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Switching career advice? — Parallax Forums

Switching career advice?

vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
edited 2012-09-04 19:37 in General Discussion
Hey Everyone, I hope you’re doing well. I’m hoping for some good?:) advice.

I’ve been getting more and more into electronics and I’ve been thinking about making a career switch to it and I’m wondering what you think would be the best way to go about it, school or projects? I’m inclined to believe that the best way would be to go back to school and get a degree in electrical or computer engineering, but I didn’t know if people/companies consider projects/experience. Considering the time and cost involved with going back to school, I figured I’d see what people think. (In the biotech world (where I currently work) you have to have the degree and then experience. I don't know if electronics is any different.)

Thanks for any advice and suggestions. :)

Dave

Comments

  • stamptrolstamptrol Posts: 1,731
    edited 2012-09-03 16:01
    Dave,

    In any profession, it is the combination of education and experience that makes you valuable.

    If you can swing the degree (part-time, if necessary), you'll never regret it....speaking from experience.

    Also, if you're looking at the widest possible picture, get your engineering degree from an ABET accredited school, and plan to followup with the PE designation down the road.

    Cheers,

    Tom Sisk
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,452
    edited 2012-09-03 16:33
    If you want a white-collar job with a big corporation, you will need the sheepskin. You will also be considered a cog in a large machine and discarded for reasons you might not understand when some bean counter half a world away decides your plant isn't profitable enough.

    If you want to practice your craft, interview with blue-collar companies that want journeymen and repairmen. You will have to work, somethimes hard, sometimes in weird environments (You mean I have to have the respirator by my side ALL THE TIME?) but you get there quickly and it tends to be more about the skills than the office politics. (Not always, unfortunately, but moreso.)
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2012-09-03 16:40
    Is there any way you can hybridize your present career with the new things you are learning in electronics? I don't know what you're doing right now, but I know robotics is all the rage in biotech, automating repetitive tasks that are usually done on the lab bench, or working with bioreactors, integrating sensors into them, finding fast ways of performing assays, etc. By getting another/new degree, you make yourself more attractive to somebody who wants to hire you, but if you're creative, perhaps you can work toward a product or team up with some people to work on something for a start up company, etc.

    Probably not very good advice, since I'm giving it, but just thought I'd throw that out there.
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2012-09-03 16:43
    vanmunch wrote: »
    Hey Everyone, I hope you’re doing well. I’m hoping for some good?:) advice.

    I’ve been getting more and more into electronics and I’ve been thinking about making a career switch to it and I’m wondering what you think would be the best way to go about it, school or projects? I’m inclined to believe that the best way would be to go back to school and get a degree in electrical or computer engineering, but I didn’t know if people/companies consider projects/experience. Considering the time and cost involved with going back to school, I figured I’d see what people think. (In the biotech world (where I currently work) you have to have the degree and then experience. I don't know if electronics is any different.)

    Thanks for any advice and suggestions. :)

    Dave
    as a former Iowain I can help with this !

    DMACC has a good EET program .
    IHCC in Ottumwa has a AMAZING program .EET



    IHCC's Robotics is VERY good .

    If I was in your boots I would do both the EET and RA degrees at IHCC .. both share many many common classes so you are that much more ahead if you do both ..







    Peter..
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-09-03 18:25
    I have a couple college degrees, but not an EE degree or formal training in electronics, and I've never had a career-type job in my life. I couldn't be happier. If you've ever considered entrepreneurship, that might be a way to ease into a different career without having to purchase a union card (i.e. college degree and PE license). You have to get your name out there to make the necessary contacts, though. My entr
  • BitsBits Posts: 414
    edited 2012-09-03 20:13
    Ill add my 2 cents :)

    I have a degree and it cost me a serious mound of cash. I will be paying my loans for 15 years. Keeping in mind the current state of the economy tuition is as high as ever and youll have the lowest chance of getting hired once you graduate.

    I work as an engineer and the pressure is intense. I don't take a lunch and at times find myself going on work binges 12 hour a days for weeks/months. I even work at home reading all the literature just to stay sharp, so a 14 hour day is common for me. I am literally responsible for companies making it big or loosing it big. I have flown around the world to hold meeting with big companies and for me its stressful mostly because of the man/woman issues this field still has. The weight of a project that was bidded at 500K for example is deeply stressful. I do about 3 big projects a year as well as several filler projects that may or may not run parallel with each other.

    In my line of work if you can sleep at night then you are doing something wrong! I don't sleep well, in debt backed by good ole USA, get paid peanuts (might be because I am a women but I want to think this is not true) and have the responsibilities that drive most people insane. I have 3 people working under me and have to keep purchasing in check not to mention inventory etc.

    Then again I am a member of the board, can leave and come as I wish - no punching a clock, I take vacations when I want without anyone keeping track of them and get bonuses at times. I love and hate my job, like a healthy marriage. :thumb:

    Hope this helps and I am just being honest. :smile:
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,400
    edited 2012-09-03 20:25
    vanmunch, as I know a bit more about your background than most people on the forums I'd suggest you might have the perfect combination of experience already. Let me use another example to make the point - Dr. Tracy Allen. I don't know if Tracy has formal electronics degrees, but it's his experience elsewhere which is so valuable. He's a scientist with expertise in water, air quality, biology, humans and working in the places these things want to be studied: deserts, mountains, parks, urban areas, developing countries, etc. I think it's his interest and experience in non-electronic fields that was easily combined with electronics to measure and report nearly anything physical. Your experience in entomology, biology has some parallels - how many people in your current professional circles have the equivalent electronics experience that you've developed? You might already have grown the experience base you need if you apply electronics solutions to your current expertise.
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2012-09-03 23:16
    My opinion is that school is valuable. Why else would I read a book on formal automata?
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-09-03 23:25
    SRLM wrote:
    Why else would I read a book on formal automata?
    That's one class I can truly say that I hated. Passionately. And yet, after finishing my degree, I nearly succumbed to a job teaching that subject. Turning it down and walking away from academics before even getting started was the best decision I ever made.

    -Phil
  • vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
    edited 2012-09-04 19:26
    Hey stamptrol, localroger, ElectricAye, Peter , Phil, Bits, Ken, and SRLM,

    Thank you for your advice I really appreciate it. I have a very strong entrepreneurial spirit and I know that my first choice/dream is to go that route. As several of you suggested, I’m going to continue doing my day job while seeing if there are places where I work that I might be able to do a side job and start to develop those kinds of leads.

    I think that it’s also good to start looking at the more formal route via education so I would like to ask everyone a second question.
    Where would you recommend going to school for a career in robotics research? I currently have a BS and MS so I was thinking of looking at different masters programs. Is there anyone that would you recommend as a major professor (or doesn’t it work that way)?

    Peter, you’ve already touched on this and I’m going to take a look at those programs. Thanks! (I’m sorry to hear that you’re not in Iowa any more, I grew up in Cedar Falls.)

    Dave
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2012-09-04 19:37
    http://www.wpi.edu/academics/robotics/
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