Career question for seasoned (and not-so-seasoned) Electronic Engineers!

jeff1981 Thought I'd share your question with our Top Members and also Business of Engineering areas to see if they might have any advice for you? 

Best of luck to you in your search and also congrats on your new baby!

Hi Jeff,

I did my apprenticeship and degree in electrical engineering. I've ended up writing software for a now medium sized company and yes I do enjoy going to work and what I do. Our fires are virtual only and there are plenty of days when demands are unreasonable. We used to have more site visits and I do kind of miss those but the advantage of working in software is that it does not always matter where I work. So for the last 4 years (since my daughter was born) I've been working Mondays and Fridays at home. It does not make things any easier but it does mean more time with the family (I've not worked out if that's a good thing yet).

Cheers,

Andy

p.s. I have an average of 90mins to 2hrs commute each way to the office.

The problem you have with say going in to the software field is that you would need to re-qualify or more likely gain these skills  with a possible big drop in cash at least in the short term if you take on a more Junior role! I would try to do more embedded work and ease yourself out of the hole you feel your self in. This demonstrates flexibility and commitment to learning a new set of skills that cause hair loss. From here you can apply  for new jobs with an extended skill set  and hopefully move in to more profitable areas... I think the stress mostly stays with you it just depends how much for how much $$

You could try working for a big company or even the government - they are constrained by statistical probabilities. They cannot hire all superstar workaholics - they have a lot of employees, so statistically their average employee will have precisely average performance and that is all they can expect. Some large companies still manage to create enjoyable workplaces and fulfilling jobs without expecting their employees to be anything more than average - but of course they won't complain if you are a superstar. If you find low stress jobs to be a little less enjoyable, you can always take up electronics as a hobby to keep you engaged - no externally enforced deadlines...

Hi Jeff,  My experience has been that there is only one way to truly enjoy ones job and that is to continue to grow and self educate until you are as good at it as you can possibly be. Every work experience I have ever had has had good aspects and bad aspects. Most of the times where I have changed employment it just meant that I had to start over with a new set of problems. While I am not in a position to make any decisions for you, sometimes a bad day or week is just that and is best forgotten. I know that you will solve the problem of the fire in your power supply and you will probably have a sudden epiphany for the design of the new product. Each time you succeed you will be in a better position to control your position and your work load. Remember that, with your irreplaceable skill set, the company needs you more than you need the company. Congratulations on the new baby.

John

Jeff - I know exactly where your thoughts are coming from...I used to work as an EE for a large electronics firm (initials are IBM) where projects changed on a daily basis and deadlines were hard-fast. Then I turned forty and they went to great lengths to tell me thanks for playing; but they didn't need me anymore (so  you have that to look forward to - HiHi).

I took their hints and found other employment; and to this day I have no regrets!

- I worked with a retiree who had started a radio sales/repair shop and I enjoyed that very much.

- Then a friend started a brewery, so I worked with him for a while.

- I moved and started teaching at a local community college and I really enjoy the students and faculty.

So, there are lots of other jobs (some relating to your career choice). The trick is to find the one that you really enjoy, and like a good marriage, it will make you feel as though a life-time is way too short!

If you are happy, your family will be happier too.

Put your family first, the rest will be easy.

I hope this helps. I wish someone would have told me this years ago.

There are a few issues here !

Having a baby (by proxy or actually) is a bit of a life changing experience and you may need some time to get used to it and re-balance (mine are now 16,18,20 and 22 and still need more looking after than I expected.)

Be  a bit more Zen about the whole thing - go to work, do your best, be  a nice person - if it's not good enough they'll sack you or you can leave and find something else  - there is a world shortage of engineers.

If it's this employer that doesn't suit then find another.

If you can't cope with employers any more then you could try working independently - but from experience I can tell you that you  trade one set of problems for another.

Mainly I would suggest that you don't fall into the trap of actually believing that the grass is greener elsewhere - sometimes I'm envious of academics and their cool lifestyle and good pay, then a friend who works in that business tells me a new horror story and I realise that 2 weeks hunting down a bug in an FPGA (with a customer breathing down my neck) wasn't too bad after all.

MK

Hello all

First of all I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all your very helpful responses. I'm incredibly grateful for the input and will take it on board and try to work out my next steps. The focus on software sounds like a good one, especially on the embedded side - I have a fair amount of knowledge on this already (well, enough to get by, at least!) so this sounds promising. But as you said John, it really is all about growing my own skills to gain the experience and make my own role the best it can be.

Floyd - really interesting to hear your experience; the idea of teaching has been in the back of my mind for a while. Another avenue to investigate...

Also thanks Nicole for posting this message in the right place!

Many thanks (again)!

I'm totally in agreement with michaelkellett we don't have greener grass in the software world but it is perhaps less flammable.

Oh, and in reply to Michael, you're completely right - I do risk falling in to the trap of 'I'm stressed here so I'll find an employer where I won't be!'. I appreciate everywhere has its pros and cons - thanks for the gentle reminder of that!