Is it really worth it?

Post Reply New Topic

I live in the United States and I'm going to college in a few months for electrical engineering. Am I actually going to be able to use my degree for anything or am I never going to have a successful career because I'm an Aspie? Would I be better off testing my luck in a different country or would my chances of having a successful career be the same? I don't want to waste my time if I'm never going to get anywhere. I've always been an excellent student in school, but I'll always be like a second class citizen and an undesirable employee. What should I do in order to succeed in life as an Aspie? I'd rather not wait till I'm older to think about what I should have done differently.

Go for it. Engineering is in demand and is worth so much more than my useless English degree.

Electrical Engineering is a great field for Aspies--folks are routinely hired in spite of their poor social skills because of the difficulty of getting the degree--too much math and science for the typical NT. And, if you really want to be a recluse, there are defense jobs where having no social life is probably a plus, since you can't talk about what you do for a living. You might even get a really high paying job at one of those 3 letter agencies.

Well. I have a PhD in electrical engineering and I still can't find a job. Defense, tried, nope. Videogames, nope. Nowhere. You always have to go through HR and those guys are total dickwads, pure NT human garbage. So, yeah. I would still get the degree if I were you, university was the best time of my life, so there's that. But the job market is a no go for autistic folk. Unless you get lucky, and that's always possible.

I'd advise against getting a graduate degree--unless you want to teach.

I don't see any problem here. I'm a retired engineer with AS and I have had a good career with a large company. I found a LOT of others there who were just like me. Yes, I was considered "different", but so were many of my co-workers. The sciences, engineering, and mathematics are all good places for Aspies. As for getting a job later, that depends on the economy and the company. Four years from now - who knows? The bottom line is simply to go for it.

I am pretty sure it would make sense for me to refer to myself as a professional loser, because I know I am probably not going to really be sucessful in this society. It is ok with me(sort of) because there are a lot of things I don't agree with however it also kind of sucks because I don't really know what else to do......I am not very optimistic but even so it seems really hard for anyone to find a job even college graduates.

You need to be a US citizen to get a USA defense job--this is a big factor since a lot of EE graduates are not US citizens.

As I understand it, the Canadian defense industry isn't as well off due to politics and the cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow
"The Arrow's cancellation was announced on 20 February 1959. The day became known as "Black Friday" in the Canadian aviation industry."

How is the power industry in Canada? Are there any jobs way up North with the hydroelectric companies?

Go for it!

My first degree was in Mechanical Engineering, I have since picked up qualifications across several disciplines. I have had a very successful career in Engineering. I am lucky enough to have had international exposure at a senior level so that my career is now self perpetuating. I don't have to look for work. I am now very much a manager and I miss detailed front line engineering, which is far from a solitary career.

Engineering may not be the highest paid of the professions but it is highly rewarding and very interesting.

I have a masters degree in science, mainly computer science. I acquired that with no failed exams and average grades. Graduating at a time when economy was good and tech guys in demand, it shouldn't be hard to land a job, and I did get a few job interviews, twenty actually. Twenty! I don't any other people who have been at that many. So it occurred to me, that there must be some sort of discrepancy between the person that they, the HR managers, see in the the resume and application, versus the actual me they experience at the interview (which has also been the case on countless of dates).

That was a major blow to my self-understanding of being a "fairly normal" person I did get jobs eventually, but for various reasons i have been unable to gain foothold on the job-market and make myself indispensable to a company. My tech and science skills are not sufficient to negate my lack of social skills - actually i lost a rather nerdy job position to downsizing. It probably "went to" India or Russia.

BTW, this wasn't meant to bring you down! If EE is your thing, go for it

I don't think engineering is as much of a good career choice for aspies as it has been hyped up to be.

I know from experience, having an electrical engineering degree which is of no use to me whatsoever.

Back in the roaring nineties, when any engineering graduate could find an easy niche in the profession, it might have turned out to be a better move for an aspie. Engineers seemed to rule the world at that time and companies couldn't have enough of them. Then the tech bubble burst, and the job market for engineers crashed and burned. I graduated at about that time.

In today's market, I advise against studying engineering because you like "making stuff". If your job involves "making stuff" but not inventing it, chances are your job will be in China soon. If you can live there and desire to do so, it might be your ticket.

