ot enjoying it.

[MagnusTheBrewer]

1% problems.

 

[TecHNooB]

Work for now, save money, learn something new along the way. Stay sheltered from women, they wont be able to take your money. Ha. Definitely save something for when you need to transition later.
I've always been good in math/science, materials, CADD, etc. I thought auto/diesel tech and engineering (mostly industrial) is where I wanted to be. Yes, its good money. I really enjoy CADD and am good at it. Going that route meow. I like working on my stuff, and other stuff on my own terms. Most shops suck. I dislike dealing with the public, so not really my thing.
All that said, Keep the job consistency for meow, and figure out what you want to do.

meows not the time for rambling sir

 

[hans007]

You better love what you do. That said I've never known anyone who loved finance. You aren't doing terrible when I got out of school I started at 30k doing qa post dot bust and hated my job for 2-3 years. But the experience got me into development and a job I liked plus the market for engineers got way better. I've been working 8 years now and am making ~110ish and I'm pretty sure given I don't have a particularly high ranking role this keeps going a bit.


Do you know if you want to be calculating out accounts receivables and crap all day ? Because that could be even worse.

Also if you want to make actual raises fast you will leave that company after a few years. I'm on like company #5....tho part of that was acquisitions. Gotta bust your ass to get your career going. Hell its been 8 years and I have not taken more than a 5 day vacation. Ever.

 

[Drako]

1% problems.

Um, sad but true.

As a EE, working in the field for 32 years now, I'm amazed how entitled the recent EE grades seem to be, even though they are being replaced rapidly by Indian counterparts.

Go work in a coal mine. :|

 

[Oil]

Go work in the oil field. Plenty of money

 

[busydude]

Chicago



I have a ton of connections in the IT industry.. my own dad works for united healthcare. If I learned some software programming I'm 99% sure I could transition to IT if I wanted.. possibly get into a business oriented role. That's my only real shot.

Do you have a lot of peer pressure, since most of the Indians tend to work in IT?

 

[tfinch2]

You get larger raises by switching companies.

Not always. I would probably go down in pay if I switched companies.

 

[Drako]

Do you have a lot of peer pressure, since most of the Indians tend to work in IT?

LOL, not true at all in the SF Bay Area.

 

[Sonikku]

Only chumps go on to be Engineers/Scientists/Doctors. The best minds go into Finance.

 

[busydude]

LOL, not true at all in the SF Bay Area.

I know a bunch of people from Bay Area, but trust me.. most of the people who live in that area have full-time jobs, which is not common when it comes to Indians(FOBs especially).

 

[moonbogg]

I don't make much but I like CAD design. I get to design my own hobby projects once in a while and have the shop make it. Stuff like THIS:

 

[Drako]

I know a bunch of people from Bay Area, but trust me.. most of the people who live in that area have full-time jobs, which is not common when it comes to Indians(FOBs especially).

Da Fug?

I've been working in Silicon Valley since 1981, and most Indians do not work in IT,


this post just makes me laugh.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

BY the time you're up for a promotion, they won't give a crap what your GPA was.

 

[busydude]

I've been working in Silicon Valley since 1981, and most Indians do not work in IT,

Silicon valley is not representative of the whole country.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

good lord... a 2.51 gpa gets you 61k starting? sounds like a good field to me. just go back for an mba in a couple years.

 

[spacejamz]

Da Fug?

I've been working in Silicon Valley since 1981, and most Indians do not work in IT,


this post just makes me laugh.

are you kidding? there are alot of companies who are outsourcing as much as they can to Indian programmers....my company and my previous company are replacing anyone who leaves with an offshore resource from India...

 

[MetalMat]

People with EE degrees often do great in technical sales and its good money, depends on your personality.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Um, sad but true.

As a EE, working in the field for 32 years now, I'm amazed how entitled the recent EE grades seem to be, even though they are being replaced rapidly by Indian counterparts.

Go work in a coal mine. :|

Yeah, WTF is going on in this thread??? OP is bitching that he's not too smart, had a shitty GPA, but he pulls $61K out of school with an undergrad. Wah!?

No wimminz? Minorities? Was that not clear when he signed up for EE? Was there no civil engineering program at his school??

I know it's pointless now, but mundane is what the OP ordered with an EE undergrad. If you want fulfilling with an undergrad, you need to at least be ambitious. If you want to improve your chances for a fulfilling career in EE, then it helps to have at least an MS or a PhD. A PhD would greatly help one to dictate their own career path. Not required, but it would help.

