oranjeep
Electrical
- Feb 21, 2003
- 60
I am recently separated from the military (Captain, US Army) and I possess a BSEE and have passed the EIT. I have 6 months work experience in power (low voltage).
I am going to go for a masters (MBA or MSE), but until then, I want to get a job to gain more experience. I have a lot to offer a company, but it is incredibly hard to put it into words. My technical skills are lacking, but my leadership/managment skills are great. I can come up with dozens of stories where I walked into a work situation that was all messed up, and I told him to go there and do that, her to go over here and do this... and then everything was OK again. Unfortunately, I was not telling him to go over there and do a short circuit analysis. I was telling him to go over there and call in 81mm mortar fire on that position.
So, when I tell Bob/Sally the engineer this, they look at me like they have no idea what I am talking about-which is understandable. Not that every Bob/Sally I interview with has never heard of the military, but most have not heard of the unglamourous side of it (the grunts) were leadership is a life or death element.
To put it mildly, I was not telling Private Snuffy Smith to reconfigure the NIC card for the server-I was telling him to dig his hole deeper, or he was going to get his head blown off! Granted, it was all in a training evnvironment, but that was it. That was my job. If one of our weapons did not work, or our optics were not working properly, we sent it to maintenance. As a matter of fact, it was an Article 15 offense for us grunts to try to fix it ourselves!
So here I am, trying to come up with some stories that will impress an engineering hiring manager. I try to "civilianize" my language as much as possible, but it is very difficult to do without losing much of the meaning.
Who is hiring young engineers with a lot of leadership experience, but not much technical experience?
How do I get the technical experience I need? Do I have to go out and but the software suite and become and expert on my own computer, and then put that on a resume? I need som help. No-one in my family is an engineer. My Dad cannot even operate a TV remote. None of my friends are engineers.
The last place I worked at-after they let me go because they thought I did not know enough-was pretty cold about helping me find another job. I know they are not obligated to, but a guy should help another guy out when he can. Enough said about that. Where can I network? Here?
I am going to go for a masters (MBA or MSE), but until then, I want to get a job to gain more experience. I have a lot to offer a company, but it is incredibly hard to put it into words. My technical skills are lacking, but my leadership/managment skills are great. I can come up with dozens of stories where I walked into a work situation that was all messed up, and I told him to go there and do that, her to go over here and do this... and then everything was OK again. Unfortunately, I was not telling him to go over there and do a short circuit analysis. I was telling him to go over there and call in 81mm mortar fire on that position.
So, when I tell Bob/Sally the engineer this, they look at me like they have no idea what I am talking about-which is understandable. Not that every Bob/Sally I interview with has never heard of the military, but most have not heard of the unglamourous side of it (the grunts) were leadership is a life or death element.
To put it mildly, I was not telling Private Snuffy Smith to reconfigure the NIC card for the server-I was telling him to dig his hole deeper, or he was going to get his head blown off! Granted, it was all in a training evnvironment, but that was it. That was my job. If one of our weapons did not work, or our optics were not working properly, we sent it to maintenance. As a matter of fact, it was an Article 15 offense for us grunts to try to fix it ourselves!
So here I am, trying to come up with some stories that will impress an engineering hiring manager. I try to "civilianize" my language as much as possible, but it is very difficult to do without losing much of the meaning.
Who is hiring young engineers with a lot of leadership experience, but not much technical experience?
How do I get the technical experience I need? Do I have to go out and but the software suite and become and expert on my own computer, and then put that on a resume? I need som help. No-one in my family is an engineer. My Dad cannot even operate a TV remote. None of my friends are engineers.
The last place I worked at-after they let me go because they thought I did not know enough-was pretty cold about helping me find another job. I know they are not obligated to, but a guy should help another guy out when he can. Enough said about that. Where can I network? Here?
