ME in need of Professional Development Advice 10

[dswitherowME]

Got my BSME in 2002 and worked for an aerospace company from 03-06. Since then I have been an entrepreneur in a completely unrelated industry (non engineering or manufacturing). I'm now looking to get back to my engineering career. I'm planning to take the FE when I've adequately prepped but in the meantime I still need to get a job. In an attempt to brush up on my skills I got my SolidWorks Cert and now I'm looking for more certs I can get relatively quickly and inexpensively to prove my competence has not diminished. Am I on the right track with this strat? If so, what are some additional certs i can pursue? If not, what should I be doing instead? Any advice here would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[HamburgerHelper]

Maybe, enter a field like transmission and substation design where they are just happy for applicants and don't care about your background.

 

[msquared48]

Initially, I would do a few things to start with:

1. Register for and take a review course for the FE. That should give you a good outline to study from based on the current exams.
2. If you have not already, write a good resume explaining what you have done and would like to pursue in the future.
3. Check into the ME market for the ME discipline you are interested in and research your potential employers. You taking the initiative to learn about them helps in any interview.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[IRstuff]

You can do all that, but the bottom line is that you're practically a new grad for the purposes of getting a job. Some calibration of expectations might need to be performed. Whatever certs you get aren't going to come close to making 3 years of experience in the dim past look like more.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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[metengr]

Your chances of finding a job in the engineering field will be low at best. The problem will be the gap in employment with no engineering experience. Even a new graduate from the university will have an edge over you simply because they will have no employment gap.

Forget the FE and focus on getting an entry level engineering job or even an intern job. Once you get your foot in the door, you can focus on the FE.

 

[JedClampett]

If we could get a mature engineering graduate with good work habits (you know, show up every day, on time, low drama, etc.), at a new graduate rate or even a little more, we'd consider it.
We have to train every new grad anyhow, why not the guy (or girl) who can rent a car?

 

[SlideRuleEra]

dswitherowME - IMHO, top priority is to get a suitable engineering job (1 to 3 years of applicable experience). If you don't look at the right level, you won't find one. I really like JedClampett's advice, sounds strangely familiar... a few decades ago.

However, while on the job search there is no reason you can't apply to take the FE, do some self-study, and take the exam in the near future. You say that you want "to prove my competence has not diminished". Passing the exam is proof positive and a lot more focused than spending time and money on a grab bag of certs.

1. The NCEES study materials are low cost.
2. The FE exam can be taken on your schedule.
3. The FE exam pass rate is high. The intent is not to "weed out" engineers on this first exam.
4. If you pass, it is obvious to a potential employer that you are serious about a career in engineering.
5. There are no negative consequences for not passing... especially since you currently don't have an employer. If fact, "failure" establishes that, in the future, time and money spent on a conscientious FE study program will be well spent.

Some years ago, I taught a PE review course at a local college. The students who planned to take that exam when they were "adequately prepped" have never taken the exam. It is easy to talk yourself into that trap.

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[rotw]

metengr,
"Your chances of finding a job in the engineering field will be low at best."

Lets call this the positive scenario. Now lets suppose that for the neutral scenario, chances are null.
Can you enlighten us what the negative scenario would look like for him/her?

I am curious to learn and educate myself through your own eyes on how merciless the world we live in is.

 

[oldestguy]

If you have a mechanical engineering society or PE society nearby, see about joining as a junior member. They can help with your efforts and you are likely to meet possible employers there. In any case it always is a good thing to show on your resume.

 

[metengr]

rotw;

Can you enlighten us what the negative scenario would look like for him/her?

Yes, the negative scenario is working outside of the ME discipline. Which could yield greater returns. Ya never know.

To increase my chances, I would perhaps go back to the university, while looking for a job, and take several additional evening classes to improve my chances for employment. At least you can avoid this non-engineering gap in employment.

 

[rotw]

metengr,

Based on your last input, can I make the interpretation that by broadening your skills/competency to non ME skills you could expand your job search to wide range of engineering disciplines, so that - even in the worst case - chances of finding a job in the engineering field would still exist?

 

[metengr]

rotw;
Actually, I was thinking of several more ME classes to show continued learning and marketability.

