Retraining to be an Electrician 16

[LaplacianPyramid]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice about moving away from a career in engineering and to a profession with more demand for new workers.

I graduated with a master's degree in electrical engineering last year and have been unable to find an electrical engineering job after nearly six months of searching. I've applied for jobs all over the U.S. with small companies, large companies, and the government. Most of the open jobs I've found either require or strongly prefer several years of experience. There just doesn't seem to be much out there for newly minted engineers, and with unemployment the way it is, I think there are too many experienced engineers looking for a job for me to have a shot.

With my engineering career prospects so bleak, I'm considering going back to school to become an electrician. Job openings for electricians seem to be abundant, and I think becoming an electrician should be a quick and easy transition with my background in electrical engineering. I know I won't make as much money as an electrician, but it's better than spending the next year unsuccessfully looking for an engineering job while waiting tables.

Has anyone else here transitioned away from engineering to a new career? If so, were you happy with your decision? Did the transition go as well as you hoped?

Thanks!

 

[Twoballcane]

"jerks called professors who said you need to figure this out but would never give you any tools"

I’m biting my tongue on this one, but this may because you have to “figure it out yourself” like a good engineer would? Most real world engineering problems are not textbook cases. However, this is about careers. In any career, there is nobody to hold your hand (unless you have helicopter parents which are not good at all). There is no person who will spoon feed you what you need to know. In this economy it is to be born out of fire. Go out and (dare I say) think outside the box on ways to improve your professional demeanor. In the real world, one will not have jerk professor office hours to go to later.


Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”

 

[Twoballcane]

Speaking of professors, I had a Thermodynamics professor who never wrote on the white board, but pointed things out like equations and theory from the textbook while he gave his lecture (you could have skipped the class and just read the textbook). And then, gave us open book exams (which are even harder because he can ask anything he wanted, which he did). During the time I though he was really lazy, but years later, I find myself going back to my textbooks and other engineering books to look up well equations and theory and realized that he may have tough us not just what we had to know for that semester, but a skill to depend on our intuition to learn from a textbook.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

LaplacianPyramid

I wouldn't be surprised if you're not reading this thread anymore. I seems that what you said (or maybe, more precisely, how you said it) hit a nerve with a bunch of people here.

I don't think you can judge someone's personality very well on a message board, so I think many people are going way too far in condemning your "attitude".

That being said, it can also be hard to judge someone's personality in an *interview*, so you need to be careful how you present yourself. And if it went wrong a bit here, maybe similar things are happening when you interact with potential employers.

If you *do* want to be an engineer, it's a matter of selling yourself better. Try practing interviews with friends. Join a local engineering society. Volunteer with a group like Engineers Without Borders. And, yes, training as an electrian could help to. And *definitely* do not talk about PETA during an interview. If the interviewer has something against them, he now has something against you. Heck, I love animals, but if you bring up PETA 5 minutes into an interview I might think you're a bit nuts. Keep everything in the interview religiously, politcally, and culturally neutral.

All I have to judge you is your posts, but you don't seem like a bad person. You're articulate, you must to be halfway bright to have gotten the MSEE & you can make fun or yourself. You're frustrated. We all know how that feels, but you have to be careful not to let that show to potential employers.

 

[SiliconeAurora]

I think you're all being really cold to someone who has the "can't find a job blues." In retrospect, it hasn't taken me all that long to land either of my two jobs I've worked thusfar, but the weeks and months I spent trying to get them took a serious emotional toll on me. There was a very strong sense of "I'm not good enough" forming at the back of my mind, and no matter how many times you tell yourself that everyone starts out this way and that the economy is rough, it can be difficult to shake.

Perhaps some of his doom and gloom was unwarented and amounts to projecting his poor situation on the profession as a whole, but have a heart guys. It's no fun to be in the situation he's in at all.

 

[321GO]

For one, I'm not jumping the 'poke Laplacian' bandwagon, I honestly do think he made good points and reacted respectfully to some less gentle comments along the way.

Laplacian, IMHO todays employers want payback real fast, probably mostly because of their own financial struggles in this current dire economy. After the initial training wheels and the push in the back, they want you peddling on your own as soon as possible.

My point? Only apply for those jobs for which you are specifically suited. For instance jobs, that have a lot of overlap with your thesis paper, or for those that you are specifically passionate about. IMHO shotgun applying is not effective.

 

[IRstuff]

Speaking of professors, Prof. Apostol did actually lecture directly out of his textbook. You could simply flip pages from whatever chapter he was lecturing on and it would be nearly verbatim from the text. In retrospect, it was a very disappointing class, and one of the benefits of an instructor using someone else's text is to get two viewpoints on a problem, the author's and the instructor's.


TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[321GO]

I guess a lot of the critisism directed at Laplacian is because he's poking around a sore spot. He - as a greenie - seems to have a better understanding of the current engineering trade than a lot of the entrenched die-hard engineers themselfs, I guess this is hard to accept.

I see it day by day that the so called 'low wage' countries(one in particular..) are munching away at what used to 'ours' and I don't see that coming to a halt soon. There attitude is so much different, It also seems there business attitude is on the fast lane.

