Changing industries in engineering
Changing industries in engineering
(OP)
I am about to graduate from the University of Alabama in May with a Mechanical Engineering degree. I currently have 2 offers, one from Georgia Pacific and one from a small company I am currently interning with. I am on the verge of accepting the job from Georgia Pacific but I know I don't want to be in the paper industry my entire life. How common is it to switch industries as an Engineer. I would lke to get into the petroleum industry and the majority of the jobs I have seen required 3 to 5 years of experience in a related field. I guess my biggest concern is cornering myself into the paper industry for a lifetime. Any thoughts?





RE: Changing industries in engineering
In my experience, it is hard to get pigeonholed or typecast in your first years out of school. Changing industries is not uncommon. If you make the oilfields your goal, you'll get there. Concentrate on picking up the experience you didn't learn in school that is relevant across industrial boundaries.
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: Changing industries in engineering
So in my 42 year (46 counting my co-op time) career I guess you could say that I've changed 'careers' twice (although the last change, Sales -> R&D, was internal) and have never looked back. Granted, these changes were each built on a foundation that had been established in the previous job that I had been doing so this might not appear to be as drastic as what some of my friends from engineering school did after graduation, two of which are now medical doctors and one who recently retired from the CIA.
So for what it's worth, if you think that the new, contemplated career more closely matches what your CURRENT goals are (NOT the ones that you may have had when you first left school), then I'd go for it. If you don't, 15 or 20 years from now you'll look back and wonder what your life would have been like if you had taken the plunge and if your situation did not turn as well as you had hoped that it would, you'll make yourself, and your family, miserable, just putting in your time waiting for either retirement or a pink-slip. As I said before, I thank God I made the decisions that I did, when I did, and I'm not sure that if given a second chance, that I would have done anything differently. Life is too short (or long, depending on your point of view) to spend your life second guessing what you did or did not do, so the best advise that I can give is to make a decision one way or the other, but once you have, go out and make the most of it otherwise you will always feel like you missed the target somehow.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
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To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Changing industries in engineering
You wish that were your only problem
And, changing industries is absurdly easy, I went from aerospace to commercial to aerospace with nary a problem. Learn as much as you can with as much breadth as you can handle, and you'll be fine. Breadth is better than depth, at least, for me. It means that I can handle stuff that's slightly or largely outside of my comfort zone without cowering in fear.
TTFN

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RE: Changing industries in engineering
Your "career" is Engineering, and at this point it is a blank canvas. You get to color it by taking skills, knowledge, and experience from all the different sources you encounter along the way. Let your path take you where it may and enjoy the ride.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Changing industries in engineering
RE: Changing industries in engineering
Going in the paper industry for a few years won't hurt and it isn't hard to switch. If you want to go into petrochem I would try to get in the pukp mill side (if the mill has one, Pennington, Leaf River, and Monticello all do and I assuming it may be one of those three mills) as it would be a better fit than a paper machine side as you have pressure vessels, piping, corrosion issues, etc. that are more in-line with a petro-chem plant. You can learn a lot of great skills that are eaily transferrable to other industries.
Everyone's advice above is solid and congratulations.
RE: Changing industries in engineering
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"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
RE: Changing industries in engineering
Also how does your pe license work with changing careers. If I passed the Mech PE in HVAC and changed say to Civil, would I have to take the PE again
Future HVAC PE Engineer
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RE: Changing industries in engineering
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.