What jobs can I get with a PhD in EE and web development skills?

[ProbablyNotMe]

I posted here before about my struggle to secure a job in Canada. I am still in the same position. Many and many rejections letters. I consulted with someone I know who is working in the industry in my field, and told me "honestly, with 3 years gap in the last 6, and 4 years since your last job in the field, you cannot compete with other candidates, not even fresh graduates who worked on newer technologies".

It's been almost one year since I was laid off from my last job due to covid-19, and I need to find a job soon for financial reasons, any job to survive.

As I mentioned before, I invested my time while working in my last job, which wasn't related to my studies, to learn web development, to have better opportunities (a couple of years ago I invested my time for data science, but at the end I didn't like working with data. It was boring for me, although maybe it is more aligned with my background).

Anyway, once I was laid off, I was very confident in my abilities in web development. I have built 3 large projects and deployed them, and put the source code on GitHub. Unfortunately, all my applications were rejected. No one told me the reason, but I assume because I don't have experience in the field, and because of the gaps in resume, which looks ugly. In the last two months I started to apply for data entry and technical writer jobs, but again no luck.

The rejections read "we reviewed your experience, and we decided not to move forward with your application". My question is: what other jobs I can get immediately with my background? I have a PhD in EE with specialization is DSP for wireless communication with a strong background in mathematics, and statistics, and good programming skills in MATLAB, and some knowledge in Python. I also have good knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS and React.

Thanks for reading and for any suggestions

 

[hutchphd]

a couple of years ago I invested my time for data science, but at the end I didn't like working with data. It was boring for me, although maybe it is more aligned with my background)

What specifically does this mean.? What did you do and what specifically was boring? Among all the strange things I have done with a theoretical physics PhD, some of the most interesting have involved data mining and searching for anomalies. It also turns out also to be occasionally lucrative.

 

[ProbablyNotMe]

What specifically does this mean.? What did you do and what specifically was boring? Among all the strange things I have done with a theoretical physics PhD, some of the most interesting have involved data mining and searching for anomalies. It also turns out also to be occasionally lucrative.

Collecting data, cleaning it, and reformatting it. This wasn't interesting to me. I worked on a couple of datasets on Kaggle after reading in Introduction to Statistical Learning book. On the other hand, I found myself enjoying the visualization part, and that actually what led me to web development, because I wanted to learn D3.js, which requires knowledge in html, css, and js.

 

[Locrian]

Boring? I mean, sometimes we have to do boring things to make a living. I'm in analytics and my job is never boring, but it sure as hell isn't always fun or enjoyable. There are parts I genuinely enjoy, but I wouldn't come to work every day for free - the money I get paid definitely makes it all worth it.

I don't know what to tell you. I think the idea that you pivoted from DS to web development is really weird, given your situation. You shouldn't be trying to do That One Thing, you should be trying to do just about anything - you should have four or five different kinds of resumes for different industries and careers (DS, web development, engineering, physics, insurance sales, burlesque show reviewer, etc.) and sending them out constantly, and you should be taking whatever you get. You're way past the stage where you get to be picky.

I can't imagine what anyone on this board is going to be able to tell you that you haven't already been told. You need a job - any job - and to start working forward. Find a place to sweep floors and do that for six months, then let's strategize on how to make a leap from there.

 

[hutchphd]

This wasn't interesting to me. I worked on a couple of datasets on Kaggle after reading in Introduction to Statistical Learning book.

Seriously?
That gave you sufficient information to throw in the towel?

I will simply reiterate @Locrian. It is no mystery to me why potential employers are not thrilled. It is not in our stars...

 

[StatGuy2000]

@ProbablyNotMe , I (along with others) gave you a series of advice in my previous thread to you.

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/many-rejections-not-knowing-why.1003069/page-3

All I can say is that you are now in an even worse position than before in terms of your employability.

The only other advice I can suggest for you in that thread that I have not already provided are the following:

1. Go and try to speak with someone about some form of welfare benefits. Since you were laid off due to COVID-19, you should qualify for CRB (check this link here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html)

2. Try applying to any job with an opening, even those that do not require any kind of education (retail, Uber/Lyft driving, truck driving, general labour in construction, etc.).

3. Try and apply to positions outside of Canada.

BTW, in that previous thread, you never did mention in which province of Canada you are located in. Why not tell us where? PM me if you are not comfortable providing this information.

 

[symbolipoint]

2. Try applying to any job with an opening, even those that do not require any kind of education (retail, Uber/Lyft driving, truck driving, general labour in construction, etc.).

Just be careful with some of what's listed in the suggestion point #2. Some retail jobs representatives could still be picky and take up people with retail experience first. Truck Driving would require specific training and the proper license. General Labour (labor) might be a good one, but could depend on what your physical conditioning is currently.

