where to go? 2

[lordkaos]

I have a BSEE from an italian university (5 years of hard studing for us), and as other people said in other forums, during a BSEE you can only learn some generic stuff about math, computer, silicon, ecc..
I finished my exams two years ago, and then I worked with some java,VB programming for my university and for a company.
The problem is I have always been thinking about working on something more challenging than simply computer programming.
So I decided to have a break of about one year to decide where and how to continue my job.
I have been thinking all this time about something reliable and challenging at the same time, but at the end I have only wasted a year without no conclusion.
I want your opinions about what could be that job.
Asic design, Rf design, firmware, controll, managment, quality assurance, ecc..?
Everyone is invited to share the beauty, challenges, tasks, skills that makes is job fun.

 

[tygerdawg]

It's the same for ANY engineering curriculum: it only teaches one how to solve problems.

I'll give you an American perspective, it might not work in your European culture. Try a couple of jobs in a couple of years. I assume that you're still young enough and (most importantly) inexpensive enough where this job-hopping behavior won't be held against you too much.

Get some experience doing some diffenent things at different companies. Big companies where they have lots of different things going on, and don't worry too much about the salary: go for the experience and fun. THEN decide what it is you want to do when you grow up. Life will happen to you and get difficult soon enough, don't rush it.

TygerDawg

 

[IRstuff]

The question you need to answer is "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Personally, I've known that I wanted to be an engineer since I was about 14. Others are in their 40's and still trying to figure out that answer.

You may, or may not, find that answer yourself. BUT, you MUST find something that you will at least like sufficiently to crawl out of bed each morning.

Ideally, you'll find something that will cause you to say, "...and they actually pay ME to do this!!" That's the way I usually feel, but to others, it's just a paycheck.

Keep looking, but try to picture yourself in each of those jobs at the end of 15 yrs; that should eliminate a few choices.


TTFN

 

[Standing]

Do what you love and the money will follow.

Bradley

 

[Maui]

Bradely, the article contained in the following attachment may make you re-think the wisdom in your statement above:

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Custom..._extcmp=JS_cj01_aug04_advice&siteid=cbmsn4320

Maui

 

[Standing]

Maui
I cannot get to the site. It seems to be missing something at the end.
I see

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Custom/MSN/CareerAdvi...

Bradley

 

[HgTX]

TGML won't display the whole long thing. If you're cutting & pasting the text, it won't work. Clicking should, though.

Try this:

http://tinyurl.com/5okvk

Hg

 

[Standing]

The article is very enlightening.
Thank you for showing me this.

Bradley

 

[lordkaos]

right!!!
It's very enlightening, but now i'm starting thinking if an engineering job is an high status one.

 

[HgTX]

It ain't. Not compared to doctors, lawyers, and financiers. Engineering isn't sexy. No one makes prime-time television dramas about engineers. (Though I'm not sure what comes first, the TV drama or the perception that the field is "hot".)

I'm not out to impress anyone, so I don't care. We civil engineers are near the bottom of the engineering status heap anyway, at least according to the MEs and EEs. (I could tie this in to the math thread but I'll refrain.)

Hg

 

[IRstuff]

I would dispute the notion about "status" when it comes to lawyers. At least, no one claims that I, as an engineer, give sharks a bad name or that sharks won't eat an engineer out of professional courtesy (although it would be nice to not get eaten by a shark ;-) ).

And I hardly think that TV is the arbiter of status. The lawyers on most shows come off as amoral at best, ditto on many of the doctors portrayed on TV. Let's not forget that TV shows are for entertainment, hence, writers find doctors and lawyers more "entertaining" and not necessarily worthy of respect. If anything, much of what goes on in some of these shows is to get the viewer to think, "I'm glad I'm not that screwed up."




TTFN

 

[lordkaos]

It's not a question of status, but it's the bind of status and money.
Here in italy a doctor can do is job for 8 hour a day in a public stucture and than (due to the cronical obstuction of public service) have a 100-300 euro an hour job as a private.
A lawyer can earn even more money, defending illegal traders (on the TV they are always good as angels).
But an enginner?
I'm thinking about a satellite one or an aerospace (so IRstuff can give me his opinion) one.
I think it's the love for what complex systems, as those who run on satellites or jets, do that move an engineer to work on those stuff.
But after his 8-12 hour job for a small or big company, he cannot use his skill as an important lawyer or doctor to earn good money as a private.
You may replay that he could have a consulting job, but how many engineer can use his brain for maore than 10 hour, obtaining something.
Everywhere you may hear that you have to choice between an employment or a consulting job, but not the two togheter.
Insteed a doctor or a lawyer who doesn't deeply use his brain as an enginner do can work even 8 + 8 hour.
So his status grows up as his account does.
I'm too young an inexpert to leave here this opinion.
What does a seasoned engineer think about this?
Must we sell hot dog or pc after the company job to give the best to our sons?
Are other way to live working on complex, brain intensive project for a company that pay a spit?
Is it worth to do these jobs?
I'm realizing that must exist somewhere in the heaven of rules (just where murphy's ones are), one that say
"the more your job is brain intensive the less you'll earn" (maybe it's a corollary of murphy).
So someone may say do what you really love and the money will follow. This is incorrect.
We must say "do what you really DON'T love and the money will follow", "do repair home boilers, don't stay thinking about some k-band stuff, and the money will follow".

 

[RDK]

There are 168 hours is a week.

You sleep 8 hours a night or 56 hours a week.

That leaves 112 hours for everything else.

You spend say 3 hours a day eating, taking showers and generally taking care of your personal needs. That leaves you with 91 hours to work and play. Lets call this your disposable time allotment per week after the necessary overhead for taking care of bodily functions is accounted for.

I would hazard a guess that most people spend an hour on average per work day just getting to and from work and that they spend at least 8 hours a day at work. That is 45 hours per week or about one half of the time available to you to work, play, raise a family and do everything else in your life that matters.

Why anyone with enough intelligence to get an engineering degree would then spend half of their disposable time doing or even to consider spending it on something that they did not like to do and found personally rewarding is totally beyond my powers to comprehend.


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[lordkaos]

Hi RDK,
I've been reading a lot of posts by you.
I think you are a competent engineer and an good man.
I don't understand if your last post is a direct answer to my last one.
I totally agree with your opinion.

I've looked at

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

but I don't understand what does a construction managment firm does.
It seems like a collant between constructor(intended as the one who invests his money to build something), designer firm (the most classical civil engineering job)and the firms that execute the practical job.
I think your firm makes the job that an constructor should do but an illiterate one can't.
It's like project management?
It's like contract managmement?
What are the skill you are proud of?
Speak me about your job, because it seems intersting.
What has been your path toward this kind of job?
I'm so tired of programming, I feel like a bricklayer.

 

[Maui]

Rick, I realize that this is off-topic but you may need to check your email link on your website. I tried to email you last week from two different accounts, and they were both bounced back. The problem may be on my end, but I don't think that it is.


Maui