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job decision
VeritasVR
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've got a tough decision to choose between two entry-level jobs, as I am graduating in about a month. Could you guys provide any experience on this sort of thing? I'm trying to weight the pros and cons.
One job is near Cleveland, right on the coast of Lake Erie. It's an R&D engineering position that deals with metallic corrosion. They use a lot of fumes, but the job is R&D which is what I want. The company is rather small (and owned by a place in Milan, Italy), and there's a chance I may not be able to move that far up. The pay is quite good for living on the outskirts of Cleveland, average for what an entry level engineer makes with a B.S. in Materials Sci and Eng degree. It's more like a Chem Eng job though. I'm not the biggest fan of Chem but metals aren't bad. The town is pretty much the same as the next job, which is...
For a very large company in New York state, near the border of PA/NY. The position is called a "Team Leader", which is basically managing people and events on the assembly line making a ceramic diesel filters. That's cool because I've learned processing and ceramics quite a bit. Unfortunately, I don't have business experience in "managing people" but I do have some leadership experience from sports and projects. I'd have to manage people who are in their 40s and 50s, and I'm only a college grad. It's also a rotating shift and I will be on all shifts at some point. I'm busy with school pretty much all the time anyways, so I'd like to think I'd be ready for it. I also wouldn't really be using my degree, which is a problem because I worked really fucking hard for it. But I'd rather not do technical stuff for my entire life though. I think the degree was just a necessary pre-requisite to get offered the job in the first place (as in, they would only take engineers because they are smart I guess?) After 2-3 years I could move into any field in the company: higher management, R&D engineer, etc. Everyone went through the program including the VP and plant managers, and they compared it to Officer Candidate School minus the military because it's a really hard job. They liked the fact that I wanted to get my MBA at some point. The pay is the same amount as the first job but the cost of living in NY is higher.
Any input on this situation? There seem to be a lot of pros and cons for the second job, and I'm trying to balance them out in my head.
One job is near Cleveland, right on the coast of Lake Erie. It's an R&D engineering position that deals with metallic corrosion. They use a lot of fumes, but the job is R&D which is what I want. The company is rather small (and owned by a place in Milan, Italy), and there's a chance I may not be able to move that far up. The pay is quite good for living on the outskirts of Cleveland, average for what an entry level engineer makes with a B.S. in Materials Sci and Eng degree. It's more like a Chem Eng job though. I'm not the biggest fan of Chem but metals aren't bad. The town is pretty much the same as the next job, which is...
For a very large company in New York state, near the border of PA/NY. The position is called a "Team Leader", which is basically managing people and events on the assembly line making a ceramic diesel filters. That's cool because I've learned processing and ceramics quite a bit. Unfortunately, I don't have business experience in "managing people" but I do have some leadership experience from sports and projects. I'd have to manage people who are in their 40s and 50s, and I'm only a college grad. It's also a rotating shift and I will be on all shifts at some point. I'm busy with school pretty much all the time anyways, so I'd like to think I'd be ready for it. I also wouldn't really be using my degree, which is a problem because I worked really fucking hard for it. But I'd rather not do technical stuff for my entire life though. I think the degree was just a necessary pre-requisite to get offered the job in the first place (as in, they would only take engineers because they are smart I guess?) After 2-3 years I could move into any field in the company: higher management, R&D engineer, etc. Everyone went through the program including the VP and plant managers, and they compared it to Officer Candidate School minus the military because it's a really hard job. They liked the fact that I wanted to get my MBA at some point. The pay is the same amount as the first job but the cost of living in NY is higher.
Any input on this situation? There seem to be a lot of pros and cons for the second job, and I'm trying to balance them out in my head.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
VeritasVR on
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The second is definitely more exciting and no two days are the same. It's a lot more difficult and stressful though as well as shift work. People in the same position (team leader) range from a few years older to twice my age, and so are the people on the line. It was always a dream of mine to be an officer in the military, but obviously I didn't go to a military academy. One of the people said it's a great starting job, but you wouldn't want to stay there.
The first is what I want to do as a starting job, R&D. I could put everything to use. I'd like to start there and get my MBA over time, not jump right into management where I know next to nothing. The people in the smaller job are more close-knit, but the NY people are just as friendly. The entire town is basically employed for that company.
I need to find some deal-breakers that can push one way or the other.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
http://www.12manage.com/methods_lewin_force_field_analysis.html
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_06.htm
Both these explain it better than I think I could.
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"The power of the weirdness compels me."
If you're really serious about getting a good (harvard/kellogg/USC/whatever) MBA, then this job makes sense, stick it out for a few years. But my question is: does this mgmt-side job keep you from going back in to the pure R&D kind of work you'd be doing at job #1? That would be a pretty significant minus if you're not sure you'll be any good at this job.
If you can go do job#1-like jobs in the future, try this out. You're only young once - and it's better to do intense, demanding jobs now, before you have a family/get old, than try it letter.
No, but it's tough to get into R&D without a master's or more work experience. In fact, after 2-3 years in job #2, you can choose to go into R&D engineering in the same company. The research facility is about 5 miles away, and it's huge.
Oh, and that forcefield thing is just a weighted pro/con list. It's not really something special; I do that all the time.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!