- #1
donpacino
Gold Member
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I graduated with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering degree 3 years ago. Since them I have been working full time for a large defense contractor. I just this past year finished a masters degree in systems/controls engineering.
At my work I have a combination of experience in analog design (low and high power), fpga design, and some systems level controls work. I have been lucky enough to move between a few business areas in the short time i have been with the company. I enjoy the subject matter at my job, and the concept of the design. The problem is working for a large company many of the problems are already mostly solved. I got the opportunity to work on a new power supply a few months ago and I was very excited. In reality it was a redesign of an existing power supply. There was little to no architectural difference between the solution I was to make, and the former solution. The implementation required very little math or intellectual capability. It seems that this is the norm, and it makes sense from a business prospective.
The thing that really made me fall in love with engineering was the challenge. It was learning new things every week. My senior year of undergrad I designed a quadrotor UAV power supply, wrote flight code, and designing the control loops for a gps guidance system. While doing that, I was doing design work for an analog motor drive, and writing code for a maze navigating robot. There was always something new to do, something fun and exciting. Every task was a challenge. I don't get that in my job at all. Any math I have to do was already done 15 years ago. All I do is change the values in a spreadsheet. Sure I can say on a resume I re-designed a kalman filter, but in reality all I did was evaluate and barely modify an old one.
I want to find a job where I can restore my passion for engineering. I want to work on multiple projects that have nothing to do with each other. I want to meet with a customer to develop the filter they need for a sensor, design a power supply for someone else one week later, then a month after that write a control algorithm for a robotic arm, and then a month after that help someone implement a high level idea.
Where can I find a more fast paced atmosphere where I can ground up design on multiple projects. I'm also looking for more of an intellectual creative challenge.
I am looking for any sort of advice! How to find companies that do this sort of work. How to go about doing this sort of work. or just advice in general.
I will also begrudgingly accept advice regarding accepting that life is not fair and accepting not fully loving your job :)
Thank you for reading my novel
At my work I have a combination of experience in analog design (low and high power), fpga design, and some systems level controls work. I have been lucky enough to move between a few business areas in the short time i have been with the company. I enjoy the subject matter at my job, and the concept of the design. The problem is working for a large company many of the problems are already mostly solved. I got the opportunity to work on a new power supply a few months ago and I was very excited. In reality it was a redesign of an existing power supply. There was little to no architectural difference between the solution I was to make, and the former solution. The implementation required very little math or intellectual capability. It seems that this is the norm, and it makes sense from a business prospective.
The thing that really made me fall in love with engineering was the challenge. It was learning new things every week. My senior year of undergrad I designed a quadrotor UAV power supply, wrote flight code, and designing the control loops for a gps guidance system. While doing that, I was doing design work for an analog motor drive, and writing code for a maze navigating robot. There was always something new to do, something fun and exciting. Every task was a challenge. I don't get that in my job at all. Any math I have to do was already done 15 years ago. All I do is change the values in a spreadsheet. Sure I can say on a resume I re-designed a kalman filter, but in reality all I did was evaluate and barely modify an old one.
I want to find a job where I can restore my passion for engineering. I want to work on multiple projects that have nothing to do with each other. I want to meet with a customer to develop the filter they need for a sensor, design a power supply for someone else one week later, then a month after that write a control algorithm for a robotic arm, and then a month after that help someone implement a high level idea.
Where can I find a more fast paced atmosphere where I can ground up design on multiple projects. I'm also looking for more of an intellectual creative challenge.
I am looking for any sort of advice! How to find companies that do this sort of work. How to go about doing this sort of work. or just advice in general.
I will also begrudgingly accept advice regarding accepting that life is not fair and accepting not fully loving your job :)
Thank you for reading my novel