Career Advice – Technical

I know this is a technical forum, but I have looked around and there don't seem to be many other places I can ask specifically technical people and not just careers advisors this question. Please forgive me if you were hoping for a technical problem - if you were then maybe you could give me your best explanation of a PID controller? (that's a serious question)

I am a recent Electronic Engineering graduate and now I am looking for jobs. However, there is a slight problem. When I went to university I thought my course would involve a lot of hands on teaching, how to diagnose electrical faults, work with complex machinery, very practical etc. I was basically expecting to spend 80% of my time in a lab with some pliers and an oscilloscope. Now as I look for jobs I see that almost all of them are based around sitting at a computer all day changing variables in OrCAD. I can do this kind of work but I really start to dislike it after quite a short while. I noticed some descriptions of apprenticeships and they seemed much more like my thing, this in particular seemed perfect: https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/roles/role...-and-engineering/general-technician-workshop/. I know it includes a lot more than just electronics work, but I am really interested in that stuff as well - maching, welding etc. The problem is that as a graduate I don't want to have wasted my degree, I like my subject, I spent 4 years and a lot of money and these jobs also pay a lot less than a graduate role and the career progression is also not as good. Is there a role that would balance the benefits of a graduate role with the practical, hands on experience of an apprenticeship? 

Thanks so much for your time!

Hi William,

You should try working for a startup or small business. Sometimes in larger companies the work is very specific and can quickly get repetitive. In a startup environment, the design engineer will be responsible for system design, circuit design, PCB layout, ordering the parts, probably soldering the prototypes yourself and definitely debugging your design on your own. It can be very challenging as a first job but you'll learn a much wider array of skills.

Pay is a bit lower and you generally end up doing more hours, but I think when starting your career you should make those sacrifices to really get good at what you love.

Good luck!

(P.S. for the PID controller, just Google or Youtube it and you should find some decent explanations. It would take way too long to explain it properly here!)