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I'm a 28 year old male currently staying in Wichita, KS. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering. I graduated four years ago, back in 2006 from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI (small, private school with almost no reputation outside of Michigan). It took six years for me to complete my degree since I got off to a very slow start and transferred around before finally ending up at LTU.
In my 4.5 years in the real world, I've worked two professional jobs (I've mentioned this somewhere else on this forum, but I'll reiterate it anyway). My first job was with the Patent Office as a Patent Examiner, and that only lasted for six months. Then, a year and a half later, I got another job as a documentation engineer, but I lasted with that company for five months. My first pro. job ended primarily because I wanted to pursue my so-called passion in filmmaking (turned out to be a false, narcissistic/power fantasy that I was addicted to), but my second job ended due to personal reasons.
I guess the main reason why I had a tough time staying with either of those jobs, is because they related to Electrical Engineering, and I wasn't interested in that field. Infact, I was never interested in Electrical Engineering, but I pursued it do to family pressure and such. My initial interest (as far as engineering goes), was Civil Engineering. I told my mother about this, but she advised against going the civil engineering route because she worked for a road construction company in Michigan, and the civil engineers told her not to "let" me go down the Civil Engineering route because there's very little respect in that field. So I set aside the civil engineering interest, in decided to do Electrical Engineering since that was a field that I was sort of looking into. Although I never expressed interest in Mechanical Engineering, she told me not to do ME either since it's just about cars and there's nothing special about that field either.
But later (as in the last year or two), I've began understanding myself more and more and paying much more attention to my true desires, and I've noticed a facination I've always had with structures. I consider myself an architecture enthusiast. I have a tremendous interest in buildings, bridges, tunnels, highway systems (and their configurations), dams, skyscrapers (HUGH enthusiast of), churches, sports venues (stadiums and arenas), anything structural. My interest is in both old and new architecture. Once upon a time when I had access to a T.V. (times have gotten kind of rough lately), More often than not it was on the HGTV network, and I really enjoyed those home remodeling shows. Back in school, I spent lots and lots of time on Emporis.com, looking at various city scapes and skylines, and researching individual buildings. Even when I was thinking about a career in filmmaking, much of my visualizations would be focused on the sets, particularly the kinds of buildings that would be used as well as the urban settings for the scenes.
Recently, I've been thinking about going to graduate schools a couple of years down the line, and working on a Master's of Science in Civil Engineering. Meanwhile, I'd like to get a job in Civil Engineering, that is if I can find a position in a civil engineering business that is looking for a someone with an Electrical Engineering background. I'll be moving to a different area soon enough, so all of this will be done at the new location. I do plan on joining a professional organization for civil engineers (ironically enough, this is not something I had any desire of doing in the Electrical Engineering field). In other threads, some of you have mentioned reputation of school (prestige) and GPA as important qualifiers in Civil Engineering jobs. Well, I graduated from Lawrence Tech., which has no recognition (has a decent reputation in southeastern Michigan, though), but the engineering program is still accredited through ABET. Also, my final GPA was 2.96, I maintained a 3.1 GPA throughout most of college and prior ot the last semester of college, but I had a very very very rough final semester since my future was uncertain, and I felt so depressed and so stressed out and anxous that I couldn't keep up with my classes (I was very lucky to have passed all my classes that term).
So, I guess I came here for some opinions. My mind is basically made up. I don't want to have anything to do with Electrical Engineering anymore. My plan is to start Grad. school in the Fall of 2012, and that will depend on what kind of financial assistance I can get. The issue of credit has been brought up on the boards as it relates to getting a job, and my credit is TERRIBLE. I defaulted on my undergraduate loans once, and have other debts (credit card, medical bills) that I have to deal with. Fortunately, I'm finally getting over the personal problems that have really made life a total mess these last couple of years. Plus, I've matured alot, worth noting since the typical immature and naive mindset partly contributed to my financial troubles.
Well, sounds like you've finally got your head on your shoulders. I often read similar posts like this re. the desire to change careers or make some kind of drastic life change and too often its to do something really preposterous. It sounds like the fog is clearing and you finally have direction. I also admire that you are no longer watching TV, which I think can be a huge distraction and perhaps misguide you re. your career choices (eg., your earlier change in plans to pursue a film career, which ended up being a mistake). So, I say, aim high, go to the best engineering school you can get into and don't look back. Also, don't just listen to your mom. That's just one person and she has just one opinion. You need to listen to a plethora of engineers in the industry in order to get a real sense of what the prospects are. Also, who cares about "respect"? What you should care about is can this type of career field pay my bills and is it something that meets my moral standards? That's what I would base it on.
Engineering may be a little different, but from my experience there is a lot less funding available for a Master's degree than there is for a Bachelor's or even a PhD. You still have to fill out the FAFSA form if you plan on taking out loans or possibly signing up as a teaching assistant or research assistant. I have a couple of friends who are getting their graduate degrees in the sciences and they do not have to pay for them because their school only accepts students based on grant money that the school receives. The students have to work in the lab and/or teach courses to undergrads as well. So, that could be something to check out.