Unless you want to frequently change jobs, and you love to interview, and you don't mind being laid off during recessions because you can fall back on your social network to get rehired, you might think twice about studying engineering so that you can "invent stuff". Companies, for the most part, don't want to continuously innovate. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't want to innovate. And during recessions, companies usually hunker down and stick to what they know, rather than boldly going where no man has gone before. Even worse, gutting the research budget is an accounting hat-trick that a company might play if they want to boost their earnings on paper. In short, money taken away from research equals extra income. Shareholders are delighted and the company has really done nothing to improve itself. The CEO stays on board for another quarter of a year, earning another $25,000,000 in that amount of time.

The really successful engineers with secure jobs mostly work in management or sales. So if you would be good at taking charge of team momentum and motivation, then engineering is a good choice. It is also a good choice if you have a knack for socializing and selling, and you want to specialize in business-to-business sales of high-tech goods.

Too many people study engineering thinking that it is supposed to culminate in mathematical and scientific job, requiring minimal social skills. This is more stereotype than reality. Yes engineers study math and science intensely in college. And, yes, there are jobs in science. But for a job in science, you should be prepared to earn a PhD, and you might consider an undergraduate major like chemistry or physics or mathematics.

SilasP: I certainly do not agree with your account. OK, I'm in management now but the best years of my career were in engineering and I started off in the early 80s when there was as big a downturn as there is now.

Engineering covers a wide scope of disciplines from in depth research to technical sales. I've covered a wide range of those disciplines in my time and they all bring different and enjoyable challenges.

I don't know what the market is like in the States for engineers just now. I know that it is dire in the UK. The world is a big place and much of it is developing, catching up and in many places overtaking the west. Once a fresh engineer has a few years under his/her belt. the international opportunities open up for people with ready skills. Good engineers are hard to find.

Of course, engineering is not the choise for everybody and it is not the best paid profession. It is, however, rewarding for people with the right interests. And, yes, China has many opportunities at the moment, as has most of the Far East, Middle East and Australasia.

Engineering is a great field for many people. It just isn't tailor-made for aspies, contrary to popular perception.

Like I said, it is great for people who are good at managing interpersonal relationships so that they may succeed in things like selling things, finding new a new job after a layoff, and achieving results from teams of assistants. It is hardly a profession for loners such as myself.

Engineering is socially demanding, and the price that can be paid for pursuing an engineering degree with the wrong social skills is very, very high.

As I sated earlier, engineering covers a wide range of disciplines. I started off in research and development with a secure company, so no layoffs for me. Much of my work was solitary. While you are right that ther is not always a flow of funds for new research. Companies have to continually develop their products to remain competitive. As I progressed my career, it helped me to develop the interpersonal skills to interact with and eventually manage teams. I have never mastered the art of sales though. I am too honest.

Interpersonal skills in the professional environment are very different to social interpersonal skills. Agreements tend to be written down and clarified so there is little that can be misunderstood. I can do well in formal professional circles but I am useless at personal relationships. Indeed, my AS may have helped me make more rational decisions when the going was tough. I always follow my head and not my heart. My AS gives me no choise in this. I have to rationalise my way through every issue, including what I want for lunch.

I do agree that Engineering is not everybody's cup of tea, but it could be a good choise if you are technically inclined, whether you want to work on your own or as part of a team.

I had the problem that cornelius6 described in this thread.
I was unable to breach the HR barrier.

After years of interviewing and trying, I lost the interest in engineering which I once had.

I'm glad to have let it go and studied accounting, instead of going for a PhD in engineering.

I am a Certified Public Accountant now. Still, my job circumstances need improvement. I do overnight bookkeeping (11PM to 7AM) at the reception desk of a hotel. I average 2.5 days per week. The full-time employee for whom I fill in also has a degree in engineering, which is totally unnecessary for the job. But it is interesting that the hotel likes having engineers do their paperwork.

I find interviews for full-time day jobs next to impossible. I am always asked why my career path hasn't been engineering (owing to my degree stated on my resume). Despite my lost interest in engineering, it is a fact that boils my blood. It was never fair to me, and I am not prepared to deliver any good answer when I am asked that question.

A good way to get around the HR Barrier is to join the IEEE or the similar professional organization for your field of study. They have meetings and seminars--these are great places to network and meet other engineers--who can get you around that HR Barrier.