I’m having second thoughts about my job position. How can I proceed with it?

[thegreengineer]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here. I hope that you had a good Christmas eve and that you are in good health. Recently I graduated with a B.S. in Mechatronics Engineering, and I got a job in a local manufacturing company in my hometown. Before proceeding with the post, I want to say that out of respect for my employer I will not give the name of this company, as well I’m going to keep some information for myself to avoid a safety breach.

I’ve been employed in this company that manufactures pumping equipment for a couple of months. This is my first job, and I have to say that I feel grateful for the company to have put their trust in me since finding a job after graduation is a very difficult task, especially considering that I did my internship in my university rather than in a company because of COVID. For further context, I’m from out of the United States (I think that some of you should have already noticed this, because Mechatronics Engineering is not offered as a B.S. program in any university in the U.S.)

During the first three weeks or so, I was very excited for this job. However, after the first month, I started regretting my decision of landing this job. I have no passion left and I’m just going for paying the bills. To be honest, I feel like I’m wasting my time there.

This job position is Manufacturing Automation Engineer. It’s an entry-level job position, so I’m not expecting anything big at first. During the last eight weeks, I’ve been assisting my boss. He’s a senior engineer who’s been employed for this company for three years, and he’s also employed as a Manufacturing Automation Engineer. We’ve been restoring an old vertical lathe from the late 70s. This company often buys used machining equipment from auctions which then will be restored for their operation in the manufacturing plant.

My boss told me that although I will be working on other sorts of projects in the future other than restoring old machinery, upgrading these machines will be part of my tasks, so this lathe will not be the first machine I will be working on. This has concerned me for several reasons:

• I realized that industrial automation is a completely different thing from what I studied in university. The reason why I chose my major is because I’ve been passionate about electronics, robotics, and cutting-edge high-tech since I was a teenager. In my job I’m not applying virtually anything from what I studied in university. I worked on several mechanical, electrical and computer projects during my studies. Industrial automation bored me out, because these systems all resort in the same stuff: relays/contactors, pushbuttons, light indicators, VFDs/three-phase induction motors, and PLCs. I know this is a very gross overgeneralization of what industrial automation is, but handling these components involve NONE of the math and physics I was taught other than verifying that voltages and currents don’t exceed the max values. This leads me to my next concern.
• Working with PLCs and relays and contactors doesn’t require a university diploma and 5 years of studies. Many technical colleges and vocational schools offer 2-year programs in automation, machining, welding, and manufacturing, often as an associate degree. My school Mechatronics Engineering program had none of these things because we dealt with more complex subjects and courses like calculus, algebra, physics, control theory, analog/digital/power electronics, machine design, robot control (i.e., direct/inverse kinematics/dynamics), system modelling, to name a few. From what I know in technical colleges you don’t see any of these things because it’s more of hands-on thing. Also, some of my professors and colleagues I had told me that pursuing anything to jobs that involve working with PLCs was going to do harm in my career because it is considered lower-tier material and it’s all “plug and play”. I decided not to hear them at first, but I’m thinking they were right at some degree. The only time I saw anything related to automation in university was in an elective course titled “Automation”, and it was a fourth-year elective, and it was either that or “Electronic Control Systems”.
• Part of my job involves being very close with the maintenance technicians, supervising their labor. This is not bad per se, but often the plant maintenance personnel are not available for assisting me with the lathe because either they get involved with other machines in the plant or because it’s lunch time, so very often I end up doing their job. Unless it’s anything related to the mechanical system, my boss wants me to do the electrical part of the job if nobody is available in maintenance, which is very menial tasks like wiring relays and plugs. The wiring of the panels is a total mess, pure spaghetti-type of mess, so debugging for a single relay can take up to 4 hours. To make things worse, it turns out that this old lathe is very greasy so I end up getting my recently-cleaned uniform very dirty. The quality of the maintenance done by the technicians to the machine is questionable, because there’s a hydraulic tank with oil leaking during the entire day, and my clothes end up stained because of it. I’m the only engineer in the entire building who goes back dirty back to the office. If I had known this job position involved getting very dirty, I would have not picked it. I've always sought to do more high-tech development things like many EE undergrads/grads do when they work, including designing new things like they do in big companies like Tesla or Boston Dynamics. To work with old machinery, and the fact that's going to be one of my tasks at this position, makes me feel second a second-class engineer.

