[SM335i]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

It takes effort in any career path tiger where you want. Some know their path, others, as myself having taken different paths.

You can always give a good reasoning for why you went out of engineering.

Sounds like you have a passion for it and gave up when you found yourself in a shitty and non ethical place. Use this as leverage when searching for a new place. The best workers in any field are those with a wider range of experience, thus perspective, so people will love to hire you.

Never put your head down and learn to have a different perspective on why things happened (the brighter side).

I say get with some trustful recruiters and people you know in the industry and get back on that path.

This is from personal experience but I won't bore you with details.

Also don't limit yourself to your current geographical area.

Good point, I'm the same way, I take paths in order to figure out exactly what I want and need, sucks that time is wasted though.

[SM335i]

Originally Posted by supernoob

You have a little time here. Take a few which refresher courses and get ready for flint Michigan. Legislation to rebuild the water supply system will absolutely happen and gargantuan amounts of tax dollars will be hurled into it. The city will be dug up and rebuilt.

What I'm suggesting is that if you time your training and resume properly you can jump on a rubber stamped train of free spending to rebuild a destroyed city.

But that's if you get in.... If you want to move away for a few years...

I wouldn't be surprised that being an engineer on a project like that would look very good on a resume for future projects as well.

That's my suggestion. It's entirely possible that my idea is way out of line and really stupid.

do you have any resources to show for that?

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by gtron

tl;dr

so kind.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by SM335i

Good point, I'm the same way, I take paths in order to figure out exactly what I want and need, sucks that time is wasted though.

that's what I'm saying though. Time is not wasted as you have different experiences vs the next candidate that you can leverage to make yourself stand out more than the next person.

here's an example - who would you hire for a finance job?

5 years total experience: finance+market intelligence+systems implementation+deal negotiation+contract restructuring+XYZ+ABC+blahblahblah

(or)

7 years total experience: finance.

LOL that is no fucking question right there (and if the person wants to hire the guy with more years in ONE skill, you don't want to be there because you will be working with the same idiots - idiots hire idiots)!

leverage your other experiences, it will always come into play somehow.

[csu87]

Construction in general tends to be shady.

That being said, still to your morals and ethics and find a company that aligns with what you believe in.

Also, bigger companies tend to have less of those shady subcontractors that do the things that turned you off the last place (wrong sub grade, trash in ditches). Bigger companies get bigger projects that the shady mom and pop shops cant handle, so you get more established subs.

Try starting there.

[jtodd_fl]

I don't usually do the whole soundbite/platitude thing, but this reminded me of this thread. OP, I can tell you, at least from my perspective, this is absolutely true when I hire. Obviously, there is a judgment made about competence and capability, but once that hurdle is cleared...

[nyalpine90]

Keep your head up high..

i graduated with electronic engineering degree (resistors, capacitor etc) nope that not what i wanted to do for a living lol .

But during an internship, I came across MEP engineering which is mechanical, electrical, sprinkler and plumbing. I did draft work for engineers for few years and I loved it.

I did work for few companies that I wasnt happy, but I kept pushing forward until I landed in private engineering firm. Theres always pros and cons working for big firm or small firm.

To keep story short, I do the plumbing design for all of projects company takes on.
I cant slack, 100% responsible for design. I also draft for the other trades. I can work from home, if i need to. If i need to leave early I can, hours are flexible. i work on multiple projects at same time, so its not easy but I enjoy it. I been able to grow and mature with company, from being single to getting married last year. Im going to be a father this summer! This year will mark 15 years with company.

[Kong Sheng Han]

Man, I'm hoping this doesn't happen to me after I get a Public Health degree. GL OP.

[SM335i]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

that's what I'm saying though. Time is not wasted as you have different experiences vs the next candidate that you can leverage to make yourself stand out more than the next person.

here's an example - who would you hire for a finance job?

5 years total experience: finance+market intelligence+systems implementation+deal negotiation+contract restructuring+XYZ+ABC+blahblahblah

(or)

7 years total experience: finance.

