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Electrical Engineering Career? |
I'm a junior majoring in Electrical Engineering. I've recently been looking for possible job offers and have yet to find an entry level job anywhere (outsourcing??). Every job offer that I see requires a candidate to have 3-10 years of experience. It's a total bummer...I know there should be entry level jobs out there, but it's really discouraging not to find any. I can't do Co-Op because the EE classes that I need now are only offered once a semester...so I don't want to spend 6 years on a BS degree. I know I'm definitely going to graduate school to get my MSEE, but now I'm thinking that I should try to go for a PhD as well..so I can teach at a University (maybe even get alternative Math Teacher certification after my Bachelor's so I can teach high school math while going to grad school). What do you guys/girls think about this? I was in your position about 15 years ago - now I am in a mgmt position. A couple things - Just because a job ad says that they want 3 years of experience, doesn't mean that they won't take an entry level candidate. Send a resume to those positions. Often, a department may have multiple positions open. The entry level resumes come in for every opening that we post, so we may only post the ones wanting experience. Just remember that it costs nothing to email a resume. If the manager deletes it, you haven't lost anything. As far as the MS degree goes, I also have an MS in EE. To tell the truth, an MBA would have suited me much better. I may still enroll for an MBA. It sounds to me like you are looking at the PhD route for the wrong reasons. If the job situation is really that bad, why would future students want to take EE? If you want to teach, that is fine and admirable. But don't enter that field because you think you cannot find anything else. Look at different areas around the country. The VHDL stuff that you write about is pretty intense for a college student. It is more than most college students are capable of. My advice is to create a portofolio of your work for interviewing. Highlight and document that type of work. Mangers like people how know how to write and document. Demonstrate it on an interview - much better than just saying that you can write. The math route isn't bad - you would get benefits and a livable salary. But some engineering experience would suit you much better for the long term. Still, if you have financial needs that you must take care of now, it is not a bad option. I'm an Engineering Manager in private industry. My degree is in Ceramic Engineering, but I started off in EE. You shouldn't be discouraged by the 3-10 year experience requirements you see in placement ads. When I'm looking to hire engineers, we always try to attract individuals with some work experience, but are often willing to accept a fresh grad. Only you can decide if grad school is best for you. It depends mainly on what you wish to do with your career. If you would like to be a Process Engineer, Circuit Designer, Test&Instrumentation Engineer, etc. you can get there with a BS or MS. If you wish to work in R&D or teach at the university level you should go for a PhD. Good luck. Thinking ahead? Good thing: some don't start their job search until final semester and don't realize they may have to deliver pizzas before they find a job in their field. Instead of looking at the professional want ads, where they tend to look for experience, maybe make a visit to your college's career placement office. This is where your college and corporate HR types meet to help place soon to be new grads like you in entry level positions. They have the connections and the resources. I knew a lot of people who decided to go straight to grad school. I decided not to, partly because I couldn't stand two straight years more of school, partly because I figured I could get my employer to pay my tuition. Some managed to get jobs out of grad school, others ended up going to get their PhDs because they were overqualified for what was out there at the time. |
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