Small business career change

[floattuber]

Long story short is that I've been working for a company for the past 6 years straight out of college. I want to change careers from semiconductor failure analysis to real mechanical engineering such as stress analysis and design. I've had 1 phone interview and am flying out to Arizona for an onsite interview next week.

I have several reservations about this life decision though.

1. I just started searching about a month ago and this is the first real prospect in Az.

2. Working for a small company and the associated hazards such as less pay, benefits, security, etc.

3. Will I have a harder time finding jobs in the future without having big company names on my resume?

The good thing about the company is that I'll have the opportunity to learn what I want to learn like solid modeling, FEA, and possibly heat transfer modeling. On a side note, should I insist they put it in writing that they send me off for formal training?

I will also be taking a salary cut since it's a career change and the cost of living is much less ( I live in SF bay area now). This probably wouldn't be so hard of a decision if I were single, but I'm 30, married and may be starting a family in a year or two. My top priority is to buy my first house.

Given my situation are my concerns valid? Should I be shopping around more? Any other advice would be appreciated.

 

[ajack1]

Walking out of a job where you have six years experience into one where you have none and as you state would need training it is hard to see why you would not expect to take a pay cut.

Salary is dependant upon location, at the end of the day a lot depends on your disposable income after all the bills are paid, including accommodation. It may well be a good chance to buy your first property but may also be a problem later should you wish to move to a more expensive area unless you can get a large relocation package.

Large company/ small company is a personal thing, some people prefer one some the other a bit like living in the city or the country both have advantages and disadvantages. The main thing is would you have a mentor or would you be expected to hit the ground running with little or no help? Even that is not clear cut, in a larger company you may well be protected from that but spend years doing dull and mundane work, in a smaller one this is far less likely. Also why are this company looking at you with six years of experience but no relevant experience, that is not being rude but what do you offer that a first year grad doesn’t for less money?

It sounds like a big decision, good luck in making the right one.

 

[jpankask]

While you are there, check out the housing market for a comparison. My brother just moved to Flagstaff. Housing prices are so high, they literally cannot afford to buy a house with both of them working and making pretty good money. Just to buy a lot (no house, nothing else) cost more than I paid for my first house in Kansas.

Go online to some of the cost of living comparison websites and see what would be an equivalent pay to your area now. You might expect to take some pay cut if the cost of living is much lower but I wouldn't expect a cut just because it's a career change. If you have something to offer your new company, don't give it to them for bottom dollar just because you want to buy a house. If you are willing to move (and apparently you are) you're opportunity will come. Oh yeah, there are a lot more small companies than there are big companies. Some large companies may look at you different without a lot of big company experience but as long as you have the skills and attitude, where you worked shouldn't make much difference. Small companies have a lot of perks to offer!

 

[Heckler]

First, please define semiconductor failure analysis? Because I spent a short time in the semiconductor equipment industry and see no difference in engineering principles from other industries. So I don't think it should be looked at a career change. You are just changing industries. As far as, cost of living is concerned Arizona is just as high as SF Bay Area.

I have worked at small and large companies. It's the smaller companies that I have learned the most since I had to wear so many hats and had limited resources to get my job done.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
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Never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.

 

[IRstuff]

The OP wants to do design, not failure analysis.

In any case, your prospective job sounds like a potentially good stepping stone to a better future job. If it suits your desires, then that's great. Just make sure that you can picture yourself getting up every morning 5 yrs from now doing that thing.

Your question about the formal training needs to be clarified as to what the training involves. Training on the FEA and thermal software will be required, simply because the software tends to be fairly complex with lots of buttons and choices to be made. Training in the actual theory of the analyses is a whole other layer of the onion.

TTFN

 

[GregLocock]

I didn't take a pay cut, even when I did change industries completely.

I can't see why you should.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[floattuber]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

Failure analysis in this case is SEM work. Basically, I tell people what the contamination is that's on our product. Sometimes I'll get to look at fracture surfaces or design a fixture, but not much.

It seems to me that the cost of living is largely governed by the cost of housing and even the monthly rent of an apartment is half the cost of rent in the bay area. From my quick research houses should be in reach for me.

I do feel that this is a good stepping stone for me and that I can learn a lot since it's a small company.

Oh, and during the phone interview they hinted at what my salary would be and the job websites say it's high for an entry level job and low for a senior engineer. Seems about right to me, I think.