In today's competitive environment with graduate engineers being downsized out of a job on a regular basis; how do you plan to compete with them? The only thing I can think of is to leverage your existing skills at your current job and look for opportunities to develop new ones.

PapaBravo....as a rule this is true....but I've broken a lot of rules. I have precisely half of an electrical engineering degree....but was a full fledged development engineer with the UCLA department of plasma physics for nearly 20 years. Why? Because I had extensive R.F. engineering skills from military and broadcast industries...and they needed me badly. I was in the right place at the right time.

While competition can be fierce.....the scarcity of good R.F. (and might I say even good analog engineers) is so dire that there's pretty good job security. But I've been twiddling electrons for nearly 50 years...so I've had a head start even without the sheep skin.

YMMV.
Eric

 

I was fortunate to have both the ham radio background (ca. 1959-1961) and the classical engineering degrees (Univ. of Michigan).

 

It's actually more of a cultural thing. In my language we generally (but not always) use the world "help" for altruistic activities. Whereas when you intend to pay for that work, we use the word "delegate", or simply "hire".

Good explanation. My Post #15 description of, "opportunities for mistakes" was intended to demonstrate the abysmal failure of people with one skill assuming they had other skills, then failing miserably.

"What's the difference? Knowing how to structure a corporation or knowing who can do that for you. Know your talents, choose wisely, never stop learning, get help when you need it."

That was intent to tie, "knowing who can do that for you" to, "get help when you need it".
I had no intention of suggesting you can hire a corporate lawyer or a Certified Public Accountant for free.

 

Good explanation. My Post #15 description of, "opportunities for mistakes" was intended to demonstrate the abysmal failure of people with one skill assuming they had other skills, then failing miserably.

"What's the difference? Knowing how to structure a corporation or knowing who can do that for you. Know your talents, choose wisely, never stop learning, get help when you need it."

That was intent to tie, "knowing who can do that for you" to, "get help when you need it".
I had no intention of suggesting you can hire a corporate lawyer or a Certified Public Accountant for free.

If you want to run a small business, the only business lesson you need is "When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep is your downfall"

If you want to a company you'll be wise to listen to #12.

kv

 

In case anyone is still interested in this thread let me tell you my career.
I was always interested in amateur radio and I built several transmitters using details from Reference Data For Radio Engineers books.
I got an apprenticeship with Thorn Electrical Engineering in Enfield and they sent me to what is now City University where I obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering, not electronics notice.
I was then called up under national service and joined the RAF as a trainee radar repair technician at 19 and was taught how to maintain navigation radar for V bombers.
I then joined English Electric in Stevenage and helped a real expert with antenna design for rockets.
I later joined Standard Telephones and Cables as a junior radio engineer. After designing several small items of radio equipment (copied from various books and magazines) they asked me to design a solid state, 300 W VHF amplifier with less than 1dB ripple from 108 to 118 MHz, for use as an ILS ground transmitter. This was a big thing for me to do but by hard work I managed it, even with the poor transistors available at the time (1962).
While there I applied to the IEE for full membership (MIEE level), not MIR(radio)Engineers, notice, which was granted. I was then able to become CEng on payment of a small fee. From then on I've been able to move about the country freely for various jobs at professional level.
I know I'm not a genius but I do work hard and I get what I want. You could do the same, in my opinion, even though circumstances have changed since 1956. It's the dedication and hard work that matters.

 

In case anyone is still interested in this thread let me tell you my career.

I really wish you would learn how to make paragraphs.
I read your story. It's a bit like mine, but looking at 300 words with no spaces is discouraging.

There is a certain type of person who posts like that and, after one struggles through a few hundred words, one finds that the content is drivel. Please try not to look like that kind of person. You will get better results.

 

looking at 300 words with no spaces is discouraging.

I felt the same too ... learning how to write properly is not as easy as it seems, I think. One first has to learn how to read properly, and then move on to writing.

It's a skill that I see severely lacking even in most high school graduates.

 

I now run my own company.

Your life's/work experience closely mirrors mine, C and G of London etc.
Except I started out with a Electrical apprentice certificate then progressed to Industrial Electronics and ended up designing/retro-fitting with PLC/CNC, Motion Control etc.
Ended up with my own company also.
All in all a satisfying career.
Max.

 

C#12. If you can't read a report just because it doesn't conform to your idea of how it should be written then please don't read it and so lose all the information it contains. Is this a forum on writing skills or something?

martinez. What gives you the right to criticize my writing? What are you, a schools inspector or what? How many books have you had published?

I find the pair of you very rude. Is that sufficiently paragraphed for you?

Glad to hear about it Max. My career was also satisfying. In fact I really enjoyed every bit of it. I hope you enjoyed your career, too. I was very lucky.

 

Is this a forum on writing skills or something?

It's a forum of educated and hard working people who have bettered themselves all the years of their lives.
They have learned how to communicate in both words and electronic symbols.
They have learned the art of working with invisible forces; electricity, heat, and magnetism.
The only effective method to access their knowledge is communication.
The lack of it will get you nothing.

 

C#12. If you can't read a report just because it doesn't conform to your idea of how it should be written then please don't read it and so lose all the information it contains. Is this a forum on writing skills or something?
martinez. What gives you the right to criticize my writing? What are you, a schools inspector or what? How many books have you had published?
I find the pair of you very rude. Is that sufficiently paragraphed for you?
Glad to hear about it Max.

@laceholes, it is the way you wrote your post that was being criticized, not your persona. In fact, if you check your post again you'll notice that I actually liked what you wrote. Just not how you did it.

I am assuming then, that your writing style in that post does not reflect how you write your estimates and quotations, or even your C.V. Otherwise your business could be losing opportunities that you may not even be aware of.

At this point you may find it hard to believe. But both #12 and I were actually trying to help you. The written word may sound harsh and blunt at times. But I assure you, my intention was neither the former, nor the latter.

Edit: the article that I linked to, in my previous observation, pertains to orthographic errors only, but the same situation applies also to edition and style.

 

I am also self educated, it's a blessing and a curse.
It forces you to "make your own sauce" on many occasions, but homemade sauce is delicious, and many people prefer it, and will pay for it.
If you are at all entrepreneurial, let that instinct guide you, it can work well if you look at the whole game with a bit of "out of the box" thinking.


I have been on both sides of the hiring equation: learned hard lessons about paying too much attention to paperwork pedigrees.
Lot's of applicants with fancy degrees are useless, I learned to ignore the credentials and focus on attitude, knowledge and experience.

If you are playing the game like everyone else, you are fucked without a degree.

Play a different game.

 

Good read, thanks everyone for sharing.

 

Charles, your answer is not only "YES!", but also, "YOU MUST!"

My path has been similar to #12 and Max, so I may not be increasing the bandwidth of your responses by much. I don't exactly know what you specifically mean by the term you use (electronic eng), but it matters not.

Aside from some typical bickering, the advise on this thread has been quite sound. You should realize that a lack of paper credentials will impede acquiring typical employment with those who seek such stuff, but so what? Focus, learn, "network" (as in: "MAKE FRIENDS!"), do stuff with and for people, be creative in all respects, work, work, work, don't waste your resources. You'll look up one day and find yourself doing it and getting paid and appreciated. It won't happen overnight, and it won't come easily, and it won't happen if you quit or get sidetracked.

 

I may not be increasing the bandwidth of your responses by much

Newsflash... you did just that ... That was pretty sound advice, btw