Which industry is best and which is best for college grads? 8

[twinky64]

I'm new here and this is my first post.

I'm currently attending California State University of Fullerton majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I've been interning at a medical device industry and really enjoy the people that work there, the hours expected to work, the environment (kind of google-esque), and pay. Unfortunately, they are on a hiring freeze and I'm unable to land a job once I graduate. I never thought that medical devices would be fascinating while in college. My passion is cars.

Here is my question:

Should I go into the aftermarket suspension company that tunes automobiles? I would be test driving cars and engineering components that would improve handling. The company is small and domestic

or.

Try and find a job in the medical devices industry where the day to day is not so interesting compared to test driving and engineering components? The company would be larger and international.

Reason why I ask is because I don't want to work and get laid off shortly after and I don't want to work more than 45 hours per week.

Thanks

 

[twinky64]

IRstuff. Thank you for your response. The Fullerton facility is up for sale as of July or August. Everything has been consolidated over to Fullerton. As for the manufacturing, we are still manufacturing the general blood chem instruments (DxC 600/800, CTA/UCTA, and a couple more it think). There are rumors that it's going to move to Indy. Does Patty P. work in the manufacturing side of things? That name does sound sort of familiar.

MintJulep, you hit the nail on the head. I couldn't agree with you more but at the current moment, that's the only lead I have at this point.

KENAT, thank you for your advice. I'm taking this week off of work to study for finals next week. When I return to the office, I'm going to email some of those that I've worked with. Over the summer I've worked with varying teams of differing disciplines. Hopefully something comes up.

SHAGGY, I will look into Optivus. They are located in the Inland Empire yes?

 

[ShaggyPE]

Correct

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks

 

[IRstuff]

No, she's a PhD in bio or chemistry. I think she's at a director level??

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[twinky64]

ShaggyPE, do you work at Optivus?

 

[ShaggyPE]

Yes I do. Great place to work and excellent, life saving product.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks

 

[moon161]

I temped for almost a year at a medical place, one of 3 people authorized for OT at the time, great engineering culture, although a screwtightener and house cleaner had been brought in to squeeze more out of the engineers. The dir of R&D would make periodic statements to the effect of 'it would be great to have you but I haven't got the money'. In the end, project done, budget gone, sayonara. Had some great barbq on the last day. Make friends, get recommendations written on linkedin, make that place a long term goal if you're inclined.

If you end up at the suspension shop, don't fall into pitfalls or bad habits that can come as part of the down side of the garage shop / family shop situation- ad hoc design & document control and TLAR engineering. Family shop could mean swiss family robinson or orange county choppers.

Either way, you never know- one of the worst jobs I've ever had paved the way for one of the best, make the most of every situation.

 

[HDS]

It is better to make enough money to buy the cars you want to play with.

 

[beej67]

Go where you can find work and have fun. As soon as you quit learning switch jobs. Plan on changing your career sooner or later anyway.

I went to school for construction management, got a job doing civil site, went back to school for water resource management and enviro fluid mechanics, got a job doing hydrology, and now run my own company doing mostly hydrology, but am looking into managed forestry.

Keep your eyes open and your mind ready to change, and you'll end up some place cool. Don't be one of those people who gets so single minded about their career plan that they miss opportunities.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com

 

[twinky64]

ShaggyPE, I looked into the job requirements. The last bullet requires everybody to respond to calls 24-7? I haven't been exposed to an en environment where engineers are "on-call".

I'll apply to them right now! Thank you.

How terrible does it look to a hiring manager if one wants to change industries altogether? (for instance, working in HVAC and deciding to work in biomedical)

 

[IRstuff]

Are you married? Most employers will expect unmarried engineers to be able put in lots of hours and/or travel. So, bear that in mind when you go in with your requirements.

For a starting engineer it doesn't really matter that much; one expects a new grad to have to do a bit of exploring. That said, he should have some explanation of his ability to hop to a new industry. It's only a problem if, after 10 years, you've had 7 jobs, each in a different industry. Then, you come across as fickle and prone to job hopping.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[twinky64]

IRstuff, thank you for that information regarding my marriage status. I'm not married so now I will know what to expect. Should I say that I am married? haha. Also, I see that you are in aerospace, how is that industry? I've always been fascinated with military technology. I've met some engineers at Beckman that came from some type of DOD jobs (Boeing, Gen. Dyn., etc.) and claimed that DOD industry was once fun and could really get things done. They also said that there is a presence of family at the corporations they worked at until recently....I suppose that's why they moved to Beckman...?

