In a bit of rut me thinks....perhaps studying engineering was a mistake

otispunkmeyer

otispunkmeyer

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at a bit of a cross roads here and have no idea which way to turn.

so ive spent the majority of my life up to now getting good at science and engineering because thats what i was interested in and in school and uni at least, it was pretty enjoyable.

but this current job i have and then a friend pointed something out....... so far i have 21 months of experience working in a engineering environment at big companies and the common line? i hated and was disinterested in every last minute of it. it wasnt enjoyable, i wanted to leave asap, it didnt make me wanna get out of bed on a mornin.

so now here i am thinking all of what ive done so far was the wrong thing to do. makes me feel pretty gutted to be honest. and the worst thing is i cant see any semblance of a future.... i have not a clue what i actually wanna do and what ill enjoy doing for a living. so im pretty lost and pretty gutted that ive come through the 20 odd years of education, got a 1st class masters degree in engineering from a top UK univeristy and have emerged directionless... :|

certainly dont have any desire to keep doing what im doing at the moment thats for sure.

i feel like ive wasted my time so far... but i dunno what else to do. anyone else feel like this?
 
I'm in the first year of automotive engineering at uni, though premature, i feel the same way ...

you seem passionate about engineering, don't let some stupid job ruin dreams ...
 
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That's a hard question to answer. Have you considered trying something alltogether different? Volunteering for an aid organization?
 
Perhaps look into teaching engineering at high school/vocational centre? Also, maybe look into some other engineering disciplines- aviation, autiomotive, etc. Think about one of your passions (apart from the learning of the engineering) and see if any engineering can be applied to that. I dunno, fortunately I will get a chance to find out if my chosen career is really for me next year, two years before I will get my degree. Good luck :)
 
I know what you feel.

You need to sort out if it's "just" the job that takes the fun out of it, or if engineering as such doesn't interest you anymore. A bad job can really make you feel that you're totally in the wrong field of work, when it's just the job/company that sucks.
So I feel you should look what changes of direction you can make taking another job at another firm, but still (more or less) in your field of experience. At least you should try that before giving up on engineering altogether.
 
Didn't we already have a thread where this British engineering bloke was fed up with his job and had no idea what to do, there was job offer to a smaller company away with the boring big evil corporation he was working for...it was French and had something to do with trains or rails I think. There was also furious discussion how an engineer and Engineer are supposedly different things and how everyone has engineer in their title even if they only do maintenance work.

Or have I not taken my medication today?

edit. Well it was someone else or some random thought rant maybe.
 
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Ladamaha said:
Didn't we already have a thread where this British engineering bloke was fed up with his job and had no idea what to do, there was job offer to a smaller company away with the boring big evil corporation he was working for...it was French and had something to do with trains or rails I think. There was also furious discussion how an engineer and Engineer are supposedly different things and how everyone has engineer in their title even if they only do maintenance work.

Or have I not taken my medication today?

edit. Well it was someone else or some random thought rant maybe.
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yeah, pretty sure there was too. Oh well, I'm in an advice-giving mood at the moment so I'm happy to help :lol:
 
Hey, if you're not happy. Just take a step back and reflect. You haven't wasted 20 years studying engineering, because the knowledge and experience you gained will help you in whatever you end up pursuing in the future. I know lots of people who studied engineering, and ended up doing something completely different for a career. In fact, the most gifted engineering student (and graduate) I have ever met in my entire life, now works as a photographer (a mighty brilliant one, at that), and he's as happy as he can be.

You will find something that suits you, eventually. You will just have to try new things. Who knows, maybe once you pursue other career paths, you will reignite your passion for engineering, through some other project? Then you will be glad that you are so proficient in it. You never know what the future holds, you'll find your way out of this. The key is to not regret what you have already done, but take it positively with you, into the future :).

That's the best advice I can give you.
 
Ladamaha said:
Didn't we already have a thread where this British engineering bloke was fed up with his job and had no idea what to do, there was job offer to a smaller company away with the boring big evil corporation he was working for...it was French and had something to do with trains or rails I think. There was also furious discussion how an engineer and Engineer are supposedly different things and how everyone has engineer in their title even if they only do maintenance work.

