Is Engineering for me?

[MasterMaxter]

I’ve just gotten to about the 1.5 year mark out of college, and really debating if engineering is for me. I dislike the stress of the job, and the general attitude of engineers, both PE and non PE. It might also just be the field im in, Power, but I really do not want to work with AutoCAD, drafting standards, and the NEC for the rest of my career. I really like computers, and thinking about switching careers to become a System Admin. (Starting to get the certifications required)

But enough of my inner ramblings, My question is, how did you all know engineering was your passion/interest? I was channeled into engineering because Guidance said this was the way to go for a young male good in Science and Math, and I followed not having a better idea (I was told its where the $$ is). Then came college which I did not find too hard, (just a hella lot of work), but I was never really interested in the EE end of things. Computers/programming always caught my attention, and I love helping/ teaching/ working with others on both EE and Computer tasks.

Should I give it more time, move around the engineering field? Or is it just something you either love or hate? Time is too precious to do something your impartial too, and Id also hate to waste my employers time along with it.

 

[ctopher]

1.5 years? You barely have started your engineering courses. I suggest waiting another year to make up your mind, but it is up to you.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
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[PhilBW]

MasterMaxter:

Your only experience is with one job in one field. That isn't enough to know whether you like electrical engineering or not.

There are many companies of all sizes and personalities. You don't seem to care much for the people you work for, but you may not feel the same way in a different company.

There are may other areas within electrical engineering besides power you can explore, such as integrated circuits and solid state, robotics, communications systems, computers, building electrical systems, process controls, and probably a few more.

There are many types of engineering jobs besides design you should explore as well, such as field engineering, sales, or R&D.

The engieering field is so diverse there is a good chance you will find something you enjoy doing. While you may eventually decide electrical engineering isn't for you, based on the time and effort you spent to get your degree, I wouldn't give up just yet.

Phil

 

[SomptingGuy]

A System Admin? Don't do it. You are probably over-qualified and will end up bored.

If you really do like computer tasks & programming and have a solid grounding in EE, why not explore software engineering? Off the top of my head I can think of two possibilities:

There are plenty of jobs for embedded systems programmers. I know we can't enough of them.

Application development. Rather than using software, create it and support it.

- Steve

 

[KENAT]

"how did you all know engineering was your passion/interest"

I fell in love with aeroplanes/aviation when I was very young. I knew I wanted to either fly them or design them. Also had some level of interest in a lot of military technology.

I was OK at maths & physics.

Failed the aptitude testing for aircrew in the RAF but considered Engineer in the RAF.

Went to university and studied aerospace systems engineering and in the process learned that RAF as an Engineer probably wasn't for me.

Got a job in aerospace defense though not directly on aircraft. While there realized that while my passion may be aerospace, other aspects of engineering, especially mechanical, were moderately interesting.

Moved to the US and eventually got a job in machine engineering and can't wait till I get my citizenship so I can at least try to get back into aerospace.

So I wouldn't say Engineering itself started out as my passion/interest but It was an interest in a directly related field that got me here.

I believe the attitude amongst guidence counsellors etc of "you're good at math & science so should study engineering" is a disservice both to students & to Engineering. It pushes people with good grades into engineering that have no real interest in it at the expense of people that may be truely interested in it & have some aptititude but maybe struggle a little academically. By struggle I don't mean pull all C's & D's, I just mean maybe they don't get all A's which seems to be becoming the requirement - or near it - for many engineering courses.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[Dinosaur]

For my part, I love to break things. I love to figure out where they broke. I love to tweak them and double their strength with little or no effort. I love to be able to predict quantitatively what value will begin to yield a piece. I love to put things together, and take them apart, and put them together again. I love to be able to draw quickly an object in 3-D and show how it won't fit into a space that the customer wants to use. I love to show the customer how he can make the part in two pieces and reassemble it in his space. And I can't believe people are so stupid they agree to pay me to do this stuff.

I do it because I love it!

 

[ctopher]

Dinosaur,
I agree. We are the same.


Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[SomptingGuy]

I gave up breaking things for fun as a kid.

These days I get a real kick out of analysing the motion of things that move too fast to see. Like gas pulsations inside an engine, torsional dynamics of engine bits. In-cylinder gas motion and combustion. Things where you can take a few seconds' measurement and then analyse for weeks.

Oddly enough I avoided courses like this at university. They al had large coursework elements, which seriously cut into time used for "other" activities.

- Steve

 

[ctopher]

My son is 19. He just told me his senior project is doing FEA on a satellite. It is exciting stuff. With the future of space travel just starting, he will be at the forefront of it.
Stick with electrical or other engineering, you may do the same.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[MasterMaxter]

From what Im reading, you all seem to have a passion for your field that im just missing. I like computers, but I do not want to develope hardware (at least I think I dont?).

