I graduated with an EE degree in May, finally got a job in September. Started October 2nd. I wrote this today, ironically. Also, because I'm bored at work:
I?ve been working as a ?real? engineer for over a month now, and already I?ve been exposed to the job?s dark underbelly. Growing up, I had this vision of an engineer being this glamorous profession where you solve all the world?s problems and design fancy new gadgets. It is totally not like that and it is disappointing.
Engineering students are, in fact, elitist assholes. I would know as I was one of them. It?s mainly out of jealousy seeing all of the liberal arts majors take 10 hours of classes a semester and party all the time. This is understandable. But I must stress that, while engineering students are cool, engineers? not so much. The difference is much like being in a band and being in the band.
So if you are an engineering student, or if you aspire to one day be an engineer, or if you just get impressed whenever someone tells you they are an engineer, here are some things I?ve picked up along the way to bring you back to reality:
Engineering isn?t glamorous
You?re typically in a cubicle or a lab all day. It greatly depends on where you work, but for most places, the projects you work on are anything but spectacular and life-changing. They are moderately interesting, at best, and that is really only to people who don?t know anything about what you are doing.
Engineering isn?t as high-paying as many people believe
As a student, you get these big entry-level salaries thrown in your face by colleges, encouraging you to be an engineer. Hell, even on the CNN ?most profitable careers? listing, engineers make up something like 6 of the top 10 for entry-level salaries. This is somewhat true, but it has a bias - there are far more engineers than entry-level engineering jobs. So when they average the salaries, they omit the 50% of recent graduates who either don?t have a job at all or who take jobs outside of their field. In fact, the bulk of entry-level engineering jobs are for Test Engineering, or QA, both of which are much lower paying than say, an Electrical Engineer I.
The trick to those high salaries is to get an internship for a large company - Intel, IBM, GE, etc. That way, when you graduate, your college will look at you as still being entry-level, but the company will look at you as having a year+ experience, and will pay you accordingly. This skews the salary listings a great deal.
I won?t disagree, however, that entry-level engineers get paid more than most other jobs - the problem is it plateaus relatively quickly. Management gets paid far more than engineers, and ultimately are less knowledgeable and do less work. Granted, an engineer could work up to management, but that typically requires an MBA, plus it?s slightly disheartening that the ones who are actually creating the product are paid less than the ones organizing them.
Engineers love acronyms
This is something I learned my first day on the job. It is insane how many acronyms are used on a daily basis - I have honestly been a part of a conversation where I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what was being said. It sounds like, ?So, did you check the ATE spec for UGM? The sent out an ECN to fix the HLO, so we?re going to have to change the VCC before the CDR.? It is seriously like a foreign language, and what is funny is that they expect you to know what the hell is going on.
I mean, I know saying SSSU is far easier than always saying Solid State Storage Unit, but when you string like nineteen acronyms together in one sentence, it?s tough to keep up. It has reached a point where there is a two-page section in the product specification dedicated to just the acronyms and abbreviations.
Project Management is clueless
I said I?ve only been here a bit over a month, but this fact was blatanly clear to me at my first meeting. They might be good at maintaining schedules and meeting deadlines, but when it comes to tackling a technical problem, watch out. I was actually cracking up in one of my more recent meetings, as I was sitting next to my project manager, and as one of the other engineers was explaining his ideas for the project, the project manager was - literally - repeating everything that was being said.
Engineer: ?We should be able to handle this with an A/B switch.?
Project Manager: ?Yes, an A/B switch.?
Engineer: ?Also, I don?t see why a single RS232 port can?t be used.?
Project Manager: ?Can?t we try a single RS232 port??
etc, etc?
This went on for about five minutes. Hilarious.
Explaining what you do is impossible
Acronyms aside, attempting to tell people what you are working on or what exactly you do - without making them feel like a retard or getting bored out of their minds - is impossible. Don?t even try. Just say you?re an engineer, and you work on ?important projects.? If they ask for details, either tell them it?s classified, or immediately change the subject.
Also note, nothing an engineer does for a living will ever impress girls.
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