I have a B.A. in Communications, but I decided to go for my Master's because I wanted to gain more skills and potentially bring new opportunities. So, I almost have my M.S. in Marketing Communications. I actually like this program even more than my B.A. because I actually put the things I learn into practice instead of listening to theory all the time. However, you should make sure that you gain some experience along the way (teaching, research assistant, working in the field, etc.) so you do not end up being overqualified with little to no experience. Part of my job involves advertising, so I'm hoping to build off of that as well.
I do wish you the best of luck. Remember, a Master's degree is not something to jump into just because you don't have a job. It can be a whole lot of hard work and money, so make sure you pick something you enjoy and make sure it's a major you will definitely use. However, I hope you find a great program and best of luck to you on funding .
No offense, but you need some better direction ...
I'm sure your parents had good intentions in trying to steer you toward something with decent job prospects and away from stuff that seemed pretty dead-end in Michigan, but you are young enough that I would definitely recommend some serious re- thinking of a whole bunch of stuff before I'd spend any more money on schools.
First, get some APTITUDE testing done. It is not cheap but compared to blowing a load of dough on a degree that may not have any pay off you will be way ahead of things.
Second find a good counslor or life coach to help you overcome issues that have lead to your current and previous issues.
Third find some ways to network with various people that have the kind of jobs that you might like. I think you will be encouraged to find that often times a less than straight path still results in a pleasent destination .... http://www.jocrf.org/about_aptitudes/interests.html
Just do an MBA man. That is where the money is. A technical degree will only take you so far in your career. Take this from a guy who has a B.S and an M.S in Mechanical Engineering. 4 years in the real world and I am ready to go back to school for an MBA in a couple of years time (after I save enough money for business school).
Hey there, I have a Master's in Civil Engineering. Worked at a structural design firm for about a year and a half. I loved the work. But, honestly it's really challenging - very detail oriented - and the firm I was with was a dog-eat-dog kinda place. CE can be great, but what is it you don't like about EE?
If you like being outdoors and have interest in construction, going the construction management route might be a good option?
When you're designing bridges, it's not appreciating the architecture it is sizing the girders and doing strength calcs on the bolts. As a SE you definitely get lost in the details. So if EE was too tedious or math intense... that's still going to be the case in structural engineering.
It sounds like you like design. We just take the designs and crunch out how much material is needed. If you're appreciating the beauty/amazingness of buildings maybe architecture is better for you. You still have to take a couple of SE courses, but the focus is on design not strength of materials. Have you thought about architecture?
Hey there, I have a Master's in Civil Engineering. Worked at a structural design firm for about a year and a half. I loved the work. But, honestly it's really challenging - very detail oriented - and the firm I was with was a dog-eat-dog kinda place. CE can be great, but what is it you don't like about EE?
If you like being outdoors and have interest in construction, going the construction management route might be a good option?
When you're designing bridges, it's not appreciating the architecture it is sizing the girders and doing strength calcs on the bolts. As a SE you definitely get lost in the details. So if EE was too tedious or math intense... that's still going to be the case in structural engineering.
It sounds like you like design. We just take the designs and crunch out how much material is needed. If you're appreciating the beauty/amazingness of buildings maybe architecture is better for you. You still have to take a couple of SE courses, but the focus is on design not strength of materials. Have you thought about architecture?
This is a pretty good representation.
I also have a BSCE and have worked a bit on Structural Design of buildings, mostly I have observed though. It's doing strength calcs and picking pieces and connections.
A lot of framing plans.
The one thing about structural (at least what I have seen), it is very similar to school. If you take statics and structural design, that is pretty much what you are doing at work. Calculating loads, moments, using your Steel Manual. So, I would find a way to take the courses and see if you like doing stength/yield calcs.
I am working on going from chemical engineering to electrical engineering. As the USA becomes the next bannana republic (with the exception of where the rich people live) I suppose all of us will be going to civil engineering. Perhaps I should have just skipped the electical part and focused on civil engineering, building gravel roads, simple bridges and basic 2 story strip mall buildings because it seems thats where our society is going.
Or land surveying where everyone just chops up pieces of land on paper and then it still just sits there because everyone is too broke to actually develop it lol.
I am working on going from chemical engineering to electrical engineering. As the USA becomes the next bannana republic (with the exception of where the rich people live) I suppose all of us will be going to civil engineering. Perhaps I should have just skipped the electical part and focused on civil engineering, building gravel roads, simple bridges and basic 2 story strip mall buildings because it seems thats where our society is going.
Or land surveying where everyone just chops up pieces of land on paper and then it still just sits there because everyone is too broke to actually develop it lol.
OOOOh gaurd rail engineering lol.
Why don't go into the oil & gas industry? You would probably make a killing working for ExxonMobil, Shell or some company along those lines.
First, work in civil engineering (especially public works) comes from public funding. If you live in state or area of the country that's unable to pay for it then you're SOL. Reason being there's not as many projects as there should based on the condition of our current infrastructure. IMO, unless the federal gov't starts pumping more money into public works projects it going to get really bad within about 5-10 years. Especially as more people retire and leave the business through attrition and other reasons.
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No offense, but you need some better direction ...
