Engineering Jobs: Where graduates have been going (anecdotes)

[subSquall]

Hey guys,

I thought this article might be helpful in getting a picture of what jobs engineering graduates have been getting. I graduated recently from an engineering program, and I wrote up my impressions of what myself and my classmates have been able to come up with. I tried to include all fields, although I have the most experience with electrical/software.

Anyways, the article is here:
http://subversiveguidetoeng.blogspot.com

Let me know if you find it helpful!

 

[e-o]

Thanks for the link, it's an interesting blog (and entertaining to boot!).

Do you mind if I ask you a little about your background?
From what I've read, it seems you were in a nanotech type of field and switched to electrical engineering (I think?). If so, did switching fields cause any problems for you?

The reason I ask is because I'm in a similar position. I'm currently in the middle of a nanotech type degree, but I feel as though it lacks any sort of depth. And I've been thinking about switching to an electrical engineering degree instead. But I'm not sure it's entirely worth doing, seeing as how I'd need to repeat quite a few courses.

Sorry, I feel like I'm probing you here. There's no pressure to answer any of my questions, I totally understand if you'd like to stay anonymous.

 

[subSquall]

Hey e-o, no problem. Are you finding that the nanotech part is a lot of survey courses? That's what my program ended up being.

What happened with me is that I ended up finishing my nanotech degree, then I started a masters degree in electrical. It wasn't as difficult as you would think, the math concepts were pretty much the same. I was also fairly lucky in that in my nanotech program we took:

-2 courses on electricity and basic circuits
-1 year long course on electronics
-1 course on digital logic

So I had *some* background. In a lot of the classes we also had to do programming in Matlab and C (even though we weren't really taught lol...) so the programming aspect is probably the biggest boon (there is a lot of programming in ECE, that is probably the most important skill that let's you easily switch fields). For my final design project in undergrad I also had to learn a bit about microcontrollers, which also helped.

BTW: for my masters I specialized in robotics.

So to summarize, switching fields even at the masters level is not that hard, since a lot of the core concepts are the same (ie: the math). You should talk to someone in the ece department (like an undergrad chair) about your case. Even if you lose a year, it will probably be worth it. I wish I had switched earlier, but I was too stubborn and confused about what I wanted!

(ps: I know someone who was in the same program as me that switched from nanotech to civil! Quite a few orders of magnitude difference in scale :P)

subSquall
Subversive Guide to Engineering
Latest Post: Surviving Engineering
http://subversiveguidetoeng.blogspot.com

 

[Wellesley]

Hey guys,

I thought this article might be helpful in getting a picture of what jobs engineering graduates have been getting. I graduated recently from an engineering program, and I wrote up my impressions of what myself and my classmates have been able to come up with. I tried to include all fields, although I have the most experience with electrical/software.

Anyways, the article is here:
http://subversiveguidetoeng.blogspot.com

Let me know if you find it helpful!

Thanks for posting this! It really is helpful...

 

[e-o]

Thanks for the reply.

My program has been fairly similar, I've had a few survey courses as well as a few electrical courses (and even some courses which required the use of certain technical programs like Maple/Matlab without actually teaching me how to use them!). My biggest gripe is that I feel as though I'm not qualified to do anything particularly well, my courses just don't seem to go into enough detail in most cases.

I'm glad to hear the master's worked out. I'm very much considering taking a bunch of electrical engineering courses as technical electives and then doing a masters to cover the remaining courses. Although fully switching disciplines has been gaining some momentum in my mind.

In any case, you've given me a lot to think about. Thanks again.