LOL that is no fucking question right there (and if the person wants to hire the guy with more years in ONE skill, you don't want to be there because you will be working with the same idiots - idiots hire idiots)!

leverage your other experiences, it will always come into play somehow.

Good point, my experiences are across the whole spectrum, like currently I'm managing a Trucking company, I do invoices, loads, dispatch, safety, broker relations.. pretty everything, it has nothing to do with engineering, but there is a lot of problem solving and responsibility involved.

Originally Posted by csu87

Construction in general tends to be shady.

That being said, still to your morals and ethics and find a company that aligns with what you believe in.

Also, bigger companies tend to have less of those shady subcontractors that do the things that turned you off the last place (wrong sub grade, trash in ditches). Bigger companies get bigger projects that the shady mom and pop shops cant handle, so you get more established subs.

Try starting there.

Construction is shady, I also thought about getting a general constructor license and just do small projects or sell them to those who do not have a license.

Originally Posted by jtodd_fl

I don't usually do the whole soundbite/platitude thing, but this reminded me of this thread. OP, I can tell you, at least from my perspective, this is absolutely true when I hire. Obviously, there is a judgment made about competence and capability, but once that hurdle is cleared...

I like that, I love positive attitude in a work place, that was always my goal, when I was at the DOT, the higher-up managers constantly complimented me on my enthusiasm and positivity.

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

Keep your head up high..

i graduated with electronic engineering degree (resistors, capacitor etc) nope that not what i wanted to do for a living lol .

But during an internship, I came across MEP engineering which is mechanical, electrical, sprinkler and plumbing. I did draft work for engineers for few years and I loved it.

I did work for few companies that I wasnt happy, but I kept pushing forward until I landed in private engineering firm. Theres always pros and cons working for big firm or small firm.

To keep story short, I do the plumbing design for all of projects company takes on.
I cant slack, 100% responsible for design. I also draft for the other trades. I can work from home, if i need to. If i need to leave early I can, hours are flexible. i work on multiple projects at same time, so its not easy but I enjoy it. I been able to grow and mature with company, from being single to getting married last year. Im going to be a father this summer! This year will mark 15 years with company.

Congrats man!

I just feel like I invested so much time in this degree only to be limited by it, you know? I think I will try got get into other forms of engineering even though I'm civil, cause engineer is an engineer right?

[davis449]

OP, everywhere you work there will be shadiness. Welcome to the world. You're only just finding out what degree of shadiness you can deal with. This is all a process. Trust me. I didn't find out how much tolerance I had until I was 32...34 now and I know where the threshold is.

[Aatish]

The main reason why I went into mechanical engineering is because I like cars A LOT.

I'm going to make the assumption that you went into Civil/Transportation because you had a passion for something related to the field. From what you've said in the original post, you seem dedicated to the field and actually like doing the work. Thats really good, especially in this day and age.

Did you ever find a reason for why your work was dismissed?

I've been in situations where I've worked my ass off, put heart into my work, and ultimately had it pushed down. It's a shitty feeling and it does slow me down a bit...but I never let it stop me completely to the point where I forget all my skills and knowledge.

Engineering degrees are very valuable degrees, so don't get the idea that you not being in the field for a couple years means your worthless.

[nyalpine90]

follow your heart, if your passionate about it dont give up!

Originally Posted by SM335i

Good point, my experiences are across the whole spectrum, like currently I'm managing a Trucking company, I do invoices, loads, dispatch, safety, broker relations.. pretty everything, it has nothing to do with engineering, but there is a lot of problem solving and responsibility involved.



Construction is shady, I also thought about getting a general constructor license and just do small projects or sell them to those who do not have a license.



I like that, I love positive attitude in a work place, that was always my goal, when I was at the DOT, the higher-up managers constantly complimented me on my enthusiasm and positivity.



Congrats man!

I just feel like I invested so much time in this degree only to be limited by it, you know? I think I will try got get into other forms of engineering even though I'm civil, cause engineer is an engineer right?