For the Engineers

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I got a BSEE and am looking for my first engineering job. I have no experience. I was wondering do u guys think starting off as a technician is a good stepping stone? Or is it a dead end job in regards to getting an engineering job.

The bottom rung of engineering is field engineer. You are way overqualified for a technician, plus your training is wrong to be a tech. You will be happier as an intern than a tech, and get paid the same.

Problem is that every intern position i've come across requires you to be enrolled in school.

do not be a technican unless you specifically are looking for less of a challenge / less human interaction. it's definitely a step back career-wise (though you should ask yourself where you want to end up as before you define what a "step back" really is)

the trouble with being a true blue engineer (at least in my industry, automotive) is that it is heavily more social than one would expect. you constantly have to deal with people, and most definitely people that are unaccepting of social impairments.

just something to think about.

I think the oddballs at my work outnumber the NTs like 10 to 1. We do Electro-mechanical engineering. We are sociable at work, but the NTs accept and support the rest of us because we do the majority of the work, hence bring in the most profits. I suspect a few of the NTs act odd just to fit in better.

I have a BSEE, and my title is "Technical Specialist." I took the position because I saw my fellow engineers working 50-plus hours each week, and getting no overtime pay. My salary is hourly plus overtime, and even though my hourly rate is less than an "official" engineer's (based on a 40-hour week), I get paid more than they do for all the overtime I put in!

I work more directly with the customers than do the "official" engineers ("OE"), yet less directly than the people in marketing or sales. Since my work involves being the liaison between the OEs and everyone else (management, techs, operators, graphic artists, sales, marketing, customers, et cetera), the challenges are great, and I've had to learn those social skills that seem to come naturally to a non-aspie - it's called acting.

Your career is what you make of it. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Being an aspie is not an excuse, it's a condition.