- #1
tomizzo
- 114
- 2
Hello PF,
Something has arisen in the past couple weeks and really has me questions what to do with my entire life. I don't believe anyone on the forums knows my true identity, so I'll go into a little bit more detail than I would typically be comfortable doing.
I'll first give some background. I'm currently a Junior pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. While I do enjoy electricity and electronics, I have found that I have become a lot more interested in the controls aspect of electrical engineering. This is one area that I feel really incorporates a lot of other engineering into it other than the typical electrical design. I have always been a fan of math and physics and I feel like a control concentration allows me to learn and work in these areas as well.
For a total time of 10 months, I was working for a company within the automation industry. I was able to get involved with programming and industrial circuit design that involved controlling physical systems. Getting to study the physics of a mechanical system and implementing control via electrical means was something that was pretty enjoyable. I was able to expand my knowledge in control, advanced mathematics, physics, and programming.
I had gotten to a point (as an intern) where the company began trusting me and was allowing me to spend quite a bit of money for my projects. The trust they gave me seemed somewhat abnormal for someone in my position. And then the bomb was dropped. I was offered a full time position, as a junior with 3 semester left, I was in disbelief.
While it is an honor to get a full time opportunity so early into my education, at the same time, I don't know how to interpret it. I don't have anything to compare the offer to in order for me to truly understand the offer. The annual salary is something that I have nothing to compare to as well.
Furthermore, there are still other areas of control engineering that I would like to explore before making such a commitment.
So my questions for you PF regard the idea of personal career choice and control engineering opportunities outside the automation industry.
Going back to you education, how would you treat something like this? If the opportunity fell on your lap, what would you do? Do you believe there is value in experiencing as much as you can before making a commitment while you're still in school? Were there any career choices that you regretted shortly after graduation?
As I stated earlier, I'm interested in other areas of control engineering and the automation industry is a single area. Are there many opportunities out there where I could implement control theory in other types of systems such as robotics, aviation etc.? Do any of you have experience in these industries and do opportunities exist?
I realize these are very open ended questions and I'm more interested in simply having a discussion with experienced engineers/designers.
Something has arisen in the past couple weeks and really has me questions what to do with my entire life. I don't believe anyone on the forums knows my true identity, so I'll go into a little bit more detail than I would typically be comfortable doing.
I'll first give some background. I'm currently a Junior pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. While I do enjoy electricity and electronics, I have found that I have become a lot more interested in the controls aspect of electrical engineering. This is one area that I feel really incorporates a lot of other engineering into it other than the typical electrical design. I have always been a fan of math and physics and I feel like a control concentration allows me to learn and work in these areas as well.
For a total time of 10 months, I was working for a company within the automation industry. I was able to get involved with programming and industrial circuit design that involved controlling physical systems. Getting to study the physics of a mechanical system and implementing control via electrical means was something that was pretty enjoyable. I was able to expand my knowledge in control, advanced mathematics, physics, and programming.
I had gotten to a point (as an intern) where the company began trusting me and was allowing me to spend quite a bit of money for my projects. The trust they gave me seemed somewhat abnormal for someone in my position. And then the bomb was dropped. I was offered a full time position, as a junior with 3 semester left, I was in disbelief.
While it is an honor to get a full time opportunity so early into my education, at the same time, I don't know how to interpret it. I don't have anything to compare the offer to in order for me to truly understand the offer. The annual salary is something that I have nothing to compare to as well.
Furthermore, there are still other areas of control engineering that I would like to explore before making such a commitment.
So my questions for you PF regard the idea of personal career choice and control engineering opportunities outside the automation industry.
Going back to you education, how would you treat something like this? If the opportunity fell on your lap, what would you do? Do you believe there is value in experiencing as much as you can before making a commitment while you're still in school? Were there any career choices that you regretted shortly after graduation?
As I stated earlier, I'm interested in other areas of control engineering and the automation industry is a single area. Are there many opportunities out there where I could implement control theory in other types of systems such as robotics, aviation etc.? Do any of you have experience in these industries and do opportunities exist?
I realize these are very open ended questions and I'm more interested in simply having a discussion with experienced engineers/designers.