 

[paralleltransport]

Are you willing to move?

There's currently a large amount of hiring in the bay area in the US. PhD EE in wireless DSP sounds like the type of background a lot of people (including my company) is looking for.

 

[ProbablyNotMe]

Are you willing to move?

There's currently a large amount of hiring in the bay area in the US. PhD EE in wireless DSP sounds like the type of background a lot of people (including my company) is looking for.

Yes, I am willing to move anywhere in the world. I have applied to the US to companies like Qualcomm, Ericsson, Samsung, InterDigital, Apple ... etc that have research departments in my field, but haven't heard back from them. I find myself applying again and again to the same aforementioned companies (in addition to Huawei and Nokia) for different positions, and in different countries and continents, but keep getting the same results. Other positions I found in the US required a valid US residency status, like a green card or citizenship (for security clearance), which I don't have.

 

[paralleltransport]

Yes, I am willing to move anywhere in the world. I have applied to the US to companies like Qualcomm, Ericsson, Samsung, InterDigital, Apple ... etc that have research departments in my field, but haven't heard back from them. I find myself applying again and again to the same aforementioned companies (in addition to Huawei and Nokia) for different positions, and in different countries and continents, but keep getting the same results. Other positions I found in the US required a valid US residency status, like a green card or citizenship (for security clearance), which I don't have.

You should apply for ML or data scientists positions. They seem to basically want someone who can code and do math. Don't have to be for a sexy company, startups here are thirsting for that. There's a gazillion of those openings. But I find it hard to believe you are not even being interviewed, PhD DSP with work experience in wireless I'm sure you got at least phone interview?

 

[ProbablyNotMe]

You should apply for ML or data scientists positions. They seem to basically want someone who can code and do math. Don't have to be for a sexy company, startups here are thirsting for that. There's a gazillion of those openings. But I find it hard to believe you are not even being interviewed, PhD DSP with work experience in wireless I'm sure you got at least phone interview?

For the positions I applied to the US I had zero phone interviews in the last 3 years. In 2018 I had one phone interview that resulted in a technical interview, but didn't result in an offer. Before that I had a phone interview but the company said they need a Canadian citizenship which I didn't have. In Canada I had maybe 5 phone interviews in the last 5 years, and zero technical interviews.

 

[Office_Shredder]

Now I'm wondering, are you applying to a bunch of defense contractors who need security clearance for their research and product development teams?

 

[ProbablyNotMe]

Now I'm wondering, are you applying to a bunch of defense contractors who need security clearance for their research and product development teams?

No. As I mentioned above, I apply mainly to telecom companies like Ericsson, Nokia, and Qualcomm. I haven't applied to any position that requires a security clearance. The US company that required a Canadian citizenship, needed that for immigration purposes to issue the Visa, as I was told, not for security purposes.

 

[paralleltransport]

No. As I mentioned above, I apply mainly to telecom companies like Ericsson, Nokia, and Qualcomm. I haven't applied to any position that requires a security clearance. The US company that required a Canadian citizenship, needed that for immigration purposes to issue the Visa, as I was told, not for security purposes.

Currently, Apple, Facebook and Google are all aggressively hiring hardware engineers in the bay area. Facebook is expanding its hardware VR effort and so is google. They have dozens of openings every week. You may have to market yourself as more general purpose DSP engineer than just wireless. Apple is always hiring, year round as far as I can tell. Nvidia is hiring aggressively as well.

 

[ProbablyNotMe]

Currently, Apple, Facebook and Google are all aggressively hiring hardware engineers in the bay area. Facebook is expanding its hardware VR effort and so is google. They have dozens of openings every week. You may have to market yourself as more general purpose DSP engineer than just wireless. Apple is always hiring, year round as far as I can tell. Nvidia is hiring aggressively as well.

The problem is not I am not finding positions I am qualified for and in my specialty, but it's that the vast majority of my applications are rejected from the beginning. I have been trying to figure out why, but to no avail, specially I don't get any feedback on my applications, and the people I reached out to for advice and help, including my PhD supervisor, kept telling me to keep applying and not to give up, and nothing more.

 

[paralleltransport]

The problem is not I am not finding positions I am qualified for and in my specialty, but it's that the vast majority of my applications are rejected from the beginning. I have been trying to figure out why, but to no avail, specially I don't get any feedback on my applications, and the people I reached out to for advice and help, including my PhD supervisor, kept telling me to keep applying and not to give up, and nothing more.

I'm really sorry to hear that. You should definitely have someone look at your resume. I had co-workers who took 5+ gap years (basically retired early and then were called back to duty again due to shortage of talent), so it's not undoable. One thing though is they had a pretty good network. I would also talk to your professor and find his ex-students, where they are working and get you in contact with them. If you did good work in your PhD that's maybe a good alternative.