Programming/Application Engineering maybe, but... again, I dont want to sit behind a computer and program day in and day out.

All through college, I just never felt it, and often told my peers I should have went Comp Sci. (still probably should have switched, but my peers were awesome and did not want to seperate from them). I keep trying to think of something I would enjoy, but just cant seem to arrive at anything

 

[macmet]

I know elec engineers that program all day long.

Sounds like you just need to find a job that it better suited for you.

 

[ctopher]

Become a police officer, they hate sitting behind a desk.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[MasterMaxter]

Police huh?

hmmm, giving me a gun and telling me to deal with stupid people would quickly result in nothing short of horribleness on the first day of the job

Anyone have any experience as a system admin? Someone mentioned Id probably be Overqualified, but beyond that, is it a decent thing to do? (I hate being young and inexperienced)

 

[SomptingGuy]

Our company is small enough that I know most of our system admins fairly well. The team divides roughly down the middle:

PC people. They have the pleasure of setting up PCs, trying to keep M$ software running. Running servers (mail, etc). Sorting out printers. All the really exciting stuff.

Technical computing people. They look after engineering workstations and engineering applications that run on them. They get to set up huge Linux clusters and networking systems. Some of them can even write small amounts of real code.


- Steve

 

[knight185]

I have always been good in math and science (but my first two years of college were rough) but I never had what I would call a passion for engineering. I originally tried to major in computer science but soon realized that my lack of pre-college programming experience and enrolling in a top CS program wasn't going to work out well. I switched to MechE because I wanted to stay in a technical discipline that had good employment opportunities and I didn't have much interest in the other engineering fields, at least not for the college coursework. For the past two years I have been a power plant engineer. I still don't have a passion for it but it is something I am good at it and I don't mind committing 40+ hours per week of my life to it. Call that passion if you want. To me it offers good job security and peace of mind.

 

[stanweld]

MasterMaxter,
From your question and your responses, I think you already know the answer. You have not indicated a true love of anything engineering except fot the $$ (you were misled); for that matter, of any field of endeavor.

Assuming that you do not have any marital/family obligations and even if you do, take a real deep look at yourself and determine what turns you on. As you have so rightly stated, life is too short to spend up to 40 years doing something for a paycheck only.

 

[JakeAdkins]

MasterMaxter

I would say never underestimate a paycheck. While life is too short to spend 40 hours a week doing something you hate, it is also too short to spend the other 128 not having the money to do what you want. (Family, sports, travel…insert your outside work passion here)

I had a kind of similar experience to you. I was in my first job about a year and a half and knew that I needed to get out. I did have job security so I was in a good place to look for something new. It took me about 5 months of interviewing to find what I wanted and I am very happy now. (Although I would much rather be surfing everyday instead of working we can’t all be paid to be awesome) I did decide to stay in engineering.

I would suggest you put your resume on the internet, talk to friends, neighbors, people at church, on you softball team…whatever. Do a lot of phone interviews (saves on you having to ‘go to the doctor’ a lot) interview for different types of positions and since you don’t have to have a job to eat, don’t take it if it doesn’t excite you.

That’s just my humble recommendation

 

[macmet]

I work at a small company where our system admin was also our controls engineer. He thought he loved that sort of thing too until he had to deal with "computer stupid" people.

Someone mentioned a good paycheck earlier. That is a good point as well. I'm sure there are system admins that make good money but the ones I know that do that job 100% of the time they make significantly less than engineers do (which is saying something).

My earlier response was short. But if I were in your shoes I'd get a new job now and work there for a year or so. At that point if you still want to be a system admin you can probably take night courses and finish that up and move easily into your new career without a period with no paychecks.

 

[underpay]

today i might be working with general electrical components.

tomorrow i'm setting up computers and networking them to run the electrical components.

since a kid i always wanted to see how something worked. my mom always said i used to break toys and take them apart to see how they functioned.

or if the toy broke on its own i'd utilize parts from it (say a RC cars motor) and create a helicopter from it or whatever idea i had.

it's interesting and fun. some people are born curious and want to learn all the time. that's me alright, how to build it better and more efficient. guess that's why i do what i do today.

i would suggest to think positive.. you may like it if you find that right job. plus you'd probably get paid way more

 

[Sideswiper]

There is also more to power engineering than AutoCAD. Is there a protection engineer where you work that you could ask about what his job is about? Or maybe an engineer who develops models and analysis of the power grid, and projections about future growth?

Also, if you really like programming then be a programmer... maybe even work for people who develop software that is used by power utilities, mixing your skills and experience together? Do you really want to be a system admin and babysit databases all day?