dpatnd
- 64
- 20
anothermike said:I'm late to this thread, just joined PF the other day. @dpatnd, I'd say you've received a lot of great feedback here, even if some of it was worded a bit harshly.
Having been raised in a culture that trades in shame as a parental negotiation currency, I recognize that, silly as it may be to direct your choices in response to it, for many of us that's just a very difficult to escape fact of life. I do urge you to move past it, but I also recognize that may take many years for you to accomplish.
What worries me the most about your responses is the level of apathy you have stated feeling for your new major. That's never a good sign, and even more so when you feel that way so strongly from the very start. In fact, I'd make that job one as you go forth in your new major, to seek avenues within it that move you away from that preconditioned sense of apathy. You might be surprised with what you find, and then you'll be in a much better position.
The other wisdom I would add, is that looking for top achievement as the status marker for your success and suitability in a field is shortsighted at best. As one other commenter suggested, it's important to have commitment to the path you are choosing, and if at first you don't succeed as much as you might have wanted, persistence and a willingness to try harder is essential. And not just because that's what you do to ward off shame, but because it's what you truly want to do going forward.
I've walked through some of the same decision points you have described yourself, with similar feelings and impressions. Not sure I made the best choices myself, but I'm pretty sure if I'd kept these two guiding principles in mind throughout, I might have navigated them more effectively.
I started off as a Physics major, then took on a Chemistry minor for poorly considered reasons. After receiving my bachelor's degree, I launched myself along software engineering trajectory in the field of computer graphics, in the era when photorealistic rendering was just starting to emerge. Like you, I didn't enjoy software engineering enough to keep at it, and I self-funded myself through graduate school in an Electrical Engineering master's program. I had similar feelings about engineering as yours the entire time I was in it, and for me it ultimately became a bridge to nowhere.
I try to keep what you say about exploring avenues in mind. I suppose that I do not yet share any of the enthusiasm I see in other electrical engineers for their discipline. I cannot relate to their excitement when it comes to putting together circuits and seeing circuit components in action. Unfortunately, it seems that EE (at least at my school) is largely focused on circuits and their uses in electronics. I am more inclined towards electromagnetic fields and waves in an abstract sense. We do have a communications concentration, which I am told might relate more to my interests.
Interest in the discipline itself aside, I do try to motivate myself past apathy by framing my education in terms of physics, as I mentioned in a previous post. If I set my goal as being in a strong position for graduate studies in physics (regardless of whether or not I actually intend to go that route), then I will have a reason to be diligent in my studies. Otherwise, as you say, the apathy would become a severe detriment.
May I ask what you went on to do after your EE Master's if it became a bridge to nowhere?