Engineering Enlightenment 5

[cl10Greg]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post and I am hoping to get some enlightenment from your wisdom. I am a young engineer that has been in the industry for five years. I also am going to graduate school for my Master's Degree and will be done in December. Some days I feel lost. I feel like I am pretty smart and grasp electronics to a pretty fair level but I feel just stressed and not fulfilled a lot of the time. My friends and I have a side company for product development but I am having trouble getting motivated and excited. I usually whip up plans and schematics real quick but when it comes to designing and laying it out I never seem to finish. So with that background here is my questions/concerns:
[ul]
[li]I am part of the IEEE community but I don't feel like I am contributing to electronics. How can I contribute more? How do I get more engulfed in the community?[/li]
[li]How do I stay motivated for my own projects and projects at work? How do I balance life and success?[/li]
[li]I want my goal to make my own products and work for myself. Is that really what I want and how do I get there?[/li]
[li]Do I still need to find my passion? How do I determine what to do?[/li]
[li]What was your aha moment for engineering and for you determining how to be successful?[/li]
[li]I get bored often at a job and usually jump every year or two or just feel so bored or lackluster. My drive is simply enough to just keep the job[/li]
[/ul]

Thank you all in advance,
Greg

 

[ZDR1985]

Think of the million people all over the world who are so unfortunate not to have enough money to have proper education to have decent job to pay for a decent food, clean water to drink, comfy bed, and a nice house to shelter during storms.

Think of the million people stranded in the middle of war, who are just hoping the chaos to end so they can resume with their normal lives, go to school, get some education, get a decent job and live in peace.

Look at the life you have, may not be the best but so fortunate compared to millions out there. Don’t lose it, treasure every moment, give your best, work hard for your family, for your kids future, and one day you’ll find yourself successful on what you do.

 

[moltenmetal]

Life is too short to be doing something for a living that doesn't turn your crank. Thinking about how fortunate you are is of course good advice, but not sufficient reason to keep doing a job which is unfulfilling to you.

After 5 years though, you may just be getting into a rut. You don't loathe what you do, it just doesn't excite you. You're taking a good step by asking people here- there may be good, creative solutions offered by others. I don't have good suggestions for you on how to get back out of it aside from trying to find another job that better suits your interests. First though you have to figure out what those are. I never had to worry about that so would be the wrong person to advise you! My trouble is finding out what NOT to be interested in and keep those in check!

 

[JNieman]

Sometimes it can be environmental. Maybe you need to find a place where your /job/ is applied to a more interesting /career/ or workplace.

Not everyone can get turned on by driving rivets every day, but if you're torquing nuts and replacing rivets on roller coasters, it might be fun and rewarding. It might come with rigging and suspension work rather than simply standing on a platform in front of an ever-moving assembly line which might make it more enjoyable. It is outdoors instead of indoors. It's usually in the summer where you get to "people watch" more. I know you're not a nut torquer, I'm just using it as an example where your JOB might become more enjoyable if you just do it in "the right place" - maybe you'd get triggered by doing your job for a cause that excites you. You'll be more impressed and feel self-satisfied by contributing to a goal/team than the satisfaction begotten from the NATURE of your work alone.

I switched from structural design to manufacturing/tooling/machining design. I do essentially similar things with minor twists. It is different, but at the same time it is the same skills applied to a different environment. I loved structures at first but found that my interest plateaued after 5 years. The 6th and 7th years were atrocious and I felt it through every aspect of my life. I had previous experience in manufacturing and decided that is where my passion was. I have been in my current position for 15 months and have hit the ground at a sprint and never slowed.

Unfortunately, sometimes it's also just the people you work with. If you're a team oriented person, sometimes it can drag you down not having a team you feel works with you toward common goals. Sometimes you have to find a good team that makes you feel like you're part of something grand, and that, together, you (team) really just kick ass all day every day.

It is possible you need to apply your skills to something you /care/ about rather than just finding a job with an electronics focus. Sometimes it isn't WHAT you do but WHERE, or for WHOM, you do it.

_________________________________________
NX8.0, Solidworks 2014, AutoCAD, Enovia V5

 

[IRstuff]

I think you've simply gone past the honeymoon period after school. There seems to be two issues:

> Your work is insufficiently challenging -- Your membership in IEEE gives you access to a plethora of EE-related articles; do any of them float your boat, i.e., you read something and, "I want to do that?"

