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?

 

[Mr168]

If you've only been at one job for barely a year, any career decision you're making right now is pretty spur of the moment, whether you realize it or not.

 

[JedClampett]

I realize that after a whole year of experience you should be the lead designer of the power systems for a Nuclear Submarine, but sometimes you have to wait for a couple more weeks.
I don't think the engineering profession will miss you.

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

In South Africa, an engineer here does not do engineering work.

I can not find engineers here who do engineering work

Hence my designation as engineer or future can be considered void.
Hence my decision to leave.

 

[YoungTurk]

You're frustrated you've wasted time doing non-technical tasks, so you're going to go into... management consulting??

Using a new hire engineer as a technician is not only completely appropriate, but beneficial for learning the practical side of the business. Looking at your previous threads, it appears you've had at a least a few good engineering projects. That's not a bad first year in my book. Did you expect to get out of college and start designing the next space shuttle? That would be shocking.

Anyhow, you have a lack of experience and strong opinions on how things you don't understand should be done. You sound like perfect material for MC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_consulting#Criticism

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

"Anyhow, you have a lack of experience and strong opinions on how things you don't understand should be done."

Which thread was this? Mechanics behind fasteners? Was I not willing enough to learn the correct way?

And yes I am aware of MC criticisms, Ive been looking carefully into that. Thats why im trying to look into the "ROI" concept of building up a history of how usefull my MC advice is.

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

I have been knee high in mine effluence, with hydraulic oil going in my fucking veins and engine oil on my face during night shifts. The way things are going now, I am to do this work for another year (thats 2 years).
Thus I will continue to put on 100kg track sets and get blisters on my hands.

I am asking you all not to criticize me too easily. This may sound pretentious, but what I have endured I dont think many eng rookies would last a month. Understand my situation.

 

[casseopeia]

Are we talking a DEGREE in mechanical engineering or a stint at Wyotech (truck mechanic training ground et. al.)

Just get a different job, one that doesn't require that you get your hands too dirty. Or get one that's even worse to give you some perspective, like crime scene technician. Not the guys that baggie up the samples. The guys that come in with biohazard suits and bag up all the brain splatter the crime lab doesn't need. I'm sure you can find something.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

A B.Ing Degree that is internationally recognized by the Washington Accord.

That is correct. When I tell this to my colleagues and University friends what I have done for the past over year, they go pale.

But it seems some poeple on this forum see it as normal. Thats kinda funny. Very easy to say that.

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

"Or get one that's even worse to give you some perspective, like crime scene technician"

No need. I have known 2 people that died in my work place. On both occasions I was one shift away.

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

So my question to Mr168, JedClampett and YoungTurk who scrutinized my thinking:

Now that ive given more details about my situation: Am I over-reacting?

 

[btrueblood]

When I decided to study engineering, I was tired of standing in knee-deep mud, in the pouring rain or blistering sun. Once I got my degree and started working, I wished I could do "something that mattered". Being willing to get my hands dirty/greasy helped me get the grudging permission from the old hands to take on some of the more complicated design work.

If doing the real engineering is what you want, stick out your service underground, and treat every day as a learning experience (how could you make it easier for the poor guy who has to change tracks next?)

But if you just want to have a cush job, with no risk of ever doing anything real or meaningful, then by all means go be a consultant.

 

[msquared48]

For the first six years of my experience, I was a glorified draftsman. I was not happy either, but I decided to leave, and was immediately performing structural engineering in another firm. Sometimes you just have to change to get what you want.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Despite the good advice that "in the trenches" experience is invaluable, sometimes jobs are not worth hanging around for due to their lack of upwardly mobile-worthy experiences (e.g., if all you do is dig 3' latrine trenches all day or coil up crane wire, that will not help you design a 50,000 gallon-per-second effluent waterway or determine the forces on a crane head). msquared provided proper advice for such a situation.


Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[IRstuff]

"In South Africa, an engineer here does not do engineering work."

So, who does it then? Must be someone doing the work. You need to find out where those guys are and go work for them.

I don't know about "never" being able to get back to engineering, but if you do try, you'll certainly wind up in a newbie position, competing against others with your current experience. It's also a bit unclear what makes you qualified for a "management consulting" job; that raises some questions on its own.

At the very minimum, you ought to at least look at working for another company before completely ditching what you went to college for. While you obviously are frustrated and demoralized, spending only one year at a crappy job is hardly the basis for ditching the profession. If you read some of the postings about bad bosses and the like, you'll see than having a degree, or even having 10 or 15 years of experience does not immunize you from getting a bad boss or bad job.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

Its actually an "analyst" job in a management consulting firm. Yes, they wouldn't throw a rookie as an MC.

I tried looking for "these people" who do true engineering work, hehe, and its almost impossible to get in their sphere.

I will try squeeze myself in between what I want. This analyst position I speak of will still be in the engineering industry so its not as bad as being completely unrelated. Then maybe it might keep me within arms reach of what I studied.

I appreciate the advice, I AM listening.

 

[SomptingGuy]

If the relationship between "e", "i" and "pi" gives you the horn, stay in engineering. Otherwise, goodbye.

- Steve

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

Dont know what Eulers Identity has to do with anything... By horn, do you mean the value 1?

 

[Tsiolkovsky]

;-)

 

[SomptingGuy]

Err, -1. Unless that was a very obscure joke (like comparing the towns of Northampton and Southampton).

Management consulting will open the amazingly imaginative doors of Excel and (almost certainly) SAP. I'd rather dig graves.

- Steve