by Regulus » August 25th, 2018, 8:36 pm
[quote="TheLionPrince"][quote="Regulus"]Tomorrow starts the first semester of graduate school for me. This will be interesting.[/quote]
Congratulations to you! If you don't mind me asking, did you ever find a job in your field?[/quote]
Nope. I don't even think I came close. If I had known more about the industry when I graduated, I would have gone straight into a masters program. But I didn't, and mistakes were made.
Years ago, I had contemplated continuing my education beyond a bachelors degree. I was kind of iffy about it, not really sure if it was for me or not. What turned me off from the idea was that I grew tired of having no disposable income. I was looking forward to financial independence, so much so that I couldn't wait for school to be over and to begin working.
I thought I could just slide into a 9-5 job and start making $60k a year, but it didn't work that way. Many of my peers were able to do this, but I wasn't. My lack of work experience hurt me, and I don't think the way I presented myself made that any better. What I came to realize is that I'm not the person that would be a good fit for the roles I was interviewed for.
I'm interested in research and development, but not so much CAD, manufacturing, project management, or field work. Most engineers with a BS go straight into one of those, whereas R&D is typically filled with MS and PhDs. I didn't know this until I started looking for work. While I would have been content with a CAD position (because hey, I'm getting paid!), it wasn't what I really wanted to do.
And in most cases, it was probably bad to admit that in interviews. But I'm not just going to say, "oh yes yes, I love CAD! It's my favorite thing ever!" It just feels so fake and phony to do stuff like that.
Anyway, I found myself in this awkward place where I wasn't quite qualified for the positions that I wanted, but I couldn't manage to land a job for a position that I was less interested in. I knew students who loved doing CAD, and they were the ones to get the entry-level CAD jobs. I knew students who chose to go into manufacturing, and their experience with hands-on projects helped them greatly. Meanwhile, my strengths are more on the analytical side--my preference is in mathematics, algorithms, and software. I wanted to work in either fluid dynamics or control systems, but it's exceptionally rare to see those positions ask for students fresh out of a bachelors degree program.
In the end, I had to make a choice. I had two options: join the military, or go to graduate school. The military would have made my financial life a hell of a lot easier, but it wouldn't be something I'm passionate about, nor something I'd really be happy doing. Graduate school is the opposite. Financially, my life is going nowhere, but I'm back to using my brain again. Hopefully, this will lead me to a career I find both challenging and fulfilling.
Also, beginning next semester it is very likely I will have a research assistant position under a professor doing work in both aerodynamics and controls. If that works out, I will have finally found an opportunity to do exactly the kind of work that I've dreamed of doing for years.
(this was not to who I like, this was another friend who apparently is jealous of our friendship??)[/quote]
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. I'm saving up for my eventual trip overseas to London, and for insurance for the truck and whatnot. Then again, having a job would make it very hard to focus on school work, so I'm basically out of luck. Also, I loathe physical work, even though I'll do it, I dread it. It is its own form of severe anxiety almost, so weird.