JohnRBaker, are you presently employed with Siemens?

 

[IRstuff]

Well, much of what you said could be applied to a number of companies, including GM, IBM, Northrop, etc, and one point in time. However, the generally paternalistic company has fallen by the wayside. I think you look for a good group of people to work with, and keep your fingers crossed when you find one.

Aerospace and defense have the similar issues with the economy, and companies like Raytheon, Boeing, etc., are firing and hiring as they adapt to the ever changing landscape that is the defense budget.

On a side note, I heard on the radio that GM was looking to 1000 engineers, but I think they're supposed to be mostly EE-types as they try to diversify into electric and hybrid vehicles.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[NGLENGR]

From a car guy engineer to another car guy engineer:

Don't work in the auto industry. I got plenty of job opportunities when I graduated (FSAE, amateur racing experience) that were "dream jobs." I found out after the pay sucked and the corporate cultures were ridiculous.

Now, I work in the midstream industry where I can make a difference daily and get paid well for it. I have cars as a hobby which means when I leave the job, I can go have fun!

Also: I work between 50 and 80 hours a week. With great knowledge and skill comes great responsibility. If you're content to work your 45 hours a week, don't expect to have any of the sexy projects you are hoping for.

 

[plasgears]

If I had it to do over again, I would go bio-med. In my senior yr a fellow ME expressed concern about working on airplanes and armament [they were hiring at the time.] I recommended bio-med, and he promptly entered med school.

My fraternity had a penchant for med. One went med school, another dentistry, and an ME grad went to hospital prosthesis.

 

[TheTick]

I did a Monster.com search to try and see what there is for people who want extraordinary jobs requiring sub-ordinary effort. No luck. I tried "slacker", "diva", "prima donna", "dream job", "bitchin'" and many other words and combination. No test driver jobs emerged. Sorry.

 

[moltenmetal]

What industry is best for college grads? The one you can find a job in within 4 months of graduating!

Most eng grads here do not end up getting a job in engineering. For some that's by choice, and for others it's by default. It's safe to say that if you do not get an eng job right out of eng school, your chances of ever working as an engineer diminish rapidly. Depending on which type of job you end up taking instead of engineering, that might be for the best- unless engineering is your PASSION.

As to the comment about 45 hrs per week: you can think that, and even LIVE that, but you dare not ever BREATHE that in an interview! It IS tough to be passionate about what you do and to keep your investment of time to a professionally acceptable level, but it's worth the effort in figuring out how to do that. 50-80 hrs per week is NOT necessary to permit you to have an engaging and satisfying career as an engineer, and is neither healthy nor sustainable nor compatible with having a family and a "rest of your life". That said, it's best not to go in with the mindset that you have no dues to pay!

Another point: some people make a living out of their hobbies and love it. For others, turning a hobby into a living kills the hobby for them. Don't limit yourself to your hobbies: find a job where there's some room for professional growth and learning and where you won't be bored out of your mind in a month or two, and that should be sufficient. A couple of years in you'll know better what you want and need out of your career and you can start looking for that.

 

[moon161]

MGA research has a testing center in MI, and entry level engineer jobs from time to time in Western NY and VA. they do transportation safety (as opposed to performance) testing. My understanding is that they leave crash tests to the dummies.

 

[ctopher]

TheTick,
You forgot "totally" and "bomb".


Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[twinky64]

I had a lunch meeting with my director. He suggested that I got into a job in which I will get to my overall goal...even if that means going into a smaller company.

There is a small company in which they think will hire me. The position entails design and testing on cars.
Or...
I can try and stay in a much larger company which will require me to do QA/QE and process validation (which is quite boring)

The good thing about the latter is that I'm in a large corporation with good benefits, salary, etc. However, I will not be doing what I see myself doing or doing what I sought out to do when I began my college career in ME.

What do you guys think?

 

[moon161]

Work that you like doesn't seem like work, whether it's the particular task or aim that you have in mind, whatever floats your boat. I've always thought that the comparison of life to a sh*t sandwich (the more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat) was at best useful for inspiring and maintaining cynicism, an attitude which does little to make one happy.

My father in law used to be a paratrooper. He said that that when the ready light lit, everyone would stand, hook up their static line, and the doors would open. When the jump light lit the biggest guy at the end of each aisle would push the whole line towards the door and the NCO would push you out the door. Land with your feet together, don't forget to enjoy the ride.