Why did I ever go into EE?? Even more, why did I ever go into DSP??

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>i just finished my masters degree in ECE from WPI…i did my concentration in DSP…and most of my work was in MATLAB…</p>

<p>i did my undergrad at RPI, finished in 2008…and worked at this power company for about 5 years…3 years into it i started my MS (i wanted to get out of power as it got very boring)…and i worked FT and did grad school part time (but fairly accelerated, going thru summer, doing research, etc)…i got laid off in March (thank god…i hated that job, and took some really advanced classes and needed time to study…i graduated in May with a final GPA of 3.3…all hard work i put in…</p>

<p>anyways, now i find myself applying to jobs like there’s no tomorrow…and i end up getting the rare interview, in the DSP line…and the interview ends up being a 6.5 hour “interview gauntlet” where i get lit up like a joint…hardcore theory questions and whatnot…it’s all well and good, but with interviews coming as rarely as they do, i feel that much more pressure to perform well…the last interview i had was with Bose R&D…it’d have been a very prestigious job, but i don’t think i got it…the interview was ridiculous and i felt like i fought a war by the end of it…</p>

<p>another problem…all my grad work was done in MATLAB…all these jobs ask for real time DSP experience…so i’m finding myself trying to learn it on my own…which is tricky bc it’s not like i have some DSP target boards laying around…</p>

<p>i hate EE, i hate engineering…i wish i’d gone into a more “normal” field where interviews come more often and aren’t this daunting, and don’t ask for so much ridiculous crap as engineering ones do</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m sorry that you are struggling. I’m often on the other end of these interviews. I wish there was a less painful way to interview people, but I don’t know of any. </p>

<p>I run interviews in my group the same way. I usually warn candidates that the interview is pretty intense and that getting a job in my department is difficult. Were you surprised by the intensity of the interview? Would have have been able to prepare if you had been warned?</p>

<p>Are you just venting, or are you looking for some advice?</p>

3

<p>Do you have any direction in what you want to do? There are a lot of jobs out there for people with an engineering background. I know the railroad always wants them.</p>

4

<p>DSP is a niche market, thus I’ve heard EEs not formally specializing in it, but rather maybe studying it on the side / as a hobby. Sure you know that the the theory is basically widely applicable (communications, audio, biomedical measurements, radar systems, computer vision / image processing). But it’s still a niche market.</p>

5

<p>I believe Bose was the grandaddy of it all. I think he advised Oppenheim (Signal & Systems author) on his PhD at MIT. [Signals</a> and Systems (2nd Edition): Alan V. Oppenheim, Alan S. Willsky, with S. Hamid: 9780138147570: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Signals-Systems-Edition-Alan-Oppenheim/dp/0138147574]Signals”>http://www.amazon.com/Signals-Systems-Edition-Alan-Oppenheim/dp/0138147574)</p>

<p>So, probably be a tuff group to break into.</p>

6

<p>A friend interviewed at Bose a couple decades ago and he said it was extremely exhausting, highly technical, and so on. As a former owner of two Bose speaker sets I wish they had put as much effort on their speakers as they did on interviewing :)…</p>

7

<p>I got lit up by Bose… first off, I asked the recruiter ( who himself is an EE by degree), about what to expect… the guy says to expect analog questions as well as DSP… and that there would be a fair amount of analog questions… so I go back to my ancient textbooks related to BJTs and MOSFETs… and spend time relearning then ( it’s been like 7 years since I’ve even seen them)…I looked up commonly asked DSP questions online as well…I get to the interview… turns out there were NO analog questions ( besides continuous time S domain signal processing)… and the DSP questions were extremely in depth…the questions I found online were more like " assumed knowledge" than actual questions</p>

8

<p>@classicrockerdad…i’m kinda venting…kinda looking for advice…and i don’t even totally mind the interview gauntlet…i mean i do, but yes i understand the most prestigious and “brainy” of these types of jobs will require them…it’s just, i wish i had more of them coming up so i wouldn’t get so stressed out so much…i could use the one i had with bose as a practice…but for what?? the next interview that might take months to come?? that’s also really aggravating…when interviews are this damn rare, and THIS tough…i get a lot of pressure put on myself to shine…makes me extra nervous…i mean i got so nervous i was only able to sleep 3 hours the night before the Bose interview…took two espresso shots and some coffee added to that to even make it thru the interview…</p>

9

<p>First of all, good luck on the Bose interview results. </p>

<p>Every interview results in a job… or interview experience. It sounds like you just need the ability to drum up more interviews. Have you started using Linked In? I don’t know a lot about it, but I’ve tried to encourage my kids to learn more as it seems key to job hunting these days.</p>

10

<p>@colorado_mom…yes i have used linkedin…sadly it hasn’t really gotten me anywhere…and thanks for the good luck, although in all honesty, i’d be EXTREMELY surprised if i got it…</p>

<p>i’ve had some real bad luck and difficulty with the job search…before Bose, i had three rounds of interviews (phone, in-person, then presentation) with PTC Mathcad…then they told me that i was the top candidate…but that they just had a merger and the requisition got closed…that really ****ed me off…but the interview wasn’t all that technical…much more laid back than Bose…</p>