I also have other complaints with my job that are not related to the nature of the position. For example, I was handled a PC workstation for my office job, but it has two big problems: it’s painfully slow, especially when booting up; and it has no engineering-related software on it. When my boss asks me to do electrical diagrams for the reports, I’m not doing them on any specialized CAD software like SolidWorks Electrical or AutoCAD Electrical. Nope. I have to do them using diagrams.net, which is an online graph drawing software. This is not a joke. Like instead of using standardized, previously-made diagram symbols for the components I have to draw them from scratch (e.g., for drawing a relay coil I have to use an arc then copy the arc like four or five times and draw the contacts using lines and then grouping everything up) which is very cumbersome. Like why are they giving me a computer to do engineering tasks if there’s no engineering software on it. They won’t even allow me to use the company’s internal calculators (which is an online site by this company which has tools for making calculations for efficiencies in three-phase motors, or pump design calculations to name a few) because I require elevation from the IT personnel. Whenever I’m not in the computer, I have to go to the manufacturing plant which I really don't enjoy.

The salary is low as well, even for an entry-level position. As I stated before, I'm from out of the U.S., and salaries here are terrible. We are earning about $1000 USD per month, which is much lower than what any engineer in the U.S. earns in the same period of time. I know that my salary might increase with the time, but even $2500 USD is still low, and consider that about the half of the money goes to necessary expenses (e.g. gasoline, internet provider, and food)

The work-life balance is non-existent. I wake up at 5 am and make an hour commute from home to my job. I have 40 minutes of lunch and I finish at 6:00 pm, and get back home at almost 9:00 pm, so I only have an hour and a half to eat dinner and shower before sleeping. I've had no time for socializing or having time for things other than work. Working has become my entire life and that's it. If my job was any exciting I would have no complaints. It is not the case.

I'm seriously considering quitting and moving abroad, seeking for something better. Of course, this is not simple, because I feel that I'm going to be in a bad position if I leave my job, and because I'll have to go back to my parents' home. It is so frustrating. What can I do? Any answer is welcome

 

[Lnewqban]

Welcome, @thegreengineer !

Cheer up!
Have you researched other opportunities in USA?

 

[hutchphd]

1. Give yourself a good year at this job. There are many reasons to do this, but I will not debate them here. Attitude is key.
2. Start looking for new positions tomorrow. In my estimation the most leverage you can have is to be in good position wishing to improve. If a really good offer comes along, ignore (1) above

Work at it every day. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

 

[thegreengineer]

Welcome, @thegreengineer !

Cheer up!
Have you researched other opportunities in USA?

Yep, I'm seeking anything that's not manufacturing or automation or both. The vast majority of job positions in my country are manufacturing-related because our country is a manufacturing country. I'm seeking more design, R&D positions regardless of the industry.

EDIT: I don't care the product the company does. It could be automobile/transportation, sustainable energy, consumer products, etc, but I want to be part of the design of the product.

 

[Lnewqban]

I went from school to design directly, and I would not recommend it to any recently graduated engineer.
In order to properly design, you need practical and diverse experience.

Hands on is a dirty business, but it allows you to learn from the ground up, and very importantly, to learn how things are done and what skills are required by the workers that will work on your designs in the future.

Learn all you can from that old lathe, ask yourself how its design and performance could be improved; feel well when the thing comes back to life and you can keep learning about its operation and capabilities.

I know that you will not touch another lathe in your life, but it is a good and humbling exercise.
The most difficult thing for me as a green engineer was to understand that I did not know as much as I believed I have learned at school.

Beyond school and theorical subjects, there is a whole universe of interesting things to learn and try to be proficient at.

Keep an attentive eye on better opportunities, in your country and abroad; somebody somewhere is going to need your knowledge and skills eventually.

In the meanwhile, try to make your days interesting and learn (from everybody around you) as much as you can.
The alternative is to feel miserable each working day, with no progress on your side.

 

[thegreengineer]

I went from school to design directly, and I would not recommend it to any recently graduated engineer.
In order to properly design, you need practical and diverse experience.

Hands on is a dirty business, but it allows you to learn from the ground up, and very importantly, to learn how things are done and what skills are required by the workers that will work on your designs in the future.

Learn all you can from that old lathe, ask yourself how its design and performance could be improved; feel well when the thing comes back to life and you can keep learning about its operation and capabilities.

I know that you will not touch another lathe in your life, but it is a good and humbling exercise.
The most difficult thing for me as a green engineer was to understand that I did not know as much as I believed I have learned at school.

Beyond school and theorical subjects, there is a whole universe of interesting things to learn and try to be proficient at.

Keep an attentive eye on better opportunities, in your country and abroad; somebody somewhere is going to need your knowledge and skills eventually.

In the meanwhile, try to make your days interesting and learn (from everybody around you) as much as you can.
The alternative is to feel miserable each working day, with no progress on your side.

