<p>I'm graduating next spring with a bachelor's in electrical/computer engineering (ECE). I will likely return to school for an engineering masters, but want to take a year or two after graduation to work. I think the past few years of hardcore studying is finally getting to me: I'm not as interested in the mathematical details of coursework anymore, and for the past few months I have been discovering an urge to spend more time with people.</p>
<p>Last summer I wrote software/RTL at a silicon valley tech company. However, I realized that I don't want to work on a knob of a chip that's slated for tape-out 2 years down the road, or patch obscure driver bugs. In fact, the evening Chinese lessons I took with a tutor this summer was a helluva lot more enjoyable. I'd prefer to work more with people, at a higher level of abstraction, and be able to add creatively to a development process that's being implemented in a tight time schedule. Examples of interesting-sounding tasks: developing a rough prototype for a new product (project management), developing a statistical trading algorithm (algo trading), giving embedded hardware/software advice to a client (is that "consulting"?).</p>
<p>It's also fairly important to me that I can live in an area with social opportunities for a young adult (e.g. LA, NYC, London). China is also attractive since I'm learning Mandarin. I've lived in a few other places (Singapore, Switzerland), and still enjoy moving around.</p>
<p>Texas Instruments and Chrysler sound a bit dull both in the work environment and location, while Morgan Stanley may be too financey. Did anyone else go through this change in interest from technical to people, and find a job that utilizes both skills?</p>
<p>It is absolutely wonderful to see someone who is thinking about their job search at the exact perfect time. Well done, sixstring!</p>
<p>As for what you wind up doing, your interests are wide enough that you have a lot of opportunities, and the skill set you developed in an engineering program will give you some great things to talk about during interviews. You’re thinking in the right way about jobs that could interest you. Here’s a little more info:</p>
<ul>
<li>Financial services - if you’ve got a tremendous GPA, go for the big boys like JPM and Goldman Sachs; also look at more niche firms that do algorithmic trading. Don’t limit yourself to the locations with a big financial presence, as there are opportunities in Houston (petroleum), Chicago (the mercantile exchange) and plenty of other places that will give you the twentysomething ideal city experience.</li>
<li>Consulting - this is such a broad industry that you can certainly find something to meet your interests. Look at all the big companies (Bain, BCG, McKinsey, Deloitte, Accenture) and some other companies that you may not have thought of (tech companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, etc) for tech-heavy jobs. Software implementation is big business, and at the right place, you can get into more of an advisory role than a configuration monkey role; that is to say that you can help your clients figure out what they want/need instead of just listening to what they say and putting it into action, a-la a robot.</li>
<li>Miscellaneous business - every company utilizes technology pretty heavily nowadays, so you may find what you’re looking for at pretty much every major company out there. I’m involved in sales compensation consulting, and that very narrow industry has a TON of jobs, and they’re almost all a balance between hard and soft skills. </li>
</ul>
<p>I think what will serve you the best is to go to your school’s career center and talk it over with them. Get your resume critiqued and, if necessary, create multiple resumes (it’s likely a mistake to use the same resume for financial services and for consulting). Figure out how on campus recruiting works, as it is going to be starting in less than a week. Go to information sessions held by companies on campus over the next four weeks, and apply to them. Keep in mind that, while you aren’t doomed to failure if you don’t get a job by the end of the semester, the best jobs you can get are going to be filled between now and Thanksgiving. If you wait until second semester to start looking seriously, you will have shot yourself in the foot as far as opportunities go.</p>