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For many years I have spoken to Columbia Engineering undergrads about jobs
and careers after graduation. Each year, I am surprised by how little SEAS
students know about specific career opportunities, choice of employers,
salaries and most importantly, what exactly will they do when they start
work.
Except for the very few students who have held summer jobs in industry or
those following in the footsteps of a parent or sibling, most engineering
students have no idea what they will actually do when they get out into the
real world. Several students have said that they plan to continue their
education by pursuing a Master's degree in engineering, primarily because
they
don't yet know what they want to do after graduating . Many students are
deeply worried that they don't know what they want to be when they graduate.
If any of this sounds familiar or hits home, I
would like to offer some
suggestions on how to make this very difficult choice a little easier and
more productive.
- Find out what engineers in your chosen field really do. This is easy if
your father or older brother is already working in the field, but if you
have no such connections, try the following.
- Talk to previous graduates. Every year some 200 Columbians
graduate and take jobs in industry. You may know some of them through
school clubs or teams or through the dorms. Others can be located
through the Engineering Alumni office by calling 212-854-2997. Many
SEAS Alumni are tracked through the Mentor Program and as volunteers
through the Center for Career Services. They would be very happy to
speak to undergrads either in person or by phone
about their jobs and those of entering recruits.
- Your professors are also great contacts into "the real world."
They keep in touch with former students and colleagues who work in your
field. They consult for several companies or government agencies that
may be of interest to you. They read trade journals that describe who
is doing what -- and whether they are doing it well. Ask your teachers
for introductions and for job advice.
- Visit young engineers to see where they work and what they do.
The contacts you made in step (a) above will frequently offer to
invite youin for a plant visit. Go to the plant. From dress codes to physical layout,
from informal to formal management, from hushed whispers to noisy bedlam,
your visit to a real engineering lab will create a lasting impression.
[There is often a quick sense of "I don't belong here" or "this place is
great" following such a visit.]
- Determine what kind of workplace you prefer. Are you most
comfortable in a lab or in a design center or on a shop floor? Do you
prefer customer contact or writing scientific papers? Do you prefer
problem solving or managing people? Are you happier in a small company
or do you prefer a large corporate setting?
- How is success rewarded? Find out the pay scales of engineers
1, 2, 5, 10 years out of school at companies of interest to you.
You can ask the company's personnel office or the engineer sponsoring
your visit about compensation and it is OK to ASK.! Do engineers go on
to manage others or do they become senior scientists devoted to solving
problems of increasing complexity?
- What happens if you make a mistake and choose the wrong job? This is one of the most frequently asked questions, usually whispered
while avoiding eye contact. The answer may surprise you. While choosing
a job and a career are indeed very important decisions, they tend not to
be the decision of a lifetime. Most engineers I know ask themselves the
question "Am I really in the right job?" continually throughout their
working careers. It is not a once-in-a-lifetime issue! The proof of this is, of
course, that the average Columbia graduate changes employers a few times
within 5-10 years of graduation. They change jobs because once they are
actually working, they become aware of job opportunities with other
employers that seem very inviting.There are opportunities to change jobs for higher pay or to be in a
different part of the country. Some companies lose contracts or become
unprofitable while others seem to be on a roll.Everyone wants to be
associated with a winner and many engineers change jobs to attain
positionsor salary which would take years more to achieve if they stayed where
they started. Others have to avoid a bad boss or a stifling atmosphere.
Most job changers wind up profiting from a move rather than losing from
it.
- What happens if you decide that engineering is not for
you? Once again, don't worry, since this is a frequent outcome. Although Columbia
does not have the hard data to show what percentage of SEAS graduates are
working outside of engineering, data does show that many opt to explore other
fields. This is not, I emphasize not, a sign of failure. Rather it is the
result of ambitious alumni pursuing careers which build on their quantitative
and qualitative skills and superb liberal arts training at Columbia.
Graduates often combine engineering with other disciplines -- law,
business, medicine,government to pursue new careers. They have not failed as engineers;
they have capitalized on their ability to combine several skills and
interests in newareas of opportunity. Every successful corporate executive or
businessman or attorney I have spoken to speaks with great pride about
their Columbia Engineering training and contacts.
So, cheer up! The outlook is not bleak.
You can make career decisions even without exhaustive, definitive data and without the wisdom of
Solomon. A well designed program to discover what your employment
possibilities are will work for you and make your decision easier. Then
pity your liberal arts friends. How are they going to figure out what
they will be when they grow up? The author is the General Partner of R.
S. Lauder, Gaspar & Co., LP, a Venture Capital firm that invests in
media, telecom and other startups worldwide
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