Now with that said, is engineering becomming less relevant in the west? Answer seems self explaining when one looks at these facts(common sense helps here).

So, I actualy agree with a lot of his statements regarding the reasons why, and subsequently don't see him as the evil one from hell, for ranting against the 'holy and mighty' engineering trade.

Although I agree that his attitude needs some redirecting, pressure still makes diamonds.

 

[IRstuff]

It's hard, sometimes, to see light at the end of the tunnel, and perhaps, this time, it really is an oncoming train. HOWEVER, a mere 20 yrs ago, there was all this doom and gloom about Japan, IC, buying up all the US companies and how we needed to learn Japanese, because we'd all be working for them in 10 years. Well, guess what? It's been 20 years, and Japan, Inc. is a shadow of its former self. Even the much vaunted Toyota has gotten a serious black eye over the sudden acceleration problem; and this is from one of Deming's star pupils working hard at achieving zero defects through continuous process improvement. Well, once the Japanese standard of living got so much better, they've decided to enjoy the fruits of their labors and are no longer the powerhouse they once were.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[321GO]

Huh? Toyota's rise is epic, as the likes of Google and Microsoft.

They started in the 60's with shoping cart's that would get blown off the roads by the mear wind drag of passing Chevrolets.

A mere 60 years later they fence for the crown in your own country, and then one questions their achievements?


I do agree they got somewhat tempered by their own success, but now we have China that wants to play that same game. Japan kicked some serious butt, their motivation and commitment brought them huge success on 'our' markets, and good for them. I can only admire such determination.

To downplay such effects is not wise IMHO and prevents one from seeing the (even)bigger picture correctly.

 

[jg600]

I have been where you are(work situation) and am telling you the following.....
1) You might make money but you will hate yourself after awhile if you truly don't enjoy the field work. 90deg hot days, roof climbs, etc.
2) If you train as an apprentice they will pay you less and still take advantage of your knowledge. In other words you will be doing the work of the EE and electrician for apprentice wages.
3) If you feel really desperate try sales for motors, VFD's, Pumps, etc...If you can size motors that is a skill that pays for itself.....
4) Learn Labview!

I would advise you to approach contractors, architects, EE PE's directly to preform outsource work part time and the other time find custom design work, fab/lab, prototyping etc. where you can charge more. These unsure times call for unusual solutions.

Side note....Silicon Valley still seems to be hot for EE's

 

[rmw]

He is a she.

She mentions that she is waiting tables in her Fiance's restaurant and that HIS restaurant is barely keeping them afloat.

Once I ascertained that, I read this thread differently. If you have never read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", first I recommend that you do but secondly if you have, then you know that women want to 'express feelings' which this OP has done eloquently.

I also ascertained (and asked with no answer) if the fact that her 'intended' had ties to his restaurant if that limited her options to relocate to take a job. If so, that puts her complaint in a totally different light.

I hope she takes some of the advice here and just keeps trying. And, yes, if it makes her feel any better to vent here, then that is what we are here for.

As to the book I mentioned, before you jump on me for being sexist, I'm not. Read the book. It was an eye opener about the different manner in which men and women approach problems. It probably saved my marriage and family (all daughters.)

Learning three simple words right out of the book has made all the difference. "I'm so sorry" is more often than not all that is ask or required when one of the women in my family "expresses feelings".

rmw

 

[LaplacianPyramid]

Hey everyone,

I'm sorry I've neglected this thread, but I've read all your messages and taken much of your advice. Anyway, I have good news.

I got an unexpected bite on my resume from a local company a couple weeks ago. I hadn't even applied for a job there, but they found my resume I posted somewhere. They asked me to interview for a newly created position they haven't advertised. This company hasn't been hiring many people but is known for being very friendly toward women engineers, so I was pretty excited.

I interviewed last week, and I thought it went very well. I liked everyone I talked to, and they seemed to like me. They said I was the last person they were going to interview and would be deciding soon. I got an offer from them a few days later. The offer was a little under $70K, which is less than I expected. I cautiously countered a bit higher to $75K, and I just found out today they accepted. I'm starting February 1st.

Even though I won't be making as much as I expected, I think I'm really going to like this job. I can't wait to start.

Thank you all for your advice. It really helped me a lot. What a difference a few weeks can make.

Thanks once again!!!

 

[FeX32]

Happiness is worth much more than 5K.
Good luck,


Fe

 

[IRstuff]

Congratulations!!

I took a fairly massive cut in pay (~15%) to work with some people that I liked, on projects that I liked. No regrets...

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[vthomidis]

That's really good news....as they say "all's well that ends well"
congrats....

 

[moltenmetal]

Great news! To be pulling in $70-$75k as a fresh grad is great. Best of luck to you!

 

[321GO]

A big cheer for the topic starter! Let's all hold hands and eat cupcakes

"Even though I won't be making as much as I expected, I think I'm really going to like this job."

Says someboby making 75 grand/year.

 

[Twoballcane]

Coolness!! Two thumbs up!!

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”

 

[KENAT]

75k sounds darn good for a new grad, what the heck were you expecting?

Anyway, congrats.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[rmw]

Well, I invested a little of my time in your situation so I share in your joy. Seventy five K for an entry level position sounds OK to me. Contrats.

rmw