Or have I not taken my medication today?

edit. Well it was someone else or some random thought rant maybe.
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that was me hating the job and i didnt say it was evil. :p

now its degraded into thinking the career as a whole, no matter what the company, big or small, isnt really for me. the offer for the smaller company didnt materialise, he decided to spend the money on a new set of offices instead. I now have an offer from another large engineering firm thats into mining, oil, gas and marine engineering. it could be interesting...then again it could be more of the same. its good that people want me to work for them, especially when alot of people cant even get a look in. i guess thats the worth of a good degree for you if you were ever wondering whether to complete one or not. but its all by the by if you dont much care for the work.

i guess this is a pea roast (repost) of sorts but heh what you gonna do, just dont reply. im just getting anxious that everythings kinda just falling apart.

for whatever reason though this has just reminded me that im a lifemember of the careers center at uni....completely forgot about that. i may pop in and quiz them about what to do next
 
As you briefly mentioned, career advicers at the uni you went to should be able to talk to you.
 
brydiem said:
Perhaps look into teaching engineering at high school/vocational centre?
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+1.
"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." - George Bernard Shaw
 
You should consider changing jobs before you change careers.

My last job was in academic research. The days were long (sometimes more than 12 hours), the work was grueling, the stress was high, and the pay was very low. In addition, my boss was very selfish and harsh, and only spoke to people when he wanted to yell at them. I didn't want to go to work, I didn't want to be at work when I was there, and I left as soon as possible at the end of each day.

Now I have a job in industry, and everything is different. The pay is good, my coworkers and boss are great, the work is interesting, there's lots of room for advancement, and I enjoy being at work. The science hasn't changed, but what I do with it has. A different environment creates a completely different experience.

Don't give up on your career until you KNOW it's not for you. You can't know that from a single bad job. If you have an offer from another company, give it a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised.
 
Do a PhD? Ok pay, reasonable freedom. Pick one that really interests you or poor motivation will kill you though.
 
Greatgraddage said:
Do a PhD? Ok pay, reasonable freedom. Pick one that really interests you or poor motivation will kill you though.
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With this too, you could see if you could get a job as a tutor/lecturer's aide at the uni you are studying at. My management tutor is doing his Ph.D at the moment and he says it's a good job with ok pay.
And like I kinda said before (and others like Spicy are saying) don't give up on the whole career because of one aspect of it you don't like. I have a friend who recently quit her accounting cadetship and dropped out of uni because she hated the taxation side of it. When she found out about auditing and that she would have had a chance to try it and potentially switch to it in the future, she was devastated because it was what she had wanted all along.
 
Start your own business and invent packaging - trillions (I am not kidding about this) await the next packaging invention especially if it is totally Green - you know it makes sense.
 
Just out of curiosity, what did you think you would be doing as an engineer? It's interesting that the expectations of people coming out of uni sometimes do not align with what engineers actually do in the workplace.
 
^balls, i had a big reply written up there and then when i went to post it i was logged out and when i clicked back my post was still in the reply box, then after 2 seconds disappeared!!! frustrating!

ill re type it later, if i can remember it. not got time now.

EDIT:

right in short, I know full well not to expect to be doing great things straight out of uni. It's just not wise on both party's parts to allow that to happen. I don't have enough experience to mix with my good grasp of engineering despite being involved in industry projects at uni from year one. (it's still in the academic environment), and they don't want to risk a balls up because they give critical work to a n00b.

So i get that. However I don't really expect to be sat doing mundane stuff in excel all day everyday. It feels like I'm just being given work to keep me quiet and out ofthe way of the real work. What's more itsnot varied or difficult work, both things that you would think mitt form a strong part of a graduate development scheme. U can't develop much if you aren't learning.

I think I had pretty realistic expectations, especially when I hear about how my friends placements are going. I get the distinct feeling I'm being left behind.
 
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