Options 10 years after graduation 2

[livingston]

Hello all,

I just met a woman who graduated with an electrical engineering degree 10 years ago. She has not ever had a job in her field. She has just recently begun to realize the value of the degree. Is she too late to the game? What can she do to make herself marketable? Classes, certifications? Would anyone be willing to hire a person as entry level ten years after the fact?

 

[CowboyBill74]

livingston -

In my opinion and this is only my opinion I think that once you have your degree that is good for life, however the whole "use it or lose it" mentality may come into effect for any potential employer. Does this person already have thier FE or PE? If not then maybe by passing the FE or PE recently will show any potential employer that this individual still has the knowledge to preform at an entry level position.

Thanks

 

[ctopher]

She may start below $ scale, but if she wants to get back into the field she should take anything to get her foot in the door to gain experience.

Chris
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[epoisses]

livingston,

Sorry to be harsh but this is just not very realistic. She can't be expecting to make much than a new hire fresh out of school, and not even AS MUCH because she's spent 10 years forgetting all she learnt. There has to be a dang good reason why anyone would hire her and not a "real" electrical engineer. (The same would be true for a male person of course). The best she can do is go over her 10 years of experience and use it as much as possible to get a job in an engineering environment.

Without trying to discourage anyone - why has she just recently begun to realize the value of the degree? Why did she not apply for an electrical engineer position rightaway and what makes her change her mind now? Not that I'm asking to post the answers here, but these are fundamental questions she should ask herself IMHO.

 

[HgTX]

Some relevant discussion in thread731-178889

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

"She can't be expecting to make much than a new hire fresh out of school, and not even AS MUCH because she's spent 10 years forgetting all she learnt."

True, but I'm sure she has been picking up other skills along the way that might be useful.

The bigger question to me would be, why did she wait 10 years? Does she really want to be an engineer?

There are several people on this board that I know of that came to engineering later in their career. She's really in the same situation as them, expect since she's already got the degree, it should take her even less time to transition careers.

 

[csd72]

I think the question of why is a bigger barrier, if I was interviewing then I would think that either:

She is not really interested in engineering
or
She had too much of a problem getting a job when she graduated
or
This is just a fad and she will lose interest
or
she has something to hide about those 10 years
or....

csd

 

[mechengdude]

I'll probably get blasted for this but here goes....
Is she attractive? If so she will have no problem getting hired. If not, the comments from other posters seem to cover it all.

 

[PSE]

I would agree with the previous posts in that from an employer's standpoint, the biggest question is what have they been doing in the past 10 years. You indicate that they have not been working in their field, anything close such as potentially teaching or military service etc might "soften" the odds against getting a position. Coming close behind are concerns related to maintaining competency or familiarity with the technology they would be expected to work with. She would be considered entry level and competing directly with recent grads. Her gender helps but not likely much at this stage. She will need to come across very well in any interviews she might obtain.

 

[epoisses]

"Is she attractive? If so she will have no problem getting hired. If not, the comments from other posters seem to cover it all."

HAH!! :-D
Are you French by any chance for being so explicit??
It's not fair at all but I think it's true.

 

[HgTX]

You forget, she's getting hired by *engineers*. You know the old joke about the engineer and the bicycle and the naked woman...

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[plasgears]

My daughter is a chem eng, and she hasn't been doing eng work for years, but she is in HQ plant mgt and pulling 6 figures. I don't think she has anything to complain about.

In the case in question, the next step should be an MBA to build upon the engineering background. Top mgt sometimes values the analytical skills of engineers applied to allied fields.

 

[csd72]

HGTX,

that guy was stupid, he could have had the bike and the woman!

 

[HgTX]

Like I said.. engineers...

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[Comcokid]

It is possible. An engineering degree is also an indication that the person has been 'tested' and 'passed' in terms of their thinking and abstraction reasoning ability. There are industries that hire engineers not as engineers, but as a proven raw material.

I posted a response to a question similar to your post in thread731-189619

 

[Ashereng]

Let say you do hire her. And then she doesn't work out.

Your boss asks "What were you thinking? She hasn't work as an EE for 10 years and you hired her?"

How do you answer?

That is one big reason why I would probably move on to the next candidate, a recent grad. It would be easier to answer the boss in case the new hire didn't work out.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Sideswiper]

Maybe she should get an MBA? Or go into Sales or Marketing? Perhaps Technical Writing?

I'm just tossing out ideas. Engineers who have soft skills have a lot of career options available besides just classic engineering.

 

[ScottyUK]

Sorry, but your friend wouldn't even make my shortlist unless I was clutching at straws. Even assuming they made interview I doubt they would survive the experience because I would load up the technical side to reassure myself that they hadn't forgotten most of what they learned. If they did get through it would be on merit alone and they would have had a tougher time than a new grad proving they were good enough.



----------------------------------

If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[possumk]

Catching up on my eng-tips post-holiday & had to weigh in on this one.

It reminded me of something my co-worker told me about his wife. He is a practicing engineer, and she was a degreed civil engineer but quit working after a couple years to raise the kids. I would estimate she's 25 years out of school, not 10, but she recently took a Physics test for certification as a science teacher after completing her other teaching courses and failed. . .twice.

This makes me think there is more to use-it-or-lose theory it than we think. At some point, my friend's wife had to be a pretty decent science-and-math person, but now can't even pass teacher physics? I would definitely not hire someone who had not worked as an engineer for 10 years to be an engineer. The only exception would be if they had 10-20 years engineering experience before the big gap. . .

 

[EddyC]

I had an employer that had several "out-of-practice" engineers as employees. They started out working as designers/drafters. Some eventually worked they way back up to engineer status. Not all companies want to hire the best & brightest($$$), because not all customers are willing to pay good money for good work.