bowlbase
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tl;dr: Computational Phys major with ~10 yr. industrial automation experience looking for guidance/suggestions for job search. Would prefer physics/astronomy oriented but know B.S. is limited in these fields.
I'm about to start my last year of college at the UIUC Eng. Physics program (#1 in nation last I heard). My minor is CS so I'll graduate with Computational Phys. I was wanting to come here for any guidance or suggestions that the forums might like to share for my situation.
I currently work as a "engineer" for a small (4-5 people) company building/designing mid sized machines for automation (mainly for auto industry but some aerospace). I have a lot of experience with robotics (a bit of programming but mostly set up and modifications), camera set up (this requires a bit of programming but really depends on the type of camera as some are extremely easy to configure) and maintenance. I've been doing this for almost 10 years now as I started right out of the Air Force. I currently make $25 an hour and will likely go to salary at ~$65k if I stay where I work. But, being a small company there is 0 chance of "moving up the ladder."
I don't necessarily need to stay in this industry but I know I'll have a much easier time landing a job in some sort of automation. Though, honestly, I'd much prefer something more physics related. I have a deep passion for astronomy but really didn't think I could sell a B.S. in Astrophysics anywhere (not easily anyway).
I have a 3.0 for my core classes at the moment and 3.2 overall. I was actually just diagnosed with ADD and hope the medication I'm on will help a bit with grades. So far it seems to be helping in my Summer classes. I considered a graduate degree when I first started but I'm getting a bit old for that (almost 33 when I graduate) and school has been a real stress on my family. Besides, my wife wants to finish her RN so I need to wrap it up soon.
Anyway, can anyone suggest a field that would fit me? Is there anything I should specifically mention on my resume about Eng. Phys that may help me succeed in my job hunt? Is there any specific classes I should take that look good on a resume? I saw a lot of jobs mentioning optics so I took that last semester and got a solid B.
Thanks for the help!
I'm about to start my last year of college at the UIUC Eng. Physics program (#1 in nation last I heard). My minor is CS so I'll graduate with Computational Phys. I was wanting to come here for any guidance or suggestions that the forums might like to share for my situation.
I currently work as a "engineer" for a small (4-5 people) company building/designing mid sized machines for automation (mainly for auto industry but some aerospace). I have a lot of experience with robotics (a bit of programming but mostly set up and modifications), camera set up (this requires a bit of programming but really depends on the type of camera as some are extremely easy to configure) and maintenance. I've been doing this for almost 10 years now as I started right out of the Air Force. I currently make $25 an hour and will likely go to salary at ~$65k if I stay where I work. But, being a small company there is 0 chance of "moving up the ladder."
I don't necessarily need to stay in this industry but I know I'll have a much easier time landing a job in some sort of automation. Though, honestly, I'd much prefer something more physics related. I have a deep passion for astronomy but really didn't think I could sell a B.S. in Astrophysics anywhere (not easily anyway).
I have a 3.0 for my core classes at the moment and 3.2 overall. I was actually just diagnosed with ADD and hope the medication I'm on will help a bit with grades. So far it seems to be helping in my Summer classes. I considered a graduate degree when I first started but I'm getting a bit old for that (almost 33 when I graduate) and school has been a real stress on my family. Besides, my wife wants to finish her RN so I need to wrap it up soon.
Anyway, can anyone suggest a field that would fit me? Is there anything I should specifically mention on my resume about Eng. Phys that may help me succeed in my job hunt? Is there any specific classes I should take that look good on a resume? I saw a lot of jobs mentioning optics so I took that last semester and got a solid B.
Thanks for the help!