What kind of engineer am I?? 2

[DrHoneydew]

Hi all,

I have a strange engineering degree and an even more strange set of professional experiences. I am finally in the process of finding a 'real job,' and am having trouble convincing people that I am worth their while and trouble finding where I fit in.

- I have Bachelor of Arts in Engineering; engineering fundamentals, with a breadth of other coursework like policy, economics, project management, etc.
- I have experience with a civil engineering company
- I have learned electronics in the past few years; have developed hardware, firmware, software, and have had experience in a wide range of 'product' development
- I work really well with people and am exceedingly good at educating non-technical folks about technical stuff I've been working on, and love doing that.


What kind of engineer can I be? How do I market myself to employers?

Can I be an Applications Engineer? Client Engagement Engineer? Would someone hire me to be a hardware engineer without a BS in Electrical Engineering?

Any advice would be very appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Cheers,
DHD

 

[ctopher]

Have you thought about management?
Maybe some type of aircraft ground/flight testing.

Chris
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SolidWorks Legion

 

[DrHoneydew]

Sure. Would love to be in management, but it seems like someone would have to do something specific for a company to gain experience in order to move up to a management position. Has this been your experience?

The one thing I could somewhat easily do is move into some kind of Construction Project Management position, but I have really grown to like the electronics hardware stuff I've been working on. I don't need to work at a very specific function on hardware, but I'd like to work generally with 'products'. That's kind of vague, but the only way I can describe my goals.

 

[MadMango]

I think after crossing the 5yr threshold, you can drop the "junior" from your resume. Application Engineers usually fulfill a sales role for a company, pairing customer requirements with company offerings. I don't think this is what you want to do. I think the new buzz word you want to be researching is "mechatronics". I think that would describe your skill set and career goals.

 

[DrHoneydew]

whoa.

that's news to me: Mechatronics

nice.

 

[KENAT]

Known in the US & UK as electromechanical.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

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

 

[Tunalover]

A BA in Engineering. Now that's a new one. Sounds like your degree program lacked the physical and mathematical rigor that sets degreed engineers apart from other folks! It looks like maybe a management role is in order. You could end up being my boss!


Tunalover

 

[DrHoneydew]

My school had top notch programs for chem, EE, etc., for a liberal arts school, at least. I just could never make up my mind. I also grabbed a philosophy degree. ha.

I've gained such an appreciation for product development and more design oriented stuff since then, however.

 

[monkeydog]

Hmm, you seem to have interpersonal skills, not sure if you would fit in with management
(winky smiley face here)

 

[DrHoneydew]

hahaha... I'll remember that when I'm your boss.






( very kidding. haha )

 

[KENAT]

One of our leading "engineers" (untill he left a couple years ago) had his degree in sociology or something like that. Not sure how he got into cutting edge development of nanotechnology.

He didn't really have the interpersonel skills though, surprisingly given his supposed major.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

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

 

[BillBirch]

Bill,
I would first try to find what professional afiliations your degree would get you. I can't believe that you have the qualifications to jump between civil engineering and electronics - professional codes of conduct prohibit practicing outside your own field.

Regards,
Bill

 

[GregLocock]

Hey tunalover, your lack of knowledge about engineering degrees does you no credit.

I've got a BA in engineering, from a university that is older than your country, so it's not exactly a new one on me.

 

[Ussuri]

Would that be Oxford or Cambridge?

 

[Tunalover]

GregLocock-
As I said it's a new one on me. It's also makes me wonder why someone would want a not-so-scientific degree program. Did you have trouble finding employers who saw the degree program as one that produces engineers? Just asking. No offense.



Tunalover

 

[ischgl99]

Well Greg, I have never seen a BA Engineering degree as well in my 18 years in engineering. It may be common in England or Australia, but not here. Here the BS degree is king and based on the description given by the OP for the BA degree, I would not consider a candidate with that degree for a technical position.

 

[rday]

Never seen a BA in engineering.

Greglocok,
He did say he had a strange engineering degree. No need to come across so arrogantly.

 

[Twoballcane]

Same here I have never heard of a BA in Engineering. What did the degree focus on? Was it Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, or Chemical? BS is common, but I have a degree that is on the other side of the spectrum, which is the Bachelor of Engineering in ME. Also, to do Civil Engineering, do you have your Professional License? Check out some books on Mechatronics (

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=mechatronics&r=1).

It does sound like what you are doing…

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[Unotec]

Quite a few private schools in Mexico offer B.A Industrial engineering. These are merely hard-hat administrators

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying ” Damn that was fun!” - Unknown>>

 

[Ussuri]

In the UK, I think it's only Oxford and Cambridge that offer BA/MA in engineering. All the others offer BEng/MEng. They also do BSc (Bachelor of Science) courses but these are now seen as 'lesser' engineering degrees.

I have a friend who went to Cambridge and got an MA MEng. They get the MA part just because they went to Cambridge. The degree they did was civil and was very theoretical with very little practical application, well compared to mine at least.