Career Advice for Adult with New Degree
November 17, 2022 8:54 AM Subscribe
I’m a fully adult person who is about to finish their Bachelor’s in May after struggling on and off for almost twenty years. This is great and feels good, but the problem is that I’m not sure I want to take the obvious career path that everyone else seems to be moving towards. What else can I do?
The degree is in Electrical Engineering, and I want to use the knowledge I have learned to make a living and continue increasing my expertise in the field. However, I’ve had a lot of crappy jobs in the past which have soured me on being part of the capitalist machinery, and corporate culture in general.
Every company I have spoken with seems the same. They all exploit the environment, exploit cheap overseas labor, contribute to consumerism, and dodge taxes by being located in the middle of nowhere suburbia. I hate it.
If I went this traditional path, I’d get a job as an entry level engineer somewhere, doesn’t really matter where since they all seem the same, and then try to work my way up over the years, I guess?
What are some alternative career paths I should look into? My mind has been stuck on teaching lately, for example. My school district is desperate for teachers and I believe they are offering on the job certification. I have a lot of math and sciences under my belt, obviously, but other than some college math tutoring no real teaching experience. Also, wrangling young people sounds incredibly difficult to me. I've also thought about my local community college, but they require 5 years of experience in the industry.
Some more info: Let’s assume I’m not cut out for graduate school. Also, I need to make enough dosh to pay off loans, make home repairs, and save for retirement. I’m married, but I don’t have kids or lead a lavish lifestyle, and I live in an affordable Midwest city that I want to stay in.
The degree is in Electrical Engineering, and I want to use the knowledge I have learned to make a living and continue increasing my expertise in the field. However, I’ve had a lot of crappy jobs in the past which have soured me on being part of the capitalist machinery, and corporate culture in general.
Every company I have spoken with seems the same. They all exploit the environment, exploit cheap overseas labor, contribute to consumerism, and dodge taxes by being located in the middle of nowhere suburbia. I hate it.
If I went this traditional path, I’d get a job as an entry level engineer somewhere, doesn’t really matter where since they all seem the same, and then try to work my way up over the years, I guess?
What are some alternative career paths I should look into? My mind has been stuck on teaching lately, for example. My school district is desperate for teachers and I believe they are offering on the job certification. I have a lot of math and sciences under my belt, obviously, but other than some college math tutoring no real teaching experience. Also, wrangling young people sounds incredibly difficult to me. I've also thought about my local community college, but they require 5 years of experience in the industry.
Some more info: Let’s assume I’m not cut out for graduate school. Also, I need to make enough dosh to pay off loans, make home repairs, and save for retirement. I’m married, but I don’t have kids or lead a lavish lifestyle, and I live in an affordable Midwest city that I want to stay in.
hi, I'm you. B.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering. twenty-year plan. the silicon biz cratered in colorado by the time i graduated.
I started doing small time GIS scripting, then positioned myself into software development for geospatial apps. a little python and tech savvy is a good foot in the door.
still, I've had shitty corporate employment and decent. it's still on us to be choosy about employers. there's academic domain tracks in GIS, too (e.g. public health, transportation logistics, wildlife sciences...).
rn, i do apps for ginormous utilities companies, who own a lot of complicated assets that are all over. they need to know where a thing is, and all it's qualities, and it's relationship to other things.
a colleague is doing logistics for an international africa-centric food ngo. same tech.
stay away from defense contracting and gas & oil if you like to sleep at night.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:15 AM on November 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
I started doing small time GIS scripting, then positioned myself into software development for geospatial apps. a little python and tech savvy is a good foot in the door.
still, I've had shitty corporate employment and decent. it's still on us to be choosy about employers. there's academic domain tracks in GIS, too (e.g. public health, transportation logistics, wildlife sciences...).
rn, i do apps for ginormous utilities companies, who own a lot of complicated assets that are all over. they need to know where a thing is, and all it's qualities, and it's relationship to other things.
a colleague is doing logistics for an international africa-centric food ngo. same tech.
stay away from defense contracting and gas & oil if you like to sleep at night.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:15 AM on November 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Also, wrangling young people sounds incredibly difficult to me.
If you can swing a week of work experience in a teaching setting somewhere, it can be incredibly useful. I once toyed with teaching primary school kids (5-11 years old), thought I might rather enjoy it, but just 5 days of helping out in a classroom was more than enough to persuade me forcefully that it was indeed incredibly difficult in ways that I wouldn't enjoy, and that I shouldn't pursue it.
