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Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were at a clothing store shopping. One of the employees walked by then stopped and looked at me. I looked back and he looked really familiar. I said he looked familiar, and he said yes. Turned out we went to college engineering school together. We took the same train home together each time. We studied in the same study group together.
We talked for a little bit to catch up. He said after college he never was able to find a job and finally settled for a job at this store. I got a job and have been on a certain engineering career path. I've made it to middle management while he never found an engineering job at all.
It's been making me depressed all night last night and all day today. I guess I'm depressed because we used to study together and because that situation could have very well been my own.
I wanted to help him out, but stopped myself saying it out loud because it wasn't my business and my company wasn't hiring anyway.
Anyone else ever ran into old school mates and found out you were on a completely different path after?
Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were at a clothing store shopping. One of the employees walked by then stopped and looked at me. I looked back and he looked really familiar. I said he looked familiar, and he said yes. Turned out we went to college engineering school together. We took the same train home together each time. We studied in the same study group together.
We talked for a little bit to catch up. He said after college he never was able to find a job and finally settled for a job at this store. I got a job and have been on a certain engineering career path. I've made it to middle management while he never found an engineering job at all.
It's been making me depressed all night last night and all day today. I guess I'm depressed because we used to study together and because that situation could have very well been my own.
I wanted to help him out, but stopped myself saying it out loud because it wasn't my business and my company wasn't hiring anyway.
Anyone else ever ran into old school mates and found out you were on a completely different path after?
I have known of a few people in similar situations, but it is generally in some part their fault.
Engineering jobs are in high demand pretty much anywhere. The thing is that they generally require some "experience" in the field. A lot of times, these newly grads are people who refused to take co/op internship jobs during college, and hope to immediately land a full-fledged engineering job.
Coming out of college, I had to settle for a job doing draft and design work for an engineering firm for a few years. Eventually, that leads to a full engineering job, because now I have "experience."
My friend had to start his career as an ASSOCIATE Software engineer, making only about $40k/year. But it's a start, and he accepted it.
I know of some who don't want this type of work, because they "didn't go to school for drafting, or to be an associate."
My advice for your friend is to accept the lower-end jobs WITHIN the engineering field, and he will eventually work his way up to where he wants to be.
Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were at a clothing store shopping. One of the employees walked by then stopped and looked at me. I looked back and he looked really familiar. I said he looked familiar, and he said yes. Turned out we went to college engineering school together. We took the same train home together each time. We studied in the same study group together.
We talked for a little bit to catch up. He said after college he never was able to find a job and finally settled for a job at this store. I got a job and have been on a certain engineering career path. I've made it to middle management while he never found an engineering job at all.
It's been making me depressed all night last night and all day today. I guess I'm depressed because we used to study together and because that situation could have very well been my own.
I wanted to help him out, but stopped myself saying it out loud because it wasn't my business and my company wasn't hiring anyway.
Anyone else ever ran into old school mates and found out you were on a completely different path after?
I ran into a friend who pursued MS in Engineering along with me. She didn't get a job after graduation and has now settled as a stay at home wife. I too have had a good career so far and was haunted by her story for a couple of days. I did feel better a little while later because she had clearly accepted her life however it turned out.
I believe a lot of people will encounter such situations. Only the sensitive among them will feel such emotions though. That said, did your friend ask for help or did he want to network?
All the time. I run across people that I went to Uni with, and they even got better grades than me, and they couldn't find work in the field. Landing that first job is about more than grades and a lot of people don't get this. Its 50% luck as well. I just happened to run across the job posting at 3 in the morning and applied right away, I got a call 8 hours later.
All the time. I run across people that I went to Uni with, and they even got better grades than me, and they couldn't find work in the field. Landing that first job is about more than grades and a lot of people don't get this. Its 50% luck as well. I just happened to run across the job posting at 3 in the morning and applied right away, I got a call 8 hours later.
Persistence and networking were key for me, and most other I know who were successful. Grades look nice, but a lot of employers only want to see a diploma and a license.
I ran into a friend who pursued MS in Engineering along with me. She didn't get a job after graduation and has now settled as a stay at home wife. I too have had a good career so far and was haunted by her story for a couple of days. I did feel better a little while later because she had clearly accepted her life however it turned out.
I believe a lot of people will encounter such situations. Only the sensitive among them will feel such emotions though. That said, did your friend ask for help or did he want to network?
No and don't know. I gave him my info. I felt that he was kind of embarrassed based on how he avoided going into detail. For the most part, I let him tell me what he wanted to tell me without me asking.
I'm still a little perplexed, actually. While I don't know his overall grades, the times that we compared our grades he always had higher grades than me. And what's making me depressed even more is we both got our masters in engineering. So, it's not like he's just another BS engineer.
People skills, connections, general job skills and outside-the-box thinking matter more than good grades in most fields.
There is a reason why many people who spent too much of their their youth buried in textbooks tend to struggle in the real world and have a hard time landing and keeping good jobs.
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