Electrical Engineering job for a new grad.....?

Question

I am going to finish mymasters in Electrical Engineering in May. The thing is I don't have much expereince except for a one summer internship and most likely won't be hired there....another reason.
I see all the adds in Dice.com..and they are all looking for some years of expereince. Is there any ways I can get an entry level job somewhere in the electronics engineering area?...I prefer something like embedded but not that picky right now...Just want to land somewhere right after school.

Answer 1

Having worked as an electronics engineer (doing mostly instrumentation and embedded systems) for 35 years (with a couple of side forays into 'other stuff' ☺) I can tell you that 'entry level' jobs are getting kinda scarce. There's a ton of work that's going offshore (mostly to South Asia) that would have been what an entry level engineer cut their teeth on 15-20 years ago. The economics are simple enough; In this country an engineer with a Masters and 3-5 years of experience can reasonably expect to be making $30 - $35 per hour. Maybe even a bit more. In South Asia, there are PhD's with 10 + years of experience who are happy to work for $15 per *day*.

The other sad reality of engineering (in the US of A at least) is that age discrimination is still alive and doing very well. If you haven't 'made it' to at least a mid-level management position by the time you're 40, you better start looking around for another career (unless you've been with that company for 15 - 20 years, have more time with the company than the CEO, and know where a lot of the skeletons are buried ☺) And all of the above is equally true for the software guys as well.

Now that I've probably discouraged you, go out and hit the bricks. It may take a few months and a couple dozen job interviews, but there are entry level opening out there with companies that still believe American engineers are a cut above the rest. And be prepared to learn a lot of engineering realities that are totally non-technical and not taught in most engineering schools. About 80% to 90% of being a truly good engineer is not being the hottest circuit designer or software coder around. It's keeping up with the paperwork (marketing requirements, design specifications, engineering change orders, bills of material, production orders and procedures, QC inspection requirements, document and revision level control, release control, etc. etc. etc.) It's boring as hell, but it has *got* to be done (and done right) or nothing ever gets built the right way in production.

One word in an interview. I'm sure you've heard all the do's and dont's, but one thing that most of the interview gurus fail to mention; Don't ever forget that it is *you* who is interviewing the company as well. Are you going to 'fit in' with the kind of work that they do? (If you're a devout pacifist, you probably won't do well at a 'bombs and bullets' defense contractors company.) Are you going to get along with the people they already have in the engineering department? (If you're 25 and everybody else in the place is mid-40's, you may have a difficult time 'fitting in'.) Is the company fairly stable? Or do they have annual 'hire and lay-off' cycles? You have to evaluate them at the same time they're evaluating you.

Anyway........ Good luck. I'm 61, semi-retired, and do a few odds 'n ends of consulting for pocket change. It's not a bad profession. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you want to chat some more.


Doug

Answer 2

Apply for a job at Curtiss-Wright Controls Inc., Embedded Computing

http://www.cwcembedded.com

Answer 3

Go to the Student resources office (or whatever they call the office that helps students get jobs after graduation) they should be able to help you with your job search.