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School and Career Surprises: Tips From People on the Job

Career: "I was surprised at how important communication and teamwork is in being a good engineer. In my job, I am always working in a team with other engineers from a variety of disciplines, plus people from completely different professions, and I must continually communicate with people with different levels of knowledge on a daily basis. I must work well with the people I directly work with, and I must communicate well with everyone I speak to in order to ensure maximum efficiency."

Career: "I was surprised by how much the field changed during my career. I had to keep pushing to stay abreast of the changes. I was also surprised by the attitude of computer users I worked to satisfy. They greatly extended their limited information into unrealistic expectations."

Career: "I was surprised at the amount of work I would have to do on a daily basis. I was also surprised at the amount of free time I would be given in the work week to work on projects that I wanted to do on my own, and not required to do specific work tasks."

Career: "I was surprised that I had to put in so much overtime. I was surprised how little college prepared me."

Career: "What surprised me most about this career was the type of work we can do and the job security that comes with it. I had to receive about 2-3 security clearances to work with the company I did and also must go to locations most people will never see or be allowed to in their entire lifetime. Another thing that surprises me is many fields will overlook the degree to allow you into ones you didn't originally major in due to the difficult nature of the degree."

Career: "How much i really enjoy my job. I liked the profession and its potential in college, but it was better when i got into the real world."

Career: "I was very surprised how much goes into completing a project in engineering. From the planning to the actual design making, everything is a step by step process. The feeling of successfully completing something is surreal."

Career: "There is a lot of work involved but I am not working as long as I thought that I would have to. Also, the environment is a lot different and while it is formal, there is some level of comfort in it."

School: "I was surprised at how well a somewhat generalized degree worked in the work place. That is, I graduated in math and physics, but worked most of my career as an Electronics Engineer and a Computer Engineer."

Career: "I was surprised and a bit concerned that the field I chose is so dynamic. So one certainly cannot count solely on the college education he/she started with, but must be rigorously and constantly learning new things."

Best & Worst Things About This Career

"The best part of a project comes when the first unit starts up and sort of works, and the other best part is when you are confident about its design and performance and can release it into production. The worst parts are when hardly anything works, and you have to dig into everything to find out why not, or when you have a subtle, elusive problem that only comes up once in a while or under specific circumstances. Then you spend long days and nights trying to find out why, pursuing many false leads, and examining everything over and over again. And sometimes the "fix" is difficult, and that's bad news."

"The best part of the the work is being able to put my long engineering experience to use creating new jobs. The worst is the constant uncertainty over funding for the center."

"The best part of my job is that I am able to learn so much about how electricity is produced and how it is transported from state-state to town-town and house to house. There is so much detail and so much to learn. What I don't like about my job is that my company is so large sometimes it takes so long to get anything achieved. This is because there are so many people and processes that at times what I am trying to accomplish falls by the wayside because someone else has a task to perform but forgets, or is too busy to perform the task. It becomes frustrating, which is something found in larger companies."

"There is no bad part of my job. I have a good mix of responsibilities and all the projects we're involved in are unique and let me see and participate in new technological developments. But the thing I like the best is final delivery of the system to the customer and seeing that it works."

"The best part of the job is to collaborate on some exciting new idea or project. Sometimes this starts by thinking of some new variation of an old idea, and then discussing it with a knowledgeable person at a blackboard. Sometimes it comes by observing some brand new need that hasn't been identified before, and then seeing what known techniques can satisfy it. My very best day is when someone comes into my office with the beginnings of an idea, and we work it out together. The worst part of the job is dealing with difficult people, having to do budgets and schedules, and having to give out bad reviews."

"The best part of the job is that I am constantly challenged by new and interesting problems. Often the solutions are not obvious or simple, and the problems are usually multi-dimensional, with no single "right" answer. The worst part of the job is trying to make non-engineers understand why certain trade-offs were made."

"I like my job because I get to invent new things that will have a positive impact on the world. For example, we are designing a hand-held instrument to diagnose HIV in developing countries. I get to try new things and figure out how to make things work and, basically, tinker with high-tech toys. Working for a start-up company, I enjoy a lot of freedom to choose my activities and daily priorities. The down side of a start-up is we have limited funds and so do not always have the same resources I took for granted at other companies. While I enjoy a lot of freedom, we also lack structure that can streamline activities that people might undertake over and over again."

"The best part of my career is the challenge of learning and mastering new things and the problem solving and troubleshooting associated with test development. My group is given a task with sometimes a short deadline and then we pool our talent together to create the fixtures quickly. There is a great satisfaction in seeing something of your creation being used on a regular basis. However, it isn't always interesting. One of the drawbacks is the endless documentation necessary in order to duplicate the test."

