Does switching industries always put you back to entry level?

[SeductivePig]

I'm curious - did my undergrad from a good school as an electrical engineer. Got good grades and I got a really good job out of college as en engineering consultant.

2 years in and I'm consulting for top oil companies and have great experience. In another 22 months I will have my P.E. and be making around $90k.

The industry I'm in is the electrical power industry - there is no software/finance/business involved at all aside from typical consulting roles.



My point is, if I decide to switch to something like business IT, software implementation, or finance, and assuming I can develop myself over the next couple of years to get the skillsets and technical knowledge required for those jobs, would I come in as an entry level hire? Would I be taking a significant paycut?

 

[zerocool84]

Of course you'll have to take a paycut. No one is going to pay someone a lot for something they have little experience in.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Probably depends how applicable your experience in EE would be to your new field. If you're completely switching fields I think you'd be viewed as a newbie just like any fresh college grad.

Consulting for oil companies sounds pretty lucrative. Why switch from what you're doing now?

 

[SeductivePig]

Of course you'll have to take a paycut. No one is going to pay someone a lot for something they have little experience in.

I was told otherwise because of my undergrad degree, my consulting background, and my technical ability.

However, I do agree with you more.

I am wondering though, does my experience count for a potentially higher starting salary in another industry vs someone fresh out of college with maybe a couple internships applying for the same job?

 

[SeductivePig]

Probably depends how applicable your experience in EE would be to your new field. If you're completely switching fields I think you'd be viewed as a newbie just like any fresh college grad.

Consulting for oil companies sounds pretty lucrative. Why switch from what you're doing now?

I'm sick of working a job that is 90% solo. I like team work, I like jobs that require some degree of non technical thinking, I like to travel, and I like jobs that have me meeting new people every now and then.

It is lucrative, yes, but at some point it becomes less about the money and more about the day to day. There is not a huge difference between $75k and $100k to me, at least. I believe anyone who is passionate about what they do can reach a respectable salary in the field provided it's an in demand field.

 

[RaistlinZ]

^ Makes sense. Wish ya luck!

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I thought consulting jobs tended to have more travel?

I'm working as a desk engineer and I hate just sitting behind a desk all day, and was thinking about seeing if I can look around for some consulting jobs.

 

[SeductivePig]

I thought consulting jobs tended to have more travel?

I'm working as a desk engineer and I hate just sitting behind a desk all day, and was thinking about seeing if I can look around for some consulting jobs.

I do travel 3 days a week, but travel for me consists of driving an hour each way to the refinery.

 

[alkemyst]

Consulting for top Oil Companies at less than $90K is not so good.

I'd say if you make a change you are going to face a major pay cut.

 

[shortylickens]

Not always.

Sometimes general professional experience puts you ahead. Management is especially good experience.
If you were manager of a baskin robbins you'd have better luck applying at Intel than a technician with 30 years experience in multiple fields.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Not always.

Sometimes general professional experience puts you ahead. Management is especially good experience.
If you were manager of a baskin robbins you'd have better luck applying at Intel than a technician with 30 years experience in multiple fields.

Not bloody likely...

Intel isn't about ice cream and pretty much every job requires knowledge of the industry. Management skill alone ins't enough.

$90K as an engineering consultant in the oil industry sounds low to me, would have expected a good $15K more.


Brian

 

[SeductivePig]

Not bloody likely...

Intel isn't about ice cream and pretty much every job requires knowledge of the industry. Management skill alone ins't enough.

$90K as an engineering consultant in the oil industry sounds low to me, would have expected a good $15K more.


Brian

Keep in mind I'm on the electrical side of things. I don't even make $90k.

I get a $75k base salary + phone & gas paid for which works out to be $83k gross. End of this year I will get bumped to about $88k total, then probably $95k the year after.

Electrical does not make as much as chemical, at least on the power engineering side of things. Electronics is an entirely different story.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Not always.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ehh, if you're an electrical engineer working in oil industry and you take a job as an electrical engineer in another industry, a lot of your experience would carry over, so it would not make sense to start in "entry level" provided you manage to get some experience. (experience as in, 5+ years or 10+ years)

 

[Regs]

Maybe with very specialized job specs, but it's hard to imagine many situations you would have to start completely over. They would not hire you in the first place.

 

[Regs]

wtf...

 

[JM Aggie08]

Meh, there's less money in IT, and I guarantee you'll enjoy it far less. Stick where you are.

 

[SaurusX]

If you can't parlay your current experience into the new line of work, then I'd expect you're going to start off on the very bottom rung. Career changing is not something to take lightly. You have to be willing to accept that it's a do-over from when you exited college.

 

[alkemyst]

if you were manager of a baskin robbins you'd have better luck applying at intel than a technician with 30 years experience in multiple fields.

lolwut?!?!?

 

[alkemyst]

Keep in mind I'm on the electrical side of things. I don't even make $90k.

I get a $75k base salary + phone & gas paid for which works out to be $83k gross. End of this year I will get bumped to about $88k total, then probably $95k the year after.

Electrical does not make as much as chemical, at least on the power engineering side of things. Electronics is an entirely different story.

That is really low for any consulting work. It's not a bad salary...but low.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

inside secret for you below $100k earners. a lot of the jobs in the multiple 6 figure range really dont require years of experience. its mostly being able to remember small things, make quick decisions and having really good social skills... and most importantly making everyone below you think you actually do real work.

 

[alkemyst]

inside secret for you below $100k earners. a lot of the jobs in the multiple 6 figure range really dont require years of experience. its mostly being able to remember small things, make quick decisions and having really good social skills... and most importantly making everyone below you think you actually do real work.

OMG...OM FUCKING GOD! You just solved the problem of income for the entire planet.

Yes, people do win the lottery.

 

[zanejohnson]

hes a consultant, and it's one contract, i'd say that's BADASS for one contract.

 

[SeductivePig]

I'm not sure if there's any difference between the term "contractor" and "consultant".

I am essentially a contractor, but at the end of the day, I advise senior engineers on how to improve the reliability of their electrical infrastructure and have a lot of knowledge that they don't, so I also consider myself a consultant.

Not sure why people say the pay is low for what I do. At the end of the day I'm still just an engineer.

 

[yottabit]

I think if you were to switch now you would take a decent paycut

If you continue to develop the technical side of your skills and then switch you are still going to take a massive paycut, because most of those technical skills won't be transferable

If you get into formal project management and/or a manager (or more unlikely VP/director) type of position over the next few years then you can probably hop around to a tangentially related industry. At that level it will be less about your technical experience and more about your decision making ability, etc. However you'll still want to have a loosely related background to the industry.

EDIT: That being said you mentioned finance.. I'm sure there are "entry level" finance positions that would pay around $90k or more if your math skills are up to par. But that's not what I'd consider a fun job