Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
(OP)
Hey, is it career suicide for a person with an engineering degree looking for entry level work to take an engineering technician position just to get some experience?





RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
my two cents
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Example: One of my clients is in deep trouble from decades of "technician to engineer" culture. The technicians who became engineers held onto the habits that where developed while a tech. A couple of decades later, they are still unable to apply complex engineering principles because they continure to look for the quick fix. Of course now, their company is dishing out millions for the sevices of an engineering firm to fix decades of poor engineering, meahwhile the engineers (who started as techs) are on the backside of a bad career and looking for work elsewhere while nearing retirement. Its sad really.
The thing is...your first job within your career will mold the way you approach solutions for years to come. Being a tech and being an engineer are completely different carreer paths.
I suggest looking for an entry level engineering position and getting your P.E. as soon as possible (rather than working as a tech). You can pick up the practical stuff along the way by working closely with the techs in the field. It doesn't mean you actually have to be a tech to have the practical knowledge.
Also, some of my college buddies who chose the tech path have been stuck and continue to be stuck 5 years later. Companies want to hire young engineering grads so that they can mold them into good young engineers. Profitable companies do not like invest in old techs in attempt to mold them into young engineers. Its like teaching an old dog new tricks.
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Plus, generally speaking, you college boys are far too soft for field work, dealing directly with hard-nosed superintendents and subs, etc. It'll probably be best if you stick to the seat shining, paper shuffling, and pencil sharpening, and let the techs do the real work.
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
these college kids need the field experience, because they're the one's who are eventually going to be overseeing what the techs do. but not for too long, because i know i didn't get my degrees to be an inspector my entire life.
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Thank god I am doing design work now. I dont want to be in the field anymore. I've had a crane tipped over close by me. I saw a guy next to me got ran over by a truck (thank God he is alive and able to walk. It was at least 8 ton over his legs. I've seen enough for not wanting to work in hazardous working site anymore. I valued my experience. If you cant find anything else, then go for it. Keep looking while you are working though.
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
I agree with Senselessticker (star for you). Engineers and Techs have two diff skill sets. Techs are out there solving problems on the fly while Engineers are eliminating problems at the design stage using there knowledge from college. But, both have to work together to get a good product out the door. Also, whatever the Engr design it will be the Tech's problem down the line, manufacturing and in the field.
As for the OP, if you had a choice btw Tech or Engr job take the Engr job. You will eventually learn the hardware in time, plus trust me; the Techs will tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it.
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
During my field time, I had to tell many a contractor that they were not getting density, or the concrete was out of spec, etc. Interestingly, I found that it was frightening to confront the contractor at first, but it eventually got much easier with time. There have been a few times, under certain conditions and with certain contractors, that it was actually enjoyable...
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Question:
Do you want to work as a technician, or is this something you are looking into because you have run into some difficulty finding an engineering job?
Good luck,
Joseph
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
Though once you've got that engineering degree, it's your move.
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
I couldn't get work as an aircraft engineer so I wound up working as an aircraft mechanic for a while. During that period, I also went to school in the evenings to get my Master's degree.
Earlier comments in this thread said that your first job may tend to "pigeon hole" you as a far as future career development is concerned. That's probably true in my case. I've mostly worked in certifications, modifications, alterations, and repair. In fact, I've been a DER for the past several years.
Another post talked about tech-to-engineers that are, "still unable to apply complex engineering principles because they continure to look for the quick fix". I would say that, in my case, nothing could be further from the truth. I have an extensive background in classical analysis methods and can make accurate accessments by hand that most "cube-jockeys" would require an FEA package to evaluate, and I'm reasonably adept at Patran/Nastran for
those times when I do need it.
I guess what I'm saying is, as long as you continue to educate yourself, the "hands-on" experience you obtain as a tech could even become an asset.
--
Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds
-- Albert Einstein
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
For the EIT it is a necessary step in professional development to be able to do this work so that you can recognize good tech work and fully understand the limitations and risks inherent in the data as well as to manage the work of techs later in your career.
To take a tech position for longer than you would do tech work as an EIT (6 to 12 months) would be career suicide. You would be branded as someone who could not cut it as an engineer and then even if you got an engineering position in a couple of years you would be regulated to the lower level technical areas and have to prove yourself over and over again.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
If you work as a tech in an organization with a lot of upward mobility, and if you can demonstrate your competence, the tech job could well be a lead in to an engineering position.
That's how it turned out for me.
RE: Engineer working as an Engineering Technician
On the plus side, I think practical hands-on machine shop and fabrication experience is extremely valuable to an engineer. The problem is, most engineering managers don't understand the benefit that experience brings to the job.