How do I become employable 1

[turnnburn81]

I've been wanted to ask this question of some professional engineers for quite a while, and I'm glad I finally found this forum.

I graduated with a BS in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering (double major) in 2003, but I've never actually worked in engineering, and I was wondering would it would take for me to become employable as an engineer.

A little background on me:
I'm currently employed as a pilot for a regional airline and I'm enjoying it. I've wanted to be a pilot for a long time, long before I went to college. I'm a little concerned about making a career as a pilot, although it goes outside the purpose of this post to explain why. Basically what I'm interested in is expanding my skill set as much as possible, so I don't have all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, if things don't go well in my current career.

My engineering background is nothing special, even as a student. The main reason I studied engineering in college instead of aviation is the same reason I am writing here, I didn't want to put all my eggs in the aviation basket, although I am interested in engineering and I enjoy understanding how things work. I graduated from the University of California Davis with a 2.5 GPA. I wasn't really involved in activities or projects in school, although I did work on our schools FutureCar team for one quarter. After I graduated I focused entirely on becoming a pilot. I was in the Air Force briefly, although I never actually flew due to a minor color vision defiency.

So basically all I have is a nearly 6 year old BS in engineering and that's it, which I'm fairly certain would not make me a very good candidate for any kind of job as an engineer. So I'd like to know what some of you think I would need to do to work in engineering, in any capacity. I should be clear in that I would not expect much as far as the type of work I might get initially. I'm really wondering what it would take for me to get any kind of work at all, something that would give me experience and a chance to prove myself in the real world.

I appreciate any advice anyone has.

 

[PeterKsiazek]

The debt is a non-issue for a dentist. At least up here in Canada. You will pay it off within 2-3 years of graduation.

 

[romulus2009]

Hi turnnburn81,

I'm responding because I have a similar background to yours, except I went the other way. I've always had an interest in things that fly, and originally I wanted to be a military fighter pilot, then I had to wear glasses so that went out the door back when I was in middle school. In high school I found an interest for technical subjects which led me, along with my love for aviation, to a BS in Aerospace Engineering.

Towards the end of my BS i had mid-schooling career/life path crisis. I SERIOUSLY considered becoming a professional pilot and researched it for 1.5 years, at the end of which I considered myself well knowledgeable regarding the aviation market. So I can sympathize with you and know where you are coming from when you say you feel like you are being treated like a commodity. This means you are in the North American aviation market, because in Europe pilots are actually appreciated more. You can get to the right seat of a 737 with only 500 hours of flight time, while in the US you can barely get a banner-flying or instructor job with 500 hours and you need like 2500 at least to get even near a jet.

Anyways, I decided not to go for professional flying because I decided I'd hate flying if I went that route. The level of under-appreciation for pilots and what they do is ridiculous. People's lives are literally in your hands everyday (as the guy who saved hundreds of people by landing in the Hudson river this year) and people still treat you like crap and pay you pennies.

Here's my advice:

1) Stick to aerospace! It is the only engineering industry that will appreciate your experience as a pilot.

2) Seriously consider becoming a test pilot. Aerospace Engineering degree is a requirement to become a test pilot, so that's 4 years and 80K that serves you well.

3) If not a test pilot, seriously consider going into the Flight Testing business in some function or another. Your engineering and piloting experience will both serve you well.

4)Start doing self-learning and refresh your engineering knowledge. Grab some textbooks and start reading them, do some of the exercises.

5)Brush up on your programming skills and CAD skills if you have time left over from your textbook studying.

6)Consider getting your M.S. It doenst have to be MIT (where they probably DO require a 3.0 or 3.2 to get in). It just needs to be a good school that refreshes your knowledge and skills, re-invigorates your desire for engineering work, and gets you back in the loop. Make sure to get at least a 3.0 in Grad School. Most grad schools wont let you graduate without a 3.0 anyways.

Only after doing all of the above, would I go job hunting.

Good luck!

And do an partial panel NDB approach for me sometime!

Romulus

 

[turnnburn81]

Hahahah partial panel NDB, I remember that! With or without a slaved compass card? Thanks for all the replies, you've given me some directions to go if I decide to get serious about engineering. My interest in engineering came from just being interested in how things work I guess, especially engines. I would really be interested in seeing what working in engineering is like from an on the job perspective, even if I was just the coffee boy and all I did was observe. My school taught mostly from an abstract theoretical perspective and didn't do a very good job of tieing what we were doing to real life, so I always wondered how it really works in the real world.