 

[jari001]

Network, network, network. Get your FE, sell your experience in project management as an entrepreneur like there's no tomorrow, and did I mention networking? I agree with others that your initial path back into a technical role might not be easy, but I think it is possible...especially if you network.

 

[dswitherowME]

All the advise is much appreciated. I fully understand the difficulties created by the laps in "relevant experience." That's the whole reason I am reaching out for advice. I expect the hunt will be a long one and I'm ok with an entry level job. I'm passionate about getting back into the field, so if it takes time, it takes time. The continued education classes are a great idea and more of what I was looking for than certifications. Although, many of the continuing education classes do result in a certification (Six Sigma, PMP etc.) I also fully intend to study for and take the FE. EIT certifications are another that I'm noticing on a lot of employer's wish lists. Are there any continuing education classes or specialized university classes that are more desirable (or less desirable) that you all are seeing? I'm seeing a ton of HVAC out there.

 

[Terratek]

Getting the EIT cert should prove to skeptical managers that you can and did shake off the rust. I'd even highlight the year of the certification so that it doesn't also get discounted as being old. I would still apply for jobs while prepping for the FE exam. If you're ready to step back in at ground zero in terms of position and pay, I bet a lot of employers would be willing to give you a shot. Taking some college courses grounded in decades old theory is not the way to put your knowledge base into the fray IMO. Unless you go whole hog and get a master's degree, I see little advantage in college courses over just getting the EIT to prove you still "got it" in terms of technical ability for most jobs.

 

[CWB1]

Not sure your location or the industry you are looking to get into but if you are in the US I would focus on getting your resume out there first and foremost. You are directly competing with students graduating in the next few weeks and the hiring boom we have been seeing is likely to slow significantly as we get into early summer.

 

[moltenmetal]

One of my responsibilities is to hire engineers. While some may actually find young engineers to have problems with responsibility, dedication and work ethic, that is not my company's experience. We don't hire those people- we pass them over when they co-op with us. Our fresh grads are as good as or better than fresh grads have ever been- in fact at present they're better since the depressed labour market is giving us access to the very cream of the crop. That situation sucks, and I've been working for a decade to try to change it, but it persists nonetheless. Of course, your mileage may vary, depending on the labour market where you live or are willing to move to.

Even if I were to get an engineering grad with limited experience from a decade ago for a fresh grad's rate, I'm not naive enough to think that such a person would be satisfied with the pay of a 3rd yr engineer once they have three years under their belt, even though that would actually be fair. So personally, I'd pass. I wish the OP well, but personally I wouldn't hold out much hope of returning to the engineering profession in an oversupplied labour market after a decade's absence. If there were actually a shortage of engineers, that would of course change.

 

[Terratek]

Perhaps the engineer that had 3 years experience a decade ago who gains 3 more in the future would have worth beyond one with only 3 years.

 

[CWB1]

moltenmetal, what niche of engineering are you in? I'm curious to know what industries are slow because in manufacturing I'm seeing the longest lead times in recent years, mass hiring, and good times all around. The local universities have also been seeing higher than normal numbers of students hired prior to graduating which is great for me personally as my wife is FINALLY among them.

 

[moltenmetal]

CWB1: chemical, manufacturing of chemical plants. Glad to hear things are good for you and your wife, but we were seeing interest from 4th yr students in late March that would, in a decent employment climate, have been snapped up in January ahead of a May graduation. Of course, that's just an anecdote like yours, so not worth much. The stats for the overall Canadian engineering labour market, as well as the job records of co-op students currently in the system, are more important and in fact match our observations as well. The proportion of eng grads working as engineers has fallen from ~70% to ~30% over the past few decades, and the trend is going nowhere but down from there.

Terratek: 3 yrs + 3 yrs with a 10 yr gap between is worth more than 3 yrs, but less than 6 yrs if it were all gained in the recent past. 3 yrs plus 10 yrs of something outside the field is rather soon going to feel like an entitlement to being paid as if they had 13 yrs post grad of 100% relevant experience, irrespective of what it took to get an initial foot in the door. That's just human nature at work, which you ignore at your peril. It's a recipe for a rapidly growing mismatch between salary expectations and a reasonable calculation of market value, which often leads to hard feelings. It would get the resume filed in the blue bin automatically here unless the 3yrs of prior experience was exactly relevant.