"One best part of the job is the ability to put various pieces of a design together to see a final product ship out the door. A second best part is being able to work with good, intelligent people who have varying opinions on subjects. The worst parts include trying to cover multiple jobs at once because the company is short-staffed. Also, the stress levels can get high at times when hard deadlines approach."

"The best part of the job is that I get to play with high-tech instruments. I also get to have a look at cellphones before they hit the market. There are some interesting trips for different vendor visits. The worst part of the job is when the parts do not behave as expected. There are parts of the job, too, that are not real exciting: documenting processes that we have developed or doing re-work on very tiny components, etc."

Tips for Succeeding in This Career

"1. Learn basic principles of math, physics, thermal dynamics and other disciplines. You will always need them and call on them, and they won't ever go stale. 2. Keep abreast of the latest tools, techniques and developments, but don't assume newer is better; often older, proven techniques are the way to go and reduce areas of risk. Limiting areas of risk to one or just a few spots is a good idea. 3. Don't assume. Check and re-check everything. Often a problem is due to an unconscious assumption you made, or looking at something and mis-seeing what is in front of you."

"Try to get as much basic science and math as possible within the sometimes restrictive confines of the engineering curriculum. Try to avoid narrow and possibly restrictive classes that may provide current knowledge but are lacking in the real why and how come of engineering. Take all the really hard courses. Try things that may be a stretch. Learn to learn on your own, since you'll have to to stay current throughout your career."

"If you want to be an engineer, pay close attention to details. Details are very important. Also, do not be afraid to ask questions. This is how you will learn and it also lets others know that you are really serious about your job and being good at it. Also, try to find a mentor - someone who is older and more experienced and knowledgeable that you can trust to talk with and can help guide you through difficult decisions. Lastly, get involved with conferences in your field. This will help you make contacts with other professionals in your industry which comes in handy when you need technical assistance or even another job."

"Do not be afraid to get a "hands-on" position which lets you learn wiring, soldering, circuit board construction etc. Get a good grounding in the use of software applications and computer code because everything these days is controlled by computers and programmable logic controllers (PLC). Make good use of your lab assignments in school. Be safety conscious when working around machinery and electricity. There are very important safety rules everybody needs to follow to ensure safe and productive work."

"The best advice is to try to work with excellent people who are willing to guide you and teach you how they approach problems. Do absolutely every kind of task, from the very simplest, in order to get an appreciation for all that it takes to build real systems."

"What you learn in college is how to learn. Engineering moves so fast that you must keep learning all the time. Don't just take engineering courses. You also need to be able to communicate and understand the business implications of the engineering choices you make. If you don't love solving problems and figuring out how and why things work, you may want to look elsewhere."

"1. If it interests you, learn how things work regardless of the field or discipline. Be inquisitive. 2. A background in physics will help you understand what can be done and how to do it by helping you understand the basic laws of nature. I recommend a broad education that covers physical sciences and engineering. 3. Learning engineering tools such as 3D computer aided design packages, programming languages, and finite element analysis packages will help you stand out as a job applicant 4. Don't be afraid to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty (figuratively or literally) by tinkering in a laboratory and building prototypes. Simulations and calculations are all about predicting real-world performance. You must eventually validate your design concepts by making real world embodiments. I know a lot of good development engineers who like to "make mistakes fast," which basically means to try things out and figure out quickly what works and what doesn't."

"If you are given the opportunity to work as an intern during your college career, then jump on it. Unfortunately there is a disconnect associated with the theoretical science you learn at school and the practical application of it. There is a reason why potential employers want to see experience. Also, take advantage of your college career. Treat your education like a nine to five job and you will be surprised at how much you can learn and how much will stay with you. Be willing to learn new techniques at your job. There are two types of employees: those who learn more and push themselves constantly and stand out in a crowd, and there are those who just disappear into the background and just exist. You can be either one, but for obvious reasons only one type of the employees mentioned above will have any longevity at a company."

"1. Get a degree in some sort of engineering. While the job itself isn't an engineering position, there is constant interaction with engineers and other technical items. 2. Get a college internship. You can learn valuable skills and get some experience that will put you ahead of other candidates and allow you to hit the ground running when you graduate. 3. Have an open mind and be flexible. People have many different ideas and some are good and some are bad. Don' t always pick the first one or the one from the highest-ranking employee (unless it's the most appropriate, of course)."

"You should take all the math and physical science classes in school that you can. It is best to broaden your scope when you are young. You will end up specializing in something after you start working at a job. It is a good idea to join a co-op program in school if it is offered. It will delay your graduation by one year and this sounds like a lot when you are young. But what is one year when you think about working for the next 30 or 40 years? You will be convinced that you chose the right field after a couple of co-op job assignments. It would be a good time to change fields if you find it impossible to get excited about your co-op assignments."