My plan to "jumpstart" my career 1

[FutureAmerican]

Hi all,

Its been an age since I last posted on here - long story short I took an entry level job as a Field Engineer with Halliburton in late 2008, lost that job after 2 months when the sector collapsed in Colorado, and haven't been working in Engineering since then.

Like many others here, I've been on the job hunt, although my problem is that I graduated in 2006, so I can't qualify as a "new grad" anymore, and only have a year and a half's experience, which was mainly in project management, so I can't qualify as an "experienced professional".

The good news, is that I have managed to maintain full time employment, albeit in a totally different job sector (hospital security). I've also been fortunate enough to be promoted twice by my company into supervisor jobs.

I have managed to continue applying to jobs, mainly trying to get onto a graduate training program, although it doesn't help that I have one of the lesser-known disciplines (Materials Engineering), so there are a lot less opportunities out there.

Anyhow, now that my background essay is over with, my plan to "jump start" my career again, is that I am planning to enlist into the National Guard, and return to College to take some classes in Electrical/Mechanical Engineering with the aim of a second undergraduate major, before moving onto a Masters.

I've had plenty of discussions with current and former Guard members about the military side of this plan, but I'd like to hear from Engineers about the value of going back to College to take more classes - my hope is that then I will be eligible for more of the "new grad" programs, and will be able to add my previous work and internship experiences to boost my resume above the rest. There's also the local contacts I would make through the Guard, a number of whom work for local companies such as Lockheed Martin, which may help too.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions - and apologies for the long read!

 

[SWComposites]

A second engineering BS is a waste of time and $; go directly for a MS degree. You may have to take a few extra classes if you are changing engineering disciplines - suggest talking to the graduate program adviser at your local university.

 

[zdas04]

I usually tell people not to get an MS without relevant engineering experience. You have 1.5 years with a company that is generally recognized in the industry as a pressure cooker for new engineers. I would get an MS in ME (sounds like you're in Denver, I found the CU Denver program to be excellent when I got my MS there). I don't know many details about the National Guard (is it like the Reserves where you spend one weekend a month and two weeks a year in training or full time for a period?), but if you can get a commission time spent there might count as relevant engineering experience. If you could get a reserve commision in the Army or Navy, that enlistment would certainly count as engineering.

David

 

[TheTick]

Might as well go all the way and join full-time. Get a commission if you can. No point in wasting away rattlng doorknobs in a hospital whil you go to school. Full-time military service will give you far more valuable experience, and you can still go to grad school (it's encouraged, actually).

 

[ornerynorsk]

The navy is always looking for qualified candidates for nuke engineering. Your schooling would likely pre-qualify you for both OCS and the nuke program. They will fully train you regardless of previous experience. Your wage would be competitive with the commercial side, you would be building up big dollars in your GI Bill for future additional schooling, and you get to see the world for "free". Just a thought. Good luck to you in whatever course of action you decide upon.

 

[photoengineer]

As an alternative to the military, you can apply for contract engineering positions. The right company will give you a 6 month position or so, you will gain experience and make some money. Then if you do well, they might hire you on full time.

Cedar Bluff Engineering

http://cedarbluffengineering.webs.com

 

[PJones]

I passed up the opportunity Ornerynorsk suggested and have regretted it ever since. 20-20 hindsight!

 

[ornerynorsk]

PJones ~ if I were 20 years younger, oh well, can't look back. In my early 20's, I was tentatively accepted for further qualification tests for SEAL training because of my prior dive experience. Very happy I didn't proceed with that. Makes for some real bragging rights, but what you have to go through to get there! I did hear that they were offering as much as 175K re-up bonuses for SEALs during the height of the Iraq thing, but money's not everything.

 

[zdas04]

Oh well, I didn't pass it up and have been regretting it ever since. Not really. Nuclear Power School changed my direction in life in a very profound way. Before that I was a drunken slacker (less than a 1.0 GPA in high school, they passed me to get rid of me). I sobered up for Nuc School and did well. Never thought of myself as a slacker since and I've done well.

Someone who qualifies for OCS and Nuc School could do a ton worse. Not every Engineer is going to qualify for both (about half my section had degrees and about half of them were Engineers who didn't qualify for OCS).

