opposed to when you are not. Over the course of my career I have learned something from every job I have held, even the ones I hated.

 

[zappedagain]

Get in the industry and learn, learn, learn everything you can! I'm now 25 years into my career and for a long time I've felt that I enjoy 10% of what I do enough that it makes the rest worth it (I guess that is why they call it work).

Your career is wide open at this point. Who knows, you may find you enjoy the software. If you see something interesting, ask your boss about it. Who knows, maybe you'll want to be the boss! It's a big world out there!

Z