fizziks said:
You cannot get an engineering job with a physics degree unless you have taken engineering classes or have prior experience in engineering.
I concur with Laura-- this is simply untrue. I'm working in Engineering and have a four year physics degree. I had no prior experience and, to be honest, neither did anyone else. You learn on the job from the old timers, just like everyone else.
There are many paths into engineering, and getting a degree is just one. There are many people who start out as draftsmen. There are many more who become mechanical engineers after many years in the field in various capacities. There's no telling where life will take you.
I see all of these threads, and its like people are looking for a "Win" button. I'm smart, I got a Physics degree, now I should be successful.
No degree is like that. No one can make you succeed but you. People say its about who you know, and to some extent, it is; but who you know comes from what you do, i.e., you know everyone because you've been there with all of them. It's all about experience, which is decidedly
not what college gives you-- at least not as far as employers are concerned. And they're right.
Because you have no experience, you have to find another way. I could think of a hundred different paths into a well paying job, a
well respected job, with a Physics degree. You have to tell them why-- how Physics has shown you that nothing is too difficult to overcome, nothing is too much for you. If there's one thing Physics teaches, it's how to figure things out-- and there's not a company out there who doesn't need people to do that. Bad GPA? So what! No one cares if you can demonstrate that you'll perform. Can't get past HR? Find a smaller company, and get in that way. You just have to be creative.
I'm actually in the reverse situation. I'm going to go back to school-- I want a PhD. And now I have to make that work, and its a tough situation-- I didn't graduate with a 4.0. But I'll tell you what-- I'm far stronger for the training I've received out "in the world", and know there are several paths back into what
I want to do. And I'm going to make them work. I've taken my medicine, as mathwonk has said, and I'm better for it.
In any event, if you know what you're looking for, you'll find a way to do it. I work in FL, and I was recently forwarded a job ad from a company who works with NASA, an engineering position. The position is probably still open, I haven't applied yet, although I'm considering it. And here's the kicker-- they're looking for people with little or no experience, and a degree in either Math, Engineering, or Physics. It's a great opportunity, and I'm sure any of you who have posted could compete for this.
The jobs are out there.
What would I be doing on a day to day basis? Spending all day in a laboratory, researching whatever? Does it have to be purely conceptual, or can it be something entirely concrete, such as researching eletromagnetics (building something that utilizes electromagnetics)?