First Job! Low pay, not exactly my field Buttt.. what do you think

[badsinger]

Hey guys,

My first post!

(I have a feeling this may be long so bear with me please!)

Well i've recently graduated with my masters from University of FL. In undergrad I was part of the autonomous robotic submarine team and really enjoyed building things with microprocessors. As a graduate student I TA'd robotics, microprocessor and digital design classes. But found a new love for signal processing, pattern rec, and basically playing with data in Matlab. After i got my masters i was offered a fellowship for the BIomedical Engineering PhD program at the same school and I did a lot of working designing PCB's and and writing code for our experimental testbed where we essentially put rat brains on a petri dish of electrodes, stimulated them, and looked at trends and experiemented with various control algorithms and paradigms.

Well come 8 years into school, and 9 years away from my fiance (My HS Sweetheart), and experiments that were litterally dieing to "BUGS" (My dishes were getting infected, dieing, data was being lost, and months of work seemed to go down the drain). I Became frustrated and felt It was time I tried something new.

I moved in with my fiance and began looking for any job I could find with basically no real world experience or internships under my belt.

Lucky for me I found a company very close to my fiance doing Process and Automation Controls for Rollercoaster rides. My pay atm is around $16 an hour (VERY VERY LOW) which will be adjusted in 3 months (I've been working for 3 weeks now).

The company has been around for about 8 years now, the president is a really great guy and very well respected in his field. ATM i'm doing a lot of Autocad work and doing rudimentary parts selection and design for a current project, nothing challanging but the bossman seems really pleased. We have projects from big names and well even though the pay is so low and its a field that doesn't fully utilize the skills i've learned in school I think this will be a GREAT opportunity to learn a lot about industry and how to deal with big clients and big projects. What do you guys think?

So there you have it, that's my story in a nutshell, just wanted to hear any comments from all you fellow Engineers.

Sincerly,
The Bad Singer
(i like to play guitar and sing until my fiance beats me and threatents to leave me if i dont stop)

 

[l3city]

how about a singing carreer (just kidding! jeje) Well "badsinger", how do you feel with yourself? If there are bills to pay, well maybe you need a little more $$, however, you know, you can learn from this experience, meanwhile, if this job is not satisfactory for you, you can start looking for another while learning from this.
(welcome to the real world!!) Regards, be happy

 

[Twoballcane]

This sounds like a stepping stone job. Just learn what you can and move on...

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[IRstuff]

I'd agree that this is at best a temporary job. The reason for the low pay may simply be that there isn't that much demand. So even if there are "big" customers, they're not providing sufficient business to engender competition and competitive wages.

TTFN

 

[DaveVikingPE]

Why did you pick U of F over Florida Tech? Melbourne's a lot nicer than Gainesville.

 

[badsinger]

Ahh.. Well, according to my agreement my pay will be "Adjusted" in a couple of months so we'll see.

Perhaps its my mind trying to justify why I'm working here, or maybe its just straight up denial, but I can't see any other position that would allow me to take on such large responsibilities in such a short time. That is, within a year or 2, I can get some really impressive things on my resume.

Most importantly, since i'm basically one of 3 engineers in the company I feel that if i'm able to deliver big projects at fast rate with very little supervision than my employer will have no choice but to recognize that I am a large asset to the company and pay me fairly.

Thanks for all the replies,
The Bad Singer

 

[badsinger]

I chose U of F because when I was in HS I just went to the in state school that ranked the highest in the college rankings.

 

[KENAT]

$16 sounds low for an engineer. It's not even impressive for a CAD designer/draftsman.

That said I just ran the calcs and it's about what I started on in 1999, I guess a bit lower when you allow for inflation. Plus that was in the UK but gives you some idea.

I'm now on around twice that (I also lost about 18 months with moving our here)

I wouldn't get too hung up on the 'not utilizing skills I learned in school'. Most jobs wont use the full range of what you learnt. However, if you're not finding it interesting/highly paid enough then it may become a factor.

 

[Ashereng]

That seems low.

Most recent grads here in the oil and gas industyr, start at a minimum $45K a year, and go up from there (very rough numnbers).

Have you thought about Houston? I hear they have a shortage of engineers there - petroleum, mechanical, electrical, etc - due to the boom in demand for oil and gasoline.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[anu2004]

for some reason i'm always having a hard time believing there's a shortage of engineers ANYWHERE.

 

[anu2004]

bad singer, i think you should stick it out for a yr then apply for something else. i'd love to get a crappy job in EE just so i can get a start, .

 

[IRstuff]

There is a glut of engineers in Southern California at this moment. Raytheon had to unload about 300 people.

TTFN

 

[MortenA]

Start looking for a new job! Adjustments will not be +10% - and you should look more for a doubling!

Best regards

Morten

 

[GregLocock]

anu2004 there is a shortage in Oz, and has been for the last 4 years. Automotive, mining, oil and gas.

However, there's a good chance that'll only last two years more.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[ScottyUK]

Greg,

Why the expectation of the boom slowing down or dropping dead in a couple of years? A few friends have moved out there and I've not heard that before. They keep trying to tempt me to go!


----------------------------------

Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

 

[GregLocock]

I suppose basically because I'm a pessimist and I can't believe the sustained year on year growth we've had since about 1999 will carry on.

But to put the likely effect into perspective, even during 'the recession we had to have' in 1992 none of the engineers who stayed in Oz, that were laid off, stayed unemployed for long.

I'd have thought a utilities job was pretty much recession proof, myself.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.