It might have been unpaid work, but was worth its weight in gold. Maybe you'll have the opposite experience and discover you love it! Either way, it's a fairly efficient way to rule it in or out.
Good luck, and congratulations on the degree - what an achievement!
posted by penguin pie at 9:21 AM on November 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
If you can swing a week of work experience in a teaching setting somewhere, it can be incredibly useful. I once toyed with teaching primary school kids (5-11 years old), thought I might rather enjoy it, but just 5 days of helping out in a classroom was more than enough to persuade me forcefully that it was indeed incredibly difficult in ways that I wouldn't enjoy, and that I shouldn't pursue it.
It might have been unpaid work, but was worth its weight in gold. Maybe you'll have the opposite experience and discover you love it! Either way, it's a fairly efficient way to rule it in or out.
Good luck, and congratulations on the degree - what an achievement!
posted by penguin pie at 9:21 AM on November 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
You could work for the government in one form or another. For example a public utility organisation, or a regulator, or as a policy maker. They have their own challenges and you probably need to make your piece with being a small cog in a big wheel.
An option is to get a job as an engineer and get your PE certificate and then look for opportunities that suit you better, perhaps in a smaller more boutique firm. I think both renewable energy and public transit are both good things that may offer jobs to electrical engineers.
posted by plonkee at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
An option is to get a job as an engineer and get your PE certificate and then look for opportunities that suit you better, perhaps in a smaller more boutique firm. I think both renewable energy and public transit are both good things that may offer jobs to electrical engineers.
posted by plonkee at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Congratulations!
I don't know why, but the algorithm is giving me a lot of recruiting videos these days, all from different "green new deal" focused companies because that field is exploding now. I'm almost sixty and not ready to restart my career. But for you it might be interesting? They clearly need someone like you working on the obvious windmills and solar plants, but also on heat pumps and water-management stuff, and new agricultural solutions.
Some of the ads want me to move to Europe (I am in Europe), but others promise options all over the world.
posted by mumimor at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
I don't know why, but the algorithm is giving me a lot of recruiting videos these days, all from different "green new deal" focused companies because that field is exploding now. I'm almost sixty and not ready to restart my career. But for you it might be interesting? They clearly need someone like you working on the obvious windmills and solar plants, but also on heat pumps and water-management stuff, and new agricultural solutions.
Some of the ads want me to move to Europe (I am in Europe), but others promise options all over the world.
posted by mumimor at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
Look for state and federal government jobs (but watch out for defense contracting).
posted by praemunire at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Steve Albini famously recommends a degree in electrical engineering as a prerequisite for recording music. Some of that is just Albini being Albini, and I'm not sure how much it matters in the age of Pro Tools, but that's something to consider if you're interested in music at all.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:38 AM on November 17, 2022
posted by kevinbelt at 9:38 AM on November 17, 2022
My EE husband works for a high-power testing lab, kind of like an underwriters laboratory for Huge Utility Companies and electric device manufacturers. They have their own ginormous generators so sever themselves from the grid when they test to avoid frying the local electricity supplier. They do testing of devices in development, to certify that they function according to specs before say, ConEd accepts delivery, and to discover why some devices fail, so the correct party can be held responsible. They often test to failure, to see just when a device fails.
Every job is unique, every set-up is custom, many different clients, often foreign, but with many repeat clients since there are so few of these labs worldwide, so there is the opportunity for getting to know repeat clients. Before Covid we occasionally socialized with (nice) long-standing clients who were in town to witness their test. It's a very, very interesting professional environment with only about 40 employees, including sales, so hardly a huge enterprise. It's located in suburban Philadelphia and they are almost always interested in hiring. (I know you said you hate suburbia - so do we, and my husband reverse commutes. It's not really practical to have this kind of high power testing in the middle of a city.) MeMail me if you are interested, and I can ask my husband to contact you. In my opinion they have never been very savvy with marketing/recruiting and currently seem to poach engineers from similar labs worldwide rather than do their own recruiting out of a sort of desperation. It's such a specialized niche that I think many EEs don't know it exists.
posted by citygirl at 12:27 PM on November 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Every job is unique, every set-up is custom, many different clients, often foreign, but with many repeat clients since there are so few of these labs worldwide, so there is the opportunity for getting to know repeat clients. Before Covid we occasionally socialized with (nice) long-standing clients who were in town to witness their test. It's a very, very interesting professional environment with only about 40 employees, including sales, so hardly a huge enterprise. It's located in suburban Philadelphia and they are almost always interested in hiring. (I know you said you hate suburbia - so do we, and my husband reverse commutes. It's not really practical to have this kind of high power testing in the middle of a city.) MeMail me if you are interested, and I can ask my husband to contact you. In my opinion they have never been very savvy with marketing/recruiting and currently seem to poach engineers from similar labs worldwide rather than do their own recruiting out of a sort of desperation. It's such a specialized niche that I think many EEs don't know it exists.
posted by citygirl at 12:27 PM on November 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
A couple of months ago, the Washington Post ran an article headlined Want a career saving the planet? Become an electrician. (Let me know if you want me to send it to you.)
