I am exiting engineering career. Life changing move. Please advise 1

[Tsiolkovsky]

Hello all

I have studied mechanical engineering and have now just over one years experience. My current job is shocking. I mean really shocking. I have wasted time not doing much and been used as a technician (!). I am fed up and am about to resign. Please note, this is not a spur of the moment/hot-head decision. I have been calculating this move for long.

So now I have been made a job offer in: Management Consulting.

I was told by the genteleman at the interview that I must think about what im doing and that once I enter MC there is no going back to engineering. What would you do, based on this brief description. Does management consulting have potential to grow?

 

[thruthefence]

"used as a technician (!)"

My God, that's just a notch up from cleaning the toilets!!

 

[TheBlacksmith]

We like young engineers that don't mind getting dirty; books only take you so far. It's the ones that have the knowledge and can go out in the field and do it smarter and better that succeed. If you ask me my motivation I simply say "I spent twenty years (Navy) struggling with a broken widget and asking what idiot designed this POS; now I'm the idiot!"

 

[FeX32]

You need the best of both worlds, but primarily scientific and math related to engineering.
But what it comes down to is what engineering really is.
Off of wiki
"Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of people."

Here, IMO emphasis is placed on the scientific and mathematical skills. And I'm sure most good engineers would agree with me.
But there is still the added forte of "design and build"...and build. ie. we engineers must specify how to build these things we use science to design....sometimes it takes trying to build them to properly understand mistakes we may not otherwise see....or take longer to see.




Fe

 

[FreddyNurk]

http://www.gettingdrunkinfirstclass.com/

may give some perspective (at least in the US) as to what might be considered management consulting. Note that the language isn't for easily offended.

The website used to have a lot more stories, but strangely enough fell over at about the same time the GFC struck.

As for doing dirty work, I spent the first 2 years of my career hanging off the back of drill rigs doing data acquisition for coal mines. Not exactly exciting, or a clean job, but it certainly puts things in perspective.

I certainly understood mining safety systems and lockouts better than my colleagues when I finally got an office job.

 

[ctopher]

Like every job I have ever experienced, we start off doing grunt work before doing what we are hired to do, degree or not.
Fed up after only a year? IMO, do your job the best you can, then move on to another dept/position/etc.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[ThomasH]

Tsiolkovski:

You say that "in South Africa an engineer does not do engineering work". You also say that yor friends from uni "go pale" when you tell then what you do. What do they do? Do they do engineering work? What is "engineering work" in your opinion?

You have been working for a year which is a short time (at least in my opinion). If it was a trainee program it would probably be longer. Were you promised something they haven't delivered or did you just "go for it" and now you are frustrated because it wasn't what you expected.

If you are unhappy then try something else. But why did you study engineering in the first place? I don't think that Management Consulting includes a lot of "engineering work" either if that is what you are truly looking for.

Good Luck

/Thomas

 

[vthomidis]

Well, on one it is true that one year is short time for making any conclusions as to shift career.

On the other hand, since your current working conditions make you feel miserable then by all means get away from there.It will be a relief.

I am not sure that by entering MC " there is no going back to engineering".

But is this your only alternative? How about trying a bit more
on searching for eng. work possibilities.?

I thimk you should take your time trying on that....