Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
(OP)
I've been at a huge corporation for about 8 years now. I have watched a friend who started when I did grow his career to one where he travels the world as a very respected energy conservation engineer, with a PE. At last check, he makes somewhere around $200K/yr. Now, I know it never helps our self confidence when we compare to others, but it has concerned me for a long time that he seems to have built his reputation and identity as a very technically proficient expert. I, on the other hand, feel that from day 1 here, my technical skills have atrophied, as I knew they weren't being used, however, I stayed because at first I was getting stable, then the economy tanked.
Now, what seemed a good stable thing now feels like a trap that has used me up, and I'm afraid I won't get out. On the other hand, I have other friends who work for local firms who I think do similarly to me as far as pay, and yet I hear constant stories of their having to work 60+ hours a week (over 40 is highly rare for me).
So I don't know what to think, however, I think I would like to be known like that first friend - for a technical skill, that is transferable somewhere else. I've tried to begin freelancing, but am having a hard time competing with India/Pakistan/China for the kinds of jobs I'm offering (PCB design mainly - something I always wanted to do, but couldn't find a career in here in the US).
Am I being stupid to want to leave this? I have great benefits (health care, 401K, pension, better than average pay). I just don't feel like a "real" engineer here. I don't have any knowledge I own that I can take with me anywhere else. If I lose this job, I fear that I'll be totally irrelevant.
Thanks for any advice.
-D
Now, what seemed a good stable thing now feels like a trap that has used me up, and I'm afraid I won't get out. On the other hand, I have other friends who work for local firms who I think do similarly to me as far as pay, and yet I hear constant stories of their having to work 60+ hours a week (over 40 is highly rare for me).
So I don't know what to think, however, I think I would like to be known like that first friend - for a technical skill, that is transferable somewhere else. I've tried to begin freelancing, but am having a hard time competing with India/Pakistan/China for the kinds of jobs I'm offering (PCB design mainly - something I always wanted to do, but couldn't find a career in here in the US).
Am I being stupid to want to leave this? I have great benefits (health care, 401K, pension, better than average pay). I just don't feel like a "real" engineer here. I don't have any knowledge I own that I can take with me anywhere else. If I lose this job, I fear that I'll be totally irrelevant.
Thanks for any advice.
-D





RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
Until your discontent becomes overwhelming, or you are forced to, you are unlikely to change.
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RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
Then you need to see what skills the company VP or President has that you need to acquire. This may be marketing, public speaking, finance or human resources/social skills. Acquire those skills over time. Earn your P.E. license. You will then arrive one day at having technical, business and leadership skills. That day you can command high pay/travel position or you can start your own top notch consulting firm.
The last 8 years, your company planned your career. You really didn't have a choice. Next 8 years you can pick your destination. Good luck.
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
a) allow me to expand technically and
b) would allow for growth in both career and income
and that would potentially offer more challenge than the corporate environment. I'm an EE without a PE.
In case you think I'm whining, I'm not. I am grateful for the chance to have worked here and experienced what I have. However, I find there are few skills I can quantitatively say I've gained. I know there are lots of people and communication skills I would take with me, but I can't say the same for the technical, and that is what concerns me.
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
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RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
There is something to be said for shooting for something and taking a chance with little to no evidence on the hope of succeeding, but I have learned I actually get little to no satisfaction from taking a leap with that mindset when I fail. I may learn from it, but I'm not one of these people who enjoy beating my head against a wall a thousand times until I make it. I prefer to learn from the past trials of others to make better informed decisions about the future, hence why I'm posing the question here rather than pursuing a haphazard strategy of "going with whatever comes along" like most people seem to prefer.
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
You continue to come up with reasons to not do something unless you're guaranteed a certain result. Life doesn't work that way, so you have to suck up the risk, or not, in which case, you will end your career in a job that you appear to dislike immensely. And, you'll end your career immensely unhappy, stressed out, and resentful. You can just as easily burn out in a job you despise, and you can potentially thrive on the work overload from a job you love.
I suggest you read a book called Johnny Bunko: http://www.danpink.com/books/johnny-bunko The gist of the book is that there is no "grand plan" that you can embark upon and be certain of reaching some mythic goal. I ended college thinking I would be designing ICs for a living, but after 30+ years, I've yet to do that. And yet, I have zero regrets about the choices and turns that I've made. I love my job, and sometimes find it difficult to limit myself to 40 hours of work.
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RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
There is much you cannot control, but there is much that you can. Barriers and obstacles are often self-imposed. Bottom line, you have to do something that you love, otherwise you just have to go to work everyday. Just my 2 cents.
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
Is there anything preventing you from pursuing your PE now?
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
I've been in exactly your position...large corporation...yada yada. I was a little different in that I had a P.E. and a responsible, lucrative position of responsibility in said corporation (VP, Senior Consultant)...but if you want to succeed, you have to risk failure!
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
The problem here is that no one has been in the exact same situation and nobody else on here is you. What one of us might do, did do or won't do may be completely different from you...and with likely different results and satisfaction of the outcome. I have a friend who just left his stable, well-paying job to spend the better part of a year backpacking and camping throughout the nations national parks. Would I love to be able to do that? Yes. Can I feed my family with that? No. Are you willing to risk your stability for possibly something better...maybe no job at all? Only you can really answer that. Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
Any ideas what your friend did differently than yourself to get to that position you want?
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RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
For a follow-up, if anyone is still reading this thread, could I ask for advice as to 1) some good ways to advertise myself if I were to attempt to be a freelancer, and 2) some good ways to advertise myself to prospective new companies? My ultimate goal would be to get out of this environment into a more "traditional" (a.k.a. non-corporate) company, and move on to my own freelancing in my spare time, assuming the new "regular" job doesn't turn out to be really great.
Also, as for the PE, I know at my company, it doesn't mean anything, although we have thousands of engineers. I notice quite a few people on this forum seem to have them and advocate getting one. From my experience, I have a few friends, other than the one mentioned in my first post, who all said they went and got one and it didn't seem to help them, as in they didn't get a pay increase and weren't offered any higher-responsibility assignments. I'm assuming this is the old phenomenon of your credentials usually being perceived better by your next employer than by your current one.
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
TTFN

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RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
RE: Have been in corporate land - how to get out?
Take a look around, and you'll probably see a handful of individuals who are in positions that would typically warrant someone 10-15 years their senior. Ask yourself - what did they do to get there? You can bet they probably ruffled a few feathers along the way, actively pursued increased levels of responsibility, and maybe even blew a few wisps of smoke every now and then to stage the mood...