I walked out of an EE PhD and into 6 figures. I've knocked myself up 40% in salary in less than 8 years (without changing jobs) while my company had been "reorganizing" and "going through tough times". I did it because I'm a fucking god, and I've made myself indispensable.


Without switching careers or going back to school, my advice for the OP is:

1) You job (or career) is not your life. Working is means to collect money so you can live your life. You want chicks and white folks? Stop looking around the office! Do stuff that's not work, and hang out with those people.

2) Your first five months at a job is not indicative of your entire career. It's boring and unfulfilling because your existence at work is pointless. Once you're known and people trust you and want to work with you or have you on their projects, things might be better.

...or, you're a pointless shrub who will just show up to work and do the bare minimum while collecting a paycheck. In that case, your first five months is exactly what the rest of your career will be.


Good luck!

 

[PowerEngineer]

OP, it seems like only yesterday when I was responding to your thread about how keen you were on getting into the field of power engineering. How sure are you that your current "real interest" in finanace is any more real than the interest in power engineering you previously professed?

Let us hope that the work you (and any other recent graduate engineers) are doing at "the five month mark" is not indicative of what you expect to be doing over an entire career. I gather that your employer expects you to develop into a project manager as you gain work experience. This opens the door to aspects of work (and people) management and budgeting that you may find interesting. You may also become involved in customer sales/relations and contract bidding (part of which involves analysis of risks). The bottom line is that you need to look ahead at what you can expect to be doing five years from now, not dwelling on what you're doing today.

Intelligence does not "get you money" in engineering or in any other field. What does make you worth your pay is the output you produce. Intelligence and an advanced degree may help you be more productive, but so does hard work and job experience. In most work situations, the value of an advanced degree (and the importance of your GPA) decline as your work experience increases. Make sure you get on track to acquire a professional engineering license, which will be more important in the longer run (particularly as a consultant).

I also suggest you think about an MBA (after the PE).

Nerdy dudes? Isn't that another name for engineers? We nerdy dudes need to stick together! Maybe you can compensate by expanding your range of activities and circle of friends outside of work.

Good luck!

 

[Ricemarine]

Mba... Mba...

 

[edro]

Many engineers, who are unhappy with the pay, move into some sort of sales position.

 

[Doppel]

Welcome to life Engineers make decent money and it goes up fairly fast initially but then the growth will certainly peter out. There are plenty of engineers who've been at their career for a couple of decades not making $100k and likely never will. But, it's really not a bad profession.

You could go into project management, but do you want to? More money doesn't mean a better job. Your hours could suck and stress levels much higher.

There are a decent number of jobs these days that pay $60-90k, which is enough in most parts of the country to properly raise a family and you're out of work every day at 5:00.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

forget happiness, go for $$$

Bad advice.

OP, you're only 5 months in so you need to give it much more time. Get a few years under your belt and in the meantime, try to decide what you want to do. If your employer has tuition reimbursement, consider getting an MBA or something like that (do it without going into debt, though).

 

[SandEagle]

Do you have a lot of peer pressure, since most of the Indians tend to work in IT?

what kind of question is this? do YOU have a lot of peer pressure, since most of the Indians tend to work at gas stations and 7-11's.

tank you, come again. :\

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I think engineers overestimate how lucrative their field is. Finance is likely more lucrative, as long as you're the one arranging for the exchange of money and not just a peon analyzing the possible outcomes, risks, etc. of someone else's decision.

Engineering is a trade, you are commodity, so while you may be a very high demand commodity your income will always be capped at a certain level unless you go into business for yourself and monetize your work yourself, rather than look for paychecks through a company's open requisition. The company has that requisition open because they see minimal risk and a certain amount of profit out of the work you'll do for them at the desk they provide.

You're not the smartest guy--then what are you? What are you good at?

Engineering salaries probably start off higher than other majors, but they tend to have a lower salary ceiling unless you go into management. If you really enjoy the technical side, there's nothing wrong with doing that your entire life either. If you're a people person, sales engineers can make serious money.

Most of my EE friend with low GPAs got jobs in engineering sales and other engineering-related support roles.

The great irony, of course, is that decent sales engineers are probably going to make more than the good technical engineers in the trenches.