<p>@turbo93…hahahahaha @ the speaker comment…</p>

<p>the Bose interview was quite something…i mean, i do boxing as a hobby sometimes, and i’m not sure which was more intimidating…facing these guys, or those times before sparring someone in boxing who’s big, experienced, and covered with tattoos lol</p>

11

<p>wm - Also make sure you are taking advantage of career center services from WPI and RPI. Often college career centers service alumni as well as recent grads.</p>

12

<p>Do you hate engineering because of your job troubles, or because you never really liked it?
If you simply don’t like engineering at all, you might just be better off looking for a different job altogether. It’ll almost certainly pay less, but having a math-heavy degree like engineering is not the worst for career changing.</p>

13

<p>wearymachine, I suspect that you will get more interviews. </p>

<p>What I can tell you is that for R&D the purpose of the technical questions are several fold. </p>

<p>First of all, we want to see what the bounds are of what you know and how well you learned the material that we care most about. This is important, because in R&D, our problems are harder than most things that you’ve seen, and we often don’t know the answers. If it was easy, they wouldn’t need us. No matter how much you know, we’re going to find the bounds because they exist. We can’t find them without going beyond them. So while it’s uncomfortable, you shouldn’t expect that we expect you to know how to do everything. Hopefully you can show some capability before those bounds are reached. When those bounds are reached, it’s time to show that you can and want to learn, and it doesn’t freak you out. I can tell when I’m torturing someone and when someone is genuinely curious and the discussion turns to them learning how we think about the problem and genuinely becomes a positive experience for both of us. </p>

<p>Secondly, we want to see what kind of intuition you’ve developed and how you break down problems into smaller pieces. You should work on the white board and think out loud. Ask clarifying questions about the problem. Your attitude plays a huge role in how you are perceived. When someone is stuck, I’ll often ask leading questions. I’m looking for a discussion. I’m looking for a bulb to light up. </p>

<p>Finally in our internal discussions, you will probably be compared with other candidates and junior people we’re hired before. The people that interviewed you need to feel like you can make a positive contribution to their projects without folding when things get rough. </p>

<p>The ideal is a fearless attitude back up by some demonstration of some capabilities, and a willingness and eagerness to quickly learn what you don’t know. </p>

<p>In terms of real-time programming, maybe you can get a TI or ADI DSP starter kit. You may be able to find some older ones on Ebay. You can also learn to program the Intel Extensions and other low-level stuff right on your own PC. Learn C. Maybe take some stuff you did in matlab and port it to C. Then learn C++, which is actually quite a different beast. </p>

<p>I’m just throwing out some ideas. But maybe a small investment in time and money to learn some things that people seem to want would keep you busy and wouldn’t be a bad investment. </p>

<p>I agree with NeoDymium though that if you really hate engineering, go ahead and try something else.</p>

14

<p>The real problem is still because dsp is a niche market. </p>

<p>Plus, most jobs are boring most of the time, which is why they pay you instead of you pay them. Even R&D would require some repetitive work.</p>

<p>I would suggest look at other industries too like control systems, instrumentation etc; as those are far bigger fields. I am from the power industry too and I know sometimes it is very boring, but I also know alot of people as accountants. pharmacist and analysts that also complain about their boring jobs…</p>

15

<p>I don’t think DSP is a niche market at all. </p>

<p>The other problem could be recruiting sites. You really need to avoid letting recruiters get your resume unless you can’t find the same job directly. </p>

<p>I’ve gone on Simplyhired.com, pulled out a job description, then googled the whole thing and found the actual company. Often you can figure out which company it is and apply directly saving the company the commission and making it more likely to get an interview. </p>

<p>Only after all of the companies already have your resume, and thus don’t have to pay a recruiter, is it safe to use recruiters, and only for jobs that you couldn’t find yourself, which is hardly any.</p>

16

<p>The thing about niche markets is that they tend to have a lot fewer applicants to go along with the fewer jobs, so even if DSP was a niche market (I’m not debating one way or the other) I shouldn’t be a major factor.</p>

<p>What about your MS advisor? Does he/she have connections you could exploit?</p>

17

<p>wearymachine, I am a junior EE student. I am kind of worried after reading your post. I thought I wanted to work in power industry, and thats why I am taking two electives right now. My advisor told me there are plenty of jobs in power sector and its safe in terms of job placement. Can you tell me why power jobs are boring? I might change my plan. There are DSP,telecommunication,power,computer, and systems&controls concentration in my college. I hope you will find a job you like.</p>

18

<p>I hate reading the misery of the OP because the media keeps promoting a shortage of STEM graduates. The OP is definitely not experiencing an abundance of opportunities. Remember he is an EE first and a DSP specialist second. If a true shortage existed he would have a job by now or be employed and trained in something else.</p>

19

<p>As others have already said, specialist positions are going to require longer, more technical-focused interviews. That’s just how it is. </p>

<p>Have you thought about applying for more general EE positions, like entry-level positions? The interviews will be less intense and the work can be more varied, which might help you figure out what you’re interested in. Think hard about switching out of engineering altogether, because getting back in after several years in a different industry will be difficult.</p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s not really true. When you specialize in a topic at a graduate level you tend to be forfeiting your marketability somewhat even in other subfields within your major field.</p>