Hi guys,
I just want to get a general feel about how others view my situation.
I graduated with a B.S. in CE with emphasis in Computer Systems and Mechatronics back in 2008.
In case you are unfamiliar, we are just about 50% EE's and 50% CS in our curriculum.
I graduated right into the recession and COULD NOT for the life of me find a job, let alone one that utilized my skills.
I finally landed one in 2010 as a Electronics Manufacturing Engineer and got my hands dirty right away with troubleshooting and identifying electronics failures, dealing with our vendors and implementing certain processes to handle issues.
The basics of Electronics has stuck with me and I have been able to utilize it to do my job and to get promotions.
Now I am at a very embarrassing point in my career; I'm having difficulty with remembering the more tedious electronics design lessons that I spent hundreds of hours learning in school. I blame this on three things,
#1 is the fact that I was out of practice completely for 2 years after graduation.
#2 the nature of modern schooling methods that teach you more how to think than how to utilize real world technology. When I complained about this in school I was told that "you will pick that up later".
#3 the EE's that I work with are old guys that are ABSOLUTELY NOT team players which is completely different from my college experience which was team driven, forthcoming (we helped eachother), benevolent, and just very open.
If you don't see how 1,2, and 3 interact, allow me to explain. Being that in school we were mostly given older technologies and not enough emphasis on hands on as I think we should I am left with needing guidance in real life so that I can "pick up" on what I need. The problem here is that dealing with these old school EE's (which is only two), I'm not getting much of any help. In fact they are not forthcoming at all about their designs, nor do they give me a push in the right direction. When I need a refresher they seem to ridicule me. I have caught many design issues and have confronted them on it which has led to some embarrassing situations for them professionally and that doesnt help either. Whenever they can they will call out my perceived ignorance when in fact it could be about something that I simply need to review. I have been made to look like a fool more than once, a few times credit given to them for discoveries I made and told them, and despite my positive self talk I can't help but feel like a fool myself, my self esteem is at an all time low. I have been given the task of creating a function tester and I have avoided it for months now. Now management is breathing down my kneck and I really can't give an explanation as to why it is not done without embarrassing myself further. This thing has requirements for i2c and AC/DC power, current sensing, light detection, not to mention a go-no-go output. Its a big project and some of the technology I have barely got any real hands on experience with. When I tap into the EE's for any help they either shoo me away, ridicule me, act like they dont know what I'm talking about (play dumb) or take on that project themselves.
I'm at the point where I feel like I have no face value when it comes to electronics here and I am seriously feeling like quitting. There is no team that I can tap into, there is no one I can shadow and ride along, there is very little opportunity for me to ask questions and 'jog' my memory on these things. I asked my boss about this and he basically told me that no one above me has any obligation to train me on any of these things.
Is this NORMAL? Should I be seeking out new employment? Should I toss my degree in the trash? I feel like I'm worthless.
I just want to get a general feel about how others view my situation.
I graduated with a B.S. in CE with emphasis in Computer Systems and Mechatronics back in 2008.
In case you are unfamiliar, we are just about 50% EE's and 50% CS in our curriculum.
I graduated right into the recession and COULD NOT for the life of me find a job, let alone one that utilized my skills.
I finally landed one in 2010 as a Electronics Manufacturing Engineer and got my hands dirty right away with troubleshooting and identifying electronics failures, dealing with our vendors and implementing certain processes to handle issues.
The basics of Electronics has stuck with me and I have been able to utilize it to do my job and to get promotions.
Now I am at a very embarrassing point in my career; I'm having difficulty with remembering the more tedious electronics design lessons that I spent hundreds of hours learning in school. I blame this on three things,
#1 is the fact that I was out of practice completely for 2 years after graduation.
#2 the nature of modern schooling methods that teach you more how to think than how to utilize real world technology. When I complained about this in school I was told that "you will pick that up later".
#3 the EE's that I work with are old guys that are ABSOLUTELY NOT team players which is completely different from my college experience which was team driven, forthcoming (we helped eachother), benevolent, and just very open.
If you don't see how 1,2, and 3 interact, allow me to explain. Being that in school we were mostly given older technologies and not enough emphasis on hands on as I think we should I am left with needing guidance in real life so that I can "pick up" on what I need. The problem here is that dealing with these old school EE's (which is only two), I'm not getting much of any help. In fact they are not forthcoming at all about their designs, nor do they give me a push in the right direction. When I need a refresher they seem to ridicule me. I have caught many design issues and have confronted them on it which has led to some embarrassing situations for them professionally and that doesnt help either. Whenever they can they will call out my perceived ignorance when in fact it could be about something that I simply need to review. I have been made to look like a fool more than once, a few times credit given to them for discoveries I made and told them, and despite my positive self talk I can't help but feel like a fool myself, my self esteem is at an all time low. I have been given the task of creating a function tester and I have avoided it for months now. Now management is breathing down my kneck and I really can't give an explanation as to why it is not done without embarrassing myself further. This thing has requirements for i2c and AC/DC power, current sensing, light detection, not to mention a go-no-go output. Its a big project and some of the technology I have barely got any real hands on experience with. When I tap into the EE's for any help they either shoo me away, ridicule me, act like they dont know what I'm talking about (play dumb) or take on that project themselves.
I'm at the point where I feel like I have no face value when it comes to electronics here and I am seriously feeling like quitting. There is no team that I can tap into, there is no one I can shadow and ride along, there is very little opportunity for me to ask questions and 'jog' my memory on these things. I asked my boss about this and he basically told me that no one above me has any obligation to train me on any of these things.
Is this NORMAL? Should I be seeking out new employment? Should I toss my degree in the trash? I feel like I'm worthless.