> You're in a field that really wasn't what you really wanted or expected -- There are a ton of forums on this site; do any of them present a discipline that you're more interested in?

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529


Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx

 

[oldestguy]

I have a son who has the reverse problem. He can't get started on various tasks. With professional help he is overcoming that problem. Perhaps some similar help maybe useful for you.

 

[weldstan]

cl10greg
From your post it appears that you are in state of depression, possibly situational or possibly clinical. Take oldestguy's advice. My son had a similar bout with depression and has worked it out with professional help - not with his parents.

 

[MikeHalloran]

On the side job, farm out the design and layout.
... and anything else you don't thoroughly enjoy.

Similarly, on the main job, farm out what you can, and concentrate on what you enjoy doing. That may make you more productive. ... which may get you noticed. ... which may get you promoted so you won't be able to do anything you enjoy, but you'll get more compensation for basically farming out everything.

If you really get a kick out of dreaming up schematics, maybe you need to move closer to system level design work. ... for which you may have to spend a few more years in the trenches. Doing OJT at the system level can have big repercussions, so heavy experience or specific training is sort of expected.

... and it sounds like you're getting a year or two of experience, then starting over, several times. That's already a problem for recruiters, and you're not getting heavy experience, except at starting over. You need to be more careful about selecting your next job.

Go back in time and figure out what, exactly, drew you into studying electronics. Maybe you'll be able to see the field with more clarity, and decide a direction with finer granularity now.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[rotw]

"What was your aha moment for engineering and for you determining how to be successful?"

For me it was definitely doing something I love in a company I do respect very much and which I left.

At the very moment I jumped onboard of this company, my work capabilities and inspiration increased significantly and I was the first one to be surpised, really. I could work 70 hours a week without counting, even not realizing. Life balance was not nice, that was a downside. During training my concentration and focus was so high. I was doing prework before training, then post work after training.etc

Any challenges at the office I could overcome: patience, endurance, taking hits, perservering, you name it, were all there. As long I was allowed to continue doing was I was doing - I could overcome almost any obstacle. As matter of fact, after few years I was ranked as top performer in the organization, I got promoted, recognized and respected. Well in fact it was not that difficult...I was simply enjoying and loving what I was doing, so all the rest came automatically.

Now that I work in a nasty and broken place, I see my motivation eroding day after day; productivity is so and so (sometimes sort of making more mistakes); anyway still doing my best to not compromize quality. But that is all what you can do. The tremendous potentialities, which by the way we all have, are not unlocked as it used to be in the previous context.

Somehow if you are really great person, you could be challenged and tested with something you do not expect. For example it can be that you will have to break through difficult and demotivating moments in your career and your challenge will be to manage to "fall forward" and not backward. In such up and down moments, it is about how you keep things going, preserve your work ethics and reputation at any price, which is tough, meanwhile you land at something that you really like - and then you start all over again, even stronger

Sorry the story was all about me... just wanted to share it as personal experience.

"If you want to acquire a knowledge or skill, read a book and practice the skill".

 

[1gibson]

Job, school, and "side company." Do you have any actual free time, or do you just spend every waking hour worrying about how you should be using your time? Do you ever exercise? Hobby that you enjoy? Billiards, darts, bocce ball, even video games?

Seems like you're juggling too much. You'll feel better when you're done with school. Stick with everything until then. Make some time to relax without feeling guilty about it, even if you have to actually schedule it.

 

[cl10Greg]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for the insight. There was a lot of different angles here that I was able to think and consider. I will evaluate the feedback more and do some soul searching but I think a lot of you have pointed out different issues that are probably contributing.
[ul]
[li]Be appreciative to what I have and who I am[/li]
[li]Evaluate if this place does excite me to be innovative or creative or find someplace or make something that does[/li]
[li]Search more on the IEEE community on what excites me[/li]
[li]Search for what made me want to do electronics and find the fire again (or the root of it)[/li]
[li]One step at a time and find the value in the small victories[/li]
[li]Concentrate more on my hobbies to reset[/li]
[/ul]

Thank you all so much for the insight.