Sorry for answering late. First off, I want to say that thank you for your answer. Maybe I've been very judgemental about my job, and I know there's things to learn, but still I don't want to stay in manufacturing. Don't get me wrong, I know that it's a very important thing since designing should take manufacturing into consideration. The thing is that I've seen many engineers who want to transition out of manufacturing into other types of roles for a variety of reasons, and also I think that if I stay for long in this job, then my career could stagnate. The longer I stay the more difficult will be to transition to other sorts of positions. I don't want to get into an endless cycle. Maybe 6 months, or so.

 

[Rive]

The wiring of the panels is a total mess, pure spaghetti-type of mess, so debugging for a single relay can take up to 4 hours.

I think that's the part you should take up as your aim (to make it right) if you wish to reap some benefits there, and then you'll be ready to move on. Although it's indeed good to know the work of technicians, for you as an engineer it is just as important to know how to interact with technicians about their job.

If you aim higher, then you may be right that it is not your place, but since you are there already, you better have something done there anyway. So do something you can profit from. Make it your task and do it right.

I’m not doing them on any specialized CAD software like SolidWorks Electrical or AutoCAD Electrical. Nope.

Many down-to-earth industry/company does not have the capital or productivity to purchase those specialized tools. It's no joke: it's the reality. If you prefer to use those then you should pick your targets carefully.

Though it's an interesting and challenging task to look for usable alternatives, especially since you (likely/supposedly) won't have those tools at home either. In this regard it's usually a big shock to graduate and have all those edu licenses gone ...

 

[thegreengineer]

Many down-to-earth industry/company does not have the capital or productivity to purchase those specialized tools. It's no joke: it's the reality. If you prefer to use those then you should pick your targets carefully.

Addressing this, I have to say that you're right, but still it's not an excuse, since there's a lot of open source software packages which are FREE like ProfiCAD and LibreCAD, and they can give professional-grade results with standards and all what's required. If they can't afford a SolidWorks licence, they can resort to FreeCAD. If they can't afford MATLAB, they can perfectly use Scilab. They won't even let me put them in my workstation even if I ask the IT personnel, they refuse. They can perfectly put money on old machinery that costs like $150k USD, so they shouldn't have issue with open source software.

During university we didn't have access to student licenses. All software we used was cracked because we couldn't afford the license. And by that way I learnt most of the software I know how to use.

 

[Joshy]

There are lots of rules companies can get in trouble by doing stuff like that.

 

[CrysPhys]

During university we didn't have access to student licenses. All software we used was cracked because we couldn't afford the license. And by that way I learnt most of the software I know how to use.

It sounds like this is an accomplishment that you're proud of. But you shouldn't be. And going forward in your professional career, it's an approach you should steer clear of.

You should present a case to your management how investing in software will increase their productivity and save them money. If you're persuasive, kudos to you. If you're not, then at least you tried to fix things.

 

[Joshy]

Something else that worked for me is I called the application engineers and asked if I could get a trial license. They one upped me and offered to do a trial + training a small group of people on the team. They sold it for me and I got to learn a few things.

 

[Choppy]

Part of my job involves being very close with the maintenance technicians, supervising their labor. This is not bad per se, but often the plant maintenance personnel are not available for assisting me with the lathe because either they get involved with other machines in the plant or because it’s lunch time, so very often I end up doing their job. Unless it’s anything related to the mechanical system, my boss wants me to do the electrical part of the job if nobody is available in maintenance, which is very menial tasks like wiring relays and plugs. The wiring of the panels is a total mess, pure spaghetti-type of mess, so debugging for a single relay can take up to 4 hours.

Something that stands out for me here is that there can be a lot of intrinsic value to this kind of work.

Doing the basic tasks of the people you are meant to be supervising builds up a certain amount of "street credit." The fact that you're learning that debugging a single relay can take up to four hours, will help you later on in your career when you have to make management decisions, or defend technicians' time. The people who report to you become a lot more apt to report small issues to you, confide in you, or help you out when they witness you struggling along beside them, rather than dictating to them from the comfort and solitude of an office. Even if you ultimately move on into a different branch of engineering, the work ethic of someone who can roll up their sleeves and get dirty when needed, is well-respected.

 

[StatGuy2000]

To the OP:

You stated in your post that you are from outside of the United States (US). I understand that out of respect you do not wish to name the company you are currently working for. At the same time, you did state that you are from outside of the US.

Can you tell us what specific country you are from? I ask for the following reasons:

1. You state that no schools in the US offer a BS in Mechatronics Engineering. This is not accurate.

2. You state that salaries are low for engineering positions in your country (equivalent of $1000 USD per month). This amounts to poverty level wages in my country (Canada), but perhaps where you live the cost of living may be lower?

3. I am curious about what the demand is for engineers in where you are located.

4. Are you able to seek employment in other countries?

 

[berkeman]

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