David

 

[Gumpmaster]

On the Guard part, I would recommend enlisting and joining the ROTC which would earn you a commission (better leadership experience, better pay, etc...). You should be able to get a free ride and a commission after 2 years. If you write your contract right, you can get a guaranteed guard position instead of active duty if that's what you want. OCS & Nuke school (Navy) sound good too. Just be EXTREMELY careful with whatever contract you sign. If it's not explicitly guaranteed, it probably won't happen. Verbal promises from recruiters are null and void the minute you sign the dotted line.

Sounds like a great course of action to me. Military experience opens up several employment possibilities, it gives you preference for public jobs, there's the hire a vet program, it opens doors in project management or buisness development, and it's just plain good life experience.

I would agree that maybe the materials discipline is maybe a little too narrow for an unexperienced person. An MS in ME would broaden your applicability.

 

[FutureAmerican]

Thanks to all for the replies!

Firstly just to clarify something, I graduated College in 2006, then worked for a small Engineering company doing Project Management work for a year and a half. I then moved to the US at the end of 2007, did a couple of short term jobs at the start of 2008, and did my 2 months with Halliburton at the end of 2008.

I have managed to get a whole new skillset from my Hospital Security work (talking down aggressive pysch patients, restraining violent drunks, helping calm grieving families etc), but it's not something I could have a future in long term as the only way to move up is to get into management, which would take away the part of the job I enjoy, which is dealing with the aforementioned incidents.

While the Navy Nuke program is tempting, I'm pretty settled on the Army National Guard as my choice of branch. I'm not yet a US Citizen, so my plan is to enlist for now, and then go OCS once my Citizenship comes through. The Colorado ARNG has some pretty interesting lines of work, from Artillery to Space Command, all of which I'd be fine with doing.

I did enjoy my studies in Materials, but truth be told my main interest is in Space Engineering. They have this interesting program at UCCS, which is one of the schools the ARNG would cover my tuition for:

http://www.eas.uccs.edu/meso.shtml

That being said, I wasn't exposed to some of the programming/mechanics which are pre-requisites for this course, so my plan is to initially do a few undergrad classes to prepare myself before I jump into this program.

All of the things which go part and parcel with the military (time away from home for training, deployments etc) are all things I've chatted about with my wife and we feel it's the best option. I do know a few people who have gone Active Duty after starting in the National Guard, so I may wind up taking that path if the military life appeals enough to me to make it my full time job.

 

[TheTick]

Actually, ability to deal with drunks and psychotics is a good skill to have. It's helping me a lot in my current job.

 

[Ron]

I'm not sure what the recruiters are telling you, but I believe you have to be a US citizen to join the National Guard.

 

[ornerynorsk]

My oldest boy just joined Guard 2 years ago. If I remember correctly from the recruiting materials, there is a citizenship tie-in for service rendered. They do accept non-citizen enlistees. Wow, what a way to be introduced to American life, you'll pick up some new vocabulary that's going to require some discipline and decorum with knowing when and where to use it!

 

[TheTick]

Green-carded permanent residents are eligible to serve (I had known a few). Your national origin may disqualify you from sensitive positions if you are not a citizen.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/a/citizenship.htm

My experience w/ military recruiters is that they are far more ethical than people give them credit for. Most trouble with recruiters stem from lies or omissions on the recruit's part.

 

[FutureAmerican]

As a Green Card Holder I'm eligible to enlist in non-security clearance positions. This includes a lot of the stuff I'm interested in (the various Aviation Mechanic specialities, Artillery etc). I'm about 9 months away from getting my US Citizenship as a civilian, and although the expedited process the military offers equals out to about the same amount of time, the best part is that it is free for military members, as opposed to over $1000 in fees for civilians!

The recruiter I'm working with came highly recommended to me by a co-worker who's in the NG at the moment - and he's been very good to me in terms of honesty (e.g.he could offer job x, but it would be at a unit 3 hours drive away, or job y, which would be 20 mins drive away), and willing to do the legwork for a couple of waivers I need (one of them is already approved, just waiting on the second one).