I expect if renewable energy calls for electricians, it would also call for electrical engineers.
posted by NotLost at 12:31 PM on November 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
I expect if renewable energy calls for electricians, it would also call for electrical engineers.
posted by NotLost at 12:31 PM on November 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
I was just going to suggest becoming an electrician or working for a company that installs solar and wind power.
posted by mareli at 1:09 PM on November 17, 2022
posted by mareli at 1:09 PM on November 17, 2022
Just as a data point - I graduated university in my 20's and wasn't about to take a job making rich guys richer. So I found my way into academic medical research, did a relevant grad program, stuck with it for about a decade, then became disillusioned. Making medicine better is hard to argue with, right? Except a lot of it was chasing grant funding and administrative roles not for the science but for plain old careerism. Dribbling out a minor research finding across a bunch of different papers to nurse the ever loving shit out of one decent idea. Doing really cool analytics to support dumb research questions nobody gave a shit about and even if they did we couldn't our analytics past editors who lacked methodological expertise and didn't realize it (because it didn't jive with the one stats class they took in 1982). Toward the end I just felt like we were taking government research money and turning it into basically nothing. Certainly not value to taxpayers. Turns out I was just helping to make not rich guys into less not rich guys.
So I went full capitalism a few years ago and it's about the same, except the work-life balance is better, the work is more interesting. And the money's better. It's really shockingly better - the lost salary I left on the table over the course of that decade trying to make the world better is serious money. I gave up a lot, but helped very little. I always thought I made less than I could, like Corolla vs Camry less; 1500 vs 1800 sq foot house less. Nope. It's Corolla vs Lexus; 1500 vs 2500 sq ft. You get the idea.
All of this to say - there's the world as it should be, and the world as it is. It's ok to live in the world as it is, and work regular profit-motivated jobs that are well remunerated and career building - and then work to make world as it should be in your spare time.
posted by everythings_interrelated at 1:29 PM on November 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
So I went full capitalism a few years ago and it's about the same, except the work-life balance is better, the work is more interesting. And the money's better. It's really shockingly better - the lost salary I left on the table over the course of that decade trying to make the world better is serious money. I gave up a lot, but helped very little. I always thought I made less than I could, like Corolla vs Camry less; 1500 vs 1800 sq foot house less. Nope. It's Corolla vs Lexus; 1500 vs 2500 sq ft. You get the idea.
All of this to say - there's the world as it should be, and the world as it is. It's ok to live in the world as it is, and work regular profit-motivated jobs that are well remunerated and career building - and then work to make world as it should be in your spare time.
posted by everythings_interrelated at 1:29 PM on November 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
Congratulations!
Your university's career center might have suggestions for "less terrible" local companies to work for. It can also be a valid decision to find a job that pays the bills and be a force for good in some other way.
Your location probably drives what options are available to you (at least in some capacity). Linked In can be a really helpful way to figure out what companies/ opportunities are in your area. You might be interested in working for the government either as an employee or as a contractor. You might be able to find a home in the architecture, construction, or environmental industries. I also know engineers who do project management.
posted by oceano at 7:38 PM on November 17, 2022
Your university's career center might have suggestions for "less terrible" local companies to work for. It can also be a valid decision to find a job that pays the bills and be a force for good in some other way.
Your location probably drives what options are available to you (at least in some capacity). Linked In can be a really helpful way to figure out what companies/ opportunities are in your area. You might be interested in working for the government either as an employee or as a contractor. You might be able to find a home in the architecture, construction, or environmental industries. I also know engineers who do project management.
posted by oceano at 7:38 PM on November 17, 2022
Response by poster: Thank you for the replies, everyone. You have given me some good options to think about.
posted by Reuben Klopek at 9:17 AM on November 18, 2022
posted by Reuben Klopek at 9:17 AM on November 18, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by domino at 9:03 AM on November 17, 2022